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The Restorative Mindset Shift | School Culture Solutions

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KQED Mindshift: A New Hotline Gives You Options for Joy

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KQED Mindshift: A New Hotline Gives You Options for Joy

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"Be grateful for yourself," offers one student.

"If you're feeling up high and unbalanced, think of groundhogs," another chimes in.

"Bro, you're looking great."

Peptoc, as the free hotline is called, is a project from the students of West Side Elementary, a small school in the town of Healdsburg, Calif.

It was put together with the help of teachers Jessica Martin and Asherah Weiss. Martin, who teaches the arts program at the school, says she was inspired by her students' positive attitudes, despite all they've been through - the pandemic, wildfires in the region and just the everyday challenges of being a kid.

"I thought, you know, with this world being as it is, we all really needed to hear from them - their extraordinary advice and their continual joy," she said.

Martin said she spoke with her class about the idea of art as a kind of social practice, a conversation to contribute to the world - and something we can all learn from.

"Their creativity and resourcefulness is something that we need to emulate, because that level of joy and love and imagination is what's going to save us in the end," she said.

Martin says she hopes the hotline will give callers a little respite from whatever it is they're going through, which - judging from the thousands of calls the hotline gets each day - is quite a lot.

Two days after launching the hotline on Feb. 26, she said they were up to 700 callers per hour.

"That this went viral is really testament that we all still have a lot of healing to do," she said. "And you know, with the current situation in Ukraine and all of the other terrors and sadness that we all carry, it's really important that we continue to hold this light."

She said it's also a testament to fostering the arts in schools, noting that West Side doesn't have much of an arts program after a massive budget cut this year.

So the next time you need a little boost, dial Peptoc at 707-998-8410.

To help support the program's hotline fees, you can click here to donate. Martin said that any surplus funds will go toward the school's enrichment programs.
Hiba Ahmad and Hadeel Al-Shalchi produced and edited this story for broadcast. Emma Bowman produced the story for the web.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Need a pep talk from kindergartners? A new hotline gives you options for joy - MindShift

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"Be grateful for yourself," offers one student. "If you're feeling up high and unbalanced, think of groundhogs," another chimes in. "Bro, you're looking great." Peptoc, as the free hotline is called, is a project from the students of West Side Elementary, a small school in the town of Healdsburg, Calif.

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KQED Mindshift: 3 Tools to Help Educators Better Understand What Kids Need

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KQED Mindshift: 3 Tools to Help Educators Better Understand What Kids Need

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Street Data encourages teachers to gather data in a way that is "humanizing, liberatory and healing." Schools typically collect data - such as test scores, attendance or disciplinary rates - to identify deficits and pain points . The authors describe this as satellite data, which might be an aggregate of test scores for an entire grade or a data point about how many students get detention in a given year. It focuses on patterns of achievement, equity and teacher quality retention. However, two additional types of data can help:

Map data is more focused than satellite data. It can be used to identify skill gaps, pointing educators and school leaders in a slightly more focused direction. Examples include rubric scores and student, staff or parent surveys.

Street data illuminates student, staff and parent experience. It is qualitative, relying on anecdotes, interviews and conversations to inform and shape next steps.

While all three levels of data provide important information, in many districts satellite data is usually the most readily available.

"The systems and structures are in place to get that data easily," says David Haupert, a Hayward Unified School District principal. "It comes right to a portal and it's color coded and disaggregated."

However, teachers like Baxter are shifting towards techniques that provide street or map level data, using firsthand information from students to shape their learning experiences.

"My job asks 'How do I adapt and give them accommodations so that they can work at a level where they can actually achieve?'" says Baxter

School-wide Connectedness Screener

New data practices aren't only being used in Hayward at the classroom level. Principal Haupert has been using map data to change how his school collects student input about school climate. Initially, only fifth grade students were expected to complete the California Healthy Kids Survey and very few students ended up filling it out. "It meant that for a school of 350 students, we were basing our understanding of school climate on a survey that maybe 12 to 13 students took," says Haupert.

He and other teachers collaborated on a new school connectedness and well-being screener for all elementary school students that they will give at the beginning and end of every school year. The survey asks questions like "Is there a grownup at school I trust to talk to if I have a problem?" and "Do you feel safe at school?" The new screener is shorter, inviting and produces data that is more robust and meaningful than results from the California Healthy Kids Survey, says Haupert.

While the new screener gets more responses from students, Haupert has had to work with teachers to make sure they feel comfortable with collecting data. "The intent of collecting this data is to determine whether or not we meet our annual school goals related to student climate," says Haupert. "There's a real fear around what this data is going to be used for. Is it going to be used to say that I'm doing something wrong or bad?" He makes sure that when implementing unfamiliar data practices, he's clear about his intentions with how the information will be used. That has meant building - and in some cases repairing - the often fraught relationship between teachers and administrators. "It's not to do a 'gotcha,'" says Haupert about collecting data. "It really is to check in on our students."

Empathy Interviews

With an intention to build a culture of compassion and care, San Mateo High School's assistant principal Adam Gelb relied on another street data strategy: empathy interviews. Empathy interviews are a structured way for teachers and administrators to listen to how a student thinks about a specific challenge or topic that the school wants to address. An educator or school leader identifies at least five students that they think will bring important insights to the topic and each student is asked the same open ended questions. "One of the most rewarding questions for me as the interviewer to ask either students or fellow staff was to dream big with me: if you could change anything about our school, what would it be?"

Based on the feedback they received from the interviews, Gelb and his colleagues chose to take a closer look at their grading and assessment practices . They've been focusing on how to make grading more equitable and considering how to ensure students have access to materials and support needed to complete their assignments. To Gelb, empathy interviews were more effective than sending a survey to students because they gave more insight into the nuances in individual students' experiences. For instance, a prospective first generation college student who was out for 10 days with COVID can speak to things that might get lost or flattened in general survey data, says Gelb.

As a school, they've scheduled time to come together to discuss next steps for changing their grading practices. "[We're] really taking a deeper dive and a closer look at how specific teachers feel about their grading practices, having them reflect publicly, then breaking in small groups and saying, 'Okay, what practices do you actually feel like you have to hold on to?"

Empathy interviews also made their way into San Francisco Unified School District, where Presidio Middle School principal Emma Dunbar and several educators spoke with their most marginalized learners about literacy. They asked questions like "What helps you feel confident to speak in class?" and "How is class structured so you can talk about what you're learning?" Students who participated in the interviews said that they enjoyed classes where they could share their ideas, but said they didn't have opportunities to share their perspectives. "Everybody interviewed students about reading and then intentionally chose literacy strategies to adopt in response to what they heard from students." Even the PE department developed a literacy strategy, which highlighted ways to listen with your whole body through active listening and body language.

"It's important to be able to go back to students and let them know what we heard, what we have been able to do and what we still have questions about or are not able to do," says Dunbar about staying accountable to students and making sure they're still willing to continue sharing their thoughts even when their feedback isn't immediately implemented. Still, empathy interviews and the access it has granted to student voice has helped them to better serve students. "We have consistently seen literacy grow over time and done empathy interviews again."

Kiva Panels

Marlo Bagsik, an 11th grade English teacher at Peninsula High School in Burlingame, California gravitated towards gathering and sharing street data to advocate for students' needs to the district. Because Peninsula High school is a continuation school that caters to students who are off-track for graduation, there are often stereotypes and misunderstandings about who students are and how to serve them, says Bagsik. He is familiar with making space for student voices in the classroom. "But oftentimes that's lost in translation when you come to big meetings and look at satellite data," he says. "So what street data does is help center the voices and experiences and the realities of our students."

Bagsik's students recorded a Kiva Panel - a facilitated discussion with a diverse group of participants - to capture students' input about their learning environment and what they would like to see going forward. Students answered questions like "Have you encountered discrimination during your schooling experience?" and "Did the discrimination come from peers, personnel, from the system itself?" and "How do you feel now at your current site?"

They uncovered that several students had felt forgotten and isolated at many points in their educational experience. The Kiva Panel recording was shared with over 600 district and school employees. Many were shocked when they heard that students didn't feel like they had relationships with staff at previous school sites or that they didn't feel seen by teachers or administrators. It also highlighted the humanizing and relationship building practices Bagsik and other teachers were using to create safe and caring spaces for Peninsula High School's students. "I think it really impacted the community at large because it showed them what it takes to center the voices that are at the margins," he says. "Oftentimes school is not a place that is equated with vulnerability these days."

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Three tools to help educators better understand what students need - MindShift

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When it comes to measuring student achievement most schools rely on standardized test scores. "Street Data: A Next-Generation Model for Equity Pedagogy and School Transformation," by Shane Safir and Jamila Dugan offers asset-based strategies for centering students beyond their academic gaps.

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The think aloud strategy involves the articulation of thinking, and has been identified as an effective instructional tool.

Think aloud protocols involve the teacher vocalising the internal thinking that they employ when engaged in literacy practices or other areas of learning. The intention is that think alouds make transparent or overt the cognitive processes that literate people deploy. The effective use of think alouds can positively influence student achievement (Fisher, Frey and Lapp, 2011; Ness, 2016).

It is common for teachers to use think alouds when modelling writing, reading, working out mathematical calculations and for speaking and listening strategies. For maximum impact, it is recommended that think alouds are considered in the planning phase (Ness, 2016).

Students can also use think alouds to monitor their comprehension, which can act as a form of assessment. Student think alouds can benefit the speaker, as links between oral language, reading and writing are made, while acting as a model for other students.

Read more information on think alouds and see an in practice lesson containing think alouds.

References

Fisher, D., Frey, N., and Lapp, D. (2011). Coaching middle-level teachers to think aloud improves comprehension instruction and student reading achievement. Teacher Educator, 46(3), 231-243.

Ness, M. (2016). Learning from K - 5 teachers who think aloud. Journal of Research in Childhood Education. 30, (3), 282 - 292.

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The think aloud strategy involves the articulation of thinking, and has been identified as an effective instructional tool. Think aloud protocols involve the teacher vocalising the internal thinking that they employ when engaged in literacy practices or other areas of learning. The intention is that think alouds make transparent or overt the cognitive processes that literate people deploy.

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While many children learn to read and write easily, breeze through school, and head off to colleges or careers, seemly resilient to their challenges along the way, a significant number are struggling to read and write in a proficient, fluent, engaging-and authentic-manner.

Restorative literacies are about building and strengthening positive relationships between

...the backgrounds and perspectives, as well as the variable skills, proficiencies, and fluencies, of readers,

...the multiple texts readers encounter,

...and the authors of such texts

through an intentional system of response, repair, and restoration.

Restorative literacies merge cultural, linguistic, economic, racial, political, and dis/ableist views of literacies with cognitive and metacognitive processes of reading proficiency, fluency, and comprehension and writing effectiveness.
Services in Restorative Literacies are to provide confidential short-term coaching, consults, and support to parents, caregivers, mentors, educators, or any member of our children's village. The menus of coaching services in Restorative Literacies are guidelines for conversations about healthy development in literacies. Coaching services can be adapted or customized as needed. Let's explore together.

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While many children learn to read and write easily, breeze through school, and head off to colleges or careers, seemly resilient to their challenges along the way, a significant number are struggling to read and write in a proficient, fluent, engaging-and authentic-manner. Restorative literacies are about building and strengthening positive relationships between ...the backgrounds and...

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ADL's online bibliography of recommended children's and young adult books about bias, bullying, diversity and social justice.

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The Restorative Practices Handbook from Bob Costello

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The Restorative Practices Handbook from Bob Costello

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The Little Book of Restorative Teaching Tools from the Zehr Institute

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The Little Book of Restorative Teaching Tools from the Zehr Institute

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The Little Book of Restorative Teaching Tools - A Virtual Book Launch

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Books for Restorative Literacy (Elementary)

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Books for Restorative Literacy (Elementary)

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There are so many ways to engage children in social emotional learning (SEL). We can support both our children's literacy skills and their SEL growth by thoughtfully incorporating meaningful books. The following books are organized by broad categories related to SEL, and all can help children learn valuable skills about themselves, others, and the world around them. There is even a category at the end for adults, so you can join the learning! We encourage you to read these children's books alongside your child to engage in the rich discussions to which these books naturally lend themselves. You may use this downloadable template to help guide discussion and reflections. Grab a book (or three!) and snuggle up for some beautiful and SEL-approved stories!

If you are a teacher, you can access our free 14-week SEL read-aloud program with a weekly theme, suggested read-alouds, ready-to-use discussion slides, and a dedicated worksheet.

Julián is a Mermaid
Julián is a boy who lives with his abuela in New York City. Although his preferences and attire may seem unconventional, he is supported by those around him to be himself.

The Story of Ferdinand
Bulls are supposed to fight, correct? Not Ferdinand. A peaceful and calm bull in the bull-fighting rings of Spain, Ferdinand remains true to himself despite the pressures to change.

Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match
Marisol McDonald is a biracial girl with red hair and brown skin. In many ways, Marisol defies the norms and sometimes confuses those around her. She is, however, confidently herself!

Kindness and Friendship

Each Kindness
Chloe and her friends have no interest in playing with Maya, the new girl at school who wears ratty hand-me-down clothes. But when Maya leaves school and Chloe realizes her mistake, she learns that you don't always get a chance to apologize.

The Invisible Boy
Brian is unnoticed by the other students in his class. He is never included or invited... until the new student Justin arrives and shows us that it just takes one friendship to change a person's life.

The Name Jar
Unhei just moved from Korea to the U.S. She is anxious to start school, especially when she realizes that those around her are now unsure how to pronounce her name. After considering various American names, Unhei decides to choose her Korean name, thanks to her appreciation for her culture and the kindness of her new friends.

Sharing and Gratitude

Last Stop on Market Street
As he rides the bus across town with his grandma, CJ wonders why he doesn't have a car and looks longingly at other boys' cool toys. His grandma, though, helps him see the beauty around them both on the bus and in the soup kitchen at which they volunteer.

The Rainbow Fish
Rainbow Fish has beautiful glittering scales like no other in the ocean. While at first he refuses to share his most prized scales, he learns that when he does, he creates invaluable friendships.

Those Shoes
It seems like every kid at school is wearing those cool new shoes, except for Jeremy. Although he badly wants those same shoes that his family cannot afford, he ends up learning that being selfless and sharing makes him even happier than a pair of shoes.

Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans
Based on the real Cornelius Washington, a sanitation worker in New Orleans, this story shows how an everyday hero can make a real difference in the lives of others in the aftermath of tragedy.

Overcoming Anxiety and Fear

The Good Egg is always doing what it should, even taking care of the other eggs who are not doing their best. But when the Good Egg's own shell starts to crack, it realizes that balance and self-care is more important than perfection.

The Girl Who Never Makes Mistakes
Beatrice never makes mistakes. But when the inevitable happens -- she makes a big mistake in front of everyone -- Beatrice learns that life is better when she enjoys all of life, even the mistakes.

Jabari Jumps
Jabari is so excited to jump off the diving board! But when his moment actually comes, he continues to find reasons not to climb up. With the support of his patient and understanding father, Jabari learns to overcome his fear.

Anger and Forgiveness

Wisdom in the Kingdom of Anger
Based off of the engaging Wisdom: The World of Emotions app, this book tells the story of Wisdom as he teaches a kingdom of angry inhabitants to calm their anger through various strategies. You can order it here . A customizable version of the book can also be accessed in the app to include your child's name and anger triggers, as well as their favorite calming techniques.

The Bad Seed
The Bad Seed is always up to no good, and everyone around him comes to expect it from him. But when he wants to make a change, he reveals his difficult past and his desire to overcome it. The Bad Seed is met with understanding and forgiveness.

The Juice Box Bully
The new kid in school is quite the bully. When he sees how this school stands up for each other, and even refuses to be mean to him in return, he realizes his mistakes and wants to join their kind community.

First Day SEL

The Day You Begin
On the first day of school, all the other children share summer stories of vacations and camps. The story's protagonist, on the other hand, has been home all summer taking care of her little sister. This fresh take on a first-day story emphasizes that everyone's story is important and beautiful.

A New School Year: Stories in Six Voices
Follow six children, ranging from Kindergarten to 5th grade, as they experience their first day of school. Each with their own anxieties and successes, we gain more perspective of a day that everyone experiences differently.

SEL Poetry

Lend a Hand: Poems About Giving
This collection of fourteen original poems highlights the daily acts of kindness and empathy that can give us and others joy.

This lyrical ode emphasizes the beauty of loving ourselves, respecting others, and being kind.

SEL for Adult Readers

The Whole Brain Child
Written by a neuroscientist and parenting expert, this New York Times Bestseller explains the child's developing brain and how we can best support it.

Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School
Follow the stories of four different young children, known in their respective classrooms as the "troublemakers." This radical take encourages us to shift our adult perspective to better understand the sometimes confusing behavior of children.

Want more book ideas? Here's an additional list with more themes to explore with your children. Is your favorite SEL book missing from our list? We'd love to hear your book recommendations, too! Let us know by adding it in the comments.

If you are looking for more ways to engage children in SEL, you can try these creative Art activities ,

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22 Children's Books That Support SEL - Better Kids

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There are so many ways to engage children in social emotional learning (SEL). We can support both our children's literacy skills and their SEL growth by thoughtfully incorporating meaningful books. The following books are organized by broad categories related to SEL, and all can help children learn valuable skills about themselves, others, and the world around them.

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Restorative Practices | Community Building Circles

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Scaffolding Discussion Skills With a Socratic Circle

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TED Talk: Rosemarie Allen - School Suspensions are an Adult Behavior

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TED Talk: Rosemarie Allen - School Suspensions are an Adult Behavior

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School suspensions are an adult behavior | Rosemarie Allen | TEDxMileHigh

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The long tradition of schools has been to punish erratic or distracting behaviors, such as tardiness or disorderliness. The punishment often pushes away the very people who need school the most. Restorative practices adopt a different stance: create an atmosphere that aspires to mutual respect, and ask searching questions of ALL the stakeholders: students, teachers, family members, other students, perhaps even administrators. Often the factors that contribute to acting out or destructive behavior are bigger than a student can control ... and the term "behavior that is harmful to themselves and others" may be applied to more than one person in the circle. Restorative practices are a tool that can be more effective than traditional practices in actually correcting not only isolated situations, but an entire community of teachers and students. This short video introduces the concept and the five questions which sow seeds of healing and correction wherever school communities desire to grow together.

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Restorative Chat Teachers Practice using the restorstive questions

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The Restorative Practices Continuum | School Culture Solutions