SEL Staff Strategies

Positive Student-Teacher Relationships: Relationships First

Consistent and positive relationships with adults are the number one determining factor for student success. It all starts with relationships. If you have that relationship first, and have consistent behavior towards them, they will trust that you will still love them unconditionally after the tough moments. With that said, CAREfrontations are important - they are the point of restorative justice and an opportunity for growth.

Significant learning requires a significant adult relationship. When kids have a relationship with their teacher, they want to learn, because they care about that teacher first. [Example: If a student connects with Mr.Harpe’s humor, they may be more willing to learn from him.]

  • Young people spell “trust”, T-I-M-E. Your valuable time produces their trust.

  • Behavior is communication, and it is said to be over 90% of our human communications.

  • This is why self regulation and self management are so important.

  • Kids before Content.

  • If students are secondary, then their learning will be too…

  • If our staff is secondary, our students will be secondary, and learning will be too.

SEL Strategies for Teachers to use

5:1 positive to corrective feedback ratio

  • What does this mean and/or look like? Positive feedback (5) can be to the full group. Plan full group positive feedback.

Check ins: daily and/or weekly / Regular Temperature Checks

    • 3 questions: How are you? Do you have everything you need? What do you need?

    • Asking and recognizing feelings = human value

Check in Questions from The Distance Learning Hierarchy / Maslow’s Hierarchy

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1_Fh_3SenpoVg10jr2HO8I4icy5XJyDSONw3gPEg81OY/edit?usp=sharing

    • Physical Needs: How are you and your family doing? Do you have access to food and necessities? What support can we provide you?

    • Safety Needs: Is your family feeling well (physically and emotionally)? Do you feel safe at home? What do you do to stay active? How can we support you?

    • Love and Belonging: We miss you. What have you been up to? Who have you been keeping in touch with? What’s your favorite way to stay in touch?

    • Esteem: You are doing the best you can/really well/fantastic You are strong and resilient. I’m proud of you.

    • Self-Actualization: What can I do to help you keep up with learning?

Formal SEL Lessons

Connection

    • Human connections are important

    • But, also, remember to make connections that re-associate life to the classroom. Students are disconnected to what they are being taught and often disassociate life from the classroom, and it is our job to bring it in!

Modeling

    • Adults must practice from a point of Wellness to model to our students - we need to put our oxygen masks on first - they will watch us to see how we do so! Kids do not listen to what we say, they watch what we model.

    • Share your own struggles with your students and how you deal with them. We need to model that as adults we also deal with challenges and we have coping methods readily available.

      • Lean into your feelings with your students, then kids know it is normal to have those feelings.

      • How do we cope as adults? How do our students cope, and how is it appropriate to cope?

Sensory Tools

    • If students have sensory needs, suggest helpful things such as fidgets, ball chairs or other moveable seating like the wiggle seats, weighted blankets, or other types of helpful movement.

    • If students need assistance with obtaining these items, contact Marin Marks for help.

THANK YOU, TEACHERS!

Self Care for Educators

Healthier Generation Resource 470.pdf
Coping with Teacher Stress.pdf
SelfCare Educators.pdf
Educator CASEL.pdf

Comprehensive Self Care for Educators: 5 Aspects of Wellbeing

Webinar Hosted By: Alliance for a Healthier Generation

Physical Wellbeing; Health

  • Activity: moving, stretching

    • Endorphins: move for 30 min, chores, gardening, walking, dancing, stretching

  • Nutrition

    • Health: immune function

    • Decrease caffeine intake

  • Sleep

    • Create a device bedtime

Social Wellbeing; Connection

  • Maintain support network

  • Cultivating positive relationships with others

  • Debrief with a friend over the phone

  • Send a postcard to someone

  • Watch a movie or concert with someone

Emotional Wellbeing; Resilience and Managing Stress

  • Practice mindfulness

  • Take breaks

  • Write and reflect

Community Wellbeing; Sense of Belonging

  • Remember you are a part of things greater than yourself

  • Maintain connection with local faith or other communities

Purpose Wellbeing; A way of life that reflects our values

  • Job / Career

  • Volunteer Work

  • Hobbies

  • Parenting

  • Make a values checklist

Finding Balance

Webinar Hosted By: Alliance for a Healthier Generation

Setting Boundaries

Rigid: Under involved, like a fence

Healthy: Helpful, full of identity and purpose, secure and comfortable

Porous: Over involved, too much openness

  • What expectations does the world have for us?

  • How do we want to show up to and for the world?

  • Know your “Yes” non-negotiables and priority people

  • Communicate effectively: how and how often

  • Extend understanding and gratitude, to ourselves and others

  • “I will say yes to…”

  • “Others may not…”

  • “I can ask for…”

  • “I will guard my time and energy by…”



Guarding against Chronic Complaints

  • Recall boundaries

  • Extend empathy

  • Invite some structure

Gratitude

Gratitude is…

  • Affirmation of goodness

  • Recognizing sources of goodness are often outside of yourself

  • Acknowledgement

  • Ways to show gratitude

    • Notes and gifts

    • Public recognition

    • Acts of service

    • Private recognition


Effective Complaining

A valid form of communication

  • Determine your outcome

    • To process through

    • Needing advice

    • Change behavior

  • Start Positive [Positivity sandwich]

  • Be specific

  • End positive [Positivity sandwich]

  • Next subject, please…

After the initial panic and confusion, it seems that people are settling in. Zoom classrooms are up and running. Teachers, parents, and students are slowly moving into a rhythm after spending countless hours working out technology kinks, lighting, microphones, curriculum design, and finding space in the house. Those of you with children of your own at home have figured out a way to get them up and running while providing a virtual classroom to the students you are responsible for teaching—all while figuring out how to get groceries, do laundry, disinfect everything, care for elderly parents, pay bills, and get outside for a little exercise.

All of this, with no actual spring break. No rest. No rejuvenation. No space. No ease.

Maybe you feel a little more confident. And in the same nano-second of time that you feel like you are just arriving at “I got this,” there is another feeling snuggling right up to your new-found confidence. It feels something like dread. How am I going to keep doing this? Is this really sustainable?

The answer is no. Probably not in the current iteration. You must allow for flexibility, patience, self-compassion, and change in order to sustain in this new “normal” for as long as it takes.

How do you cultivate those qualities while still orienting to the ever-changing landscape? Here are some tips to the stave off the dread that you may be feeling right now.

Increase your awareness of your own mind games

Your brain is a powerful tool that is always intending to work in your best interest (survival). However, in the absence of awareness of your own thoughts and reactions, the mind can go rogue, pointing you towards a fear-based response. (Don’t be mad at your brain, it just wants to keep you alive.) Where the brain goes, the body (physical and emotional sensations) follows (and vice versa). They are not distinct from one another, but deeply interconnected.

Increasing your awareness of your thoughts, feelings and body sensations can be cultivated by small, frequent check-ins. It looks something like this:

Take 3 deep belly breaths

Notice your thoughts

Notice what sensations are present in your body

Notice your current emotional state

The more you practice this (I suggest setting an alarm on your phone a few times a day), the more you are able to adjust or attend to any needs you have versus moving through the day in a constant, unconscious state of ________ (fill in the blank).


Reconnect to your purpose

Why did you choose to become an educator, parent, leader, or spouse?

What do you value most?

Identify the people in your life with whom you share these values and connect with them. You are in the trenches together and can support one another. You are not alone in this.

Mindset. Mindset. Mindset.

Mindset awareness is increased by frequent check-ins and daily meditation practice. It can be short, but it should be consistent.

Radical acceptance means that we must accept reality. No matter how hard it is to accept, this is happening. There is a lot outside of our control. Accepting what is, not how you wish it was, enables you to focus on where you can positively impact people and things about which you care deeply.

Shift your mindset towards innovation, possibility, and opportunity for growth.

Celebrate all victories and accomplishments.

Most importantly, you must be flexible. A flexible mindset that can be open to change, stay curious, and remain positive will be your greatest asset in times of uncertainty.


Expand your gaze

In times of high anxiety our minds get singularly and internally focused. We lose perspective. Things get small, internal, limited. Gently move towards expanding your gaze and you’ll see how everything becomes more possible.

Look up and away from your zoom screen, phone, television, or computer.

Notice the world around you.

Tune into your peripheral vision (both literally and metaphorically).

Get outside. Look up at the sky. Gaze at the trees. Track the birds that fly about the yard.

You are connected to the bigger world around you. Feel yourself being a part of it, not separate from it.

And as always, less is more. I know you are feeling stuck between the expectations of your job, your students, their parents, and your family, and your own internal critic has a lot to say about what you are not doing well right now. Breathe it all out. Find your center. Accept what is. Choose only what is necessary and possible. Be flexible. Simplify.

The Digital Learning Playbook

Corwin Publishing

Module One: Taking Care of Yourself; (Ms. Marks’ Interpretation)

It’s Module 1 for a strong reason - It is foundational to take care of yourself first. Just like the flight attendant tells us, we need to put our oxygen mask on first before we can help others; this is why we need to prioritize our personal well-being. We need to replenish our own energy in order to adequately sport our students. As cliche as it sounds it’s important to eat healthy, exercise regularly, have restful sleep, and manage stress. In this new world of Distance Learning and Remote Teaching, it is recommended to consider setting up a comfortable and proper work environment and space. In addition, consider settings or environments where you can regulate yourself as an adult in order to better support students fully. Along with a dedicated space for working, it’s important to set ground rules and establish personal routines, create routines for work, and for taking care of yourself. It is recommended to create a morning routine, maintain regular hours, schedule breaks, and end your day with a routine. The next recommendation is to stay connected; to plan social connections and to have a meaningful conversation with someone outside of your home each day. To increase the likelihood of these plans, it is helpful to have an accountability partner that you check in with regularly. Lastly, in this profession, compassion fatigue is a real thing! With extreme states of tension from both the normal job of education along with remote learning, it has never been more important to have grace for yourself and others.

2020 Back to School Guide - SEL Playbook from Aperture Education

2020_SEL Back-To-School Playbook_v7.pdf