Self-Management and Responsibility Counseling Group for Middle School

This 7-week middle school self-management and responsibility counseling group is designed to help students use organization tools to set and reach SMART goals. In addition students will practice self-control, develop coping skills, and learn the importance of personal hygiene. This curriculum includes everything you need to run a successful school counseling small group including self-assessments to make data tracking easy. The included weekly outlines are aligned with CASEL Standards and ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors.

Students will learn what it means to responsibly self-manage several aspects of their lives as they plan for their future.

Middle School Self-Management and Responsibility Group Outline:

Week 1: Develop time management skills

Week 2: Set academic and social SMART goals

Week 3: Practice perseverance

Week 4: Practice self-control

Week 5: Understand the importance of personal hygiene

Week 6: Practice coping skills

Week 7: Identify social and emotional barriers

Lessons/Activities Included:

• Scattegories
• BINGO
• Scavenger Hunt
• Challenges
• Jenga discussion
• Discussion cards
• Discussion dice
• Hands on experiment
• Card Game
• Charades
• Beach Ball Toss
• Board Game

Here is what's included each week:

• Outlines: Easy to implement outlines with ASCA and CASEL-aligned objectives
• Group Rules: Suggested and DIY Group Rules poster so students can take ownership of the creation of the group rules and norms.
• Feelings Check: Feelings Check Poster to serve as a visual aid for students to self-reflect on their emotional state at the start of each session.
• Self-Assessments: Pre and post-group self-assessments to track student growth and make data collection easy!
• Engaging games and activities: I include everything you need to run each session. Simply print each week before the students arrive and you are ready to go.
• Self Reflection Journal: Weekly journal reflections with writing prompts.

Benefiting Students:

Each week students will develop skills to set goals build responsibility through self-management.

At a minimum, being in the counseling group allows students to identify and share their feelings, develop important social skills through participation, and practice empathy while hearing others’ experiences.

Saving Time:

With easy-to-implement outlines and activities, this group curriculum is very low-prep. Simply print out each session before students arrive and keep them in a file folder.

The included self-assessments are a great way to get students to self-reflect on their progress and you can then share this information with teachers, and parents, or in your program report.

Who is this Group Designed For?

This self-management and responsibility small group is designed for middle school students in grades 6-8 but it can be modified to work with students across different grade levels.