When we think of teaching students values we often think that this is something that parents should be teaching at home or students should learn in a Sunday School class.
Values are not the same as morals. While morals are often our values that is not always the case. When we are expecting students to make positive choices it seems that we should help them understand what they actually value. If you don’t know what is important to you, how can you learn to make positive decisions?
It is a fact that students’ brains aren’t fully developed until after they are out of school. We need to give them all of the help we can when it comes to making positive choices.
![Teaching students values is a great foundational SEL lesson to help students with the decision making process.](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossy,ret_img,w_200,h_300/https://themindtrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Values-pin-200x300.png)
How do we teach students values
The first step in helping students learn values is to teach them what a value is. Values are the things that are most important to us. We often make decisions based on what we value the most.
Give students an opportunity to explore their values. Let them take time to really think about what is most important to them. They can do this through various activities or games. Check out these lessons made for you.
Once students have an opportunity to explore and understand values give them a chance to practice using their values. Put them in safe situations like a game or activity to have opportunities to practice their values.
Another way to reinforce values is to give students a chance to determine the values of others based on their actions and decisions. You can take this time to look at actions around the school, community, at home, or in the media.
Utilize The Mind Trek Program to help your students discover their values.
Check out our free lessons here!
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