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Dialogue Micro-Lesson in Ms. Friend's First-Grade Class

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About the Episode

Welcome to Something To Talk About, a podcast and blog series about all things classroom discourse!

In each episode of the Something to Talk About mini podcast we ask just one juicy question about classroom discourse to a group of educators.

In Episode 1, Stenhouse editor and author, Kassia Wedekind asks:

What are some of your greatest hopes for your students as talkers and listeners? And what kind of practical routines will you set up at the beginning of the year to help build that community?

Take a listen to hear from third grade teacher, Jennifer Orr, first grade teacher, Santasha Dhoot, and authors of Intentional Talk, Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz.

Meet the Educators in this Episode

Jennifer Orr has spent more than twenty years teaching and learning with elementary students from kindergarten through fifth grade. She currently teaches third graders at Fort Belvoir Upper School in Fairfax County, Virginia. She tweets @jenorr and blogs at jenorr.com.

Elham Kazemi is the co-author of Intentional Talk and the co-editor of Choral Counting and Counting Collections . She is a professor of mathematics education at the University of Washington. Elham works alongside teachers to create thriving mathematical classrooms centered on children's mathematical thinking. She is deeply committed to building university-school partnerships that tackle social and academic inequities and create strong professional learning communities for teachers to learn from and with their students. Elham tweets @ekazemi.

Allison Hintz is the co-author Intentional Talk and the co-author of the upcoming Mathematizing Children's Literature. She is an associate professor of mathematics education at the University of Washington, Bothell. She studies teaching and learning alongside educators to create experiences where children are heard, understood, and inspired as mathematical sense makers. Allison tweets @AllisonHintz124.

Santasha Dhoot (She/Her/Hers) is a Punjabi Sikh first-grade teacher in the Greater Seattle Area. She graduated from the University of Washington with a Masters in Teaching. She has a passion for educational justice and aspires to be a part of building an education system in which all students thrive. She loves learning alongside our youngest students and believes our future is bright because of them. You can follow Santasha on Twitter @tashadhoot.

Resources Mentioned in Episode 1
Catalyzing Change in Early Childhood and Elementary Mathematics Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You'd Had Which One Doesn't Belong? How Many? Intentional Talk
Read the transcript

Kassia Wedekind: Welcome to Something to Talk About, a podcast and blog series from Stenhouse Publishers. I'm Kassia Wedekind. And I'm an editor here at Stenhouse and I'm also a Stenhouse author and math coach. I'm excited to launch this new blog and podcast series about all things, classroom discourse. As both a teacher and a writer, one of the things I find most fascinating is listening to the ways that teachers and students co-construct communities through talk. How do social conversation and academic conversation build on each other? How do we make spaces for talk in which we all feel a sense of belonging? And how do we build strong content area understandings through talking and listening? There are endless questions to think about with classroom discourse, and we're going to dive into some of them in this podcast and blog series.

Kassia Wedekind: In each episode of the, Something to Talk About mini podcasts, we'll ask just one juicy question and hear the unique responses and perspectives of several educators. In today's episode, we're thinking about classroom talk at the beginning of the school year as teachers and students all over the country are returning to the classroom. We're talking about our hopes for our communities of talkers and listeners in the classroom. And we're also talking about the nitty gritty of what practical beginning of the year routines we put in place to build these strong discourse communities. Jennifer Orr, a third grade teacher from Fairfax County, Virginia joins us first in thinking about building communities of both talkers and listeners.

Jennifer Orr: Wow. It's so exciting at the start of a year, and also so overwhelming to think about those big goals. A big piece, I think gets back to that idea of who we are as talkers and listeners, getting kids to really build their listening skills. I think that's a challenge for us as people in general, but I think it's an added challenge in the classroom because we teach kids really to listen to the adult, but less to listen to each other. And so to build that idea and understanding in the community, that listening to each other is hugely valuable and can make a difference for us all in our learning, myself included. And so I think one of my biggest goals at the start of every year is thinking about wanting my kids to be really strong listeners. And then a piece of that then is to find that balance for those kids who tend to talk a lot, to make space for others.

Jennifer Orr: And for those who tend to be hesitant about speaking, to find kind of some confidence to join in and share so that we really are learning as an entire community. And when it comes to the routines to build that, I think a big part of that is making sure that I am balancing, and this is one of my challenges partner talk, small group talk, whole class talk, giving kids the opportunity to really build those talking and listening skills in different settings, because it may be easier with just a partner or it may be easier in a whole group, depending on what skill you're working on. And just giving them lots of time to talk. It's so easy in a school year to get caught up in all the boxes that need to be checked and to not slow down enough to really let kids talk things through. And so to ensure from day one that I'm building in time for that.

Kassia Wedekind: Yeah. It's easy to like, especially if you have some particular academic focus, at least for me, it's easy to pay attention to the talking and the things kids are saying to move that along and not slow down to give some practice or some attention to how we're listening to each other. For me, it's like I have to be really deliberate about slowing it down and planning for that.

Jennifer Orr: Yes, yes. Slowing it down is hard.

Kassia Wedekind: I also asked the same question to Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz, the coauthors of Intentional Talk, how to structure and lead productive mathematical discussions and professors of math education and got their perspectives on building discourse communities in the math classroom.

Allison Hintz: I think across contexts, I would just hope that people in communities feel joy and belonging and that communities can be and become a place where mathematicians try on new ideas and can be authentic, and brave, and bold. The catalyzing change series and NCTM is really helping me think about how to cultivate joy and belonging. And I think one way to try to do that from the get-go is to draw in some routines that we have in math education. I think of Christopher Danielson's How Many? And Which One Doesn't Belong? And how these open-ended accessible routines can let us really quickly become people who can share our different ideas and engage with each other's reasoning, and justifications, and listen to understand people's arguments and get some good lively argumentation going.

Elham Kazemi: I love what Allison just said about trying to cultivate communities of joy and belonging. I think you have to create a community that is worth belonging to, that people feel like they want to belong to. And one of the things I think about a lot as I'm getting to know a new group of teachers or a new group of students, is how they're entering the learning space. What experiences have they had themselves in the past in talking communities or listening communities and what supports their learning? What are they worried about? Whenever you're teaching math, there is a whole lot of worries that come along with it. I think Tracy Zegers book very nicely, and some of her talks very nicely capture how a lot of elementary teachers feel about their own experiences with mathematics as it's still fairly negative, or dry, or boring, or whatever it is.

Elham Kazemi: They're not usually lively words. So I think whatever routines we use at the beginning is to help people share how they feel and how do they want to feel different. And what does that mean about our individual responsibilities, our collective responsibilities. And then to try to pick those routines, all of those open-ended tasks that we have in mathematics that then allow you to bring those principles or those ideas to life, kind of the hopes that people have. Then you have to have a way of trying to create that space and really check in with one another, a lot. So we debrief a lot about how are you doing, how are you feeling? What worked, what didn't work. I think as routine questions, those can be really helpful.

Kassia Wedekind: And finally, Santasha Dhoot, a first grade teacher in the Seattle area, share some of her ideas about a culture of appreciation and respect as well as her experiences as a teacher of multi-lingual students.

Santasha Dhoot: Within my class, one of the most important things is that building a culture of appreciation and respect within my class. The community that I teach in, we have a very large number of multilingual learners. And so oftentimes in my class I have very few native English speakers and many of my students are emerging MLLs so they're just beginning their journey of learning English. And I think that community of respect is huge when it comes to speaking, talking, and listening because we have so many friends who are just beginning to learn and that anxiety and hesitancy to speak is really huge. Or on the other hand, I think we also have, I have a lot of speakers and listeners who are speaking in different languages, and I can have a student who is speaking in Japanese to one friend and then the listener is an English speaker and they're just listening to each other and talking to each other and it's working out just fine.

Santasha Dhoot: So I think that dynamic is really interesting and just really awesome. But I think on day one, building a culture of appreciation and respect, and that looks like we right from the start of the school year, all the way to the end, we have lots of opportunities where my students are complimenting each other, noticing other students who they notice are working hard, or had some awesome ideas, or were showing teamwork. And for speaking, we right off the bat, we have something called peanut butter and jelly partners. And because I have a huge community of MLLs and I think in any classroom, but we do a lot of like think, pair, share like in teams of two, two or three. And I really appreciate the smaller group processing time for my class. And I think they do as well and getting opportunities to orally practice before they're going to share to the whole group is something I really value in my classroom. And I think also builds a sense of community because they're getting time to talk to someone they may not talk to always.

Kassia Wedekind: All four educators in this episode spoke about the kind of culture they hope to build with their students. One of joy, belonging, respect, and appreciation. And they all talked about finding strategies at the beginning of the year, that align with the kind of culture they want to build. I also noticed that all four of the educators spoke about appreciating the many ways that students participate in classroom conversations, especially ways that might not traditionally be the ones that are most valued in schools. Being more of a keen listener than a talker, valuing the different languages students speak in our classroom conversations. And then as teachers, asking students for feedback on how they feel the conversations are going.

Kassia Wedekind: We'll be back in a couple of weeks with another podcast episode of Something to Talk About. But in the meantime, we're wondering how you'd answer the question we talked about today. What are your hopes for your classroom community of talkers and listeners? And what are some of the practical routines you put in place at the beginning of the year to get you there? We'd love to hear from you on social media. You can look for a post on our blog and on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and let us know what you think.

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Hopes for Our Students as Talkers & Listeners & How to Get There (Something to Talk About)

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In each episode of the Something to Talk About mini podcast we ask just one juicy question about classroom discourse to a group of educators. In Episode 1, Stenhouse editor and author, Kassia Wedekind asks: What are some of your greatest hopes for your students as talkers and listeners?

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How educators and parents can help children's natural curiosity emerge - in the classroom and at home.

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BALANCEDLITERACYDIET :: index :: Balanced Literacy Diet

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Once students become familiar with the process and routines of the Conversation Station, two students can participate with an adult (could be a class volunteer) - This gives students an opportunity to actively listen to a classmate and practice conversation skills such as turn-taking - Eventually 2 students may be

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Fostering Curiosity Through Conversation in K-3 - Wednesday, February 22nd

Click on either link to access the PDF handouts:

Feb. 22nd - Electronic Handout

Feb. 22nd - Print Handout

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In this book, Peter Reynolds writes a fable about what happens to one family's table when life's distractions get in the way of their time together. Violet remembers when her family gathered at the table to share stories and make memories. When the table disappears, Violet decides to act and works to rebuild the togetherness and their table. This inspirational tale speaks to the importance of actively nurturing the relationships in our lives. It illustrates the power each one of us has to take action to meet people where they are and bring them into community.
Literature Guide by Maureen Klein

Before Reading

Ask: The title of the book is Our Table. What tables do you sit at with people in your life: at your home, school, club, or faith-based group? What do you do at those tables?

Show: Look closely at the cover illustration. What details do you notice? Describe what you think the family does together at meal times.

Connect: Think of a gathering where you feel connected to others (family, group, classroom). What do you do with your family, team, or class that builds community and makes you feel close to each other?

During Reading

Show: Look at the illustration on the page that shows Violet sitting alone at the table. Compare this illustration to the pictures on the page before. How are those illustrations different? Describe how Violet might feel now that she is sitting at the table alone.

Ask: The table was a place where Violet's family connected with each other. When they stopped gathering at the table, what were they doing instead? What are they missing out on?

Connect: Violet's family became busy doing other things. People in our lives can become busy and distracted. What does it feel like when someone you care about is distracted or not connecting with you?

After Reading

Ask: In what specific ways did Violet reach out to each of her family members? Why do you think she chose those activities for each person?

Show: Look at the page where the family is building the table together. What is the table bringing back into their lives?

Connect: To bring her family back together,Violet was motivated by a desire to change and used her time, talent, and courage. What are some actions and attitudes you can take on to bring people together?

Activities

1. The table in the book was "a place to come together to share stories and make memories." Draw a picture of a table in your life. Include the people you care about at the table. Write a story describing a memory you have of a gathering at your table.

2. Generous listening is an act of philanthropy. Use this Simple Safe Service project to spark generous action and conversations promoting the good of all.

3. Technology can help us solve problems, gather information, and even connect us with friends and family when we can't be together. It can also be a distraction to our relationships. Plan a family screen-free challenge for a day, a week or longer. Go to the Screen Free website to take the pledge and find resources to support your challenge.

4. The back cover of the book says, "Rediscover the gift of shared time together." Just like Violet, we each have a role to play in intentionally building relationships in our families, our schools and our communities. Use these Learning to Give "Build Community" activities to guide your understanding of ourselves and our communities, what we care about, and our role and purpose in the larger community.

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In this book, Peter Reynolds writes a fable about what happens to one family's table when life's distractions get in the way of their time together. Violet remembers when her family gathered at the table to share stories and make memories.

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Activating core competencies through curriculum design, instructional strategies, and quality assessment. Featuring Surrey Schools educator, Lyndsay James.

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Throughout the Covid-19 crisis, the critical role of schools and educators as sources of support, connectedness, and stability has never been more visible. And, as students, families, and educators face the uncertainties and disruptions that have arrived with the pandemic, social and emotional learning (SEL) has never been more important.

"The simplest way to think about it is that, when all our emotions are even and life is good and there's nobody triggering you, there are no stressors in your environment-there's a lesser need for SEL skills," says Marc Brackett, the lead developer of RULER, the evidence-based approach to SEL developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Brackett is founding director of the center, professor in the Child Study Center at the Yale School of Medicine, and author of Permission to Feel (Celadon, 2019).

"You always need [the skills], because life has its ups and downs," he adds. "I always say, if you're lucky enough to go on vacation and you're lying on the beach chatting with your friends and reading a book, you don't really need emotional intelligence in that moment. But when somebody walks by and kicks the sand in your face, that's when you need these skills." Connecting that example to current events, Brackett says, "I equate the coronavirus and also the racial injustice with this idea that the sand has been stirred, and we're activated right now for legitimate reasons. There's real anxiety around the coronavirus; there's real anger around racial injustice. And so now is when we have to really put our emotional intelligence to the test to achieve the outcomes that we want."

RULER is an acronym referring to five principles of emotional intelligence: recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing, and regulating emotions. The RULER approach ranks among the highly regarded models designated by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning as CASEL SELect programs, and it has deep roots in Brackett's life experience.

Brackett recalls a difficult childhood marked by abuse and "horrific" bullying, and credits his uncle, educator Marvin Maurer, with offering him a true lifeline. "When I was 10 or 11, my uncle was developing a program to teach kids about feelings," Brackett says. "He literally sat with me and talked to me about my emotions, and that led to us 10 years later starting to write a curriculum together. The whole RULER model really came out of my uncle being this amazing middle school teacher in the Catskill Mountains of New York State." In 2003, Brackett brought the beginnings of RULER to his studies as a postdoctoral fellow with noted emotional intelligence pioneer Peter Salovey, who is now president of Yale University.

RULER is labeled an "approach" as opposed to a "program," Brackett notes, because "there is no toolkit to develop SEL. It really needs to be a systemic approach-the way leaders lead, teachers teach, students learn, and families parent. And so we address all those people in our teaching of RULER." Many other SEL models are classroom programs more heavily focused on specific lessons. Though RULER does have a curricular component, Brackett says, "What we find is very important is that the adults who are raising and teaching kids, they have to be the role models for children, so they have to learn the skills themselves and use them in their interactions. If adults are incapable of talking about what makes them feel alienated or anxious, then they will never be comfortable having those conversations with kids."

As a result, RULER training begins with adults-often one leader and two educators or mental health professionals from a school-who attend the RULER Institute in person or online. That team then helps train the school's staff, well before implementing RULER in classroom instruction and adding family engagement and education. RULER has been adopted by more than 2,000 schools across the U.S. and around the world, including the New York City public school system, the largest in the country, with 1.1 million students.

In the view of Dawn Brooks-DeCosta, principal of Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School in New York City, "RULER builds a common language. It helps build community, empathy, compassion, and an avenue that allows for student agency, voice, and expression," she says. "It promotes teacher and parent self-care and strategies to manage stress levels. These are all important, now more than ever, in helping to create a supportive, caring environment where students can learn, teachers can teach, and parents feel a part of the school community-acknowledged and supported."

Though RULER training and implementation may look a bit different in a distance-learning climate, Brackett believes it's important not to lose sight of the skills. The global situation today "is crazy, but we have to learn to live with that crazy," Brackett says. "Relationships are relationships whether they're in person or online. How I feel as a student is how I feel as a student, whether I'm sitting in my home on my computer or in my classroom. While there are different strategies that we might need to use to teach these skills, the skills are the skills, and they matter. As one RULER school principal says, 'The school is not the climate, the people are the climate.' I really appreciate that, because school is about people interacting and how we make them feel and how they make us feel and how we infuse these principles into learning. So, I feel strongly that you can do RULER just as well in a virtual world."

In addition to shifting all RULER Institute trainings for educators online due to the pandemic, the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence has created a "School Resources for Navigating Emotional Times" page that links to numerous resource guides, tips, articles, and free webinars to address the emotional needs of educators, students, and families.

CASEL has also stepped up to provide support and resources via its CASEL CARES initiative. Visitors to CASEL's website and social media channels will be connected to a curated guide of free SEL resources related to Covid-19 and school closures for educators, parents, and caregivers. And, each Friday, CASEL features a new free webinar given by experts on SEL topics.
To read about the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence's free SEL course for Connecticut school staff, click here.
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RULER's Approach to Social Emotional Learning

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Throughout the Covid-19 crisis, the critical role of schools and educators as sources of support, connectedness, and stability has never been more visible. And, as students, families, and educators face the uncertainties and disruptions that have arrived with the pandemic, social and emotional learning (SEL) has never been more important.

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In a preschool classroom, some of the 3- and 4-year-old children smile, laugh, and giggle during free play; are curious about what happens next during story time; ask what and why questions while doing hands-on activities; and use words to express feelings and needs. In the toy area, Tom and Juan both reach for a small blue car. Tom says, "May I please have it first, then you have it later?" Juan replies, "You have it for five minutes and then I have it for five minutes." Noticing this exchange, their teacher says, "Tom and Juan, you are talking about taking turns. What a great way to play together!"

Tom, Juan, and their classmates are a model of social and emotional health in preschool. Children who are socially and emotionally healthy tend to demonstrate, and continue to develop, several important behaviors and skills (adapted from McClellan & Katz 2001 and Bilmes 2012). They

Are usually in a positive mood

Listen and follow directions

Have close relationships with caregivers and peers

Care about friends and show interest in others

Recognize, label, and manage their own emotions

Understand others' emotions and show empathy

Express wishes and preferences clearly

Gain access to ongoing play and group activities

Are able to play, negotiate, and compromise with others

Why social and emotional health matters

Children's social and emotional health affects their overall development and learning. Research indicates that children who are mentally healthy tend to be happier, show greater motivation to learn, have a more positive attitude toward school, more eagerly participate in class activities, and demonstrate higher academic performance than less mentally healthy peers (Hyson 2004; Kostelnik et al. 2015). Children who exhibit social and emotional difficulties tend to have trouble following directions and participating in learning activities. Compared with healthier peers, they may be more likely to suffer rejection by classmates, have low self-esteem, do poorly in school, and be suspended (Hyson 2004; Kostelnik et al. 2015). Thus, children's social and emotional health is just as important as their physical health, and affects their capacity to develop and potential to lead a fulfilling life.

Teachers can promote children's social and emotional health in many ways, for example, by organizing a material-rich environment to stimulate social interactions among children. This article focuses on two of the most important practices: building trusting relationships and conducting intentional teaching.

Establish trusting relationships

Young children develop and learn in the context of relationships. A trusting and caring teacher-child relationship is essential for children's optimum development (Raikes & Edwards 2009). Children who have trusting relationships with their teachers are, on average, more willing to ask questions, solve problems, try new tasks, and express their thinking than their peers without such relationships (O'Connor & McCartney 2007). In her work supervising student teachers, Ho (the first author) often sees children developing positive social and emotional health as a result of close relationships with their teachers. For example, children learn to use words to express their feelings-such as Amy saying to Emily, "I am sad when you use hurting words!"-and to show empathy-as when Arjun gently pats Brian's head and says, "Are you okay? Do you want to hold the teddy bear?"

Children benefit socially, emotionally, and academically when teachers intentionally create close, trusting relationships (Palermo et al. 2007). But gaining the trust of every child is not as simple as being nice and engaging. How can teachers create trusting relationships with all of the children? Consistently offering warmth, affection, respect, and caring is essential.

Showing warmth and affection consistently

Warmth and affection-even on bad days and when children are misbehaving-are critical to children's well-being in early education settings (Ostrosky & Jung 2005). They contribute to developing secure relationships between children and adults, provide models of gentle behavior, and are linked with children's ability to interact positively with peers (Twardosz 2005). The preschoolers we observed used gentle hands and kind words and positively interacted with peers most of the time. Their social and emotional well-being was nourished by their teachers' warmth and affection, which is shown in the following examples:

Ms. Johnson displays a pleasant facial expression throughout the day. She smiles when greeting children in the morning, says goodbye in the afternoon, and acknowledges children's appropriate behaviors.

Mr. Logan uses the appropriate tone of voice at all times. His speech is at normal pitch and volume; his tone is relaxed and soft. Even when he has to redirect a child's behavior, he remains calm and warm to convey that his concern is with the behavior-not the child.

Ms. Aragon gives appropriate touches when necessary, such as a pat on the back, a handshake, hugs, and brief tickles.

Ms. Lizama moves physically close to the children and bends or crouches to be at the children's eye level while talking to them.

Mr. Sharma often uses loving comments to show he cares: "I am so happy to see you this morning!," "I missed you yesterday," "I love seeing your smile!" And he is careful to make such comments to all of the children in his classroom.

Respecting and caring about every child

Showing respect is a key way to connect with children and strengthen positive relationships. It helps children feel more confident and competent to explore and learn (Dombro, Jablon, & Stetson 2011). Ms. Carnes establishes and maintains close personal bonds with every child in her classroom by consistently acting in respectful and caring ways. Specifically, she

Listens with full attenti on and restates what children say (often also seizing the opportunity to expose the children to new vocabulary). Jason, a 4-year-old, says, "Look, I made a truck with lots of Legos!" Ms. Carnes replies, "Oh, I see, Jason. You built a truck with dozens of Legos." Jason adds, "I use this truck to deliver apples and bananas to the grocery store." Ms. Carnes responds, "Using a truck to deliver nutritious fruits to the grocery store is helpful." Listening to children attentively and reflectively enhances their self-worth and confidence. When teachers actively listen to children, they convey that they care about what the children have to say, and the children are more likely to share their thoughts, ideas, feelings, and stories.

Accepts and reflects children's feel ings. Frowning, Jasper says to the teacher, "Michael has all the big blocks!" Ms. Carnes responds, "Jasper, you seem upset that there are no more large blocks to build with right now. It is difficult to wait!" Amy says with enthusiasm, "We are about to go outside!" Ms. Carnes answers, "The sparkles in your eyes tell me you can hardly wait to go outside. You are excited." When they accept and reflect children's feelings, teachers exhibit sensitivity and caring in a way children understand. Teachers' acknowledgments make children feel heard and accepted (Duffy 2008). As a result, children feel safe to express their emotions-and receive support in identifying, labeling, and better understanding their emotions.

Spends private, quality time with individual chi ldren through one-on-one activities, such as story reading and game pla ying. Emily is sad when her mom leaves. Ms. Carnes reads her a book in a cozy corner with soft pillows and stuffed animals. Afterward, Emily is ready to explore and play in the classroom. Judy complains that no one wants to play with her at the tactile table. Ms. Carnes sits at the table and plays with Judy until another child joins the play. In addition, Ms. Carnes spends quality time with individual children by putting aside other work, moving to the child's level, and conversing openly with the child. Ms. Carnes keeps track to ensure that she speaks with each child regularly, which deepens their relationship and builds trust (Gartrell 2007). Ms. Carnes finds time for these conversations throughout the day, especially during greeting, free play, snack, lunch, and departure time.

Teach social and emotional skills intentionally

Helping children develop social and emotional skills is the heart and soul of any good program for young children (Gordon & Browne 2014). Teachers (and all caregivers) play key roles in helping children develop social and emotional competence (Kostelnik et al. 2015). Teachers can intentionally support children's social and emotional health by using children's books, planning activities, coaching on the spot, giving effective praise, modeling appropriate behaviors, and providing cues.

Warmth and affection-even on bad days and when children are misbehaving-are critical to children's well-being in early education.

Using children's books

Reading and discussing children's books is an excellent way to invite children to identify the characters' emotions and relate the characters' experiences to their own (Roberts & Crawford 2008). To introduce a new social or emotional skill, Ms. Coz carefully chooses high-quality books to read aloud at circle time. Sometimes she chooses books related to children's recent social and emotional behaviors in the classroom. When she sees some of the children having trouble sharing toys, she reads aloud The Rainbow Fish, by Marcus Pfister. When she finds a child crying because her friend hit her, Ms. Coz reads aloud Hands Are Not for Hitting, by Elizabeth Verdick. (See " Children's Books for Teaching Social and Emotional Skills," for more titles to consider.)

To connect the characters and situations in the book with the children's experiences, Ms. Coz plans to read the book at least twice and also add it to the classroom library. During the second reading, she asks meaningful questions: "What do you think the characters are feeling?," "How would you solve the problem?," "Can you use words from the story to explain how you feel when you . . .?," "What could we do differently if this happens in our classroom?" These open-ended questions enable children to talk about their own experiences, learn new vocabulary words, and practice social and emotional skills.

Planning activities

To extend and apply what children learn from reading stories, Ms. Coz plans follow-up activities, such as hands-on crafts, games, and songs. She often uses Book Nook guides, created by the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning ( http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/strategies.html#booknook). These guides help her embed social and emotional development activities into daily routines, including read-alouds. (See " Activities for Supporting Children's Social and Emotional Learning " for some ideas adapted from Book Nook guides.)

Coaching on the spot

When they coach children on the spot, teachers help children realize what they are doing, understand how their actions affect others, and choose positive alternatives (Riley et al. 2008). For example, when Ryan and Ethan build a firehouse in the block area, Ethan grabs the fire truck from Ryan, and Ryan cries. Ms. Coz crouches down at Ethan's level to look into his eyes; calmly and warmly, she says, "Ryan was still using the truck. When you took it away from him, he got upset. What could you do to make Ryan feel better?" After Ethan says he is sorry and gives back the fire truck, Ms. Coz says, "Next time if you want to play with the toy Ryan is using, could you ask if he will share?" Ms. Coz follows up by observing Ethan and providing immediate positive feedback on his desirable behavior.

Giving effective praise

Meaningful feedback pertinent to the task at hand in the form of effective praise is a powerful strategy for fostering children's social and emotional development (Kostelnik et al. 2015). To make praise effective, teachers describe specifically what they see-without generalizing, evaluating, or making comparisons. When Emily finishes her drawing, Ms. Coz notices her picture and her smile. Ms. Coz says, "I see a blue sky, a yellow sun, and green grass around the big brown tree. This picture makes you happy, doesn't it?" This praise is effective because Ms. Coz offers detailed, positive comments immediately after desirable behavior occurs. Noticing Ethan asking Ryan politely for a policewoman figure, Ms. Coz says, "Ethan, you used the magic words May I plea se? to ask for that policewoman while you and Ryan were building the firehouse together. Great job!" Smiling, Ethan responds, "We are friends and we can share things."

Modeling appropriate behavior

Children learn by observing other people, getting ideas about how new behaviors are formed, and using the ideas to guide their actions (Bandura 1977). Many studies have found that modeling-or demonstrating appropriate behaviors-teaches and enhances children's social and emotional skills (Katz & McClellan 1997; Hyson 2004). This research-based conclusion is evidenced in Ms. Coz's and Ms. Carnes's classes. Both teachers implement several noninvasive strategies-including modeling-that their center administrators created to support teachers in promoting socially and emotionally healthy behaviors. They display the strategies on the classroom wall and put them into action by

Moving closer to children, when needed, as a nonverbal cue to rethink behaviors

Modeling appropriate warm and respectful behavior throughout the day and at specific moments when a gentle reminder is needed

Using nonverbal gestures and contact (e.g., nodding the head, giving thumbs-up signs, and touching children gently on the shoulder) to send messages

Employing simple language (e.g., "Walking feet, please" and "Use gentle hands") to set expectations and give reminders

Acknowledging a kind act on the spot or praising a group effort for a job well done

Placing a hand-gently-on a child's hand to redirect attention and behavior

When children see teachers demonstrate these noninvasive strategies, they often smile, use their gentle hands, say please and thank you, give hugs and high fives, and use words to express their feelings.

In addition to being role models, the teachers use the children's appropriate behaviors to model social and emotional skills. They carefully observe and record details about how children apply the target skills, and they share their observations with the children through puppet shows during circle time. Using puppets to demonstrate children's appropriate behaviors helps children learn social and emotional skills meaningfully.

Providing cues

Providing cues to engage children in appropriate social behavior has been shown over time to improve their social behavior with their peers (Bovey & Strain 2005). Ms. Coz and Ms. Carnes often provide verbal cues to help some children participate in activities. Before playtime, for example, Ms. Carnes asks, "James, who are you going to ask to play with you at center time?" During playtime, she suggests, "Saanvi, can you ask Anna to build an airplane with you?" To teach sharing and turn taking, Ms. Coz asks Steven, who has been waiting to play with a toy dolphin for a while, "What magic words could you use to have a turn with the dolphin John is using?"

Both Ms. Coz and Ms. Carnes prominently display visual cues in their classrooms to assist children's social and emotional interactions. For example, they provide teacher-made hand puppets to guide children to use quiet voices, helping hands, and walking feet. To help children calm down, they also created a "push wall"-a designated spot on the wall to push anger out-and use puppets to demonstrate the strategy. These puppets, demonstrations, and explanations are essential for clarifying and modeling appropriate behavior-and the visual cues are essential for reminding the children to practice what they have learned. Long-term visual cues function like a third teacher in the sense that children use the cues to remind one another of solutions and appropriate actions.

Teachers and caregivers promote children's social and emotional health by establishing trusting relationships, created when teachers express warmth, affection, and respect. Teachers can intentionally teach and enhance these skills using evidence-based strategies to teach, model, and reinforce positive behaviors. As evidenced in the preschool classrooms we observed, teachers who prioritize developing children's social and emotional health are richly rewarded with happy, engaged children who learn to avoid and resolve conflicts, share and take turns, and express their emotions in productive ways.

Children's Books for Teaching Social and Emotional Skills

Can You Be a Friend?, by Nita Everly

Care Bears Caring Contest, by Nancy Parent, illus. by David Stein

Fox Makes Friends, by Adam Relf

How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends?, by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

How I Feel Frustrated, by Marcia Leonard

I Can Do It Myself (a Sesame Street Series), by Emily Perl Kingsley, illus. by Richard Brown

I'm in Charge of Me!, by David Parker, illus. by Sylvia Walker

Mouse Was Mad, by Linda Urban, illus. by Henry Cole

My Many Colored Days, by Dr. Seuss, illus. by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher

Sharing: How Kindness Grows, by Fran Shaw, illus. by Miki Sakamoto

When I'm Feeling Sad, by Trace Moroney

When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry, by Molly Bang

Activities for Supporting Children's Social and Emotional Learning

Helping hands chain: Trace and cut out multiple hands for each child. Place them in a pocket or baggie that is easily accessible. As you recognize a child's helping hand behavior, have the child get a hand from their pocket and connect it to the class's helping hand chain. The hands can be placed on the wall to wrap around the room. On a regular basis, celebrate how long the helping hand chain is getting!

Hand puppets: Create character puppets by having children color or paint the pictures, cut them out, and glue them to craft sticks. Once dry, children can bring their puppets to circle time and act out the story while you read the story aloud. Later, they can take the puppets to the story area or puppet center.

Moving to music: Choose songs with lyrics that encourage movement. Before you start, remind the children that they need to listen closely to the words so they know what actions to take. Classic songs like "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" work well. Many children's CDs have great songs that involve following directions (try "My Ups and Downs," and "Hands Are for Clapping," by Jim Gill). Do the motions with the children as you listen to the songs. After listening to each song several times, children will build confidence and know which motions to do on their own. Point out to the children that they know what to do because they are being such good listeners.

Pass the feeling bag: Place an assortment of scenario picture cards in a bag. As music plays, the children pass the bag. When the music stops, one child picks out a card and identifies it. Have the child talk about how each scenario or item makes him feel and why. Allow children to take turns pulling out picture cards.

Feeling faces collage: Have children cut out different feeling faces from magazines. Mix nontoxic glue and water together in a small bowl. The children put the pictures on top of a piece of paper, take a paintbrush and dip it in glue solution, and paint over their pictures. They can hang their feeling faces collages on the wall.

Share box: Create a special share box that is only introduced during circle time. Children can decorate the box with primary colors or with a bold pattern. Inside the box, place items that can be shared, such as musical instruments, a box of chunky sidewalk chalk, playdough, or several sensory bottles.

Singing: After a story about sharing with friends, sing "Share, share, share your toys; share them with a friend. Share, share, share your toys, let's all play pretend," to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." After a story about feelings, sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" with a variety of emotions and body gestures.

Note: Adapted with permission from Book Nook, created by the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning. To use Book Nook guides at no cost, visit http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/strategies.html#booknook.

References

Bandura, A. 1977. Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Bilmes, J. 2012. Beyond Behavior Manage ment: The Six Life Skills Childre n Need, 2nd ed. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf.

Bovey, T., & P. Strain. 2005. "Strategies for Increasing Peer Social Interactions: Prompting and Acknowledgment." Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning. What Works Briefs. http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/briefs/wwb17.pdf.

Dombro, A.L., J. Jablon, & C. Stetson. 2011. Powerful Interactions: How to Connect with Children to Extend Their Learning. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Duffy, R. 2008. "Are Feelings Fixable?" Exchange 30 (6): 87-90.

Gartrell, D. 2007. A Guidance Approach for the Encouraging Classroom, 4th ed. Florence, KY: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Gordon, A.M., & K.W. Browne. 2014. Beginnings and Beyond: Foundati ons in Early Childhood Education, 9th ed. Belmont, CA: Cengage.

Hyson, M. 2004. The Emotional Development of Young Chil dren: Building an Emotion-Centered Curric ulum, 2nd ed. New York: Teachers College Press.

Katz, L.G., & D.E. McClellan. 1997. Fostering Children's Social Competence: The Teacher's Role. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Kostelnik, M.J., A.K. Soderman, A.P. Whiren, M.L. Rupiper, & K.M. Gregory. 2015. Guiding Children's Social Development and L earning: Theory and Skills, 8th ed. Stamford, CT: Cengage.

McClellan, D., & L.G. Katz. 2001. "Assessing Young Children's Social Competence." Champaign, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED450953.pdf.

O'Connor, E., & K. McCartney. 2007. "Examining Teacher-Child Relationships and Achievement as Part of an Ecological Model of Development." American Educational R esearch Journal 44 (2): 340-69.

Ostrosky, M.M., & E.Y. Jung. 2005. "Building Positive Teacher-Child Relationships." Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning. What Works Briefs. http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/briefs/wwb12.pdf.

Palermo, F., L.D. Hanish, C.L. Martin, R.A. Fabes, & M. Reiser. 2007. "Preschoolers' Academic Readiness: What Role Does the Teacher-Child Relationship Play?" Early Childhood Research Quarterly 22 (4): 407-22. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3856866.

Raikes, H.H., & C.P. Edwards. 2009. Exte nding the Dance in Infant and Toddler Caregiving: Enhancing Attachment and Relationships. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

Riley, D., R.R. San Juan, J. Klinkner, & A. Ramminger. 2008. Social and Emotional Developm ent: Connecting Science and Practice in Early Childhood Settings. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf; Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Roberts, S.K., & P.A. Crawford. 2008. "Real Life Calls for Real Books: Literature to Help Children Cope with Family Stressors." Young Children 63 (5): 12-17.

Twardosz, S. 2005. "Expressing Warmth and Affection to Children." Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning. What Works Briefs. http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/briefs/wwb20.pdf.

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Promoting Young Children's Social and Emotional Health

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Trusting relationships and intentional teaching improve young children's social and emotional health.

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5 Keys to Successful Social and Emotional Learning

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Studies show that sustained and well-integrated social and emotional learning (SEL) engages students and improves achievement. Explore classroom practices that make up the most effective SEL programs.

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The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning is helping make evidence-based social and emotional learning an integral part of education from preschool through high school.

Learn about the Fundamentals of SEL Learn more about SEL

Getting started with systemic implementation

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Dr. Susan Bunting
Former State Secretary of Education

We need to address inequities in education and we need better pathways to success... [which requires recognizing that students' social and emotional learning] is just as important as their academic growth.

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US Secretary of Education

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Superindentant

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Advancing Social and Emotional Learning - CASEL

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CASEL is helping make evidence-based social and emotional learning an integral part of education, preschool through high school.

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Story Workshop in K-3 -
Wednesday, February 8th

On-Demand Workshop Recording

PDF handouts:
February 8th - Electronic Handout
February 8th - Print Handout

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VSB's Story Workshop Invitations Order Form

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VSB's Story Workshop Invitations Order Form

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As shared by Gina Wong during POPEY's February 8th Workshop

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VSB Story Workshop Invitations Order Form

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Opal School Children on Play and Learning

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Opal School Children on Play and Learning

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Opal School Children on Play and Learning

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A brief guided tour around some Story Workshop provocations in a Kindergarten classroom...

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Literacy, SEL and Global Citizenship in K-3 - Wednesday, February 15th

On-Demand Workshop Recording

PDF handouts:
Feb. 15th - Electronic Handout
Feb. 15th - Print Handout

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Bringing Core Content to Life With Outdoor Education

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Bringing Core Content to Life With Outdoor Education

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BC's Environmental Educators Professional Specialist Association (EEPSA)

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BC's Environmental Educators Professional Specialist Association (EEPSA)

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Find more resources at www.eepsa.org

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Edmonton & Area Land Trust Blog Post

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Bark & Leaf Rubbings - Edmonton & Area Land Trust

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A fun way to capture the different textures and patterns that appear in nature!

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Nature as Inspiration for Oral Storytelling

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Nature as Inspiration for Oral Storytelling

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Oregon Association for the Education of Young People

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Nature as Inspiration for Oral Storytelling with Preschoolers

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Nature as Inspiration for Oral Storytelling with Preschoolers by Nicole Fravel I’m a big fan of oral storytelling in early childhood. I enjoy retelling stories from memory and making up original stories based on real past events or pure fantasy, and I encourage the children to engage in storytelling…

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An overview of B.C.'s Early Learning Framework

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Beetles Project: I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of... 

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Beetles Project: I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of... 

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Student Activity Guide

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BC Ministry of Education's Resource

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Wednesday, February 22nd  // 3:15-4:15 pm (PST)
Fostering Curiosity Through Conversation in K-3

CLICK HERE:
Zoom Link for Workshop

You can also go to the Zoom website and enter this info manually:
Zoom Meeting ID: 815 6338 2598
Mtg Passcode: 123456

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Outdoor Learning in K-3 - Wednesday, February 1st

On-Demand Workshop Recording

PDF handouts:
February 1st - Electronic Handout
February 1st - Print Handout

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Content

Content

Story

structure of story

beginning, middle, end (or first, then, last)

literary elements and devices

examples include sound concepts (e.g., rhyme, rhythm, musical, and poetical qualities of language) and humorous and creative texts (e.g., tongue twisters, nursery rhymes, fables, traditional stories)

Strategies and processes

reading strategies

making meaning using predictions and connections; making meaning from story using pictures, patterns, memory, and prior knowledge; retelling some elements of story; and recognizing familiar words/names and environmental print (e.g., street signs, food packaging)

oral language strategies

adjusting volume, pace, tone, and articulation; focusing on the speaker; taking turns; asking questions related to the topic; making personal connections; making relevant contributions to discussion

metacognitive strategies

talking and thinking about learning (e.g., through reflecting, questioning, goal setting, self-evaluating) to develop awareness of self as a reader and as a writer

writing processes

Language features, structures, and conventions

concepts of print

the conventional features of written English, such as:
- the symbolic nature of writing
- the correspondence of spoken words to printed words (one-to-one matching)
- the association of letters and sounds
- the distinctive features of letters and words
- the correspondence between uppercase and lowercase letters
- left-to-right directionality
- the use of space to mark word boundaries
- the use of specific signs and symbols for punctuation (e.g., period, exclamation point, question mark)
- front and back of a book

letter knowledge

recognizing and naming most letters of the alphabet, recognizing most letter-sound matches, recognizing some familiar words

phonemic and phonological awareness

Phonological refers to the sounds of words (as opposed to their meanings):
- Phonemic awareness is a specific aspect of a learner's phonological awareness: a child's ability to segment spoken words into phonemes (e.g., c / a / t) and to blend phonemes into words indicates a developing phonemic awareness.
- Phonological awareness involves the abilities to hear and create rhyming words, segment the flow of speech into separate words, and hear syllables as "chunks" in spoken words.

letter formation

the use of scribble writing or letter strings to communicate meaning; distinguishes drawing from writing

the relationship between reading, writing, and oral language

Curricular Competency

Curricular Competency

Comprehend and connect (reading, listening, viewing)

Create and communicate (writing, speaking, representing)

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Building Student Success - B.C. Curriculum

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Story structure of story beginning, middle, end (or first, then, last) literary elements and devices examples include sound concepts (e.g., rhyme, rhythm, musical, and poetical qualities of language) and humorous and creative texts (e.g., tongue twisters, nursery rhymes, fables, traditional stories) Strategies and processes reading strategies making meaning using predictions