Getting kids ready for real life means more than reading and math scores — they need social and emotional skills to guarantee their success.
They go by many names — from character education to life skills to leadership skills to soft skills and social and emotional skills. No matter what we call them, they all lead to the same outcome: kids who are ready for real life.
Over the last few decades, research exploring which skills are most important to prepare kids for life is painting a pretty clear picture.
Soft skills like self-awareness, relationship building, and responsible decision-making are a better predictor of success in life than reading and math scores. Our sessions exploring soft skills will give your staff a simple way to remember the soft skills students need as well as practical ideas for how to build these skills in their students.
Our soft skill professional development sessions cover a range a topics including:
- Overviews of the five key soft skills
- Practical ideas for building soft skills in students
- Insights on why resilience and grit are often missing in today’s students
What our partners are saying: (Real Endorsements from Our Partners)
Our Soft-Skill Thought Leaders
Dr.Tim Elmore
After 40 years of work with students and dozens of books, Dr. Elmore is nationally recognized expert on leadership and life skills for students.
Andrew McPeak
The author of three books including “Ready for Real Life,” which unpacks the five essential soft skills all students need.
Patrick Erwin
As a classroom educator, Patrick realized the importance of going beyond hard skills to develop his students as leaders — that move changed everything.
Nautrie Jones
With more than a decade of experience working in schools, Nautrie uses her deep base of knowledge to prepare educators to create transformative classroom experiences.
Don’t want to wait for your professional development session to start learning? Read our latest book on soft skills: “Ready for Real Life.” Ready for Real Life unpacks the five essential soft skills all great leaders instill in their students, and gives educators and leaders practical ideas for how to develop these skills in the classroom.
Why Growing Leaders?
Over the last 20 years, Growing Leaders has been helping adults connect with and develop an emerging generation of leaders.
Find out more about who we are here.