Overcoming Obstacles is a free, research-based, and award-winning K-12 life skills curricula that provides educators with hundreds of lessons to teach elementary, middle, and high school students the skills necessary for success. Since 1992, Overcoming Obstacles has been taught by over 450,000 educators in all 50 U.S. states and in 170 countries, improving the lives of more than 100 million young people.

Everyone knows that students need to learn life skills, but actually teaching these skills can be challenging. Overcoming Obstacles helps educators capture abstract concepts and break them down into concrete and easier-to-teach lessons. And here are the things that life skills teachers are exposed to and do through this platform:

• Each lesson begins with an agenda, objectives, and a list of required materials. The goals are clearly stated in the objectives which helps teachers establish what the expectations are for the lesson and what their students can hope to learn.
• The opening of each lesson provides the teacher with a quick definition that is often designed around a brief activity or anecdote to focus young people’s attention on the skill being introduced.
• When teachers facilitate an activity or discussion, their students draw from prior experience to demonstrate the concept or skill they are learning.
• When students participate in an interactive activity, they apply what they have been taught.
• Finally, students reflect on the skill they just learned and see how it relates to their lives and how they would apply it every day.

Lessons also feature extensions, giving the educators additional opportunities to further develop each skill. Their students will analyze quotations, conduct research, develop technology skills, write journal entries, and work on additional projects.

Students will learn with hundreds of lessons, starting with communication, decision-making, and goal-setting skills. In addition, Overcoming Obstacles covers more than 25 additional skills, including:

• Anger Management
• Bullying Prevention
• Citizenship
• College and Career Readiness
• Confidence Building
• Conflict Resolution
• Coping
• Empathy
• Financial Management
• Leadership
• Perseverance
• Personal Health
• Problem Solving
• Resiliency
• Respect
• Responsibility
• Self-esteem
• Service Learning
• Studying
• Time Management

According to overcomingobstacles.org