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Support EF_SR to Engage Today's Learners Choice Board 2024

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focus scale strategy w-checkin sheet 2023

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Demonstrating Self-Regulation With Tone of Voice

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Link to Zones of Regulation Free Resources

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Developing Executive Function With Priority Lists

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how to develop self regulation in your students

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How To Develop Self Regulation In Your Students

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While as educated adults we know that to lead a healthy lifestyle we should drink less red wine, eat less chocolate, exercise regularly and have plenty of sleep, we don't always do it! That's because we are all continually developing our self-regulation skills. Your students are the same.

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DAILY Self Monitoring Sheet with staff rate 8 periods 2014

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Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

Guiding students to create an ongoing cycle of growth in self-regulation starts with having them set explicit goals for themselves.

Self-regulation is a skill that takes a long time to learn and may take a lifetime, in truth, to really master. We can get better at it with practice, and our students' social, emotional, and character development requires that we provide routine opportunities in classrooms and schools for them to work on this skill.

1. Have students determine their goal-the aspect of self-regulation they'd like to improve. You can ask them to work on up to two out of the four areas below at any given point in time.

2. Have them create a plan for how they will improve in that area in the short term.

3. Ask students to review their goal and plan with a classmate who will act as their support partner and then get final approval from their support team-a small group that includes classmates and you.

4. Students should periodically evaluate the plan against the goal they set and determine whether their plan needs adjustment. They should finalize this adjustment after review and approval by their support team.

5. When students meet one goal, have them set another and create a new plan to share with the support team.

Developing self-regulation as a skill is for everyone, not just those who are experiencing difficulty in some area of their life. The concept here is one of continuous improvement. Self-regulation means identifying and taking steps to help one get better at things that are important for that person's individual development. Everyone, at all ages, no matter their degree of accomplishment or shortcoming, can participate in an improvement process.

In helping students learn to self-regulate, consider following these five steps, which are to be repeated in an ongoing cycle for continued growth and improvement.

Four Areas for Self-Regulation Improvement

While improvement plans can be made in any area, I suggest focusing on study skills, social and emotional competency, physical health, or citizenship. I've designed improvement plan worksheets for these four areas .

Study skills: Everyone, no matter how committed or organized, can improve their study habits. Perhaps that means learning to take notes better, or finding the most suitable space in which to read, or developing ways to remember unfamiliar vocabulary words, or improving one's grip on a pencil. When studying is less burdensome, we're more likely to do it.

Character-social-emotional competencies: Everyone, no matter how virtuous or socially and emotionally skilled, can be kinder, more responsible, more appreciative, more empathic, and more solution focused. As more and more schools adopt social and emotional learning competencies and character virtues, students will benefit from learning to improve in these aspects of their lives.

Physical health: As a complement to what is learned in health classes, students can set goals around fitness, nutrition, and healthy habits. By learning self-management as a part of health education, students will come to understand that improving their health is an ongoing responsibility, as is helping others become healthier.

Community member: What better way for students to understand that they can and should be positive assets to their community than to have them participate in that community? In preschool, all children have jobs and understand, at their level, that the class needs and benefits from them learning to do those jobs, doing them well, and helping their classmates become better at their jobs. After all, if the cups are not put out right-side up and flat, the juice pourer will not do his or her job very well.

Sometimes these important lessons are lost in secondary education. All students, preschool to 12th grade, need opportunities to develop at being good citizens-in the classroom, in extracurricular programs, on teams and in performance groups, and in their communities.

The improvement plan worksheets are meant to be modified so as to meet needs specific to different groups of students. They can and should be tailored to students' developmental levels and current status in each of the four areas. There is little point in setting objectives that are clearly beyond a student's capacity. The point is to set up a process and mindset of gradual improvement and self-efficacy, as well as to promote an attitude of helping classmates and colleagues as a way of making them, and ourselves, better. And this applies to the adults in a school as well as students.

While the examples provided are geared toward students, every aspect of the process applies to staff members (and parents and caregivers). There's no better way to encourage improvement in young people than the visible modeling of improvement strategies by adults.

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Guiding students to create an ongoing cycle of growth in self-regulation starts with having them set explicit goals for themselves.

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Strategy

Behavioral Monitoring, Social Skills Chart, Self-Assessment

Self-monitoring is a process by which the student is actively engaged in reflecting, assessing and working toward academic, behavioral and social goals. With the support of a teacher or mentor, the student has determined the skills and steps necessary to achieve a pre-determined goal. In order to learn how to self-monitor, the student might start off with a checklist of the tasks required to achieve a certain goal. As the student is working, he would assess progress with the goal using the task list. He is able to compare his behavior or skills to a determined set of tasks or behaviors that are listed as necessary to reach a goal and determine whether he is on target.

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Behavioral Monitoring, Social Skills Chart, Self-Assessment Self-monitoring is a process by which the student is actively engaged in reflecting, assessing and working toward academic, behavioral and social goals. With the support of a teacher or mentor, the student has determined the skills and steps necessary to achieve a pre-determined goal.

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A new year is around the corner, which is a great time to encourage students to create a vision board where they visualize their personal, academic and professional goals. Vision boards are collages of inspirational people, quotes, and visuals to inspire an individual to pursue their dreams and passions. Several extremely successful people and celebrities have vision boards. This was an idea inspired by the book, The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne that I wrote about in 2014 and included in my book, The 30 Goals Challenge for Educators: Small Steps to Transform Your Teaching. I've been encouraging students to create digital vision boards. See student examples here. This is one free Buncee template I created for any teacher or student to copy and edit as they wish. Below are tools, apps, and ideas to get your students started setting goals and accomplishing great things in their lives!

?Discover more ways to integrate technology effectively by taking one of my fully accredited online courses or get one of my books!

Templates, Tools and Apps for Creating Digital Vision Boards

I have tried creating vision boards with different digital tools. This year I'm most excited about trying this idea with Wakelet, a free curation tool where students add videos, photos, quotes, and more collected from the web! Students can also record themselves and create a Flipgrid video stating their goals and passions. Vision boards are meant to be revisited daily by students so they keep their goals in mind. To ensure students do this print out the QR codes automatically created for each Wakelet collection and post these on a bulletin board or wall where students can scan them and revisit their goals often. Since this is a curation tool, students can easily and quickly add to their vision boards whenever they are inspired.

The following are additional tools for creating student vision boards along with some examples:

Padlet and LinoIt are other ways to create a vision board or set goals with learners. Check out this example of my class goals here and an inspiration board here!

Buncee is an educational web tool and iOS app where students add digital content (free images, audio clips, YouTube video, videos, voice recordings, stickers, etc.) to a board to create presentations, collages, posters, and so forth. See my student Buncee vision boards here.

Pinterest is a free and popular curation web tool and app for older learners above the age of 13 years-old. Easily pin inspiring posts, documents, videos, and images to a board.

Genial.ly is a free multimedia tool for creating dynamic digital presentations and interactive images like the digital calendar below.

Canva is a web tool and app with a free library of stock images, stickers, and graphics.

EduGlogster is a web tool and app similar to Buncee. With a free account teachers can set up a class of 30 students to create multimedia projects that combine their own images, graphics, audio, video and text.

Smore is a web tool to create digital flyers with videos, icons, and images.

Pic-Collage is an app for creating visual collages that can include video. Also, find a library of stickers, frames, and templates.

Google Slides and Google Draw are also options.

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?Get your copy of Hacking Digital Learning or The 30 Goals Challenge or take a fully accredited online course for graduate credit (Online Learning Best Practices, Connected Educators or TESOL Methodologies)!

To thank you for your sharing, friendship and support over the years I am sharing free tips, learning resources, web tools and apps for 25 days in my Digital December STEM Advent Calendar. Just click on the calendar below and a post will appear for that day. NOTE! The post will not appear until that day. If you enjoy these resources, then take one of my fully accredited continuing education and graduate online courses or check out my latest book, Hacking Digital Learning Strategies with EdTech Missions!

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Student Goal-Setting with Digital Vision Boards - Teacher Reboot Camp

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Part of the December 2019 STEM Resources Digital Calendar! A new year is around the corner, which is a great time to encourage students to create a vision board where they visualize their personal, academic and professional goals. Vision boards are collages of inspirational people, quotes, and visuals to inspire an individual to pursue their [...]

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Back to school time can be a wonderful, exciting time for some students and a frustrating, new experience for other students. School based therapists can help students develop strategies from a sensory motor perspective to remain calm when they get angry or frustrated A new, huge collection of visual images that includes 26 calming strategies for the classroom has just been published.

You can download the Take 10 Deep Breaths calming strategy in color or black and white for FREE.

The 26 visual images for Calming Strategies for the Classroom include:

1. Take 10 deep breaths.

2. Think happy thoughts.

3. Count to 10.

4. Squeeze a stress ball.

5. Do some exercises.

6. Get a drink of water.

7. Read a book.

8. Rock gently on a ball.

9. Relax on pillows.

10. Take a walk.

11. Listen to music.

12. Do wall push ups.

13. Do yoga.

14. Play quietly.

15. Chew gum.

16. Write in journal.

17. Give yourself a hug.

18. Use the swing.

19. Spin in a circle.

20. Jump on a mini trampoline.

21. Use the scooter board.

22. Draw a picture.

23. Lay on the ball.

24. Sit on air disc.

25. Balance on a stool.

26. Go to a quiet area.

Here are some suggested uses for the Calming Strategies for the Classroom packet:

Hang up the full size pictures around the room for group instruction.

Print out the black and white versions of the calming strategies and color them in to help the students calm down and reduce stress.

Print out the small cards, laminate and put them on a key ring. When the students need to make choices to help them calm down, they can choose between the visual picture images.

Use the choice board page to help students decide which strategy to use to calm down in the classroom.

Get more details about Calming Strategies for the Classroom.

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Back to school time can be a wonderful, exciting time for some students and a frustrating, new experience for other students. School based therapists can help students develop strategies from a sensory motor perspective to remain calm when they get angry or frustrated A new, huge collection of visual images that includes 26 calming strategies [...]

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Why Schoolwide SEL?

A growing body of research indicates that schools that promote social and emotional learning are critical to students' academic, social, personal, and professional success (Durlak et al., 2011). Additionally, a systemic, schoolwide approach to SEL:

Improves the school environment, which results in better social and academic outcomes for students. An evaluation of CASEL's Collaborating District Initiative (CDI)-a multiyear, systemic SEL initiative in multiple school districts-showed a variety of positive outcomes both for the school as a whole (improved climate and increased attendance) and for students (academic performance, social and emotional competence, and fewer disciplinary referrals) (CASEL, 2017).

Helps schools coordinate diverse services and programs (Elias et al., 2015; Oberle et al., 2016). Schools typically tackle many in-school and out-of-school programs aimed at prevention (e.g., substance abuse prevention, bullying prevention) and promoting student achievement and well-being. When fragmented, this kind of programming demoralizes staff and impairs student learning (Elias et al., 2015). Systemic SEL provides a framework to coordinate existing programs into one initiative with a common infrastructure, vision, and language (Meyers et al., 2018).

Ensures students experience SEL in a consistent and coherent way. Students learn and apply social and emotional competencies more rapidly and effectively when the messages they receive across settings are aligned and mutually reinforcing. A systemic approach to SEL brings all of the developmental agents in a student's life together to teach, learn from, and communicate with one another.

Promotes cultural responsiveness through authentic partnerships with families and community partners, who play key roles in supporting students' academic, social, and emotional development (Chartock, 2010; Delgado-Gaitan & Trueba, 1991; Hollins, 1996).

Citations can be found in the School Guide Bibliography.

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A growing body of research indicates that schools that promote social and emotional learning are critical to students' academic, social, personal, and professional success (Durlak et al., 2011). Additionally, a systemic, schoolwide approach to SEL: Improves the school environment, which results in better social and academic outcomes for students.

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The idea of implementing a social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum into your school building or district may feel daunting. While all 50 states have social-emotional learning standards, oftentimes these standards don't include tangible steps for school leaders interested in cultivating a community of SEL in their school buildings.

Why Social Emotional Learning in schools?

Research tells us that both the physical environment and the psychological environment of a school building have an impact on student achievement. The physical environment of a school building includes anything from classroom size to lighting, to accessibility, while the psychological environment is related to classroom climate and student-teacher interactions. When we take SEL beyond the classroom we not only emphasize the importance of these skills, attitudes, and behaviors to our students but also increase the likelihood of mastery.

Let's explore five easy ways to start creating a community of SEL in your school now:

5 ways to create an SEL community:

1. Encourage teachers to incorporate into their lessons.

Some SEL topics include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. It's helpful if teachers share the concepts and language they're using related to the topic with other staff members in the building, including specialty teachers. This will help everyone to get on the same page and use consistent language and concepts with students in their interactions.

2. Use morning announcements to promote relevant SEL topics.

Morning announcements are a great opportunity to spread awareness and provide reminders to students and staff about relevant SEL topics.

3. Make SEL fun and engaging for students.

SEL lessons don't have to be boring or static. Use videos, games, and small group activities to engage students and encourage their interactions with members of their classroom community.

4. Communicate with families.

Go beyond the school building and invite parents and guardians to participate in SEL with their kids. Sending home relevant goal posters is an easy and effective way to keep families informed about what their students are learning at school.

5. Utilize visual supports in the classroom and hallways.

Visual supports, like posters and bulletin board displays, are a fun and creative way to carry SEL concepts beyond the classroom environment and into the school community. Check out some of our free donwloadable Everyday Speech bulletin displays here:

Using SEL to create a community within your school building can help foster feelings of unity among students and staff. It can help create a stronger sense of collective identity that spans grade levels and includes every staff member and student in the building. It can help your school community feel as though they are a part of something bigger than themselves.

Related Blog Posts:

"Everyday Speech is easy to use and includes most topics that I discuss with my students with social language difficulties. The videos are the BEST! Easy to watch and for kids to relate to. They generate the best discussions."
- Ann-Marie Small, M.S. CCC-SLP

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How to Cultivate an SEL Community at Your School | Free Bulletin Boards

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The idea of implementing a social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum into your school building or district may feel daunting. While all 50 states have social-emotional learning standards, oftentimes these standards don't include tangible steps for school leaders interested in cultivating a community of SEL in their school buildings.

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Strategy

Task List, Step-by-Step Scaffolding

A Problem Solving Checklist is a checklist that can be used by a student and/or class that outlines the steps necessary to complete simple or complex math problems. The Problem Solving Checklist might include an approach or a step-by-step algorithm for solving the math problem. These checklists can help students master simple and complex algorithms, organize mathematical steps and complete math problems independently.

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Task List, Step-by-Step Scaffolding A Problem Solving Checklist is a checklist that can be used by a student and/or class that outlines the steps necessary to complete simple or complex math problems. The Problem Solving Checklist might include an approach or a step-by-step algorithm for solving the math problem.

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Copy of [Template] Family Communication/Parent Update on Progress

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Give your students more ownership this year! Helping them set their own goals can be a powerful tool for improving academics, behavior, and effort.

How can you Help Students Set Goals?

Teaching students to set goals is a skill they will benefit from throughout their entire lives. Discuss the importance of setting goals and model setting one for yourself. It's important to teach students to set realistic and specific goals and how to reflect on and revise these goals. Read my previous blog post for examples and more details on how you can discuss goal-setting with children.

Set a class goal as a model. Some ideas are working on task for 15 uninterrupted minutes, reading independently for 20 minutes, lining up quietly the first time asked, reading 10 books in a week, performing 10 acts of kindness a week.

You can also use Goal-Trackers to help your students set their own goals and keep track of their progress!

How do Goal-Trackers Work?

I created Goal-Trackers to make goal-setting easy for students and manageable for teachers. You can start with one area for all students (for example, Sight Words), or have goals that are more specific to your students' highest needs. Here is an example for using them with sight words. After assessing your students' sight word knowledge, have them:

1. Set a goal, fill out a goal slip, and glue it into their notebooks (3 options).

2. Choose a tracking board (there are 6 themes) and color in 1 spot for each step accomplished (in this case, each sight word mastered).

3. Keep data on your students' goals and meet with them to discuss progress and set new goals.

4. Students earn certificates when they reach their goals (6 themes)

Goal-trackers can be used for setting goals in many different areas: mastering letters, sight words, math facts, writing name, counting, reading a certain number of books, increasing fluency, editing writing, etc.

In addition to academic goals, they can be used for behavior management, remembering routines, and effort: doing homework daily, raising hand, following directions, completing morning routine, working well with others, staying on task.

The possibilities for uses are endless, really.

Kids will love the fun, motivational sayings on each board.

But can Kindergartners and 1st Graders Really Set Goals?

Yes! Goals can be simple, such as write their name, count to 10, etc. and increase in difficulty as the year goes on. There are 3 goal slip options that range in levels from a simple box and achievement date to a slip with goal, action plan, and reflection. Goals can be easily measurable and students learn how to set realistic goals, track their progress, and feel awesome when they achieve it, no matter what grade they're in!

You can grab all of the above-pictured resources in my TpT store. Just click here: Goal-Trackers.

What other ideas for goal-setting do you have? Can you think of any other goals your students might use these goal-trackers for? Comment below and let me know!

Thanks for reading,

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Goal-Trackers: A System for Helping Students Set Goals

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Give your students more ownership this year! Helping them set their own goals can be a powerful tool for improving academics, behavior, and effort. Teaching students to set goals is a skill they will benefit from throughout their entire lives. Discuss the importance of setting goals and model setting one for yourself.

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2-Minute Guided Meditation to Release Stress

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Encouraging students to set goals for themselves-the first phase of self-regulated learning-helps them develop a growth mindset.

"Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible." -Tony Robbins

Many students may not necessarily have the tools to set academic goals and lack strategies to enact change and work toward those goals. Teachers can provide structure to help students set academic goals that are realistic and appropriate as well as achievable. It is important to note that goal setting is not just an activity for the beginning of the school year, but an ongoing process.

It personalizes the learning process based on their needs.

It creates intention and motivation that empowers students.

It establishes accountability to shift responsibility to students.

It provides a foundation for students to advocate for their needs.

Setting academic goals is the first phase of self-regulated learning. Irrespective of the model proposed by leading researchers such as Barry Zimmerman, self-regulated learning always begins with a goal-planning phase. Goal setting is an essential component for growth and development in our students for several reasons:

Goal setting can be done at any age-as long as it is age appropriate. Teaching the skill of goal setting coupled with reflecting and revising goals can give students the self-regulated learning tools for a growth mindset toward academic development.

With students as young as kindergarten, more scaffolding is needed. At the beginning of each day, students can select an emoji or picture that represents some action from a predetermined list of possible options. If teaching virtually, students can do this at the beginning of the session. If teaching in person, students can perhaps tape their goal to their desk or table area or perhaps a chart displayed in the classroom. The class can spend a few moments discussing goals and what actions they can do to achieve those goals. Teachers can invite other students to make suggestions for their peers. At the end of the day, allow students to rate themselves with stars and to think about how they could do things differently for the next day.

Upper Elementary and Middle School

For students who are slightly older and able to write, an excellent way to develop the habit of creating, planning, and reflecting on goals can be done through the use of short-term daily goals using sticky notes. At the beginning of the day, students take a few minutes to imagine some task, behavior, or skill they want to focus their intentions on for that specific day. Let the students keep the notes somewhere visible, so they can refer back to the goal throughout the day. Include class conversations with either a partner, a small group, or the whole class at the beginning and end of the day. Focus on the achievement of the goal, but suggest growth mindset strategies to focus on the wins as well as necessary changes for further improvement.

What do you think about the choices in goals for the week? (Were they realistic and appropriate? Were they the most needed for growth at this time?)

How did you progress toward your goals? (Did you have clear, actionable steps?)

What were some of the wins for the week?

What are some ways you can continue to improve on your development of these goals?

Once students have more advanced writing skills, it may be useful for them to keep a chart or table of their goals in a logbook. Students record in the morning, not only the goals but an action plan, and then reflect on strategies for improvement at the end of the day. At the end of each week, allow students time to reflect on their goals for the next week with structured prompts such as the following:

While a logbook is functional, it can be a more motivating experience to allow students to engage in creativity and personalization. Allow them to have fun with the process and create a goal journey map. They identify a goal, which is the end of the map. They also identify different benchmarks or steps to complete along the path or journey toward that goal. Students then have a visual representation of the progress of their journey.

High School

For high school students, l use a reflection sheet after each unit or chapter to create a regular habit of revisiting goals. Ask students the following questions:

What are some areas that you can improve upon? What are some areas that need more attention or focus? What could you do differently?

What specific and concrete actions can you do?

How can you advocate for yourself? In other words, how can your teacher, your peers, or others guide you toward your goal?

What were the wins for this chapter or unit? In other words, what things did you do well or what areas did you improve?

I always begin new units with an independent work day or two. During this time, the students are working on their reading skills, while I conference with their classmates independently.

Goal setting can help with classroom management and academic performance. It allows students to become more aware of expectations and concrete methods to achieve an outcome. It scaffolds the process, making it more manageable. With goal setting that is reflective and iterative, students establish a growth mindset as they engage in monitoring of their progress and reflecting on it as outlined by Zimmerman and Dale Schunk.

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Encouraging students to set goals for themselves-the first phase of self-regulated learning-helps them develop a growth mindset.

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Name That Emotion

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Sesame Street: Name That Emotion with Murray!

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Jay Mandel
Jay is an Entrepreneur and the Founder of Your Brand Coach Read full profile

If you are making slow progress on a goal you've set, maybe it is the wrong goal in the first place. Perhaps factors, including your attitude or environment, do not allow you to make your desired progress. However, it is easy to blame timing and luck; if you set a goal, you and only you are accountable for achieving it (read the achieve my goals guide). The question is, how?

Start With Why

On my career path, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to explore and learn things practically. After a successful corporate career, I spent two years trying to establish an entrepreneurial consultancy, only to realize marginal success.

The consultancy formed based on my core values, candor, curiosity, and collaboration, but unfortunately, my customer base and projects were seemingly random and disjointed. While I understood I needed to establish a consistent and repeatable approach to content marketing to drive my clients' results, that approach was not apparent in the brand I had built. Things got so rough that I had to resort to collecting unemployment at the onset of the pandemic.
"I am adding value, and I can charge for this!"
At the beginning of the pandemic, I delivered a webinar called earning trust in uncertain times: coronavirus edition. Afterward, I received an email from a participant. He shared some thoughts on a campaign for his jewelry company and asked for feedback. When I read his email, I realized I could quickly help him to gain clarity, so I sent him a note with an offer to get his message on track. He offered to pay me for my time, and I said to myself,

This first client needed to shift my offerings from general marketing consulting to a more diversified career that focuses on personal brand building.

It took a global pandemic to realize I needed to shift my goals to align with the change I was trying to make in the world, to a new business, coaching that applies my skills in an authentic way to me and valuable to prospects and customers.

Start With Your Identity

James Clear discusses identity-based habits as deeply rooted in a person's outlook toward life. As a businessperson, identity-based practices are what impact business goals and your approaches towards achieving them. Identity is what you believe in, and outcomes determine what you seek to achieve. A permanent change comes from transforming the who part of behavior-the character.

Whether it is a coaching program I develop, a class I teach, or a marketing campaign I create, I always start identity. According to The Brookings Institute:

Identity is a unique, inherited collection of assets, history, traits, and culture that distinguishes it internally and externally and can unite people and places.

Is it to be more healthy?

Did you get some lousy test results at the doctor?

Are you at risk of severe health problems?

But this logic also applies to personal goals. If losing weight is your goal, your focus is on an outcome rather than an identity-based plan, and you may lose motivation. Think, "Why am I trying to lose weight?"

It may help reframe your goal around a positive statement like, I am working to lead a healthy and active lifestyle. Motivation has to come from a place of confidence and belief in yourself. You know what they say about the air mask on the airplane - put it on yourself first.

It is ok to set goals for others; for example, "I am losing weight so I can live for my kids;" however, if you don't set goals around themes that you can own, and you don't do it for yourself first, then the people in your life will not receive any benefit.

Think about what you achieve from your efforts - the outcomes. The reality that you are looking at right now must also allude to the fact you promise to create for your clientele, and that is not possible unless you believe in it and make it believable for others.

Be Specific About What, How, and When

Your values need to align with other people and systems to engage in meeting your desired outcome, so make sure to put in place a process that accounts for what motivates you, that you can reliably complete until you achieve your goal.

If you are not specific and clear about how many pounds you are trying to lose and when you will lose then, then how will you know if you met your goal in the first place?

Floss one tooth

Read one sentence in a book.

Take one deep breath.

BJ FOGG, the author of Tiny Habits, suggests that you start small. In the Tiny Habits method, you always start with a tiny behavior. Some examples:

takes less than 30 seconds (even better: just 5 seconds)

requires no real effort

doesn't create pain or destructive emotions

According to Fogg, an excellent tiny behavior has these qualities:

Make sure it's a habit you want to have in your life. Don't pick something that's a "should," choose new behaviors you wish to.

The next thing to learn is where to place the further tiny action in your life. Just like planting a seed, you want the right spot for it, a place where it fits naturally and where it can thrive.

Be flexible and adaptable. We are in a complicated and volatile world, and things change on a dime, so don't be too hard on yourself if you need to change how you go about achieving your goal or even what goals you are trying to accomplish first place.

Confirmation bias: People tend to listen more often to information that confirms the beliefs they already have.

Selection bias: Selecting individuals, groups that do not provide diverse perspectives for you to consider.

Self-serving bias: People tend to give themselves credit for successes but blame failures on external causes.

Be aware of bias. As you set out to achieve your goals, it is critical to be aware of the bias that can sneak in and sabotage your thinking. Yes, it is essential to collaborate with others to achieve your goals, but you need to understand yourself and make sure you are not getting in your way before doing that. Here are some common forms of bias.

What about serendipity? Many of us believe that the great turning points and opportunities in our lives happen by chance, that they're out of our control.

Dr. Christian Busch, author of The Serendipity Mindset: The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck, spent a decade exploring how, if acted upon, unexpected encounters can expand our random social encounters can enhance our worldview, expand our social circles, and create new professional opportunities.

Serendipity is usually about connecting dots that have previously remained elusive. Busch's findings suggest that Good luck isn't just chance-it can be learned and leveraged. When you are perceptive, curious, open-minded, and eager to see opportunities, others might see only negatively. If you notice something unusual but can connect that bit of information with something else, you are in the right mindset for achieving serendipity.

Motivation and a Realistic Plan

Only you can choose the goals you set. Motivation is critical in meeting your goals. But choosing goals is not enough; you need to select the right goals and define a plan that keeps you accountable for meeting your goals.

Author Gabriele Oettingen defined a methodology you can use to get better at achieving your hopes and dreams. It's called WOOMP!

WOOP stands for:

WOOMP, there it is! WOOMP will force you to be hyper-realistic about your goals and be action-minded in your approach to achieving them.

Show up Consistently

In order to turn your vision into reality, you will have to regularly show up by consistently organizing, leading, and building to get to your goals.

"Some people show up when they need something. Some people show up before they need something, knowing that it will pay off later when they need something. And some people merely show up. Not needing anything, not in anticipation of needing something, but merely because they can." - Seth Godin

Final Thoughts

While I would be happy to be your trusted advisor and coach, the answer has to start with you. My process will help you to define and document an ownable set of values and marketing frameworks that will make you more appealing to clients/ employers, especially on LinkedIn. These values will translate beyond work, as well.

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Featured photo credit: Aj Alao via unsplash.com

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Combining simple exercises with math instruction can help ensure that elementary school students remember these lessons.

If you were to walk by my classroom at 9:01 a.m., you might see my math students out of their seats, moving their arms around and doing squats. It's not because I'm trading in math time for aerobics. My third-grade students are warming up for their hour of math instruction.

Each move has a purpose and is integrated with the content we're learning. Sometimes the movements act as a review; other times they're a preview of what's ahead. Regardless, the moves my students make are meant to help math concepts stick.

Why Movement?

In their book The Kinesthetic Classroom, Traci Lengel and Mike Kuczala cite studies that show us how learning certain concepts through movement is efficient and long-lasting.

Movement gives learning experiences something fresh and new, which the brain likes. This novelty helps keep the attention of the students, making their learning efficient. It's been my experience over years of using movement in math class that even those students who are timid and reluctant to participate at first are nevertheless paying attention and are interested in what's going on around them. Their brains are still activated.

Movement, although considered an art form, is an ideal example of hands-on learning. Generally, the teacher asks students to listen and look at math examples. By adding movement, students can involve themselves with the learning in a more concrete way. The brain likes that. The more active the body is in learning, according to The Kinesthetic Classroom, the more connections the brain can make with the content.

The brain also likes repetition and practice, which forms and strengthens neural pathways in the brain, which helps concepts move more quickly from short-term to long-term memory. The key to using movement in the classroom, regardless of the subject matter, is consistency. That's why my math students do the math moves every day.

Practice Math Vocabulary With Movement

So much of math instruction is learning and mastering vocabulary. Parallel lines, isosceles triangle, rotations, 180 degrees: Students can learn all of these terms and more through movement. Here's an example warm-up sequence we do to get ready for math class.

First, my students start with what we call "isosceles triangle," or "mountain" in yoga terminology: We spread our feet about two feet apart, firmly planted on the floor. Then, we take a moment to trace the three sides of the triangle with our hands. We start at the top point (our belly button) and move down one side, across the base, and up the third side.

Then it's time for some butterfly "symmetry" breaths. While we move our arms out and up, we notice what about our body makes us symmetrical. After the second deep breath in, we pause with our hands over our head and stretch to one side, becoming asymmetrical, and then to the other side before bringing our arms back down.

Next is a shoulder stretch. We move one arm straight out in front of us and across our body. Then, with our other arm we bend our elbow and make a perpendicular intersection with our forearms. I look around and see who needs a little adjustment, telling the students that paying attention to precision is an important part of math.

Then I ask, "What are some other ways to describe our arms?"

As this becomes routine day after day, the students recognize the terms and say them with me. We often add more movement, depending on what we're learning or what our bodies need.

If the kids are having a hard time with parallel versus perpendicular, we'll run through a series of arm movements to show the difference. If they have a little extra energy, we get it out with some 180 degree jumps (followed by a few more symmetry breaths to get back to calm).

Moving Past Vocabulary Into Content

Not only can you practice math vocabulary with movement, but also you can reinforce content learning. My favorite activity to practice with my third-grade students is skip counting as a way to prepare for multiplication.

Students come to my classroom knowing how to skip count by 2s, 5s, and 10s, but just as important and helpful is being able to skip count by other numbers as well. I love focusing on 4s and 6s.

For the 4s, we hold four fingers up in both hands and then do slow, controlled "high knees," bringing one knee at a time up to touch our four fingers: "4, 8, 12, 16 . . . ," all the way up to 48.

Then, it's time for the 6s squats. As we squat down, we count by 6: "6, 12, 18 . . . ," holding up fingers to show which multiple we are on, all the way to 72.

Giving students this additional, whole-body experience to practice these facts using movement and rhythm has truly helped the kids memorize them.

In addition, students learn how to correctly move with a simple dance sequence involving a side step and a jump, chanting, "Over, and up! Over, and up!"

And we ease any confusion between area and perimeter when we chant the two words in rhythm while moving our hands to show the space that area covers versus drawing the perimeter with our fingertips.

The Social and Emotional Connection

There's a huge social and emotional benefit to this five-minute whole-body math warm-up as well. With these math moves, students are able to wake up their minds, get their jitters out, and prepare their bodies for calm and focused work.

Also, teachers are always looking for ways to build community in the classroom, and movement can certainly do that. As students get up, move, and interact with the content, they're doing something together. Activity and interaction within the classroom creates a unique community.

Do all kids participate all the time? No. This is an important aspect to consider when teaching through the lens of social and emotional learning, or in this case, social-emotional artistic learning. Instead, the emphasis is on encouraging students to participate at their level of comfort and physical ability. Sometimes this means that students will remain sitting; other times they may just look on.

With consistency, all students find ways to participate in the movements, which brings a new sense of joy to the classroom. The smiles, the smirks, and the laughs all help the students' learning to stick and add a positive vibe to the classroom.

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Reinforcing Elementary Math Lessons With Movement

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Combining simple exercises with math instruction can help ensure that elementary school students remember these lessons.

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