Great Empowered Minds - Facilitator's Manual : The SEL Curriculum that Empowers Students to Discover Their Value

The GEM curriculum is a "one-stop-shop" for literacy including its embedded vocabulary, brief extended constructed responses, and collaborative learning approaches. Unlike other Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs, the GEM curriculum provides a well-rounded, cross-curricular approach each week, and students have multiple opportunities to represent their understanding of the five (5) competencies of the CASEL framework: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, responsible decision making, and relationship building in different formats.

Other SEL programs only explore surface-level applications of SEL competencies, however, the GEM curriculum tackles hard-hitting concepts that help students understand how their decisions affect their relationships with others, their personal development, and their future aspirations. The curriculum incorporates subjects such as bullying (cyberbullying), peer pressure, vaping/drug use, fighting, etc. Students will also participate weekly in collegial discussions, debates, engage in collaboration, group work activities, make cross-curricular connections with Restorative Justice practices, and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS). All content and activities are relevant to students' daily lives--home, school, and community.