How often do you say to yourself, “What were they thinking?” Most of the time when I ask that question my students shrug their shoulders with a groan that indicates they don’t know. I wonder to myself, how could you possibly not know, you are in your own brain. Instead of getting frustrated, I want to continue teaching students the decision-making process.

The decision-making process is not just a skill that students will use in the classroom but is a lifelong skill. It is the skill that will hopefully keep them from doing something that has lifelong consequences. Decision-making is the skill that will help them choose the right college and the right career. The skill that will help them make wise choices with their friends. Oh, how I hope they make wise choices with their friends. It will help them say, “no” when they need to and to stand up to peer pressure.

There is nothing more disheartening than a student crying to you over the huge consequences of a decision they made without thinking.

How do we teach the decision making process?

The first step is to introduce students to the decision-making process. They need to know that there is actually a way to help them make decisions.

Outline each step of the process and help students to understand why they are doing each piece. Why does it matter? What is the point?

Give students the opportunity to practice the decision-making process with feedback. This gives them an opportunity to practice but a chance to practice the right way.

Encourage this process to continue in the classroom. When we do something once it is not automatically a habit. The more opportunities students have to work through this process the more likely they will fall back on it when they are faced with a difficult decision.

Utilize The Mind Trek Program to continue teaching students the decision-making process.

Try this free SEL lesson!