Using Music to Teach SEL - What is Rock Digi?
Rock Digi is Rock In Prevention’s newest program, an online curriculum that uses music to teach Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and life skills for success.
WHAT GRADE LEVELS IS ROCK DIGI FOR?
Rock Digi has curriculum for grades 2-12.
SEL and Life Skills for Success – Grades 2-4
SEL and Life Skills for Success – Grades 5-6
Rock World Empathy, SEL and Global Studies – Grades 7-9
Opioids, Heroin, Fentanyl, and Other Drug Prevention – Grades 7-12
WHAT KINDS OF TOPICS AND SKILLS ARE TAUGHT IN ROCK DIGI?
The skills taught in each of the Rock Digi lessons were chosen to align with CASEL’s core competencies, which include Self-Management, Self-Awareness, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision Making.
These lessons were created to help create safe, healthy, and supportive environments that extend beyond the classroom – to the whole school, home, and the community. A child’s ability to learn is significantly diminished when they are in a school where they do not feel safe and supported. The more comfortable a student feels in their environment, the more they will be able to focus on what is important to them.
Social emotional learning is the foundation for life. If students have healthy social and emotional skills, they will have a firm foundation for a happy life. People who have these skills are more resilient and able to deal with the ups and downs of life.
Below are all of the lesson topics for each curriculum. Linked to each lesson topic title is a lesson preview video for that lesson. In this video, you will see a small portion of the whiteboard animation for that lesson (where we introduce the topics of the lesson to that student), and you will see the objective for that lesson. This should give you a pretty good understanding of what each lesson is all about.
SEL and Life Skills for Success – Grades 2-4
Lesson Topics:
(Click lesson topics to see a preview video)
SEL and Life Skills for Success – Grades 5-6
Lesson Topics:
(Click lesson topics to see a preview video)
Rock World Empathy, SEL and Global Studies – Grades 7-9
Lesson Topics:
(Click lesson topics to see a preview video)
Opioids, Heroin, Fentanyl, and Other Drug Prevention – Grades 7-12
Lesson Topics:
(Click lesson topics to see a preview video)
DOES ROCK DIGI MEET SEL STANDARDS?
All Rock Digi lessons meet American School Counselor Association (ASCA) standards for Students and American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Mindsets and Behaviors for Student Success.
Our Rock World Empathy, SEL and Global Studies curriculum for Grades 7-9 also meet Social Studies standards – therefore, blending Social Studies and Social Emotional Learning in each lesson.
Many of the Rock Digi lessons also meet various Common Core standards as well.
WHERE DID WE GET THE IDEA?
Rock Digi was created using the best tools from our Rock LIVE program and our Rock PLUS program. The Rock LIVE and Rock PLUS programs were huge successes as they helped over 1.5 million people since Rock In Prevention’s founding in 1990.
The Rock LIVE program was a live program done in the schools as a live, educational workshop that provided educational messaging, social dramas, and interaction among young students, their teachers, and trained high school mentors. These workshops’ training areas were Bullying Prevention, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Prevention, and Character Education. After the workshops, schools received classroom follow-up guides with follow-up activities. This provided teachers with powerful ways to use music to engage students in learning about important life lessons.
The Rock PLUS program evolved from the Rock LIVE program, and became our first curriculum using CDs and workbooks. The Rock PLUS curriculum addresses personal and social skills, academic achievement, health and wellness, alcohol, tobacco, and drug prevention, anti-bullying, media literacy, anger management, problem solving – and helps to develop a positive school climate.
The Rock PLUS Curriculum was developed by utilizing the best practices that the organization had learned from Rock LIVE trainings and workshops to write, develop and implement the Rock PLUS Curriculum. The research project to measure effectiveness was conducted by Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. The curriculum is based on the national standards and guidelines for effective practice known as CASEL (the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning guidelines). Rock PLUS was placed on the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP).
And now, we have taken what we have learned from the Rock LIVE program and the Rock PLUS program to create our first fully online program, Rock Digi! Rock Digi helps us to get our message out to more schools so we can help teach more students the social and emotional skills needed to accomplish their goals and be their authentic selves.
HOW DO I GET IT TO USE IN MY CLASSROOM?
The Rock Digi online curriculum can be found at rockdigi.org, where you can also view some free trial lessons before purchasing the full curriculum.
If you would like any more information about the Rock Digi curriculum, please feel free to contact us – we would be happy to help! We are also available to take you and anyone on your team through the program via Zoom.