Freshman Orientation: A Year of Gentle Transition Video Lecture | Understanding Social and Emotional Learning (SEL): Better Life - Personal Skills

>>Joseph: At High Tech High School
we have all races, ethnicities,
sexual preferences in the building.
Everybody is a family.
That's the beauty of being in High Tech.
>>Louis: There's always a period of
adjustment when kids change schools,
but especially when they go from
a grammar school into high school.
Many of the kids are coming here
without knowing other students,
or at least not many other students
as compared to if they remained
in their neighborhood schools.
>>Joseph: To get in tune to
the culture of the school,
we have a school orientation
class in freshman year.
>>Max: Freshman orientation
was a bit scary actually,
because I didn't know what to expect.
I went to a small, tiny
little charter school.
It was a big jump, so there was
like a lot more people here.
I got sort of a glimpse of
how everyone was inviting
and everyone was sort of
wanting to help me out.
>>Louis: I meet all of the freshmen
once a week throughout the entire year.
One of the things that I try
to stress with our students is
that we are a school of compassion.
A lot of what I do in the guidance class
is based upon that, enabling the kids
to see different points of
view, so people are accustomed
to the diversity we have here.
I start out the year basically with an
exercise with them called the hot seat.
On a voluntary basis, a kid will
sit in the middle of a circle
and the other students will have a
chance to ask him anything they want.
No questions that embarrass a person
or make them feel uncomfortable,
and the person in the middle has
the right to not answer anything.
I try to talk to them about
their individual responsibility,
about everything from teen pregnancy
and STDs to the bullying and the racism.
I spend a good deal of time dealing
with how does peer pressure affect us?
Some of the kids are more shy, they
don't talk as much in the beginning.
So as I get to know them over the
whole year, I get a chance to find
out what the difficulties
are they may have.
>>Chazz: I was an eighth grader,
a short little chubby kid came in
and didn't know what to expect.
Everything was so new, people
were just much bigger than me.
It was overwhelming, and then
once I came in my freshman year,
it was really nice just
having that, I guess,
backbone of the community
in the classroom.
>>Louis: I had to listen to it several
other times and it's not an easy story.
>>We talk about racism that
has existed in our society,
does racism still exist,
where do we see it?
>>Why is he so passionate
about this, yes?
>>Student: He has to say something and
stand up for his culture and his race
because he feels that nothing
is being said about it.
>>Louis: I do some exercises, break
the kids down into small groups.
They discuss, come up with their
solution and then we return
to a large group, get an
idea what other people think
and where their opinions
are coming from.
>>Student: It wasn't equal for
everyone to have their own opinion,
so I think it's kind of like a wound
that was opened and never closed.
>>Louis: In our class, they might find
out some things they might not
talk about in other classes.
I try to keep it more informal,
because it's not a graded class.
It's just me and them and,
you know, we're talking.
>>Do you think that's true?
>>Student: I think it depends on
what person you're saying it to...
>>Louis: I think it gives them a chance
at least to get to know me better.
They know where I am and they know
they can come and see me any time.
>>Joseph: The students get more involved
in the culture of the school and I think
as the students progress from freshman,
to sophomore, junior, the senior year,
they train the incoming students to make
sure that that culture stays in place.