Curriculum Rationale

Hike Your Own Hike

Life Skills/Work Ready Skills Curriculum

The Hike Your Own Hike (HYOH) Secondary Life Skills/Work Ready Skills curriculum is built with components a to enable the delivery of a first-class program that is - above all - relevant to secondary level students. The objective of this curricular product is to prioritize instruction on the basis of relevant and timely student needs with regard to life skills/work ready skills deficits. We recognize that it is vital that we address not just the academic needs of the students we serve, but also the deeper needs that all too often are the real reason that a student may be struggling . 

The HYOH curriculum is built to address those deeper needs in a well-thought-out and comprehensive manner including a Universal Screener with corresponding Tier 1 and Tier 2 components through a framework consisting of six Learning Competencies. The competencies include Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social-Awareness, Responsible Decision Making and Relationship Skills and Self-Care.  These six competencies provide a foundation for the HYOH program. 

            Students begin by completing the Personal Assessment of Core Competencies (PACC), the screener developed to provide a risk assessment specific to the six core competencies.  This screener gives an informed path for the student to follow to strengthen areas where they may be struggling.  Based on their score, students work with an adult to choose a specified number of RidgeRunner Tales (RRT) and activities to complete. These RidgeRunner Tales are narratives written by adults working in education about events in their lives and lessons learned along the way. Each RRT is accompanied by an activity that reinforces the lessons learned and helps students apply those lessons to their own lives. The use of narratives to teach Life Skills/Work Ready Skills is widely supported through research as it allows the student to identify with a character in a story and learn from that character. These nonfiction tales increase the ability to identify  as they are real people that students can identify with to feel less alone in their situations. RidgeRunner Tales are the Tier 2 portion of the program. The Tier 1 portion of the program is the Thru Hike Seminars. Thru Hike Seminars are lessons that everyone needs to learn to be able to successfully complete their journey through life. There are multiple lessons per competency including topics such as Time Management, Nutrition, Appreciating Diversity and Anxiety 101. These lessons have been developed by a committee of counselors, social workers and staff dedicated to the life skills/work ready skills journey of students.   Thru Hike Seminars can be taught in classrooms, small groups and individually as needed.    

By addressing the life skills/work ready skills needs using a hybrid approach with narrative and skill-based direct instruction, HYOH addresses a myriad of student needs in a relevant and timely manner.