Tackling the Tough Skills™: A Curriculum Building Skills for Work and Life (Revised Edition)  is a fun, innovative and highly interactive life skills curriculum published by University of Missouri Extension to help hard-to-reach adults or teens prepare for success in work and life.

Recent research shows the curriculum is also effective in teaching soft skills to employees in the workplace. It was written in 1998 by Rosilee Trotta, LCSW, University of Missouri Extension, to help people transition from welfare to work in the St. Louis area. The concept for the curriculum was developed by a team of MU Extension campus and field faculty working with community partners, using an ecological model of family resiliency. The curriculum offers an easy-to-read format, convenient for educators, as well as effective and fun for participants.

The curriculum teaches critical thinking skills through reflection, discussion, small group work and role plays. The easy-to-use 3-ring binder contains 247 humorously illustrated pages, including 93 pages that may be copied for overheads and handouts.

• They are adaptable and appropriate for a variety of participants and are used with teen and adult audiences worldwide.
• The flexible format lets you select a chapter or an activity, or use the whole book.
• Plus, creative and fun content includes dozens of original activities that make learning fun, yet challenging.

Since the curriculum was published in 2000 and marketed through the Internet, Tackling the Tough Skills™ has been impacting adults and teens in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and more than a dozen countries around the world. It is being used to teach life skills to diverse audiences, including Adult Basic Education/GED students, adult and juvenile offenders, school-to-work participants, the homeless, people in shelters, pregnant teens, and 4-H youth, to name a few, as well as to teach soft skills to employees in the workplace. The curriculum was revised in May 2008. For more information visit http://extension.missouri.edu/tough-life-skills.