The National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent, or At Risk (NDTAC)

Merging Two Worlds (M2W) is a life skills/transition-based curriculum developed by The Arizona Department of Education’s Secure Care Education Committee specifically for secure-care populations. The M2W curriculum is based on the concept that resiliency (the ability to come back from and successfully adapt to adversity) is critical to an individual’s successful reintegration into the community. The M2W curriculum is divided into four chapters, each aligned with the concept of resiliency.

Chapter 1 focuses on self-assessment and is titled “Who Am I?” The chapter guides the student through identification of his/her strengths, interests, abilities, values, learning styles, and skills. Topics in Chapter 1 include values, beliefs, self-confidence, learning styles and interests, personal skills, job and career pathways, and decisionmaking. Chapter 2 is titled “Where Am I Going?” In this chapter, the student uses self-awareness and his/her unique perspectives to make decisions and set personal goals. Topics in Chapter 2 include values, goals, choices, consequences, communication, other points of view, responsibility, critical reasoning, and priorities. Chapter 3 is titled “How Do I Get There?” Lessons in Chapter 3 focus on motivation, self-confidence, work ethics, life management, decisionmaking, health and wellness, relationships, communication, handling conflict and emotion, and persistence. Chapter 4 is titled “How Do I Keep It All Together?” Lessons in Chapter 4 focus on housing; money management; transportation; medical treatment; communication skills; finding, getting, and keeping a job; learning needs and opportunities; leisure time choices; and decisionmaking.

As the student works through the four chapters of the M2W curriculum, he/she builds a personal transition survival guide known as My Resource Guide (MRG). The MRG is an individualized portfolio that allows the student to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information from a variety of sources. The student selects the lessons that are personally relevant and saves them in his/her MRG. The last lesson of each chapter in the M2W curriculum instructs the student to think about previous M2W lessons. The curriculum guides the student as he/she reviews, reevaluates, records, reflects, and reports on his/her work.

The M2W curriculum is designed to be flexible and may be enhanced with or supplemented by content-specific lessons or additional life skills and transition materials that the teacher already uses. Several different versions of the curriculum are available. For more information, visit http://merging2worlds.education.asu.edu/.

Published May 2004, Updated December 2011

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