Soft Skills Middle - Inspiring Self-Awareness & Career Exploration

Shaping Kids for the Real World!

Middle school students may not recognize it as Artificial Intelligence, but they are no strangers to AI. They carry it around and bow their heads to it more and more every day. Tik Tok. Instagram. Facebook. What they don’t know and what they need to know is that AI is here to stay and – although it’s mostly a source of entertainment today – robots and chatbots will present a real challenge tomorrow when it’s time for them to head out into the real world.

Research shows that the earlier schools prepare students for employment the better they perform in their careers. Today’s employers expect far more from new hires than a degree. With AI charging and changing the workplace, smart simply isn’t good enough. It’s real people skills that matter most to employers now. Things like work ethic, communication, teamwork, creativity. Skills that robots and chatbots can’t replace.

Soft Skills Middle is an engaging and foundational online program specifically designed to introduce middle schoolers to the concepts of personal and career exploration; to help them begin to identify their strengths, interests, and values; and to prepare them for their future success in the classroom, in life, and eventually, in the workplace.

Here's how it works.

Get Ready, Prepared, Go!

Get Ready

The Soft Skills Middle journey begins with our online Career & Life Foundations course – an engaging interactive curriculum designed to help students get ready and become more aware of themselves and how they interact with others. Guided by our fun and inspirational Soft Skills Middle Coach, students will begin to build 8 Basic Soft Skills:

Self-awareness is knowing yourself. Before students can launch themselves confidently and successfully in the outside world, they must first be confident and successful on the inside. Knowing, accepting and liking oneself is essential to achieving success in the classroom, in life, and one day in the workplace. In this lesson, students will take a good look inside to discover who they are and who they want to be one day.

Self Awareness

Self Awareness

Social Awareness

Honesty

Responsibility

Team Work

Work Ethics

Communication

Problem Solving

Self Awareness

Social Awareness

Honesty

As students grow up, they have more opportunities to interact with others in various situations. In this lesson, students will learn the importance of becoming social aware, and see how their personal actions positively or negatively affect their interactions with others. These interactions include school, extracurricular activities, volunteer work, family time, friends, and with people they meet along the road of life. This lesson will help students learn how to build a strong new confidence in their ability to successfully interact with others in all kinds of life situations.

Responsibility

Team Work

Work Ethics

Communication

Problem Solving

Self Awareness

Honesty

Social Awareness

Honesty

Being honest is the student’s conscience telling them what is right and wrong. This helps them make the right choice. In this lesson, students will learn that being honest means more than telling the truth. They will learn how to be sincere, genuine, fair to not only others, but to themselves as well.

Responsibility

Team Work

Work Ethics

Communication

Problem Solving

Self Awareness

Responsibility

Social Awareness

Honesty

As students move through middle school, high school and beyond, they will notice they are responsible for more than their weekly chores. In this lesson, students will begin to identify their responsibilities and how to successfully fulfill them in order to build character, enhance relationships, and gain and retain the trust of others.

Responsibility

Team Work

Work Ethics

Communication

Problem Solving

Self Awareness

Team Work

Social Awareness

Honesty

Diverse, creative and productive teams collaborate for success. In this lesson, students will identify the skills needed to become effective team players. Students will also practice the art of being both a working team member as well as a team leader.

Responsibility

Team Work

Work Ethics

Communication

Problem Solving

Honesty

Self Awareness

Work Ethics

Social Awareness

Honesty

Good work ethics tell future employers what they might expect from students on the job. Our final lesson will introduce students to the importance of cultivating solid principles starting right now. They will discover that a good work ethic can be the determining factor in how successful they are in school and in life today, and in the workplace tomorrow.

Responsibility

Team Work

Work Ethics

Communication

Problem Solving

Self Awareness

Communication

Social Awareness

Honesty

The most important message of our Communication lesson is loud and clear: LOOK & LISTEN. In this lesson, students will be encouraged to learn how to put down their social media devices, to open their ears, eyes and hearts and appreciate the vast and endlessly wonderful world around them and live life to the fullest. Students will learn that acquiring the ability to communicate without the help of an electronic device can actually win them more friends, while impressing their teachers and parents.

Responsibility

Team Work

Work Ethics

Communication

Problem Solving

Responsibility

Problem Solving

Self Awareness

Problem Solving

Social Awareness

Honesty

Problem solving means identifying solutions where none existed. It includes students making choices and accepting the consequences when their choices don’t turn out the way they want them to. In this lesson, students will build a strong set of problem-solving and creativity skills needed to succeed in the classroom, in life and, eventually, in the workplace.

Responsibility

Team Work

Work Ethics

Communication

Problem Solving

Responsibility

Problem Solving

Get Prepped

The second stop on the Soft Skills Middle journey is the WORLD OF WORK. Students will get prepped for the world of work by virtually exploring the 16 Career Clusters in order to introduce them to the great big world of career opportunities that await them in the future. Along the way, students will take part in Self-Assessment and Career Awareness activities designed to help them begin to see in which career directions their strengths, interests and values may one day lead them.

Go!

The third and final stop on the Soft Skills Middle journey is GO and Make a Plan. Designed to help students make a successful transition to high school, college, and the world beyond, students will work with their parents, teachers, and our Soft Skills Middle Coach to put together a flexible going forward e-plan that sets future (modifiable) goals and ways to successfully achieve them.

Watch our Course Introduction Video.

Get a glimpse of our engaging online learning platform, interactive lessons, and practical exercises that can help you unlock your own or your students’ full potential to achieve success in both your personal and professional life. Join our community of learners and start your journey towards self-improvement today!

TESTIMONIALS

Student

This course helped me to look forward to what my future life could be like or not.

It taught me how I could succeed in it.

Daniel M.

Student

In the problem-solving module, I learned that you need to do think of your pros and cons and make a list of things you can do to solve it before asking someone.

It helped me with a friend situation.

Brayden R.

I think that the

Student

soft skill about social awareness was the most useful to me.

I also learned how to communicate to other people much better.

Chloe K.

Student

I think the most helpful lesson for me was responsibility because I was not that responsible at home

of doing stuff around the house but now I do things without anyone telling me.

Kaylee G.

Student

I learned the most from the team-work module.

I learned that I need to listen to my group’s ideas, but also make sure that I am adding something to the group.

Jackson M.

Student

how easy it is to learn and be a better person.

I enjoyed the most

Anabele L.

What I like most about this program is that

Teacher

students have the opportunity to get to know who they are and who they strive to become.

The activities are challenging and thought provoking. The modules give the students insight on their interests and values so when they start the World of Work challenges they are able to look at career clusters that may be a good fit. I always add a project or group activity to the end of each module and the information provided by the seminar helps me to come up with fun ideas. And last, I have been very impressed with the support I receive from Softskills AHA employees. I receive quick responses and my needs are always addressed.

Shannon H.

Future-readiness must begin in Middle School

Educational experts widely agree that high school is not early enough to expose learners to the range of high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand careers and to provide the foundational skills necessary to succeed in those careers. The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, also known as Perkins V, emphasizes the importance of career exploration and development activities in middle school, and it allows for funds to be spent on students as early as fifth grade.

Middle school is a crucial period in the development of young people. It is a time when they are transitioning from childhood to adolescence and eventually adulthood, and they are developing important social skills and learning to interact with peers and adults in various settings. Developing soft skills, such as communication, collaboration, and adaptability, is critical for both personal and social growth and success in the workforce. Therefore, parents, teachers, and community leaders should prioritize the development of these skills during this stage of students’ lives.

Although hard skills like coding and robotics are essential, equipping students with 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and adaptability is equally vital. By focusing on these skills, we can prepare middle schoolers to face the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century confidently and with enthusiasm. Middle school is an ideal time to prepare for the rapidly changing world of work, and modern educators have an excellent opportunity to equip students with the necessary soft skills for success in both personal and professional aspects of their lives.