Relationship training is important for all teenagers, according to Catie Winters, Counselor and Health teacher at The Gow School. Although young adults learn from those around them, many aspects of developing healthy relationships are not innate. Students with learning disabilities often are at a greater disadvantage, because they must focus on other areas such as self-confidence. This gives them less time to spend on relationship skills.
Ms. Winters identifies communication skills as one of the more common areas of weakness among teenagers. Young people often limit their conversations to events and superficial questions such as "What did you do this weekend?" In a committed relationship, they need to practice opening up and talking about their deeper feelings.
In Health class, a semester long requirement in both middle and high school, the students complete a unit on healthy relationships. Ms. Winters discusses the four types of relationships: peer to peer, parent to child, student to teacher and romantic. Students listen to lectures, take notes, participate in small group discussions, write in journals, and act out various scenarios. They also create their own individual lists of Eight Points in a Healthy Relationship.
Outside of class, dorm parents and teachers serve as role models, and several of the Headmaster's Weekly Themes for Success revolve around relationship training. These include Brother/Sisterhood and Being a Good Boy/Girl Friend. In the upcoming years, Ms. Winters would like to establish a more formal school-wide Character Education Program at Gow. Student leaders would assist with assemblies, classes and workshops held on a regular basis. Ms. Winters envisions the future program as ongoing character building for the whole school.
Ms. Catie Winters holds a B.A. in Communication Studies and an M.A. in Counseling from the University of San Diego. She has worked as a counselor for 14 years in Los Angeles, San Diego and Hong Kong.
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Gow School English teacher Mr. Ben Duffy will be presenting a TABS 3D Live Webinar on Tuesday, March 5th. Here is a brief preview. Tune in to learn more.
How would you define a flipped classroom?Students learn new skills on their own using carefully designed lessons and videos created by me. When the students arrive to class, we put that knowledge to use.
How does the flipped classroom work?I create a short video on a topic. The maximum length is 5 minutes. Students watch the video for homework. It is similar to taking notes in class, but they are working on their own. The next day, I check students' notes and give points based on the overall quality.
What technology is needed?I use a Bamboo tablet and microphone to record lessons. Gow has a laptop program and a campus-wide network, so I put all the videos on my shared drive. For teachers that do not have access to a network, YouTube is another great option.
What types of lessons do you teach flipped?In English class, I teach basic sentence patterns, adjectives, adverbs, nouns, and action words. The videos cover the basic skeletal framework, and then we flush out those ideas into paragraphs while in class.
What are the advantages to this method of teaching?The slow note-takers might extend lecture time by 5 or 10 minutes. It gives those students the chance to write at their own pace, as well as eliminating the embarrassment of being the last one done. The students like being able to stop or re-watch the videos as needed. In addition, I archive everything, so the students can go back and review past topics. This method works really well for the auditory learners.
The biggest advantage really is time. Instead of taking notes in class, we can actually start writing and applying knowledge. My English classes this year have written more in one semester than my previous classes have written all year!
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