School Gives P.E. Credit To Students Who Do Yard Work For Elderly Neighbors

The Alternative Learning Center (ALC) located in Dubuque, IA is taking a fresh, new approach to physical education for its students. The school developed a program that awards PE credits to students who contribute community service in the form of yard work for the elderly and people with disabilities. The school’s curriculum allows students to choose from several activities over the final two weeks of the school year for credit towards their PE class. The program launched in 2015, the same year the school installed a garden. The students learn valuable life skills while giving back to the community. Activities include everything from mowing lawns and raking leaves to cutting bamboo and tending chicken coops. Students are often hesitant at the outset of the program. However, connecting with the residents and getting their hands dirty serves to motivate them. (1)

Importance Of Life Skills For Youth

Research has shown that life skills programs significantly increase youths’ education readiness, community engagement, self-confidence, and focus on the future. (2) Teaching life skills is important to help youth develop a sense of responsibility, take initiative, and take control of their lives during an important developmental period. An approach such as that utilized by ALC fosters a variety of social skills as students practice interacting with a cross-section of society. Self-awareness, critical and creative thinking, and problem-solving are all exercised through the execution of the yard work assignments. (3)

The number of youth engaging in at-risk behavior points to a lack of life skills in that demographic. While traditionally the role of the family, life skills are becoming an increasingly important component of formal education. The development of such skills through experiential learning is particularly effective. (4)

How To Help Youth Develop Life Skills

All youth need to develop a strong set of life skills to successfully navigate education, employment, extracurriculars, and relationships. These skills, also referred to as executive function skills, need practice to hone. Five ways you can help youth in your life build life skills include: (5)

Practicing real-life situations – this helps build problem-solving skills and youth often learn best when practicing on situations that arise in their own lives.
Preparing for triggers – help youth develop strategies to enact when intense emotions are triggered and recognize what triggers them. This develops self-awareness and coping strategies.

Practicing empathy – encourage youth to ask trusted mentors how they cope with difficult situations and take a minute to look at a situation from another point of view.
Focusing on what motivates – youth are finding their place in this world, and using their personal passions and interests to also build life skills can be very helpful and helps strengthen their sense of identity and purpose.
Focusing on the positives – youth can be highly impressionable and negative social interactions and self-talk can turn into insurmountable challenges. Focusing on good memories and successes can help put challenges in perspective and undo negative internalizations.

These strategies can be employed in a variety of settings and take on different expressions depending on the situation. For the students of the ALC, it was yard work and community service.