{"id":642,"date":"2022-02-07T16:01:26","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T21:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/?post_type=article&#038;p=642"},"modified":"2022-02-07T16:10:30","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T21:10:30","slug":"soft-skills-for-life","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/article\/soft-skills-for-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Soft Skills for Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soft skills. Life skills. Whatever you call them, educators, parents, future employers agree: learning them early supports overall well being and success.<\/p>\n<p>At EMS, we dig deep into topics and encourage students to ask big questions like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What can I learn from this author to help me understand my own identity?<\/li>\n<li>How do the decisions made during WWII (for example) relate or inform our country\u2019s decisions today?<\/li>\n<li>How does what we learn about the environment affect our daily decisions?<\/li>\n<li>How do Jesus\u2019 words in the New Testament help me answer important questions in my life?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We give time for students to reflect, ask questions, and discuss issues with peers. This enables students to <strong>practice leadership<\/strong>, to <strong>develop empathy<\/strong>, to be <strong>self-aware<\/strong>, and to <strong>take responsibility<\/strong>\u00a0for their words and actions as they practice their faith.<\/p>\n<p>Additional skills include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Collaboration (teamwork)<\/li>\n<li>Constructive thinking<\/li>\n<li>Resilience and flexibility<\/li>\n<li>Conflict resolution<\/li>\n<li>Creativity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As an educator and administrator, I am grateful to be part of a school that intentionally fosters a culture where students can grow in these skills for life.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>Additional examples of these learning opportunities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Physics students lead 3rd graders in hands-on STEM activities. These include rocketry, circuits, density, robotics, buoyancy, aerodynamics, and more.<\/li>\n<li>We Serve volunteers worked with Rotary Interact Club members to fill Christmas stockings for residents at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.<\/li>\n<li>Eighth graders collected and delivered cards, treats, and small gifts for staff working in the COVID unit at Sentara RMH for their class service project. Read about K-12 service culture at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/2021\/12\/k-12-service-is-part-of-ems-culture\/\">easternmennonite.org\/news<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Spanish students connected with people in Guatemala for conversation, including their teacher\u2019s mother, as well as women through <em>Project Olas<\/em>. More at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/2021\/12\/guatemalan-mothers-and-emhs-spanish-students-connect\/\">easternmennonite.org\/news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soft skills. Life skills. Whatever you call them, educators, parents, future employers agree: learning them early supports overall well being and success. At EMS, we dig deep into topics and encourage students to ask big questions like: What can I learn from this author to help me understand my own identity? How do the decisions&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":644,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"issuem_issue":[31],"issuem_issue_categories":[],"issuem_issue_tags":[],"class_list":["post-642","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","issuem_issue-winter-2022"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":646,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/642\/revisions\/646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue?post=642"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_categories?post=642"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_tags?post=642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}