Benton Community uses a curriculum called ‘Second Step’ for our classroom guidance lessons at the elementary/intermediate levels. This allows the counselors in each building the opportunity to get into each classroom and provide all students with support for a variety of topics. One such topic in this curriculum is a model of decision-making and problem-solving called the S.T.E.P. process, which the fifth graders at Norway are now working on.
During this unit, students will use a variety of ways to explore and think about problems and decisions as well as different solutions. We discuss the concept of how problem-solving and decision-making aren’t always about what we want to do. It is also about what is best for everyone involved. And how sometimes we make a decision that doesn’t turn out to be the right choice, but we almost always have the option to go "back up the stairs" and make a different decision.
This unit also provides students with a great opportunity to work together and shares ideas with each other. And at times learn how to respectfully disagree with each other. This is just one unit in the curriculum taught by our school counselors that enforce the P.B.I.S. skills of being responsible, respectful, safe, and caring. Go Bobcats!!
