Guidance at The Girls Middle School

Middle school is a time of enormous change for girls. The ability to think abstractly, rapid and transformative phsyical, social and emotional development, pressure from images of women in the popular media and increasing academic demands all combine to make these tumultuous years. To provide guidance and support for these crucial years, The Girls' Middle School has instituted two formal programs:
Social and Emotional Learning and Advisory.

Social and Emotional Learning

Every student brings her feelings and thoughts to school. To acknowledge and support girls in developing their emotional intelligence and skills, GMS offers our Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) class. The goal of SEL is to provide an atmosphere of trust within the community of girls in which they can learn essential and important life skills. In SEL, a girl can give voice to her feelings in a productive and safe way and hear those feelings acknowledged by her peers and teachers. SEL stimulates girls to explore their own choices, develop a strong sense of self, and respect differences.

The SEL class meets once a week for fifty minutes. While some units are similiar in each grade, the SEL curriculum uses developmentally age-appropriate material. The learning style includes role play, reading and discussion, videos, guest speakers and expression through art. The lead teacher in SEL is a licensed family therapist on the GMS faculty. Typical units include conflict resolution, diversity and puberty.

Advisory

Where SEL focuses primarily on emotional skills, the GMS advisory program has an emphasis on academic support. Girls meet weekly in small groups composed of an advisor and a mix of students from sixth, seventh and eighth grades. Advisors explore topics such as study and organizational skills, learning styles and differences and important upcoming school events. Each girl's advisor also acts as her advocate, offering advice and support in communicating effectively with her teachers and peers. GMS' advisory program helps girls become effective, confident self-advocates, a trait that will serve them well in their education and their lives after school.