- Okay, so I'm Amy Wheeler-Sutton,
I'm the co-coordinator of the BEST Project
with Sherry Schoenberg who's also here today
and will be helping you out in the chat box.
And we're also here today with Anne Dubie,
our BEST Project extrordinaire.
And many of you I think are pretty familiar with our project
and our work but this is our second webinar
of the new school year.
And we have about 28 more events throughout the school year
helping schools to develop systems, data and practices
to help support students who have
or who are at risk of having social
emotional behavioral challenges.
So this morning we are really focused
on helping keep the focus
on social emotional learning, wellness and mental health
as we head into this next school year.
So we will have you stay muted unless you wanna
raise your hand and say something out loud.
We're a pretty small group so that should be fine.
Or you can utilize the chat box.
We are recording this session.
We did have a little bit of an issue
recording a previous session.
So we're hopeful it's really recording
and that we'll be able to post it on our website.
And feel free to show or hide your video this morning.
We know you've probably got a lot going on,
still being summer vacation for most of you.
Sherry put the link to the materials in the chat box.
So it's just this Google Slides,
which has tons and tons of links in it.
And then another document with just the links.
And you'll find there are some resources linked here
that I'm actually not even going to address in this webinar
because it's only an hour long
but I'm hoping this Google Slides document
can kind of be a treasure trove for you
in terms of coming back to it
and finding resources as you find that you need them.
So hopefully this will be something you come back to.
So we're gonna start with a short opening activity.
We're gonna then begin our content thinking about
how equity and SEL are interconnected
and then we're gonna start at the adult level.
So how can we work to build a strong culture
of wellness for the adults in the building?
What teaming aspects need to be in place
in order for this work to do well
and for staff to really feel supported,
how can we really intentionally build relationships
with not just students but also among staff
and with family members.
What are some of the key SEL skills that both the adults
and the youth in our buildings need this year
and how can we prioritize so that we're not overwhelmed
by everything that trying to do for students and adults.
And then really thinking about how we can integrate SEL
into academic content.
So in a year that teachers might be even more concerned
than they usually are
in addressing lots and lots of academic content,
how can we really build this SEL work into the academic work
they're already doing.
And then just give you a heads up
of some future opportunities.
So hopefully this agenda meets your needs.
And as you're looking at it,
I just want you to think for yourself,
who are you here for today?
So you woke up to be at a nine o'clock webinar,
probably on your summer vacation,
who are you here for today?
Are you an administrator who's here for your teachers?
Are you a teacher who is here for your students?
Are you here to gain knowledge for yourself?
Are you here for a particular student that you have in mind?
So just kind of set an intention for yourself
about who are you here for today.
And you don't have to share in the chat box,
it's just for you.
And just kind of hold that person or group of people
in your thoughts as you're going through this.
Some of this content might not be new for you
but thinking about how you can bring it to your staff
or to your students or to your paraprofessionals
that you supervise, who might it be that you're hoping
gains knowledge as a result of this.
So we did our introductions.
Just as a quick connection activity
I would love for you to think back
to your own school experience and think back to a project
that you were asked to complete, either a group project
or an individual project that really has stayed with you,
the memories of working on that project to this day
and just type into the chat box, what was the project?
So for instance, like the eighth grade
bridge building project or in 10th grade,
we did like a music video to some Jennifer Lopez song.
And I don't remember the connection
to the content right now but what was it for you?
One of those projects that really sticks in your mind
and if you can't think of one
from your own school experience,
what is a project that you assigned to your students
that you think will be the one that they would remember
if they were asked this question?
And you can type into the chat box.
(chuckles)
Jeanette was really rosy, still remembered the songs,
the lines, that each of the grades did.
That's awesome, a whole school musical.
And as people are typing also be thinking about
and also type into the chat box,
what social emotional learning related skills
do you think were required of that project
in order for you to be successful?
So even if those weren't directly taught
but that part of the project wasn't explicit,
what skills do you think you or your group needed
to complete that project?
Wow, Ryan designed a horse stable
for a resident of the town, that's awesome.
Sherry contributed to an international dinner, French pass.
(chuckles)
Awesome.
The egg drop, yeah, my daughter actually just did
the egg drop with her babysitter.
(chuckles)
Yeah, group science experiments,
decorate the room as the country
and took your passports around the world.
Yeah, we did something similar in third grade,
we had like a trunk that we would open up
and there would be all artifacts
from that country in the trunk.
Research and learn about other places
as well as their foods.
(chuckles)
Yeah, that cups song was pretty popular
among my students too.
It was a mental challenge as well as fun.
(chuckles)
Awesome.
So yeah, Ryan's thinking about some of those SEL skills
that were related to that project, right?
Being able to communicate ideas,
identify needs of the residents.
So maybe using some empathy to put yourself
in the shoes of that resident and what might they need.
Nicole coordinated a performance for senior year
talent show song from Greece.
Old school plays, thanksgiving feast,
sing a song for a person who was retiring changed the words.
Yeah, so I'm sure you're designing a lot of these projects
and experiences for your students.
And in the past if you've been teaching for a while
you might not necessarily have been explicitly thinking
about the SEL skills and standards that are connected
with that unit or that project.
But when you go back and think about it,
probably what your students remember from those projects
or what maybe was most challenging for them
was those SEL skills.
So thinking about how they can be taught
in the midst of what you're already teaching
and also how they can be taught on their own.
So feel free to keep typing your experiences
into the chat box as we get going.
I think that was really great for me to help frame for me.
And as we go through, we're gonna use these two
kind of overarching structure.
So many of you are probably familiar with the visual
on the left are systems data practices, visual from PBIS
where we're keeping equity at the center
and really thinking about high outcomes
for all of our students and how can we design our systems
to embed those evidence-based practices and be thinking
about what data sources we have to know whether our students
are successful and whether our systems
are being implemented with fidelity.
And then on the right hand side is the newly updated visual
from CASEL whose acronym I'm gonna forget right now,
of course, maybe Sherry can type it into the chat box
but many of you are probably familiar with CASEL.
And they recently in 2020 updated both their visual
and their materials to centrally locate
identity development, educational equity
and adult student co-creation of the learning environment
to work to create more just communities.
So you'll see down below authentic partnerships
and really thinking about
before there wasn't a ring of families and caregivers
and that was added as well.
So we're always learning and evolving in this world.
And CASEL has kind of led the way with that in some ways.
So we're gonna be keeping these two overarching frameworks
in mind as we talk for the rest of our time.
So when we think about SEL at the tier one level,
which is really what we're gonna be talking about today,
that is an equitable practice.
So ensuring that all students have access to high quality,
social emotional learning curriculum and experiences
increases educational equity.
So if your schools are struggling with,
we're really focused on equity this year,
do we have time to focus on SEL?
Do we have the resources?
Focusing on SEL is gonna lead you in your equity work.
So some barriers to that equitable access to SEL
are things like poverty.
So schools that are less well resourced
and are serving students who are living in poverty
can be a challenge.
Exclusionary discipline practices and policies.
So if your practices and policies are still very punitive
and exclusionary and on the other hand
you're doing all of this great SEL work,
it's very confusing for students.
So they are learning how to manage their emotions.
And they're learning that all of this
is kind of a learning experience,
we're all getting better at this
but then they're being punished
when they're not able to do it,
it's kind of a big disconnect.
So while we're working on SEL,
we also need to be working on making sure that our practices
and policies are inclusionary and preventative
and proactive rather than punitive and exclusionary.
When staff are not engaged in learning
about trauma informed practices
that can be a barrier to SEL.
Implicit bias in staff, which is a guarantee,
we all have implicit bias but when staff
haven't been given an opportunity to examine
their implicit biases and learn some neutralizing routines
that allow them to step past those implicit biases
when they're working with students or families.
And educators level of stress and burnout.
So thinking about where your educators are at
headed into this school year and what their capacity is
for ensuring equitable access to SEL
and what needs to be done to help
with that level of educator stress and burnout
so that they can be ready to provide equitable access
to SEL for their students.
So this quote from,
I'm not sure how to pronounce their name, Jagers,
I thought was important to include
because sometimes we feel like
when we're doing SEL really well,
we've kind of checked that box and we're good to go.
We're doing the best we can for our students.
But what they're saying is that most forms of SEL
while they are necessary and we should be doing them,
they are not sufficient to advance an equitable
multi-cultural, multi-lingual society.
So even if we're doing the best we can with SEL in schools,
if we're not doing these four things
and working on these as a larger society,
the SEL work we're doing within one school building
or within one district
is not gonna move us forward as a society.
So things like examining our biases,
working to address inequities.
So not just kind of ameliorate what happens
as a result of the inequity but thinking about
where inequities lie within education, within health
and all of these have become a lot more apparent
in the past 18 months.
Looking at the root causes of inequities.
So what kinds of structural oppression exists
and that has been internalized by organizations and schools
and then working to interrupt those inequitable practices.
So just a bit of a lofty goal but the idea is
we can't just say we're doing SEL
and think we're gonna change the world basically.
So you'll see these themes kind of emerge
through the prompting questions that I'm gonna provide
for you throughout today.
But these are the kind of pillars
for how we can promote equity through SEL.
So really strong classroom community building.
We're gonna talk a little bit about relationship building
and how to do that intentionally.
Using curriculum in the classroom
that encourages student reflection
on their own lives and society.
So working on that identity work,
cultural integration into the curriculum,
promoting their racial and ethnic identity development,
learning who they are,
who they are connected to with their history,
integrating equity content into the academic subject areas.
So not having separate units about diversity,
equity, inclusion and then that work
that we were talking about earlier,
those project based experiential learning experiences
are another way to promote equity through SEL.
So many of these you're probably already doing
and you'll see these themes continue to emerge
as we talk today.
So like I said, we're gonna start with building a culture
of wellness for adults.
And so I want you to think back to this past school year
and just name in the chat box some of the things
that your school did to work on adult wellness.
Because probably this last school year
more than any other school year,
hopefully this was a priority in your school or district.
Great, so Brook's school was using
circles of faculty meetings,
allowing staff some time and space probably to reflect
and process what was going on.
Ryan's school used circles as well,
walk and talks outside in small groups.
I love that idea, I heard that somewhere else recently
and I think for students as well
rather than I think opening up that opportunity
for conversation as you're walking can really allow students
to engage in a way they might not be able to otherwise.
Connection times, small group discussions,
opportunities for physical well-being, retreat room,
beginning meetings with touching base,
wellness walks, covering a classroom.
Yeah, I would have that suggestion in here too.
Walk and talk with a colleague, adult wellness area,
massage chairs, coffee jars.
(chuckles)
Path wellness challenges, yeah.
Staff breakfast, massages, group lunches, yeah.
Soup club was my favorite thing at my school.
Everyone would bring soup, salad or breads,
recipe shares, awesome.
And we'll save the chat box from today.
So if you see some ideas fly by that you're interested
in taking back, we'll post the link to the saved chat
in the materials for the webinar.
Awesome, thank you guys so much for sharing.
And if things come to you as I'm talking,
feel free to put them into the chat box then as well.
So there's a lot of words on many of these slides
and I'm not gonna read them all but like I said,
hopefully this will be a resource for you to come back to
hopefully with your team and kind of go through
some of these prompting questions
and do some action planning.
But when we're thinking about staff wellness,
we really wanna be thinking about all of our staff.
So did your paraprofessionals have access
to those spaces or activities?
What about people like the bus drivers
and the cafeteria monitors and the,
I'm forgetting what you call the people
who cook the food in the cafeteria.
(chuckles)
Do all of your staff have access to those wellness
and resilience supports or not?
And if not, what can you do to increase their access.
And thinking about those of you who are PBIS schools,
what role can your PBIS team play
in assessing what supports are available,
providing supports, making people aware of those supports
and figuring out what staff really do need.
So Sherry put some links into the chat box
of some kind of assessment tools you could use
with your staff to kind of figure out
where are people headed into this school year.
Did people have a chance to kind of relax
and rejuvenate this summer and prepare themselves mentally
for this school year?
Or are they entering the school year in a rough place?
And thinking about your staff supports
just like you do your students.
So what do all staff need?
What are a few staff gonna need or sorry,
what are some staff kind of need?
And what are a few staff gonna need?
So we don't necessarily need to provide
intensive level supports for all of our staff
but we likely are gonna have to push
those intensive level supports down the pyramid a bit
compared to past years, just from everything
that we've experienced over the past 18 months,
your staff are likely needing a higher level of support
than they have in the past.
And thinking about how relationships among staff
can contribute to that strong culture of wellness.
So how can you build relationships, connections
and relational trust among your staff
even if they're not seeing each other during the day.
So I know that was one of the challenges of last year
was staff who typically would have connected in person
were not allowed to due to safety concerns.
And so how can you still build those connections
in spite of the safety regulations?
How can you build in collaborative opportunities
for your staff?
So I think I saw, I'm forgetting maybe it was Jeanette
mentioning opportunities for staff to connect in that way.
And then really those opportunities for reflection.
So I know several people mentioned staff circles,
that reflective work really is what helps improve staff,
help staff improve their practices.
Great, so these are just some strategies to consider.
Again, I'm not gonna go through all of them
but anything that's underlined is a link here for you.
So there's an example of a staff circle
and this is one from last year but looking it over,
I was like, unfortunately, this is still a really relevant,
some really relevant prompts and quotes.
One of you mentioned this opportunity for staff
to take a break when they need it.
So both scheduled breaks but also some kind of protocol
for when teachers need an unexpected break
and just kind of normalizing asking for assistance,
some kind of tap in tap out protocol.
And like I mentioned we might not necessarily know
where staff are right now
and what their biggest concerns are
but thinking about some kind of survey
and then prioritizing those concerns first.
So again, there's lots of other ideas listed down below.
So take a second just to jot down either something that
someone else mentioned in the chat box
or something from this slide that you wanna come back to
or that you think your team should prioritize.
And if you're here as just an individual teacher
who's not part of PBIS team or leadership team
or recovery planning team,
thinking about how you can do these things for yourself
if they're not part of your school system
or how you can bring these ideas to whatever team
might be responsible
for improving staff wellness and culture.
I'll give me just one more second to jot down an idea.
Okay, so directly connected to what I was just saying,
you're gonna have the most success
with everything that we're talking about today
if you're doing this work as part of a team.
So if you're just here as a classroom teacher
and ready to do this work on your own,
nothing is stopping, hopefully nothing is stopping you.
Hopefully administrators are fully supportive of SEL work
this year but as part of a team you're gonna be able
to systematize this work so that all students have access
to this high quality SEL work.
And so that you have the support and resources
that you need.
So think about what team or teams have been holding
this work in the past, last year,
during the recovery planning process.
What's the communication been like between those teams
and maybe your PBIS team?
Sorry, there's a type of there, should say during re-entry
and have all voices been represented during that planning.
So maybe for instance, you're a K-8 school
and whenever SEL conversations have been happening,
you have representation from your K-5 staff
but your middle school teachers are represented
on those teams and maybe don't have a voice
in what they think will work for the middle school students.
So making sure those teams are representative
and have a variety of voices.
And then does whatever team we're talking about
have what they need in order to do this work.
So are they given the time and resources
to be able to do SEL work well?
And then if you're an administrator thinking about,
are you sending the message this year
that SEL is a priority?
And if so, what's that message sound like?
Who's getting it?
And is it believable?
Is it coming alongside SEL as the most important?
And now we're having a new math curriculum
and we're gonna have a 90 minute science block every day
or whatever it might be.
So thinking about what the messaging is
and whether staff are really gonna believe
and be able to sit with SEL being a priority this year.
And then if you're a staff member,
what messages have you received about SEL this year?
Have you received the message that it's a priority
and do you feel supported and know what that means
to be able to do this work?
And as you all probably know,
it is one of the three focus areas
of the recovery planning work.
So it should be well resourced, it should be a priority
but whether that's the reality in your district or school
or not is something to think about.
And then like I mentioned really thinking about
what data sources you have to understand what the staff
and student needs are this year.
And who's gonna review that data, how often
and when is that gonna happen?
And then hopefully you have an action plan,
either your school-wide action plan
or a PBIS team action plan or both.
And has that been updated?
Do you have time during teacher in service to do that work
so that you have some clear SEL goals for the year.
So the idea here is that if you have a strong team
that is able to support one another,
hopefully that strong team is then able to support
your staff and with a strong staff,
you'll be able to support your students
and families during yet another really challenging
and confusing and scary and hard year.
So thinking kind of up the ladder of how you can make
each of these levels really strong
and have what they need to do the work.
So if you are just a classroom teacher,
which I don't think of you as just
but if you're feeling out on an island alone on this,
how can you advocate up to the next level
to remind of the importance of this, especially this year?
Okay, so take another second thinking about teaming.
What's something that we've talked about in this section
that feels most relevant for you or for your school
that you want to take back and prioritize.
Okay and I just happened this morning as I was
Twitter scrolling to notice that Colchester School District
yesterday actually was doing some work around
identifying their why of engaging in social
emotional learning work this year.
So you can see they're being led through an activity
around how are social emotional learning skills
and academics linked.
So I thought that was really encouraging to see.
So I think in this relationship building section,
many of you who are on this call
are probably very comfortable
building relationships with students.
This is something that might come naturally to you
but we wanna think about how we can intentionally
build relationship building into each classroom
and across the building so that all staff
have this as a skill.
And that all students are accessing adults
that are strong at relationship building.
We did some focus groups with some students
and family members this past June.
And one of the things that someone
from Chamberlain Elementary said was
when her child is walking through the building
all of the teachers in the building know her child.
So they know her name, they know a little something
about her and just the kind of joy and comfort that comes
with the people around you knowing who you are
really made an impact on both her daughter and the mom
to know that her daughter is walking into a building
where people know her.
So Nicole is asking about suggestions
for how to collect data from staff
that doesn't add to their to-do list
but can be done pretty regularly
and give team good feedback, yeah.
So I don't know how successful this has been at UVM
but we get a weekly email and in that email
there's a link to probably two or three question survey
just about like where are you at?
How are you doing?
And so I'm sure there might be somebody
who fills it out every week but likely every so often
somebody will click on it probably when they're feeling
either really good or not so great.
So the data is probably skewed to both of those.
I don't know that anybody's clicking on it
when they're like, no, I'm fine.
But it might give a temperature gauge.
So maybe there's an opportunity in somebody,
maybe in your Nicole's or your principal's email signature
to just click how are you feeling today
and could go to a survey that might be families,
might be students, might be maybe not students for you guys,
'cause you're K-2, I don't know how many students
are getting emails from the principal or staff
and have two or three quick questions.
So building it in as always being an option for people
and then maybe once a month pushing it out
as we'd really love to hear from everybody
this week about this, so that's just one idea.
Other people probably did something last year.
If you wanna put into the chat box
how you did that in a way that didn't burden
the staff further.
It also might be, we do so much electronically
and so many emails that are coming flying by.
It might be something that is more successful
as a post-it note into a little coffee jar
or something that gets passed around at staff meeting
or something like that
to break up the monotony of everything being online.
Although I don't know if you're having staff meeting
in person this year.
So some questions for your team to consider
about relationship building, thinking about
how your PBIS efforts contribute to relationship building.
So when students are taught the expectations prompted
to be able to remember the expectations
and acknowledging when they're meeting those expectations,
that contributes to a strong classroom community.
So helping staff see the link
between those strong classroom practices in PBIS
to developing their strong classroom communities.
And then this is kind of referencing what Nicole
was talking about but how will we know which students
and families are feeling that they have strong relationships
with the staff and for students amongst the students, right?
So peer relationships as well, how will we know which staff
have strong relationships with one another?
How are we making sure our staff, students and families
all feel safe?
And that's both physical safeness and emotional.
And then this kind of references back to the piece
I was talking about before about that disconnect
between kind of punitive exclusionary discipline
and trying to work on strong classroom communities.
So thinking about how we are responding
when concerning behaviors are occurring in the moment
and also in terms of consequences
and how does that contribute to either developing
strong relationships or damaging relationships
both with students and with families and with staff, right?
If staff don't feel supported in the way that behaviors
are being responded to by administrators
or by people outside of the classroom,
that can damage relationships amongst staff.
And Sherry's giving some great ideas in the chat box
in reference to Nicole's question about collecting data
from staff in ways that are manageable.
So positive greetings at the doors
seems like the simplest strategy in the world
but they actually did research
on positive greetings at the door.
So using student's name, making eye contact
with them every morning, giving a quick check-in
before they head into the classroom
actually increased both on task work
or on task behavior
as soon as students entered the classroom
and feelings of classroom culture and climate.
So really simple strategy.
And during COVID the one thing we heard resoundingly
from families was having someone outside greeting them,
the family and the student
first thing in the morning was huge.
And being able to give your child to another adult
rather than just sending them in the building
was really, really powerful for a lot of families.
So thinking about how things like that
can be mimicked this year so that that connection maintains.
Some opportunities for a little bit more in-depth
daily check-in with each student
and then things of course like morning meeting,
advisory, community building circles really go a long way
in helping students to feel a sense of belonging
and trust in the adults and their peers
and develop much stronger relationships.
And then the last strategy I wanted to give
around relationship building comes from Harvard,
it's called relationship mapping.
And some of you have probably done this in your building
where you have every student listed,
either in a digital way or on chart paper
and adults are asked to indicate which students they feel
they have some kind of connection with
and you could give them a way to measure that.
So do they know something about
what this kid likes to do outside of school?
Or do they know a family member's name
or something like that.
And the link that's here gives you a protocol
for how to go through this process.
But the idea is you've mapped now
which students in the building have lots of connections
and relationships with other adults
and which students might not have any.
And then what are you gonna do about that.
So one of the strategies for what are you gonna do
about that is called silent mentoring.
And so adults in the building volunteer
to be a silent mentor for a student,
which basically means the student doesn't know
that they've been assigned a mentor
but the adult is now intentionally,
I think it's three times a week,
going to make a connection with that student
about something outside of school.
And so they are kind of in a more natural way
and a less time intensive way for the adults
than a formal mentoring relationship.
I'm gonna make a connection with a student
who has been identified as needing additional connections.
I believe there's also a protocol on there
for doing it the opposite way.
So having the students assess whether they have an adult
in the building that they have a connection with.
And it's really interesting to compare.
So some students in the building, the adults might say,
"Yes, I have a connection with this student"
and the student identify as
"No, there's no adult in the building
I have a connection with."
So really helpful data to have.
So take a second to jot down for yourself
something that you heard in the chat box
or something on this side that you think your team
should prioritize this year or you as an individual.
And if you have any ideas that we haven't mentioned
that you use in your classroom or in your school to develop
strong relationships with students or families
please jot them in the chat box.
One idea I think I mentioned last year on this webinar
is the idea of a parent expertise survey.
So asking parents what they might have an expertise in
that they could present to the classroom.
And obviously this year,
it probably have to be done virtually
but they might be really great at baking blueberry pies
or maybe they study reptiles for their job
or whatever it might be,
something that they could bring into the classroom,
maybe a piece of their culture that could both
help your students gain some knowledge
about something they might not know anything about
but also draw your families into the classroom
in a way that they might feel really empowered
to share something that they feel strongly about.
So this is a video from Aimee Randall at Jericho
talking about how she worked
to build classroom community last year.
So I'm gonna just minimize here.
- [Aimee] Eight weeks of school every...
Building new class community takes a lot of time.
I definitely followed the first six to eight weeks of school
every year and it's time well spent.
I definitely had a more challenging time
as we all did this year.
Meeting is crucial.
Part of our morning message is a quote
often from Kindness Rocks, from the Kindness Rock Project.
We have student generated walk-up songs where we dance.
We have memes that the kids create,
then and now photos that they submit.
We also wrote a book together
based on our work with growth mindset.
We use the Second Step curriculum.
I teach all of the units in ClassDojo, big idea resources,
Foreign variable in building classroom community
are common challenges.
So breakout EDU, science labs, STEM discovery,
wondering Wednesdays, all are important.
In addition, while all of that's going on in the classroom,
I'm also going out into the field, so to speak,
to get to know kids on different levels.
So I'm attending their soccer games,
going to their dance recitals, going to their ski races
and that all helps build community.
One of our favorite, as you can see is our trail Tuesday.
So every Tuesday we hike into the forest, our class leader
knocks on the forest tree to ask permission to enter.
And we go into our outdoor forest classroom.
We have a meeting space,
each clan team of four or five kids builds their name,
their motto and they build their own little mini community.
They have multiple science challenges
well outside during our mornings on Tuesdays
they've fort built here and they're super proud
of all their efforts all while building community together.
Shared experiences are great to build community.
So this is a Buddycheck peer support.
We also have a K-Buddy Project
where we support kindergarteners.
And of course we're always adding rocks to kindness garden.
Read aloud is another shared experience
that helps build community.
Highly recommend the "Flight of the Puffin" by Anne Braden
who's a Vermont author.
Her books connect with our Kindness Rock Project
that we are big into as a classroom family.
We also built a little free library
and we are in charge of filling that
to help build community within our school.
Book clubs are another way to talk about texts
and the world around us.
My students also made t-shirts
so everyone made their own t-shirt.
They worked together in their clans to design
and it united us as a classroom family.
We wear them every Tuesday.
And challenges are another way to build collaboration
and cooperation through robotics.
And we also do mystery meets where we work together
to find out where in the world another class is.
Common challenges, low stakes competitions are a great way
for kids to challenge themselves individually
and as a classroom family.
Common goal and supporting each other.
We use Greg Tang Math, Sumdog and Epic Reads.
Riding Buddies is a great way for students to receive
and give feedback in a safe environment.
This year we started a what's on your mind jar,
and it's a simple PostNet that kids can write on
whatever's on their mind, big ideas, small things
and a Y for yes, they wanna have a classroom
family discussion about it or no, they do not.
And it's actually sparked many thought provoking
and transformative class discussion.
Highlighting and honoring students' strengths
is important in building a classroom community.
One of our students is an incredible artist
and she is also extremely thoughtful and caring.
And she spent the year interviewing her classmates
and creating a personalized poster for each student
and gave it to them on one of the last days of school
as a goodbye and a thank you for being a friend.
One of the challenges for any teacher is to build
and continue to build that positive classroom community
when students are often moving in and out of your classroom.
So we spend a lot of time welcoming new students
like with these post-it notes
that are similar to Kindness Rocks
with messages of belonging and welcoming.
And we like to get together often to celebrate.
We celebrate often and it's always student driven.
So they have a voice in what we do and how we celebrate
together as a classroom family.
There's true ownership and it really helps foster
kindness and life lasting relationships.
- So thanks to Aimee for sharing that video with us.
I know that was kind of jam packed with different ideas.
And so Brook let me know the sharing settings
on the sideshow are not right so I'll fix that
as soon as we sign off but you'll see down below
there's the link to Aimee's video there
and she said, feel free to share it as you please.
So I will re-present.
Okay, so like I mentioned, you're gonna kind of have
to prioritize what knowledge and skills and attitudes
you're looking for adults and youth to gain this year.
So you're not gonna be able to read this
but this references back to our CASEL visual
and they have grouped the SEL skills
into five different categories.
So you'll be thinking about these categories and skills
as you're building your lesson plans
both kind of individual SEL lessons
but also within your academic curriculum.
But thinking about this year, what is really critical
for students and adults to gain in terms of knowledge,
skills and attitudes.
So thinking about the context that we're in,
what would you prioritize as skills?
So maybe some of these would be nice to have
in typical years but in this year are critical.
How are you gonna teach and make sure
that students are learning those skills?
How, if you're an administrator or a coach,
can you support staff and strengthening these competencies
in themselves so that adult SEL work
could be its own webinar?
And then are these linked to standards in any way?
So this is Koi Valley's Supervisory District
recently did a lot of work with CASEL
to develop district-wide SEL standards K-12.
So in this slideshow, when you have access to it,
this is a link to their presentation
from the summer institute where they detailed
how they got to that place of having
district-wide SEL standards.
So thinking about which skills you wanna prioritize,
how can you use your PBIS framework
and the teaching work that already exists within PBIS
to promote that teaching and learning?
What might your matrix look like if it had SEL skills in it?
And then that adult SEL work of the adults in the building
gaining awareness of their own strengths and needs
in this area.
So like I said, that's its own webinar.
There are many recorded webinars out there not from us
but from other organizations like CASEL about adult SEL.
So this is just an example of what some boxes
you might take to fill in your matrix
if you're including SEL skills
rather than just kind of those routines
like being respectful in the bathroom
is not looking through the stall doors or something,
that's a very procedural thing
or where you put your tray in the cafeteria
but kind of moving beyond that in your matrix
to including some of these SEL skills
that you aspirationally would like
your students to be able to do.
And then I think the most critical piece
is how can we integrate this SEL work
into our academic content?
So having teachers think about
where are the places the SEL fits naturally?
If you're an administrator or a coach,
how can we support teachers to know
that this is not another new thing
that they're already doing this
and we just wanna help them do it better
and more intentionally.
And then how can we provide teachers with the support
they need in order to be able to do this?
So are we giving them common planning
and reflection time around this?
So we're doing that around math and literacy.
Are we doing it for SEL?
Are we giving teachers a chance to observe other classrooms?
So just think about what a teacher within Aimee's building
could learn just from observing a 20 minute section
within her classroom,
where she's doing morning meeting, for instance.
And is there an opportunity for coaching,
like there is for literacy and math.
And then how can we model integrating SEL?
So when someone is presenting in staff meeting
about a math topic or a literacy topic,
how can they be integrating SEL into what they're doing
to be able to model that for staff?
So there's a great resource called
the Classroom Integrated Academics and Behavior Brief.
I'm not gonna go into this in detail
but basically we wanna be able to weave together
that academic and behavioral instruction so that students
are experiencing it as one thing
because it's not a dichotomy.
We don't have to choose between focusing on SEL
or focusing on academics, we can do them both together
in order to reach our academic goals.
So breaking it down into those competencies,
those five CASEL areas,
thinking about where in your lesson plan or your routine
can you address those five areas.
How can you prompt the skills in the moment?
So that's kind of generalizing that
to outside of the curriculum and the lesson.
How can you always be making connections between the content
and the SEL competencies?
So even if it's not part of the lesson
but you're reading a book about something
that sparks your remembering one of these competencies,
how can you draw that connection for the students?
And I think I know I already said something else
that's most critical but I think this is most critical
is modeling these skills.
So when you're feeling frustrated as an adult
in the building saying,
"Whoa, I am feeling really overwhelmed and frustrated.
I can't get my computer to work.
I'm gonna take three deep breaths.
I'm trying to get to the green zone."
Whatever your language might be that you're using
within your SEL lessons, drawing that out
and narrating out loud how you're self-regulating
can help the students see that adults do this too.
So there's lots of different ways to embed it, right?
You might have a explicit SEL curriculum,
something like Second Step or Open Circle.
And that's great but we wanna think about
how you can draw that language throughout your lesson plans
throughout the natural flow of your day.
And then thinking about
how some of your instructional practices
that you're already using are helping students
to improve their SEL skills.
So things like thinking pair share, jigsaw group work,
all of those things are helping students naturally
improve their SEL skills.
So we're gonna skip this activity
but I'm sure if you think of your favorite book that you use
in your classroom or in your school,
there are countless SEL competencies that you might address
as part of talking about the content of that book
and the characters and what they are experiencing.
So I'm also gonna skip this for right now,
if we have time at the end, I'll come back to it.
But it's a great example of a high school.
Many of our high schools kind of struggle
with what does SEL look like at the high school level.
And this is a great example of them building SEL skills
through their academic curriculum during advisory.
So this link here where it says examples
comes from Berkeley and it's a gigantic list of example
learning targets in that we can kind of language
that would be really great to embed within your lessons.
So that's an awesome resource.
And then you've probably, if you're familiar with CASEL,
you're probably familiar with the three signature practices,
which is three really simple practices
that every classroom should have.
And this playbook that guides you through
how to develop those in your classroom.
So it could be something
you could spend time on during teacher in service.
So when teachers are struggling with,
I don't have time for this,
we wanna be reminding that this work
is actually gonna save teachers time in the long run.
So when students are explicitly taught these skills
and they experience really engaging
differentiated instruction,
they're less likely to exhibit challenging behaviors
that often waste time in the classroom.
So there's some research and some more ideas from CASEL.
So coming up, we have our coordinators
welcome back webinar on September 9th.
So if you are a PBIS coordinator,
either at the school level or district level,
that is a great webinar to get the latest and greatest
information about PBIS this year.
If you're new to PBIS or you have staff members
who wanna learn more,
there's the PBIS in 60 Minutes webinar on September 14th.
And then we will have our annual forum on October 7th,
which will be a full day learning opportunity with,
I think we counted yesterday, like 15 workshop options,
some ignite sessions.
And that's also where we do our acknowledgements.
So really a great day.
There's some references here for you at the end.
And then if you can, oh, 10 o'clock exactly.
Oh my goodness.
If you can type into the chat box,
one commitment that you will make this year
to prioritizing SEL.
And then if you have any remaining questions
and as soon as we get signed off here,
I will open up the PowerPoint to be shared with all of you.
I just forgot that step.
And like Sherry said in the chat box,
you will get a email from Anne shortly
with a link to a feedback survey.
So let us know how this webinar went for you.
And at the end of the survey, before you click submit,
you'll see a link that allows you to download a certificate
of attendance for today.
And thanks so much for being here.
- Wow, Amy, one hour on the dot.
Perfect, terrific, chock-full of so many resources.
I tried to put them in the chat box
and they're on the website.
So thanks for your participation today.
Good luck with the beginning of the school year.
- I'm gonna stop recording Sherry.
- See what happens.