Cyclone Experience builds on Cyclone Experience by keeping the in-school field trips, career exploration elements, and introduction to opportunities at Elizabethton High School. In addition, teachers have participated in project-based learning training and ongoing collaboration. Students in this course complete projects that meet objectives. The goal is to develop social and emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and leadership skills so students can be more intentional and productive in their time at EHS.

The  Cyclone Experience Curriculum

In speaking with everyone at the training day in April 2018, taking the ideas discussed then by teachers, and incorporating the Goals and Core Values of our Program, we have developed the following Curriculum for the Cyclone Experience course.

Each teacher will utilize this Curriculum so that the overall structure of each class will cover all the necessary aspects, and then you will undoubtedly have additional things that you would like to do with your students that are based upon what you have found to be valuable and beneficial.  Therefore, you have the opportunity to make your class your own, while also including all of the required elements.

The elements discussed here have a time period of 14 weeks.  Therefore, you will have 4 additional weeks to choose to do whatever you have personally found that you would like to incorporate into your class.

For those of you who teach this course in a 9-week period and during a longer class period, then because of your longer class period you will want to do each of these in half the number of days shown for each element.

We have also created One Drive pages for our  Cyclone Experience Teacher Group to work together to post ideas, lesson plans, implementation methods that worked well, thoughts, etc. 

1. Personal Discovery – Utilizing primarily Enneagram, but with you also having the option to use True Colors or another option that you believe in – 2 Days

Core Values Covered – (8)

2. Social Scenarios – Teach Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Kindness, Respect, Thoughtfulness, Emotional Intelligence - 3 Days – 4^th period classes will work together, and 2^nd period classes will work together.  Each 4^th period and 2^nd period class will come up with 4 social scenarios that they want to teach the proper ethical conduct for, and they will create a skit where they act out that scenario in a positive and successful way.  On the Monday in the second week of the semester, all 4^th period classes will come together into the Commons area, and all 2^nd period classes being taught at the time will come into the Commons area, and perform their social scenario skits for all the 4^th period or all the 2^nd period classes.  For 2^nd period classes held in the second 9 weeks of a semester, the date for the social scenario skits in the Commons will be the 4^th day of the second 9 week period.                  Core Values Covered – (2, 3, 4, 7)
3. Portrait of a Graduate – Go through the Core Values that are enclosed, Assignment is for each student to produce a one and a half page Essay on what values each student wants to work on this school year. - 1 Week

Core Values Covered – (5, 8, 10)

4. Research all Clubs, Opportunities, and Sports Teams in School – Assignment is for each student to choose his or her 5 favorite clubs, opportunities, and teams, and write a one and a half page Essay on the five they have chosen, why they are interested in them, when they meet, which teacher or coach is in charge of them, a list of anyone else in class or in school that they know who is interested in them, and how they can get started and join. – 1 Week

Core Values Covered – (3, 5, 7, 8, 10)

5. Career Study – Assignment 1 – Develop Personal Resume – Assignment 2 - Lead-in Video is a Ted Talk called “The Seven Secrets of the Greatest Speakers In History” by Richard Greene – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0a61wFaF8A   Overall Teaching Concept is never give a speech but Have a Conversation with the Audience – Students Choose three Careers they are interested in, and produce a Power Point of at least 10 slides, giving a 3-5 Minute Presentation on the three careers, why they are interested in them, how these career fields will grow in the future, what new opportunities are anticipated to exist in the future in this career field, and what student needs to do in the way of schooling, internship, and job experience in order to successfully follow each of these three career paths, etc. – 1 Week

Core Values Covered – (5, 7, 8, 10)

6. Start with Why – Lead-In Video is a Ted Talk called “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4   Discussion of Why, How, What, Thought Process, Think About and Discover Your Purpose, One Page Essay by each student describing what they believe is Their Purpose. – 3 Days

Core Values Covered – (5, 7, 8, 10)

7. The How - Time Management and Incremental Self-Development, Goal-Setting – (will send resources, including Calendar, separately) – 1 Week

Core Values Covered – (1, 4, 5, 8, 10)

8. The What - Interview of other student and Presentation – Students partner up and each student serves as both Interviewer and Interviewee – Assignment - Student Interviewer prepares 15 Questions in advance of their interview, Interviews their partner while taking notes of their partner’s answers the entire time, and through focusing on listening skills, conversational skills, social awareness, and emotional intelligence, thinks of 5 Questions during the Interview that student also asks, making the Interview 20 Questions in total.  Questions can include where they have lived, their family background, their interests and hobbies, their long-term dreams and aspirations, etc. Assignment 1 includes turning in all 20 questions, along with all the answers.  Assignment 2 - Utilizing Social Awareness and Emotional Intelligence, Interviewer prepares and gives a 3-minute Presentation about their partner that casts their partner in the best light possible – 1 Week

Core Values Covered – (2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10)

9. Personal Web Portfolio Development – Assignment – Each Student will create a Personal Web Portfolio on an online platform such as Wix or Weebly at no cost that they will continue to have and add to throughout their high school career and beyond. Their web portfolios will initially be held offline until each student and each student’s parents decide to post them online. – Included in their Web Portfolio will be the Resume they developed in the Career Study exercise shown above, other reports and links to presentations they have given in their high school career thus far, their course schedule and educational experiences, a place for their future PSAT and ACT Scores, their sports and club involvement with pictures, their outside interests with pictures, their Dreams, Goals, and Aspirations, their Why and Purpose, and their future Career Goals. – Each Student will then give a 4-5 Minute Presentation so that all the students can see the best possible ideas to add to their own web portfolio – Students will then have two days to reflect on their web portfolios and make any adjustments or additions that they have seen in the other students’ Web Portfolios.    – A Schoolwide Competition will be held in the Commons with all students from all  Cyclone Experience classes in attendance, where a Schoolwide Champion will be chosen.  - 2 Weeks

In addition, in order to encourage and inspire students to continue improving and developing their web portfolios, the schoolwide competition will include separate competitions for 9^th graders, 10^th graders, 11^th graders, and 12^th graders, all on a schoolwide basis, with prizes, and beneficial career opportunities given to the winners.

Core Values Covered – (4, 5, 8, 10)

10. Leadership Styles – Lead-In Reading and Discussion on all the recognized Leadership Styles –  Resource used will be Daniel Goleman’s Six Styles of Leadership that include Visionary, Affiliative, Democratic, Pacesetting, Coaching, and Commanding.  Assignment – Find a short online video of about two minutes in length from a movie, or from another filmed event, that displays positive and motivating leadership, and determine all the Leadership Styles the speaker in the video is displaying.  Assignment – Show and Present this video to the class, Discussing the positive, and possibly negative, Leadership Styles that are Exhibited in the Video – 1 Week

Core Values Covered – (2, 3, 5, 9)Leadership Resources have been added to One Drive pages.

11. Critical Thinking – Teacher divides class into groups of two to three students, making certain to have an even number of groups so that the groups can later have a group they are competing against – Teacher provides each pair of groups with the same debatable scenario or situation, allowing the groups time to research, think about, discuss, and discover the positives and negatives of each side of scenario or situation. – Teacher than takes each pair of groups, telling one group to take one viewpoint of the scenario and telling the other group to take the opposite viewpoint of the same scenario. – Each group then continues to research their given viewpoint’s positives and negatives, and comes up with their strongest and most convincing position that supports why their viewpoint is correct. – The two student groups then debate against each other while the rest of the class watches.  After the debate is concluded, both groups, along with the rest of the class, come up with the very best compromise win-win decision that they can think of that combines the best of both viewpoints – 3 Days

Core Values Covered – (2, 3, 4)

12. Ignite Competition – Assignment – Each student enters the Ignite Competition by preparing a Themed PowerPoint Presentation that includes only Pictures without any written words, utilizing 20 picture slide, and with the students speaking about each picture for 15 seconds – Each class will have a competition with a winner of the best Ignite Presentation moving on to the Schoolwide Competition – The Schoolwide Competition will be held in the Commons with all students from all Cyclone Experience classes in attendance, where a Schoolwide Champion will be chosen. – 1 Week

Core Values Covered – (5, 7)

13. Leaders Eat Last – Lead-In Video is a Ted Talk called “Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmyZMtPVodo    Emphasis is upon putting others above yourself, and putting others’ needs above your own - Servant Leadership – Assignment – One Page Essay on what the concept “Leaders Eat Last” means. – 2 Days

Core Values Covered – (2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10)

14. School Culture Development– Students Will Discuss, Determine, and Learn what the positive and negative qualities are in any School Culture - Students will then relate these positive and negative Qualities to Evaluate Elizabethton High School. – Students will discuss what they want Elizabethton High School’s culture to be, and they will discuss positive changes they can make for the betterment of their school, either through helping a specific group of students, adding a service that benefits Elizabethton High School, or beautifying Elizabethton High School. – Students will Learn about Change Management, and how Change is Best Implemented.  – Students will decide upon a Class Project that they will do to Improve the Culture and/or Beauty of Elizabethton High School.  – Each class has a $500 budget to implement their Project of your choice.  – 1 Week

Core Values Covered – (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

15. Class Project Completion – Students will work together as a class to complete their Class Project. - 2 Weeks

Core Values Covered – (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

For all in-school or out-of-school field trips – Teacher will have prepared 8 questions in advance for all field trips.  Students will also come up with additional specific questions before each trip.  The class will then discuss the answers to the questions when they get back from each trip, and they will also discuss anything else they learned during the trip that was not included in their original questions.

We will continue to add information detail and resources to this Curriculum as you provide your ideas during these next two weeks, and then we will have a Team Review at the end of the semester where you can tell us what worked and what can be improved upon, so that as a Team we can make any beneficial changes for the Spring semester.