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Student observation form sample: data collection

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Student observation form sample: data collection

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Role and Responsibilities of the ES Support and Homeroom Teacher 

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To support the work in schools, IFSEL has developed a series of online SEL workshops for parents. The series offers parents the chance to come together to uncover both a shared understanding and a range of practical tools and insights to bring SEL alive at home.

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Institute for Social and Emotional Learning (IFSEL)

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IFSEL provides training, professional development, and curriculum to empower educators, young people, and parents to transform their schools into caring, inclusive communities.

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Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

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The science of child development points to three core principles that can guide what society needs to do to help children and families thrive. These include:

1. Supporting responsive relationships

2. Strengthening core life skills

3. Reducing sources of stress

Play in early childhood is an effective way of supporting all three of these principles. In this video, learn more about how play can foster children's resilience to hardship, and how the complex interactions involved when children play help build their brains.

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Play in Early Childhood: The Role of Play in Any Setting

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The science of child development points to three core principles that can guide what society needs to do to help children and families thrive. These include: Supporting responsive relationships Strengthening core life skills Reducing sources of stress Play in early childhood is an effective way of supporting all three of these principles.

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Diane Sweeney introduces Student-Centered Coaching which puts the needs of students’ front-and-center.

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About Us
ICAT Resources ® has established a team of Researchers and Approved Trainers to ensure the most effective delivery of professional development and consultation service for schools. Our team is comprised of respected leaders in the field of Education, Special Education and School Psychology. Each brings a unique contribution of experience and expertise to support schools and districts in developing quality support services for students and staff.

Todd A. Gravois, Ph.D.
Dr. Gravois is the President and CEO of ICAT Resources ®. Dr. Gravois is a sought after trainer, researcher and consultant, working with over 500 schools in nine states to develop and implement high-quality support services for students and teachers. As co-developer of the Instructional Consultation Team (IC Team) Model, he has over 20 years of experience working with and in schools supporting teachers in developing quality instruction to benefit student achievement. He is co-author of Instructional Consultation Teams: Collaborating for Change, as well as numerous chapters and articles on creating systems of support for teachers and students.

Sylvia A. Rosenfield, Ph.D.
Dr. Rosenfield is Senior Researcher/ Developer for ICAT Resources ® and co-developer of IC Teams. Her seminal publication and research on Instructional Consultation (1987) now represents a recognized model of school consultation. As Professor of School Psychology at University of Maryland, Temple University and Fordam University Dr. Rosenfield has researched and written extensively on the impact of quality support services for teachers and students.

Edward E. Gickling, Ph.D.
Dr. Gickling is Senior Researcher/ Developer for ICAT Resources ® and is recognized as the developer of Curriculum Based Assessment - now referred to as Instructional Assessment. Dr. Gickling offers a wealth of knowledge and experience ranging from Professor of Special Education at Universities of Tennessee and Nevada to Director of Training for Council for Exceptional Children. His research and application of Instructional Assessment has provided thousands of educators across the nation a meaningful approach to supporting students success within the classroom.

Lauren Kaiser, Ph.D.
Dr. Kaiser is the Director of Distance Education for ICAT Resources ® and an Approved ICAT ® Trainer. As Director of Distance Education, Dr. Kaiser coordinates the ICAT ® On-Line Coaching process and supervises ICAT ® Tools, the integrated data management system of IC Teams. Dr. Kaiser is also project coordinator for the implementation of IC Teams in Maryland. The focus of Dr. Kaiser's research as been the investigation of development and implementation of quality instructional practices within the general education classroom.

Paul Lords, E.D.S.
Mr. Lords is an Approved ICAT ® Trainer who provides training, consultation and coordination support for the Nevada State IC Team project. Mr. Lords earned his degree in School Psychology from University of Nevada, Reno and is currently completing his doctoral degree from Capella University. Mr. Lords has extensive experience working within schools as an IC Case Manager and IC Team Facilitator.

Deborah Nelson, Ph.D.
Dr. Nelson is Director of Trainer Certification and an Approved ICAT® Trainer who provides direct training and consultation services to projects in Virginia, New Hampshire and Maryland. Dr. Nelson comes to ICAT® Resources with extensive experience as an IC Team Facilitator and Project Coordinator in Maryland schools. Deeply interested in creating effective educational services for all students, Dr. Nelson has a particular interest and experience in working with urban populations. She has focused her research interest on the reading/ writing connection and on the implementation of high-quality support services for students.

Carrie Osborne, M.Ed.
Ms. Osborne is an Approved ICAT ® Trainer who provides direct training and project coordination support to schools in Michigan and Indiana. With 20 years experience as a special educator, Ms. Osborne joined ICAT Resources ® after facilitating IC Team development in Northville (MI) Public Schools.

Denise Stringer, M.Ed.
Ms. Stringer is an Approved ICAT ® Trainer who provides training and project coordination services schools and districts. Ms. Stringer has a Masters of Education in Special Education and brings skills and experience as an IC Case Consultant, IC Team Facilitator and an Approved ICAT ® Trainer. An exceptional trainer, Ms. Stringer currently provides project coordination and training for the IST/IC Team Project in Delaware.

Licensed/ Approved IC Team Training Centers
ICAT Resources ® is proud to have partners who share a vision of promoting effective support services for students and teachers. The following IC Team Training Centers have committed to adhering to quality-control standards for training, implementing and evaluating IC Teams through structured License of Use Agreements. Each Center employs and contracts with only Approved ICAT ® Training Staff and maintains an on-going relationship with ICAT Resources ®:

Indiana IC Team Training Center @ Indiana Unversity CELL
Mr. Jim Ansaldo, Coordinator/ Approved ICAT® Trainer

Michigan IC Team Training Center
Ms. Sandy Riley, Director/ Approved ICAT® Trainer

North Carolina IC Team Training Center
Dr. Lindsay Vail, Director/ Approved ICAT® Trainer

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ICAT Resources ® has established a team of Researchers and Approved Trainers to ensure the most effective delivery of professional development and consultation service for schools. Our team is comprised of respected leaders in the field of Education, Special Education and School Psychology.

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Lee Ann Jung, Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Julie Kroener Table of Contents

About the Authors

About This Book

Your Students, My Students, Our Students explores the hard truths of current special education practice and outlines five essential disruptions to the status quo. Authors Lee Ann Jung, Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Julie Kroener show you how to

Establish a school culture that champions equity and inclusion.

Rethink the long-standing structure of least restrictive environment and the resulting service delivery.

Leverage the strengths of all educators to provide appropriate support and challenge.

Collaborate on the delivery of instruction and intervention.

Honor the aspirations of each student and plan accordingly.

To realize authentic and equitable inclusion, we must relentlessly and collectively pursue change. This book-written not for "special educators" or "general educators" but for all educators-addresses the challenges, maps out the solutions, and provides tools and inspiration for the work ahead. Real-life examples of empowerment and success illustrate just what's possible when educators commit to the belief that every student belongs to all of us and all students deserve learning experiences that will equip them to live full and rewarding lives.
See the book's table of contents and read excerpts
Share This Page

Aboutthe Authors

Lee Ann Jung is the founder of Lead Inclusion, a clinical professor at San Diego State University, and a consultant to schools worldwide. She provides support to schools in the areas of inclusion, standards-based learning and grading, designing individualized goals and interdisciplinary supports, and measuring progress.
Read more

Nancy Frey is a professor of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College. Frey is a recipient of the Christa McAuliffe Award for Excellence in Teacher Education from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the Early Career Award from the Literacy Research Association.
Read more

Douglas Fisher is a professor of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College. Fisher has published numerous articles on improving student achievement, and his books include The Purposeful Classroom, Building Equity, and Intentional and Targeted Teaching.
Read more

Julie Kroener is chief of human resources and relations at Health Sciences High & Middle College. Her role includes coordinating all support services for students with and without disabilities. Kroener is a credentialed special educator and administrator in California.
Read more

Teaching

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Your Students, My Students, Our Students: Rethinking Equitable and Inclusive Classrooms

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Lee Ann Jung, Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Julie Kroener Table of Contents About the Authors Your Students, My Students, Our Students explores the hard truths of current special education practice and outlines five essential disruptions to the status quo.

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STUDENT SUPPORT AND REFERRAL TEAM (SSRT)  MULTI-TIERED SYSTEM OF SUPPORT PROCESS GUIDELINES

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The Orange County Department of Education explains Multi-Tiered System of Supports, or MTSS

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Tool for planning differentiation

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Reenvisioning the UDL Guidelines

Because the UDL Guidelines are meant to be informed by feedback from the field as well as new research, they have been updated several times in the past. We are in the process of updating the Guidelines once again in our UDL Rising to Equity initiative.

This update will focus specifically on addressing systemic barriers that result in inequitable learning opportunities and outcomes. CAST aims to develop a transparent, inclusive, and community-driven process. If you are interested in collaborating and staying updated on our progress, we invite you to complete a brief survey.

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

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Oregon RTI project

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Acknowledging the uncomfortable feeling and high emotions that the topic of inclusion may take place. How to talk around emotionally loaded topics. It is highly personal for the students, teachers, and parents. Does the emotion of the loudest voice get heard or seen only? 

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Acknowledging the uncomfortable feeling and high emotions that the topic of inclusion may take place. How to talk around emotionally loaded topics. It is highly personal for the students, teachers, and parents. Does the emotion of the loudest voice get heard or seen only? 

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While we may all be in different boats. We are all in the same ocean. 

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While we may all be in different boats. We are all in the same ocean. 

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I learned that while we are all at different schools our experiences are similar and the collective desire of this group to be the change makers is inspiring.
--Brenda

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Really interesting to start thinking about how System Thinking can be used in school settings. Looking forward to learning more about it tomorrow

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Community building- Growth Mindset- Culture of Inclusivity: This all happens when we all work together towards a common goal.

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Julia: I really enjoyed the visioning activity and how that helped to get us thinking, catapulting us into this nuanced, tricky thinking work. 

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Julia: I really enjoyed the visioning activity and how that helped to get us thinking, catapulting us into this nuanced, tricky thinking work. 

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DEIJ work really matches up well with growing a culture of belonging.

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cena.johanna@gmail.com, jcena@asbarcelona.com, @johannacena

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Zaretta Hammond, Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain,

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Peter Senge Introduction to Systems Thinking

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Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. p.109

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Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. p.109

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Academic Mindset

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A holistic approach to building supportive communities for every child through social-emotional learning.

Click on a section to explore
Second Step ® programs.

A holistic approach to building supportive communities for every child through social-emotional learning.

Click on a section to explore
Second Step ® programs.

All Second Step ® programs include supports for families, from weekly letters and book lists to free resources like The Imagine Neighborhood™ podcast series and ParenTeen Connect. Families can also bring social-emotional learning home through our Captain Compassion® comics, which give kids and adults the power to prevent bullying, as well as our Hot Chocolate Talk® resource, which helps families talk about child safety.

Universal, classroom-based, social-emotional learning curriculum for Kindergarten-Grade 5 that nurtures children's social-emotional competence and foundational learning skills. Choose from two options: the new Second Step® Elementary digital program, or evidence-based Second Step Elementary classroom kits.

A Second Step® social-emotional learning (SEL) program for high school students is now in development. Sign up if you'd like to receive updates or be considered for participation in program field-testing and research.

In the meantime, consider implementing Second Step® SEL for Adults. This professional learning program can help you bring the benefits of SEL to your high school, starting with your staff.

A stand-alone professional learning program designed to help K-12 educators strengthen their social-emotional skills and create a supportive school climate.
Now Available

Decades of research show the positive effects of universal, classroom-based SEL programs for children. There's also broad recognition that benefits are even greater when children experience SEL throughout their day, across home, school, and out-of-school time environments, and throughout developmental stages. When implemented holistically, with a coordinated, community-wide approach, SEL can build stronger communities and support inclusive, equitable learning.
Download White Paper

The new Second Step® Elementary digital program is designed to meet the needs of today's classrooms.
Learn More

Introducing Second Step® SEL for Adults, a professional learning program for all school staff to strengthen their social-emotional skills and create a supportive school climate.
Learn More

Second Step® Programa extraescolar, a Spanish-language version of Second Step® Out-of-School Time, is now available. Purchase one or both to best serve your community!

The Second Step family of programs helps you take a holistic approach to social-emotional learning (SEL), combining classroom SEL with new offerings for out-of-school time and SEL for adults. Learn how our expanded family of programs can help you level up with:

Compassion in the classroom

Common language across environments

Educator well-being

While we're best known for our Second Step family of social-emotional learning programs, Committee for Children has championed the safety and well-being of children since 1979. From our headquarters in Seattle, Washington, we partner with researchers, policymakers, and thought leaders to fulfill our vision of safe children thriving in a peaceful world. Learn more about our work.

We're committed to ensuring our programs are culturally relevant, affirming, and accessible to all children, especially the most systemically marginalized children. Find out more.

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A holistic approach to building supportive communities for every child through social-emotional learning. Click on a section to exploreSecond Step ® programs. A holistic approach to building supportive communities for every child through social-emotional learning.

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Onward: Stories and Resources to Cultivate Emotional Resilience

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Your first stop for resources, inspiration, and guidance on cultivating emotional resilience. The perfect site for anyone who is feeling burned-out and beat-down. Don't just survive. Thrive with Onward.

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How mindfulness changes the emotional life of our brains | Richard J. Davidson | TEDxSanFrancisco

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K-12 Systems of Inclusion, Learning and Well-being - Google Jamboard

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K-12 Systems of Inclusion, Learning and Well-being

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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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A review of school-based positive psychology interventions found that "the structure of the interventions was as important to success as the content of the programs." ¹⁸ We design our programs with this in mind.

We have also learned by doing. We have 15 years of experience, and over that time, the basis of our whole-school approach has been validated by research: students receive more lasting benefits when taught by their trusted classroom teachers than by outside providers. ¹¹ Research on programs addressing trauma also shows that whole-school approaches work better than individual interventions. ¹⁹

Mindful Schools works with each school and district to understand their culture, context, assets, and needs, and we emphasize:

You can read more about the research on mindfulness in education, and hear from our Executive Director Seewan Eng in this article:

A Recent Study Found a School-Based Mindfulness Program Doesn't Work-Let's Unpack That

Researchers and key figures reflect on the results and implications of one of the largest studies on mindfulness in schools ever conducted. The bottom line: the structure and approach matter.
"You can have the best curriculum in the world, in any subject area, if you're not able to show up in good shape, it's eventually going to go sideways. Mindful Schools has long had curricula for students, but the whole school approach really begins with adults first. We offer teachers as many entry points as possible. As a teacher, I need a community to support me, not just pressure to do it all on my own. I need an invitation and a reminder to practice, not just another mandate to do more. As more people learn together each year, and capacity builds, this is how a culture of care takes root and sustains." - Seewan Eng, Mindful Schools
1 "Any Anxiety Disorder," National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), n.d., https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/any-anxiety-disorder.shtml

2 "Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens," Common Sense, 2021, https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/8-18-census-integrated-report-final-web_0.pdf

3 Jayne O'Donnell, "Teens Aren't Socializing in the Real World. And That's Making Them Super Lonely," USA TODAY, March 20, 2019, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/03/20/teen-loneliness-social-media-cell-phones-suicide-isolation-gaming-cigna/3208845002/

4 "Adverse Childhood Experiences Among US Children," The Child Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI), November 2017, https://www.cahmi.org/docs/default-source/resources/issue-brief-adverse-childhood-experiences-among-us-children-(2017).pdf

5 "Coronavirus Disease 2019," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d., https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/p0331-youth-mental-health-covid-19.html.

6 "2017 Educator Quality of Work Life Survey," American Federation of Teachers, 2017, https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/2017_eqwl_survey_web.pdf

7 Madeline Will, "Stress, Burnout, Depression: Teachers and Principals Are Not Doing Well, New Data Confirm," Education Week, June 15, 2022, https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/stress-burnout-depression-teachers-and-principals-are-not-doing-well-new-data-confirm/2022/06

8 Michelle Hackman and Eric Morath, "Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record," WSJ, December 28, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/teachers-quit-jobs-at-highest-rate-on-record-11545993052

9 Emily Berger et al., "A Systematic Review of Evidence-Based Wellbeing Initiatives for Schoolteachers and Early Childhood Educators," Educational Psychology Review 34, no. 4 (July 4, 2022): 2919-69, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-022-09690-5

10 Chiesa, A., & Serretti, A. (2009). Mindfulness-based stress reduction for stress management in healthy people: a review and meta-analysis. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 15(5), 593-600.

Sedlmeier, P., Eberth, J., Schwarz, M., Zimmermann, D., Haarig, F., Jaeger, S., & Kunze, S. (2012). The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 138(6), 1139.

11 Jha, A. P., Krompinger, J., & Baime, M. J. (2007). Mindfulness training modifies subsystems of attention. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 7(2), 109-119.

12 Condon, P., Desbordes, G., Miller, W. B., & DeSteno, D. (2013). Meditation increases compassionate responses to suffering. Psychological Science, 24(10), 2125-2127.

13 Birnie, K., Speca, M., & Carlson, L. E. (2010). Exploring self-compassion and empathy in the context of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Stress and Health, 26(5), 359-371.

Neff, K. D., & Germer, C. K. (2013). A Pilot Study and Randomized Controlled Trial of the Mindful Self-Compassion Program. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 69(1), 28-44.

Shapiro, S. L., Brown, K. W., & Biegel, G. M. (2007). Teaching self-care to caregivers: effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on the mental health of therapists in training. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 1(2), 105.

14 Goldin, P. R., & Gross, J. J. (2010). Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder. Emotion, 10(1), 83.

15 Ortner, C. N., Kilner, S. J., & Zelazo, P. D. (2007). Mindfulness meditation and reduced emotional interference on a cognitive task. Motivation and Emotion, 31(4), 271-283.

16 Chiesa, A., & Serretti, A. (2009). Mindfulness-based stress reduction for stress management in healthy people: a review and meta-analysis. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 15(5), 593-600.

Pbert, L., Madison, J. M., Druker, S., Olendzki, N., Magner, R., Reed, G., ... Carmody, J. (2012). Effect of mindfulness training on asthma quality of life and lung function: a randomised controlled trial. Thorax, 67(9), 769-776.

17 Hoge, E. A., Bui, E., Marques, L., Metcalf, C. A., Morris, L. K., Robinaugh, D. J., ... Simon, N. M. (2013). Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness Meditation for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Effects on Anxiety and Stress Reactivity. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 74(8), 786-792.

18 Duyen T. Vo and Kelly Allen, "A Systematic Review of School-Based Positive Psychology Interventions to Foster Teacher Wellbeing," Teachers and Teaching 28, no. 8 (November 12, 2022): 964-99, https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2022.2137138

19 Dana Carsley, Bassam Khoury, and Nancy L. Heath, "Effectiveness of Mindfulness Interventions for Mental Health in Schools: A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis," Mindfulness 9, no. 3 (October 23, 2017): 693-707, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-017-0839-2

20 Jutta Tobias Mortlock, Alison Carter, and Dawn Querstret, "Extending the Transformative Potential of Mindfulness through Team Mindfulness Training, Integrating Individual with Collective Mindfulness, in a High-Stress Military Setting," Frontiers in Psychology 13 (June 30, 2022), https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.867110.

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Research on Mindfulness and Education Mindful Schools' programs are informed by decades of research and 15 years of experience in this field. Share this page with your principal, PTA, or peers to make the case for mindfulness in schools.

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When Victoria Vial's Miami middle school shut down last spring and her classes went online, it felt like the beginning of an adventure. "I was in my pajamas, sitting in my comfy chair," the 13-year-old recalled. "I was texting my friends during class."

Then she received her academic progress report. An A and B student before the pandemic, she was failing three classes. The academic slide left her mother, Carola Mengolini, in tears. She insisted her daughter create to-do lists and moved the girl's workspace into the guest bedroom to pull up her grades.

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Andrea Petersen | Photographs by Maria Alejandra Cardona for The Wall Street Journal 

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Loneliness, Anxiety and Loss: the Covid Pandemic's Terrible Toll on Kids

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When Victoria Vial's Miami middle school shut down last spring and her classes went online, it felt like the beginning of an adventure. "I was in my pajamas, sitting in my comfy chair," the 13-year-old recalled. "I was texting my friends during class." Then she received her academic progress report.

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I find it a remarkable opportunity to share some of the wonderment and substantive information that has come my way as I delve deeply into the promises and power of play. This play exploration has continued to provide me with an urgency to communicate more about play, reinforced from the many recent play discoveries that demonstrate its benefit in our personal and communal well-being. Play can improve our lives, and in these times of stress and limitations due to the pandemic, the more subtle avenues for each of us to access our natural play instincts offers benefits we otherwise might miss.

This blog will focus initially on "the big picture" of play, why, despite many influences that can suppress or diminish its significance, it nonetheless persists as an important intrinsic component of human nature, worldwide. In addition, after offering some historic perspective-providing about play and human nature, I will add some suggestions that may enable anyone to implement it more effectively individually during these times of great challenge.

Our lives and those of our children have been and will continue to be altered by the pandemic, its forced stark community changes, its economic realities, along with the personal daily mental, physical, emotional and ecologic challenges it produces. We adults all are, in our individual ways, embracing it as are our children, who are acutely sensitive to the surrounding emotions and dislocations it produces. For most of us, this means less access to our usual play resources. (playgrounds closed, visitation to beloved relatives stopped, etc.) This new obligatory and necessary "organizing" element in our lives, however does not mean that our play natures are suppressed by it, it just means we have to be more innovative in seeing to it that we prioritize play experiences, and tap into this universally available resource so we can better cope with our changed world situation.

Remember, our essential design is two-fold. We are all unique individuals and we are also collectively members of a highly social species, like none other. Despite the fact that we possess qualities that allow our unique individualities to prosper, (and which play enriches) we still find ourselves with overall social needs to interact regularly and find ways to get along supportively and interdependently with our friends, relatives, neighbors, community and beyond.

The evidence from play science demonstrates, also, that we all, children and adults, have untapped play-based resources that are there for us to access, which exist in us despite the many ongoing difficult circumstances. These play reservoirs and which have been provided for us by nature have persisted through past difficult and varied historic situations. (famines, diseases, natural disasters, political upheavals, wars, etc.) By embracing them, they keep us upbeat, positive, and resilient. When examining the lives of non-players, comparing them to play-fulfilled individuals, research has been able to show how play itself contributes to getting along better with ourselves, (play as a good anti-depressant) and certainly provides the tools to better get along non-violently, cooperatively and innovatively with each other.

Wow.

Play is not generally seen as being this foundational for living in a changing, challenging world, but it is a necessary ingredient for individual and communal balance. Beyond enabling us to better deal with individual and social requirements, it provides us with adaptive flexibilities, and openness to explore the unexpected. So, the wisdom of play is particularly needed to help us cope with the pandemic and our polarized society. Thank goodness... Despite the pandemic, it still is fun and rejuvenating to play.

How we react, adapt to the unexpected, handle challenges, are resilient (or collapse) while stressed, of course varies immensely with our life circumstances. But like breathing air, eating, sleeping, reproducing, grieving the dead, seeking care and shelter, there are basics that we all share that are fundamental components worldwide. Play is there to prepare us to better live our two-fold lives, but the prevailing way of seeing play is that it is necessary for kids, but very elective for responsible adults

A scholarly look at human history allows play to be viewed in context with its shaping of how we as hunter-gatherers survived in the past. This long but accurate view allows us to keep it applicable to our overall well being NOW.

When we look deeply at our pre-historic human heritage from before the agricultural era which was established some 10,000 years ago, (our paleo-anthropologic past) the views by those who have done so exhaustively, (Peter Gray, for example,) are that they see many of our forbearers as predominantly living communally as small foraging and hunting Nomadic tribes for at least 200,000 years, and likely much longer. Though there are many variations in locale and gathering or hunting ecologies, nonetheless, we are still biologically grounded in our current bodies and psyches still with the residual physiologic foundations largely long established when we were Hunter-Gatherers. Of course we then and now have been influenced by our varied surroundings and cultural heritages, and now as a majority, we are enveloped in urban living and worldwide burgeoning technology.

This majority reality can make it tough to access our basic nature. And despite all us human beings as also possessing the genetic propensities for competition and violence, and having also capacities to live virtually anywhere on earth, somehow these long surviving Hunter-Gatherer tribes, and the few remnant examples that still exist today, were able to not only survive, but to do so with communal sharing and egalitarian governance for many eons more than our post-agricultural city-state civilizations, most of which have ended or transitioned to new ways of living.

The conclusions by such scholars as Peter Gray are that play itself has been a positive force to sustain this egalitarianism. My own early research on homicidal males who, we discovered had severe lifelong play deficits upholds in modern terms these conclusions that fostering the playful side of human nature promotes non-violent pro-social behavior. The beneficent legacy of life after life examined to assess the effects of sufficient play or its absence provides up to date credible backing for the importance of including play now in one's life from birth to death. As previously noted, our dual natures, individual and communal, are sustained in part by the inclusion of play.

This insight about the importance of play itself is shared by PlayCore. So here is where the skillful bringing of play opportunities by PlayCore triggers our play capacities and universal needs to bring more life enhancing play into our contemporary lives. The closure of playgrounds and other playful recreation amenities, along with the now required restrictions on group play, places some limits on easy play access, but it does not mean we are any less playful.

A means of keeping play's presence more alive is to find our own "Play Personalities." I hope each reader of this blog recognizes within themselves that they have their own individual "Play Personality" and that it is also an intrinsic aspect of their children, spouses, relatives and friends.

Are you or those you know finding quick joy by being... Explorers? Directors? Collectors? Competitors? Artists? It is likely your own best talents connect with your Play Personality. By recognizing this, the playful heritage that got embedded in all of us through our long hunter-gatherer era of existence will get activated, and this has great personal and societal benefit.

My research also demonstrates that severe play deprivation, particularly during childhood years of rapid development, has consequences that make harmonious communal cooperation difficult. So understanding our play heritage as well as recognizing how necessary it is to activate it regularly (see the blog on play vaccination) allows us to see play for what it is, but better yet, make personalized play a life necessity for ourselves and those we love.

-Stuart Brown

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Play is a Universal Gift of Nature in Times of Challenge and Stress

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I find it a remarkable opportunity to share some of the wonderment and substantive information that has come my way as I delve deeply into the promises and power of play. This play exploration has continued to provide me with an urgency to communicate more about play, reinforced from the many recent play discoveries that demonstrate its benefit in our personal and communal well-being.

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Sample Grade Level Data Team Meeting Agenda Template