This presentation discusses using character strengths to build thriving learning communities in middle schools. It introduces the Mayerson Academy's MyTomorrow program which structures advisory periods to help students with social-emotional learning and college/career readiness. The program utilizes online games and activities to help students identify and apply their character strengths to improve self-management, relationships, and academic performance. Research shows that social-emotional skills lead to better outcomes including higher grades, less behavioral issues, and greater well-being. The goal is to create a strengths-based experience that maximizes student learning and engagement.

1. Advancing Learning, Relating and Performing
through Character Strengths & Digital Games
Presenter: Lynn Ochs
Senior Learning Designer, Mayerson Academy
Cincinnati, Ohio
ochs.lynn@mayersonacademy.org
Twitter @LTOchs
Handouts for this session can be found on the AMLE2015 app

2. Goal: MyTomorrow*ed ensures students get the support they need to navigate the
social and emotional complexities of school.
Advisory is structured to achieve 4 main goals:
• Create Community
• Academic Monitoring
• Planning to be College and Career Ready
• Social-Emotional Learning

3. Be your very best, every day.
“My experience is what I
agree to attend to. ”
- William James

4. Be your very best, every day.
The Middle Years…

5. Be your very best, every day.
Slide Title Positive emotions open our
hearts and our minds,
making us more receptive and
more creative.
Positive emotions allow us to
discover and build new skills,
new ties, new knowledge, and
new ways of being.
- Barbara Fredrickson

6. Be your very best, every day.
Shift your
perspective...

7. Be your very best, every day.
In the Dark…. 2/3rds can’t name their strengths

8. Be your very best, every day.
• Universally valued
• Contribute to well-being
• Present in all of us
24Character Strengths

9. Be your very best, every day.
Use four or more signature strengths at work
and you will have
• Increased satisfaction
• Increased likelihood of viewing your
work as a calling
• Increased sense of personal well-
being
Use of these character strengths predicts
academic achievement in middle school and
college students
• Perseverance
• Love
• Gratitude
• Hope
Strengths Make a Difference!

10. Be your very best, every day.
Slide Title
Strengths do more than perform, they transform –
strengths are what makes us feel stronger;
we magnify “what is best” and imagine “what is next”
- David Cooperrider

11. Be your very best, every day.
Travel back to your middle
school years…
• Who made a profound difference in
your life during those years?
• What strengths did they recognize
in you and call forth?
• How did it make a difference in your
life?

12. Be your very best, every day.
Take the Strengths Challenge
• Select a strength.
• Share with your partner one way
you have used this strength in the
past month.
• Swap strengths with your partner.
• Share one way you’ve seen a
student or colleague use your
new strength.

13. Be your very best, every day.
Character Strengths in Action
Thriving Learning Communities
Thinglink
https://goo.gl/riSzLd
or find the link in handouts
AMLE2015 app or website

14. Be your very best, every day.
Character Strengths in Action

15. Be your very best, every day.
Imagine if you could…
utilize the science of character strengths to
develop social and emotional competencies that
maximize learning (motivation and engagement),
learning, and performance.
“
”

16. Be your very best, every day.
Why? Thriving Learning Communities
Students with social and emotional
learning skills do better in
school and in life.
(National Research Council, 2009, 2012; Durlak, Weissberg,
Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011; Goleman, 2005;
Greenberg et al., 2003)
Reductions in
aggression, mental
health problems,
and substance use
Academic
achievement
(Durlak et al., 2011; Greenberg et
al., 2003; Zins, Weissberg, Wang,
& Walberg, 2004)
Prosocial behavior
Improved attitudes
about school
For every one-point increase in a child's social competency score in kindergarten, they were twice
as likely to obtain a college degree, and 46% more likely to have a full-time job by age 25.
Damon E. Jones, Mark Greenberg, and Max Crowley, 2015

17. Be your very best, every day.
Adapted from the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning http://casel.org
Why?
Social and Emotional Learning
Competencies

18. Be your very best, every day.
The Thriving Learning Community Experience…

19. Be your very best, every day.
What? Thriving Learning Communities Components

20. Be your very best, every day.
What? Thriving Learning Communities Components
SEL: Self Management
Strength: Self Control
Other studies have found that
students with high self-control get
better grades (Wolfe & Johnson,
1995), have fewer behavior problems
(Murphy & Eisenberg, 1997), and
demonstrate better social functioning
overall (Eisenberg, Fabes, Guthrie, &
Reiser, 2000).

21. Be your very best, every day.
What? Research-based Curriculum

22. Be your very best, every day.
What? Flexible Activities

23. Be your very best, every day.
What? Engaging Online Game Tracks

24. Be your very best, every day.

25. Be your very best, every day.

26. Be your very best, every day.

27. Be your very best, every day.
Leave
Behind a
Positive Digital
Footprint…

28. Be your very best, every day.
If some one is being bullied I can stand up for them
and use my bravery strength.
I tried to understand people better.
I used my curiosity to ask different questions about
things that I didn't understand.
The strength not to talk when somebody is talking
to me, so I don't get in trouble. Self control.
I used humor to cheer someone and felt refreshed
and proud of myself.
Plan:
The strength I will try is
prudence. My plan is to be
careful to get all of my
homework done and turned in
on time.
How it went:
I got things turned in on time
and finished. I think prudence is
a good character strength for
school.

29. Be your very best, every day.
My experience is what I agree to
attend to.
“
”

30. Be your very best, every day.
What will you attend to today?
“
”

31. Be your very best, every day.
Engage with our learning experts to be at your best everyday!
Happify two week trials
available!
VIA Institute on Character
Free Survey
viacharacter.org
Twitter
@LTOchs
@MayersonAcademy
Program Information
www.mayersonacademy.org

32. Session Evaluation
Let us know what you thought of this session. Complete an evaluation
electronically on the conference app, or complete the paper evaluation
located in the back of the program book.
CEU Code
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certification. Write down the CEU Code for every session you attend
on the CEU card located in the back of the program book.