Teaching students the skills they may not have mastered during K-12: Opinion

Instructors must help students learn the soft skills they have not mastered during their K-12 studies, writes Steven Mintz. Mintz discusses how skills such as focus, time management, stress and anxiety management, impulse control, and executive function must be taught not only in K-12, but also in postsecondary. The author discusses strategies for teaching students “soft skills” such as prompting students about due dates, encouraging them to understand how their skills can improve with practice, cultivating active listening habits, teaching them to set realistic goals, and discussing the signs of stress. “[I]f you fail to do more to nurture your students’ executive functioning strategies and a positive mind-set, you aren’t doing your job,” writes Mintz.