Wheel Two: Social-Emotional Growth

The second Wheel of Success focuses on the values, attitudes, mindsets, and skills commonly embraced in the concept of emotional intelligence. These critical non-intellectual traits and qualities are essential to personal well-being, life satisfaction, and various aspects of personal and career success.

The objective of this aspect of CHARACTER COUNTS! is to help each student:

  • Improve their personal lives by promoting self-respect and confidence—and have a healthy understanding and acceptance of their personal attributes and emotional aspects of their personalities
  • Improve school safety by developing the skills that empower students to express their emotions in an appropriate manner while exercising the self-discipline to recognize and overcome negative emotions and impulses—resisting temptations to engage in anti-social or personally harmful conduct
  • Become more effective and successful by developing traits of resilience, flexibility, patience and poise as well as the skills in planning, goal-setting, time management and organization
  • Create a positive school climate by instilling and enhancing the traits of empathy and social awareness to assist students in forming positive social relations with peers, parents, teachers and others
  • Enhance the social and academic experience and contribute to a positive school climate by teaching students the skills of effective communication, collaboration and teamwork, conflict management and leadership
  • Develop 21st Century skills, attitudes, mindsets and traits critical to success in school, personal life and career (e.g., conscientiousness, commitment to excellence, perseverance, positivity, and others)

To help them achieve these character education goals, teachers are given guidance (through the Model Standards of Academic, Social, Emotional and Character Development) as well as special learning tools and strategies. Specifically CHARACTER COUNTS! promotes four social and emotional outcomes:

  1. Self-Awareness. Students are proficient in identifying their emotions, values, beliefs, attitudes, mindsets and personal traits and attributes and how each of these impact their thinking, feelings and actions. They develop a high level of self-awareness, including self-acceptance, their capacity to be a change agent and a positive concept of happiness and success
  2. Self-Management

This domain is concerned with non-cognitive skills and traits, including: self-awareness and self-management (e.g., the ability to identify and regulate emotions), interpersonal social skills (e.g., the ability to empathize and communicate clearly and to form and sustain positive personal relationships), and positive life skills and traits (e.g., executive functioning, goal-setting, planning, time management, perseverance, resilience, and conscientiousness).

 

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL DOMAIN

SE1. Self-Awareness
Students demonstrate self-awareness and the skills of introspection and reflection by
identifying and understanding their emotions, values, attitudes, motivations,
mindsets and personal attributes. 

SE1.1. Emotions and Their Impact

SE1.2. Traits and Attributes

SE1.3. Values, Beliefs, Attitudes, Mindsets

SE1.4. Self-Acceptance

SE1.5. Concept of Happiness and Success

SE1.6. Capacity to Be a Change Agent
SE2. Self-Management
Students understand that they have the power and responsibility to regulate their
emotions, attitudes and actions. They strive to exercise self-discipline so
they can take full advantage of their strengths and virtues and effectively
resist negative emotions and impulses.

SE2.1. Expressing Emotions

SE2.2. Self-Discipline

SE2.3. Resisting and Replacing Negative Emotions

SE2.4. Resilience

SE2.5. Flexibility

SE2.6. Patience and Poise

SE2.7. Self-Improvement

SE2.8. Setting Goals

SE2.9. Planning

SE2.10. Managing Time

SE2.11. Organization
SE3. Social Awareness and Relationship Skills and Traits
Students employ interpersonal and social skills and traits (e.g., empathy, consideration, the ability to listen and communicate) to guide appropriate behavior and create positive relationships
and meaningful connections with family members, classmates, peers, teachers
and others.  

SE3.1. Social Awareness

SE3.2. Empathy

SE3.3. Remorse

SE3.4. Positive Relationships

SE3.5. Effective Communication

SE3.6. Leadership

SE3.7. Collaboration and Teamwork

SE3.8. Conflict Management

 

SE4. Success Skills and Attitudes 
Students demonstrate and continually seek to enhance the values, skills and traits
that increase personal happiness and the successful achievement of their
academic, personal,and career goals.

SE4.1. Executive Function

SE4.2. Commitment to Excellence

SE4.3. Conscientiousness

SE4.4. Perseverance

SE4.5. Self-Confidence

SE4.6. Initiation and Action

SE4.7. Positivity

SE4.8. Gratitude

SE4.9. Forgiveness

 

SE4.10. Technological Literacy

SE4.11. Financial Literacy