Faculty Self-Care and Professional Development
Educator Well-Being
Taking care of yourself is the best gift you can give your students. Teachers have many time constraints and busy schedules. Often taking just a few minutes for sharing and offering mutual support can make all the difference. In fact, research shows that a sense of belonging serves as a protective factor in decreasing overall stress and increase self-efficacy. We all benefit from well-being plans that build resilience through mindfulness, meditation, social/emotional support and a balanced routine. Read on to learn more about self and community care.
Town of Bedford has an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) available 24/7 provided. This is a free confidential counseling service available to all employees. Professional counselors are available to talk with employees and their family members about any issue - work related or personal - that may be making it difficult to be entirely productive or to cope in all areas of life. You can reach the EAP at 800-451-1834.
Breathe for Change - Yoga, mindfulness, social-emotional learning for educators and families
Calm.com - Sleep, meditation, and relaxation app
Down Dog - All Yoga, Barre, Hiit, and 7 minute workout apps completely free until January 1st, 2021 for all teachers
Fostering SEL and Self Care for Our Students (appropriate for adults too!) with Victoria Cheng-Gorini
Headspace - Headspace is meditation made simple. They teach you the life-changing skills of meditation and mindfulness in just a few minutes a day.
Mental Health Moments - “Bite sized” tips and strategies for educators and parents to support the mental health of all
Care for Yourself and Your Students in Trying Times by Second Step - SEL for Adults Resilience
Permission to Feel, by Marc Brackett, is the premier resource for developing emotional intelligence through social learning and emotional learning.
SEL4MA - A collection of resources offered by SEL4MA to support educators and mental health staff with navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ten Percent Happier
App - Guided meditations
Newsletter - Free weekly newsletter, the Ten Percent Weekly, features original essays by our teachers on happiness, meditation, and the mindful life, plus updates on new content in the app, new podcast episodes, and upcoming events.
Riverside Trauma Center - Video resources for adults and teens about ambiguous grief, coping, brain fog, psychological first aid and more
Yoga Resources for Teachers & Parents
Articles
As we talk about reopening schools, are the teachers ok?
Ten Strategies for Educators' Wellbeing: A Handbook for Schools During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Creative Ways of Taking Care of Yourself
Understanding the Mental Health & Social Impact of the Coronavirus: Finding the Middle Path
Coronavirus Sanctity Guide - Ten Percent Happier
Books
WHOLE: What Teachers Need to Help Students Thrive
SEL Classroom Integration
Quick Links & Resources
Quick Links & Resources
21 Simple Ways to Integrate Social Emotional Learning Throughout the Day
ArtsWave- Mindful Music: Provides 10 weeks of daily doses of guided meditation set to music from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Opera.
Build Social Emotional Skills into Any Class
Daring Classrooms: Brene Brown, "We must be guardians of spaces that allow students to breath, be curious, and to explore."
Teaching Diversity, Equity and Race through Teaching Tolerance: Check out these amazing resources that teach kids the importance of diversity.
Common Sense Media: Teaching Digital Citizenship: A collection of lessons to help teach students to use online etiquette, navigate digital bullying, and vet online sources.
Cosmic Kids Yoga: A series of videos that teach kids the basics of yoga, mindfulness, and relaxation. This is a good emotional regulation choice for kindergartners.
Go Noodle: A series of videos that promotes movement, as well as various goals of alerting or calming your body.
Headspace for Kids: An app that teaches the fundamentals of meditation through simple, fun breathing exercises.
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success: This book by Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck delves into the power of mindset. For people who desire a 6 minute synopsis of her growth mindset concept, check out this growth mindset video.
MindUp: A program that teaches K-12 students the science behind our emotions, as well as ways to regulate stress and be a more compassionate person.
Pathway to Success - 25 Ways to Integrate Social Emotional Learning
Random Acts of Kindness: A non-profit organization that provides free curricula to help students build social and emotional skills.
Social Thinking: Resources for educators and specialists to help students that struggle with social emotional norms.
Second Step: A classroom and building curriculum that provides education professionals, families, and the larger community with tools to enable them to take an active role in social emotional learning.
Sesame Street- Growth Mindset: A simple explanation of growth mindset for young children, presented by the Sesame Street gang and Bruno Mars!
SkillStreaming: A 4-part approach to teaching prosocial thinking.
Stop, Breathe, & Think: An app that helps kids ages 5-10 practice being quiet, focused, and peaceful.
Teaching Tolerance: An organization that provides free resources to help teachers supplement curriculum, inform their practices, and create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.
Wide Open School: A free collection of the best online learning experiences for kids. This can be used by educators or families.
Xello- An Educator’s Guide to Developing Social-Emotional Learning Skills in Your K-12 Students: An e-book further explaining SEL, the research behind it, and tips for implementation.
ZONES of Regulation: A system used to teach emotional self-regulation and emotional control. The book provides a foundation of the framework and is filled with self-awareness activities and growth mindset worksheets.
On-Demand Webinars
Back to School: Prioritizing Students' Social-Emotional Needs
August 25, 2020
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Before students can focus on what they are being asked to learn and do in the classroom, they must feel safe, connected, and emotionally secure. Join us as we share teaching strategies and flexible resources designed to help you begin getting to know your students as individuals and facilitating the process of creating an open, supportive, and reflective classroom community.
August 31-September 1
September 14-15
October 8-9
Build Social Emotional Strengths through Intentional Relationships
Educational success and social-emotional development blossom when caring adults and supportive peers are present in young people’s lives, and build developmental relationships.
Relationships are developmental when they help young people discover who they are, nurture abilities to shape their own lives, and learn how to engage with and contribute to the world around them.
Our research team identified five critical elements of developmental relationships:
Express Care
Challenge Growth
Provide Support
Share Power
Expand Possibilities
In the Developmental Relationships – Bring Intention to Practice workshop, you'll learn to be intentional and inclusive in strengthening developmental relationships with young people.
September 23, 2020 @ 1:00pm - 2:00pm (PDT) / 4:00pm - 5:00pm (EST)
Presented by: Jonathan Juravich
January 14, 2020
Presented by: Tom Whisinnand, 2019 Grand Prize Sanford Teacher Award Winner
In this webinar, Tom Whisinnand, a.k.a. Mr. Whiz, reflects on how caring learning environments have transformed learning spaces in his classroom and beyond. Mr. Whiz knows teachers are the key to our future. In this engaging presentation, he will inspire educators to continue changing the world.
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Presented by: Leah Juelke, 2019 North Dakota Sanford Teacher Award State Winner
In this webinar, you’ll learn practical ways to support, understand, and build connections in your multi-cultural classroom using digital tools either in the classroom or in remote learning settings.
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Presented by: Michael Soskil, Author, Teacher, Speaker, 2016 Global Teacher Prize Top 10
In this webinar, you’ll learn the purpose behind Social-Emotional Learning, why it is critical, how STEM is integrated and how to get started.
Thursday, May 21, 2020
Presented by: Dorina Sackman-Ebuwa, 2014 Florida Teacher of the Year and Top-4 Finalist, National Teacher of the Year
In this webinar, you’ll receive various tools, tips and advice for teaching and emotional learning during Covid-19.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Presented by:
Dr. Brian McDaniel, 2018 California Teacher of the Year and 2019 Global Teacher Prize Top Finalist
In this webinar, Dr. McDaniel will inspire you to dream big for all of your students. He will share how the importance of building relationships is the foundation for supporting student success in school and beyond. These relationships will help transform the ordinary to the extraordinary. He will share several case studies of how former students who once struggled became shining stars with his care and high expectations for all in his band class. Join this webinar to be inspired and motivated to support the amazing future of your students!
April 24, 2020
This webinars explores the practical realities and research foundations of how distance learning offers both opportunities, and imperatives, to re-establish relationships during school closure—and learn some of the new ways that students, parents, and educators are connecting to advance the work of schools. After a brief overview of foundational research on the role of relationships in learning and thriving, the webinar will lift up innovations and early learning from leaders in schools and systems across the country.
As part of the CASEL CARES initiative, they are offering free webinars every Friday to address how SEL can be most helpful in response to today’s circumstances.
This series is made possible with support from The Allstate Foundation.
Additional Resources, Courses, Certificate Programs
Helping Students Heal From Trauma
Many children will return to school still grappling with the emotional toll of the crisis. This guide helps schools address trauma and anxiety through an equity lens, helping students heal from both individual and collective trauma.
After months away from school, students and teachers will return eager for connection. This guide offers strategies for teachers and school leaders to work together to create a positive, welcoming environment for every member of the school community.
STAT : Support for Teachers Affected by Trauma
The STAT curriculum is designed to help you understand Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) and provide ways to mitigate its effects through the use of self-care techniques and a variety of helpful resources. STAT is a five-module, self-paced course geared toward pre-K thru grade 12 teachers and school administrators.
Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc.
MPY provides training, fosters collaboration, and develops programming to increase the health and safety of students. MPY is committed to bringing cutting-edge information and high quality trainings to our constituents and endeavors to provide solution-oriented, community-based, multi-disciplinary approaches to reducing and ideally eliminating risky behaviors for youth.
This 30-minute informational video walks you through how to support the social-emotional development of both students and staff while they are physically apart. It highlights SEL best practices and resources that can be leveraged for distance learning.
In this webinar, child development specialist, Akira Gutierrez and Director of Social and Emotional Learning for North Andover Public Schools, Nicole Murphy introduce our Trauma-Informed SEL toolkit while sharing lessons learned at the district and classroom level. We also hear about ways to help students process feelings as they navigate the uncertain period of Coronavirus as well as during their transition back into the classroom. Participants will leave the webinar with resources and strategies to better establish a trauma-informed environment.
Skills-Based Health/Social Emotional Learning Certificate
The Skills-Based Health/Social Emotional Learning (SEL) certificate is designed to help educators enhance their knowledge of health content and develop their teaching skills. Coursework is based on the National Health Education Standards and the CASEL Social Emotional Competencies. All classes for this program are delivered online.
Trauma Informed SEL
Bounce Back and CBITS Online Training Opportunities
Free Cognitive Behavior Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) and Bounce Back trainings for working with students who were exposed to trauma (and a few other free resources): for Elementary staff: https://bouncebackprogram.org; for Middle & High School: http://cbitsprogram.org
The Impact of Trauma on Learning
Part 1: Academics
Neurobiological, epigenetics, and psychological studies have shown that traumatic experiences in childhood can diminish concentration, memory, and the organizational and language abilities children need to succeed in school. For some children, this can lead to problems with academic performance, inappropriate behavior in the classroom, and difficulty forming relationships. Learning about the impacts of trauma can help keep educators from misunderstanding the reasons underlying some children’s difficulties with learning, behavior and relationships.
The Impact of Trauma on Learning
Part 2: Classroom Behavior
For many children who have experienced traumatic events, the school setting can feel like a battleground in which their assumptions of the world as a dangerous place sabotage their ability to remain calm and regulate their behavior in the classroom. Unfortunately, many of these children develop behavioral coping mechanisms in an effort to feel safe and in control, yet these behaviors can frustrate educators and evoke exasperated reprisals, reactions that both strengthen the child’s expectations of confrontation and danger and reinforce a negative self-image.
The Impact of Trauma on Learning
Part 3: Relationships
Children’s struggles with traumatic stress and their insecure relationships with adults outside of school can adversely affect their relationships with school personnel and with peers. Preoccupied with their physical and psychological safety, children who have experienced traumatic events may be distrustful of adults and/or fellow students and unsure of the security of the school setting in general.