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Virtual Communities of Practice: 9 Tips to Engage Participants

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Virtual Communities of Practice: 9 Tips to Engage Participants

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9 Tips To Engage Participants In Virtual Communities Of Practice

Communities of practice are not new. Professionals have always gathered in social learning networks to share information, problem solve, and advance their work. But forming communities of practice in a virtual environment through a webinar is relatively new.

Building a social network and fostering audience engagement online involves integrating technology with teaching techniques and online presentation know-how. Following are strategies that we have tested and found to be especially useful in establishing trust and engaging participants in a virtual community of practice (CoP).

1. Consider The Technology

Technology-and the platform you use for your CoP webinar-can support or hinder your ability to connect with and engage your audience. The more familiar and comfortable you are with it, the easier it will be for you to facilitate and build a community online.

However, if you and your team (if you have one) are novices, keep the technology simple. In short-avoid videos, webcams, screen sharing, and breakout rooms. The technologies that use a lot of bandwidth (like video and webcams) are more likely to crash than enhance your participants' experience. Good online facilitation is much more important than lots of fancy technology applications.

2. Speak Casually

During the CoP, keep your voice casual, speak slowly and clearly, and imagine you are talking to a single person over a kitchen table. In fact, some facilitators find it helpful to sit across from another staff member during a webinar and pretend they are talking to that person.

This is how speakers are trained on radio talk shows. If you listen to the radio, they actually try to sound more conversational and less like they are presenting. If they do read, they let the audience know they will be reading.

3. Make Introductions

One way to build a trusting community is to let the participants know who is attending the CoP. Try to do this ahead of time, if possible. Give them a list of participants since they cannot see each other.

Online environments are more impersonal than face-to-face meetings, so welcoming each participant by their full name, either verbally or via chat, and making small talk can help counteract this effect. Posting a group chat question inside the virtual room (even something as simple as where they are from or what the weather is like in their town) and then verbally acknowledging anyone who types in a response also gets people to connect and ensures that they can see and understand the chat feature in your platform.

4. Provide Ice Breakers

To build a sense of community, include an opening icebreaker in which your participants introduce themselves to each other and to you. This can be done quickly through the chat box or more slowly by giving each person a few minutes to share. If you ask participants or teams to send in photos ahead of time (which are put up as they talk), this enhances the feeling of community. In larger CoPs, it may be more beneficial for one person to speak for their team and to introduce their type of organization or other relevant features.

If you are holding a CoP series, try to keep the same group of people at each event, if possible. If this is not possible, assign a point person for each sub-group who will represent their team and commit to attend all of them. If you know someone is new to the group, or will be speaking later, introduce that person at the beginning of the CoP so no one is wondering who the new person is.

5. Establish A Structure

After introductions, review the overall goals for the virtual CoP series and share a short agenda. This will establish a structure for your audience. Setting group norms and expectations is also useful. Either post a slide with clear instructions and expectations for the CoP, or come up with them as a group. Expectations may center around what, how, and when you want participants to communicate during the CoP webinar, or how they should contact each other afterward. Clarifying how to interact in this virtual environment is key to helping users feel comfortable sharing online.

6. Lecture Less

Presenting information in less didactic ways will help keep your audience engaged. Most platforms have chat features, polls, timers, and screen sharing features.

A common practice is to give a poll question on a topic you need them to think about, show them the results and then talk with them about what they said. Another strategy is to take live notes that the audience can see on a notepad. This increases the opportunity for interactivity. You can ask for clarification and if they feel heard. Like a flip chart in an in-person training.

Just be careful these features are not overused or distract from a person's experience. If a new feature malfunctions or is not explained well it becomes an annoyance to your audience. So be sure to test new features before using them.

7. Communicate Clearly And Responsively

Since you will not be able to see if your audience is getting confused in a virtual setting, you have to compensate for this by using written and verbal cues, especially when giving instructions.

Whenever participants reach out to you in the chat or aloud, always respond verbally or using the "chat" function in your platform. If you do not respond, they may assume you are not interested in their ideas. Even worse, they could feel ignored or isolated if their comment isn't acknowledged.

8. Anticipate Technology Issues

Despite your best efforts, you may experience technical problems so be prepared. It is very helpful to have a few key phrases handy for when someone loses a phone connection or your platform freezes and you cannot advance slides. It will help keep everyone calm if you have these phrases ready to talk your audience through what is happening. A few sentences explaining what is happening can normalize the interruption and keep the meeting on track.

9. Understand Why No One Is Talking

Communities of practice are, in the broadest sense, about communication. So what happens if members aren't talking? Silence or reluctance can feel like failure, but it is a common pain point in virtual environments.

While no foolproof solution exists to get quiet groups talking, the most effective strategies start from an understanding of why no one is talking. The following are frequent reasons behind less talkative groups.

Misunderstanding
Communities of practice as a concept can mean different things to different people. Some may come in with an expectation of a listen-and-learn environment. Be sure to set expectations before the first event and keep reinforcing the idea of a community of practice as an on-going conversation.

Discomfort.
The online environment can be intimidating for participants because it can feel like public speaking, especially if the event is recorded. When the atmosphere feels overly formal, loosen up the group by using a more conversational and questioning tone. Perhaps start with icebreakers that focus on creating social cohesion before diving into the subject matter.

Hierarchy
Take a look at who is a part of your CoP. Are members true peers or are there hierarchies? Sharing can make members feel vulnerable, especially if their supervisor or funder is participating. If possible, try to limit membership to peers. Otherwise, encourage leaders to reassure members that they welcome tough conversations, and be attune to hierarchical tensions that may still crop up.

Multitasking
How do facilitators convince participants that giving the CoP one hundred percent of their attention is worth it? A good place to start is to make it a part of your group norms. But what will really make a difference has to do with the agenda. Giving people an agenda and sticking to it can help them get excited about the meeting and prioritize their time.

Skepticism
For some people, communities of practice can feel too abstract. Why dedicate the time to "talking" instead of "doing"? It can be hard to demonstrate the value of a CoP when participants aren't sold on the premise. For groups like this, reinforce the tangible benefits it provides, like shared resources and access to outside experts. When they feel like they're getting something out of the group, they're much more likely to give it their time and attention.

Whatever the reason, it is important to take an encouraging tone. Chastising a quiet group for not participating will likely render them even quieter. Instead, vary the way you are asking members to interact, and between CoPs solicit feedback and suggestions. Celebrate even the smallest moments of interaction and prepare extra material just in case.

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Virtual Communities Of Practice: 9 Tips To Engage Participants - eLearning Industry

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Want to know how to engage participants in Virtual Communities Of Practice? Check 9 tips to engage participants in a Virtual Community Of Practice when everyone is in different locations and cannot see one another (which can be quite challenging).

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Coping in Hard Times: Fact Sheet for Community Organizations and Leaders

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Coping in Hard Times: Fact Sheet for Community Organizations and Leaders

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Free Mindfulness, SEL, and Yoga Resources for Educators, Students, & Parents During School Closures

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We cannot emphasize enough how important caring for yourself is during this time. Read on to find ways to connect with your community for support along with mind-body practices to promote your own wellbeing.

Many educators are finding themselves at home right now with their lives looking very different than they were even just days ago. Throughout this time Breathe for Change is going to be offering live yoga classes, meditations and community conversations.

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We cannot emphasize enough how important caring for yourself is during this time. Read on to find ways to connect with your community for support along with mind-body practices to promote your own wellbeing. Many educators are finding themselves at home right now with their lives looking very different than they were even just days ago.

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Why Relational Connection is So Important During the Coronavirus Pandemic

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Why Relational Connection is So Important During the Coronavirus Pandemic

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Sign up for our daily leadership briefing, free. This article is written by Michael Lee Stallard and Katharine P. Stallard.
The novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has created the need for social distancing, quarantine and isolation so that vulnerable individuals are not exposed to the virus and health care systems are not overwhelmed.

Collectively, we understand the goodness of "flattening the curve" by each of us doing our part to slow the spread of the virus. COVID-19 is not the only epidemic we are facing. Separating ourselves because of COVID-19 comes at a time when America and many other countries are in the midst of an epidemic of loneliness - and the antidote is greater positive social connection.

Our current situation - the simultaneous need to reduce physical distance and to increase social, or relational, connection and not see a further rise in loneliness - presents a challenge for us all. Ignoring the need for connection at this challenging time is not an option.

Research suggests that the majority of individuals today lack sufficient social connection. This connection deficit may exacerbate the negative effects of stress and diminish physical and emotional resilience that people will need to fight the COVID-19 virus.

This article looks at why relational connection is especially important during the global pandemic. In addition, we present practical tips to boost social connection while maintaining physical distance so that people experience the physical and emotional health benefits that arise from sufficient meaningful connection.

All of this will help people fare better through this difficult season, and help maintain your interpersonal connections during coronavirus.

Loneliness may exacerbate the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

Over recent weeks, many countries have advocated or mandated measures to increase the physical distance between individuals - a policy deemed necessary so that vulnerable populations are not exposed to the COVID-19 virus. Physical separation is also desirable to "flatten the curve" of exposures so that health care systems have the necessary available capacity to treat infected individuals and minimize the loss of life.

Social distancing, quarantine and isolation have the shared effect of reducing the in-person contact people have with others.

"Social distancing" is a public health practice that increases the physical distance between individuals to reduce the risk that sick people infect healthy people through disease transmission. It includes large-scale measures such as canceling group events and closing public spaces, and individual practices such as maintaining a six-foot distance from other individuals.

"Quarantine" is separating and restricting the movement of people who have been potentially or actually exposed to a contagious disease for a period of time and watching to see if they become sick.

"Isolation" is separating sick people who have a contagious disease from people who are not sick.

From a physical health standpoint, these are important public health measures. From an emotional health standpoint, this separation runs the risk of increasing the negative feelings and resulting negative health outcomes associated with social isolation (being alone) and loneliness (feeling alone, even when surrounded by others).

This call to be apart from others is occurring when many in America and other nations were already experiencing firsthand the effects of our growing epidemic of loneliness. Consistent with earlier research, Cigna, the insurance company, reported 2019 survey results that found 61% of Americans over the age of 18 are lonely and that loneliness continued to rise from its 2018 study.

Loneliness is problematic because it is associated with a host of negative outcomes including:

According to research summarized in "Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection " by John T. Cacioppo and William Patrick,there is empirical evidence that loneliness may:

increase vulnerability to other stressors

cause a more intense reaction to negatives

reduce the emotional boost of positives

contribute to greater feelings of helplessness and threat

decrease sleep quality,

diminish willpower to exercise and eat healthy

Loneliness affects our lifespan. Meta-analysis research has found that feeling lonely, being physically isolated or living alone were each associated with a risk of early death that was equal to or greater than the risk of early death from widely known risk factors including obesity and smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.

Given the negative outcomes associated with social isolation and loneliness, it is not surprising that a recent review of studies on the psychological impact of quarantine reported negative outcomes including post-traumatic stress symptoms, confusion and anger. The review noted that some researchers suggested the negative effects from quarantine could be long-lasting.

A lack of sufficient connection is dangerous because social connection is a primal human need. Connection is also a "superpower" that, as the neuroscientist Matthew Lieberman says, makes human beings smarter, happier and more productive. Meta-analysis research found a 50% greater likelihood of survival for the participants of studies who had stronger social relationships.

Most important at this present time is the finding that social connection appears to improve performance of the cardiovascular, endocrine and immune systems, all of which could help people reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 and, if they contract it, provide physical and emotional resources to fight the virus.

Connecting during the pandemic

We have been studying connection since 2002, and we've published two books about it, "Fired Up or Burned Out" and "Connection Culture." Over the years we've learned that relational cultures tend to fall into three categories: cultures of control, cultures of indifference and cultures of connection.

In cultures of control, the people with power, influence and status rule over others. Cultures of indifference are predominant today. In this type of culture, people are so busy with tasks that they fail to invest the time necessary to develop healthy, supportive relationships.

In a connection culture, however, people care about others and invest the time to develop healthy relationships, reaching out to help others in need rather than being indifferent to them. In a connection culture, people are more likely to communicate, collaborate, cooperate and work together toward a common goal. And while our work has been focused on addressing and improving workplace cultures, the principles and frameworks are applicable to any group, be it a family, a committee for a civic group, a sports team, a governing body, even a country.

To get through the COVID-19 pandemic, we need a connection culture that is rich in relational connection while maintaining physical distance between individuals when there is a risk of transmission. It's important to understand that connection is essential because, as we noted earlier, insufficient connection has a wide-ranging impact on our bodies, including increasing the negative effects of stress and diminishing resilience.

Here are practical actions you can take:

1. Cultivate a connection mindset. Boosting connection begins with adopting a mindset that connection is desirable and necessary. To help cultivate this mindset among the people you interact with, share this article with individuals in your social networks.

2. Maintain an optimistic mindset. There is reason to be optimistic. China and South Korea seem to be past the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak. The US and many other countries will get there, too, and, in time, scientists will develop a vaccine.

It's extraordinary what people can accomplish when they pull together to serve a cause greater than themselves. For an example, watch Larry Brilliant's inspiring TED talk on the case for optimism, in which he describes his experience as part of the multinational effort that eradicated smallpox.

3. Take care of yourself. You can't give what you don't have. To be a good connector with others, we need to make sure we are physically and emotionally strong and steady.

We do this by making sure we stay connected with people who energize us. Each day, schedule phone calls or video calls online with people you enjoy. Take virtual coffee breaks in the morning and afternoon while connecting on a video chat service like Google Hangouts. Schedule a call each evening with relatives and friends who may need connection. This is a good time to take the initiative and reconnect with friends from your childhood or college days who you may have lost touch with over the years.

Also, be sure to get adequate sleep, exercise (check out exercise videos on YouTube) and eat healthy. When we are stressed or lonely, these practices often get pushed aside. (Why make a salad when the potato chips are so handy?)

4. Cultivate practices that produce contentment and avoid excitatory practices. Constantly checking your smartphone, email or social media stimulates the production of dopamine, an excitatory neurotransmitter that in excessive amounts makes us anxious. (We want to stay current with the evolving situation, but slowing the pace a bit would be better for our nerves.) Do one task at a time rather than multitasking.

It's preferable to focus on practices that produce the positive emotion of contentment because they stimulate the production of neurotransmitters including serotonin. These are activities like engaging in conversation, painting or coloring, reading, assembling puzzles and playing games. To learn more, read " Addicted to Your Smartphone, To-do List or Busyness? "

5. Get creative on how you might engage in activities with others. Have you seen the videos of spontaneous outdoor concerts as Italian neighbors stand on their city balconies and sing? We saw one video of a man in a public square leading exercises and people in a row of apartments joining him in doing jumping jacks while staying home.

Our youngest daughter, a graduate student currently on lockdown in Madrid, and a few of the neighbors on her block have organized together-but-separate bingogames to pass the time while travel is restricted.

6. Pause to be grateful. Every day, take a few minutes to write down at least three things you are grateful for. Gratitude helps keep you emotionally strong and will help you connect better with others.

7. Go for walks. If local authorities allow it, go for a walk each day to get fresh air and sunlight. Remember to maintain a six-foot separation from others. If possible, walk among nature. Even being in your own yard or walking your city block will help.

8. Play music. Throughout the day, play music you enjoy. Music has been found to calm anxiety. Have your own dance party (why not?).

9. Learn something new. Boredom is one risk of being physically isolated. Check out cultural institutions such as The Metropolitan Opera in New York City and museums (and even zoos) that are thinking outside of the box about how to virtually share their treasures with you within your home.

10. Set aside time each day for a quiet period. This may include contemplation, meditation, prayer and/or journaling.

11. Never worry alone! Whenever you feel anxious or stressed, call up a friend and talk it through. Doing this will move your brain activity from the amygdala where threats are processed to the cortex where we make rational decisions.

12. Serve others. Reaching out to help others in need boosts neurochemicals that produce positive emotions. In the current climate of encouraging physical separation, this may include writing a card or letter to an isolated elderly parent, relative or friend, or calling to find out how he or she is doing. Check out local or national nonprofit organizations that serve populations in need and see how you can help safely.

Anything you can do to help others meet their need for connection also helps you. There is satisfaction, even joy, to be found in serving a cause greater than self.

This unusual season we are in is temporary. Still, it will be difficult and last longer than we'd like it to. We will face individual and societal challenges that we have not faced before. It's important that you recognize that disconnection is a super-stressor; it makes other stressors feel even heavier and it weakens the effectiveness of any resiliency practices you may be using.

As humans, we are hardwired to connect; we are drawn to "doing life together" - talking through our issues; learning from each other; being encouraged, corrected and motivated by those around us. Now is not the time to have little or no meaningful connection in your life.

By intentionally boosting our "superpower" of connection while still maintaining physical separation, we will make a meaningful difference in the lives of others. We will lift our own spirits as we lift the spirits of our family members, friends and community, and we will bring out "the better angels of our nature." In harnessing the power of connection as we combat COVID-19, we will be combating the epidemic of loneliness, as well.

By taking on this challenge together, we will walk through this season to a brighter future.
Michael Lee Stallard, president and co-founder of Connection Culture Group, is a thought leader and speaker on how effective leaders boost human connection in team and organizational cultures to improve the health and performance of individuals and organizations. He is the author of "Connection Culture" and "Fired Up or Burned Out." Katharine P. Stallard is a partner of Connection Culture Group and a contributing author to "Connection Culture." To receive a 28-page "100 Ways to Connect" e-book, sample chapters of "Connection Culture" and Stallard's monthly Connection Culture email newsletter at no cost, sign up here. If you enjoyed this article, sign up for the daily SmartBrief on Leadership and SmartBrief's twice-weekly popup newsletter on coronavirus, among SmartBrief's more than 200 industry-focused newsletters - all free.

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Why relational connection is so important during the coronavirus pandemic - SmartBrief

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Sign up for our daily leadership briefing, free. This article is written by Michael Lee Stallard and Katharine P. Stallard. The novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has created the need for social distancing, quarantine and isolation so that vulnerable individuals are not exposed to the virus and health care systems are not overwhelmed.

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SAMHSA - Coping with Stress During Infectious Disease Outbreaks

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SAMHSA - Coping with Stress During Infectious Disease Outbreaks

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A New REALM: IFSEL's Tips for Distance Learning 

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A New REALM: IFSEL's Tips for Distance Learning 

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A new REALM: IFSEL's Tips for Distance Learning

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With many schools moving to Distance Learning during this pandemic, IFSEL is pulling from our collective and creative forces to support teachers to help students have virtual experiences full of human connection and joy in learning. We know that when it comes to Distance Learning there is an inequitable distribution of resources and tools.

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Books - Picture Books to Support Character Education

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Books - Picture Books to Support Character Education

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ASCA - Planning for Virtual/Distance School Counseling During an Emergency Shutdown

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ASCA - Planning for Virtual/Distance School Counseling During an Emergency Shutdown

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SEL Resources for Parents, Educators & School Communities Related to COVID-19

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SEL Resources for Parents, Educators & School Communities Related to COVID-19

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As the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to spread, schools around the world are rapidly pivoting to support children's health and well-being. As districts shift to online learning, parents, educators and school leaders are searching for ways to continue prioritizing children's social and emotional development at home.

Our team at Inside SEL has put together an initial list of resources, blog posts and guides to help cope during this volatile and difficult time. Our intention is to continue to add to the list as we come across more relevant content.

We encourage readers of this post to share your most helpful resources here so we can expand our shared knowledge and support as many individuals as possible.
*Reintegrating Students to In-Person Learning with SEL* Adult Self-Care Tips: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Parenting Resources: Resources for School Communities: Other/Miscellaneous:
For a more expansive listing of resources related to various topics within the field social and emotional learning, visit our SEL Resources page.

Published by Nick Woolf

Social-emotional learning practitioner and researcher with interests in implementation science, family engagement, educational technologies, SEL, and education policy. View all posts by Nick Woolf

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SEL Resources for Parents, Educators & School Communities Related to COVID-19

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Our team at Inside SEL has put together an initial list of resources, blog posts and guides to help cope during this volatile and difficult time. Our intention is to continue to add to the list as we come across more relevant content.

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Books - Books About Building Character K-12

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Books - Books About Building Character K-12

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I was doing some research on Aristotle's ideas on character development when I stumbled across this wonderful book list. As a bibliophile, I always appreciate well-thought book lists. You can find the original post here.

Kindergarten

Citizenship

Compassion

Diligence

Responsibility

Truth

Courage

Respect

Self-Mastery

First Grade

Citizenship

Compassion

Respect

Self-Mastery

Courage

Diligence

Responsibility

Truth

Second Grade

Citizenship

Compassion

Respect

Self-Mastery

Courage

Diligence

Responsibility

Truth

Third Grade

Citizenship

Compassion

Respect

Self-Mastery

Courage

Diligence

Responsibility

Truth

Fourth Grade

Citizenship

Compassion

The Litter Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett

The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles

The House of Sixty Fathers by Meinder DeJong

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

The Giant by Moricai Gerstein

The Legend of King Arthur by Robert Lister

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

The Taste of Blackberries by Doris Smith

Respect

Self-Mastery

Courage

Diligence

Responsibility

Truth

Fifth and Sixth Grade

Citizenship

Walking the Road to Freedom: A Story About Sojourner Truth by Jeri Ferris

Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

Compassion

Sour Land by William Armstrong

Sounder by William Armstrong

The Summer of Swans by Betsy Byars

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

Tiktala by Margaret Shaw-MacKinnon

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Speare

Respect

Iggie's House by Judy Blume

Commodore Perry in the Land of Shogun by Rhoda Blumberg

On the Frontier with Mr. Audobon by Barbara Brenner

Constance by Patricia Clapp

Thank you, Jackie Robinson by Barbara Cohen

Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski

To Be a Slave by Julius Lester

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Gay Neck: The Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji

Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

Word by Heart by Ouida Sebestyen

Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry

Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred Taylor

The Cay by Theodore Taylor

Self-Mastery

Courage

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

Black Star, Bright Dawn by Scott O'Dell

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (series) by J. R.R. Tolkein

Diligence

Responsibility

The Barn by Avi

Andy Buckram's Tin Man by Carol Ryrie Brink

A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Cushman

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox

Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene

Have Space Suit, Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlien

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt

Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell

Lyddie by Katherine Paterson

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry

When the Road Ends by J. Thresman

Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voight

Truth

Seventh and Eighth Grade

Citizenship

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith

Compassion

Diligence

Self-Mastery

Justice

Courage

Respect

Responsibility

High School

Citizenship

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass

Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson

Compassion

Diligence

Justice

Self-Mastery

Courage

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Spite Fences by Trudy Krisher

The Tale of Sir Gawain by Neil Philip

The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

The Lord of the Rings (series) J.R.R. Tolkein

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Respect

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Slave Day by Rob Thomas

Responsibility

Silas Marner by George Eliot

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

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Books about building character from Boston University's Center for Character & Social Responsibility

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I was doing some research on Aristotle's ideas on character development when I stumbled across this wonderful book list. As a bibliophile, I always appreciate well-thought book lists. You can find the original post here. Kindergarten Citizenship Abe Lincoln's Hat by Martha Brenner Three Young Pilgrims by Cheryl Harness Good King Wenceslas by John Neale Compassion...

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Teacher, Interrupted: Leaning into Social-Emotional Learning Amid the COVID-19 Crisis

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Teacher, Interrupted: Leaning into Social-Emotional Learning Amid the COVID-19 Crisis

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Dear educators,

There was life before COVID-19, and there will be life after.

We didn't choose to have our schools and colleges closed; our carefully constructed routines halted in their tracks; our field trips, concerts, sporting events, fundraisers and finals all canceled. We didn't expect this and had little warning.

We weren't ready for this either. Or were we?

At this very moment, there are so many questions swirling through our own heads and the education ecosystem across the globe. What impact will this have on student learning, on families, on the economy-now and in the long-term? How will we support students who rely on school for meals or the stability that their classroom provides? How will our students without access to computers or technology continue to learn? What will this do to our school and campus communities? How will this impact our school's funding, our careers?

And then there's the uncertainty around when teachers and students will be allowed to return to school-and what school will be like when we do.

As psychologists, we at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence are concerned about everyone's emotional state. How will students and educators cope with life being turned upside down so quickly?

Right now our media feeds are being inundated with anecdotes of our nation's parents jumping on the homeschooling and digital learning bandwagons. They are at the mercy of the information available to them and the technological tools their children and households may have access to. Districts and colleges across the nation are requiring educators to provide plans and digital resources, despite their varied levels of knowledge about and support for which instructional technologies are most effective for whom, how and under what conditions. All of this is rapidly evolving with a finish line that gets pushed back daily.

This is not a snow day. It's not a holiday break. It's a crisis.

So what can we do to support ourselves and our students in getting through these difficult times? We need to look to social and emotional learning (SEL) for evidence-based practices to help us now and to support us when we eventually return to school.

SEL is for everyone. It's especially critical for students with the greatest needs-the ones who will be severely impacted by the psychosocial and fiscal effects of this pandemic. But it's also for teachers and students in the most well-resourced districts and institutions.

The crisis around COVID-19 is leaving an indelible footprint on the hearts and minds of multiple generations of children and adults-even our youngest ones who are not yet old enough to realize it. The impact and ripple effects across our collective livelihoods is likely too vast to comprehend.

It's scary. But it's not hopeless.

Now is when we need to apply everything we've learned about SEL. Recognizing your emotions and leveraging the science of SEL is more important now than ever. SEL skills are real skills that can support us in managing the roller coaster of emotions we will be having over the coming days and months. For many of us it's dealing with daily uncertainty and new ways of interacting socially.

Be Cognizant of Stress and Its Effects

Fear manifests in our actions, including well-intentioned, research-based mandates to engage in social distancing with our world and all the people in it, including our own families. In times of high stress, negative emotions like fear, anxiety and panic diminish our mental resources and ability to think clearly, make healthy decisions and behave prosocially and productively.

Stress, in moderate doses, is healthy. It's our body's way of responding to events that threaten or challenge us. But chronic stress impairs our ability to function well and impacts the quality of our relationships. Navigating uncontrollable, unpredictable, ambiguous situations like the new coronavirus, in addition to being confronted with many new demands, is challenging and for many of us amounts to chronic stress.

As educators, practicing social distancing during a pandemic while implementing digital learning with your students-in some cases, for the first time-is overwhelming in itself. Then add juggling your own family and their evolving physical, social and emotional demands while bracing for the unknown, and it becomes exhausting, if not impossible.

These intense and seemingly insurmountable demands can make us feel insecure and inadequate. In school, safety is both physical and psychological. Clorox wipes, toilet paper and social distancing are only going to get you so far in the promotion of your safety. We must also ensure psychological safety for ourselves, for our students and for our families. SEL can support us here, too.

The RULER Approach

Briefly, SEL is the teaching of an interrelated set of cognitive, affective and behavioral competencies that underscore our capacity to learn, develop and maintain mutually supportive relationships, and be both physically and psychologically healthy. The field of SEL is replete with programs and approaches, which support schools in embedding five large dimensions into teaching and learning. These include self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making.

At the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, we use the power of emotions to create a healthier, more equitable, productive and compassionate society, today and for future generations. Our approach to SEL, the RULER Approach, provides tools and resources grounded in the theory of emotional intelligence to promote the psychosocial health and well-being of educators and their students and parents.

RULER is an acronym for the components and process of emotional intelligence, including:

Recognizing emotions in self and others,

Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions,

Labeling emotions accurately,

Expressing emotions appropriately, and

Regulating emotions effectively.

These skills can help us navigate this uncharted territory in our socially-distanced world and do our part to control the imprint it leaves on the mental health and well-being of our students and school communities. You can find additional resources here from our center to specifically support your well-being and manage your anxiety during this sensitive time.

Routine Reminders and Checks

You can make choices every day to support yourself, your students and your families. First, check in with how you are feeling a few times per day. Avoid judging your own and others' emotions. From an emotional intelligence perspective, all emotions are information. Accept them all. They are information to be attended to, not denied.

Be kind to yourself and flexible (as permitted) with your schedule. Look for easy and small ways to bring yourself and your loved ones joy. Make breakfast a different way. Take creative pictures from different angles. Find a new way to organize your closet. Call old friends and family members to check-in. Try a new exercise routine at home.

There also are things you can monitor carefully, including your media consumption. Digital platforms are pretty incredible at enabling us to connect with people in a socially distant world. We have perhaps never been more prepared to practice social distancing as we are today. But keep in mind there are over two decades of research correlating social media usage with loneliness, depression and unhealthy behaviors including addiction. After using technology, ask yourself this question: Is this helping me feel greater well-being and connection, or is it making me feel more isolated? Find the "tech" routine that works for you and your family. And leverage resources and expertise across networks for support.

If the thought of being home for a couple of weeks or months-or returning back to school-is overwhelming, take a meta-moment. Try to imagine your best self-visualize a positive image of yourself, who you want to be and how you want to be seen and experienced by your family and students. And in each of your interactions, whether face-to-face at home or when connecting with others through technology, try to be that person for your students, for your families, for your community.

While the world is turned on its head, we have the opportunity to leverage the power of emotional intelligence to keep our feet on the ground and our minds directed toward building the future that we want for our students and ourselves. We can't control what has happened, but we can control how we respond to what is happening. Give yourself and everyone around you the permission to feel all emotions. It starts and ends with self- and social-compassion. Lean into SEL.
Christina Cipriano, Ph.D., Ed.M., is the Director of Research at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and a research scientist at the Child Study Center at Yale University. Follow her on Twitter @drchriscip.
Marc Brackett, Ph.D., is the Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor in the Child Study Center at Yale University. He's also on the board of directors for CASEL and the author of the new book Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive.

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Teacher, Interrupted: Leaning into Social-Emotional Learning Amid the COVID-19 Crisis - EdSurge News

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Dear educators, There was life before COVID-19, and there will be life after. We didn't choose to have our schools and colleges closed; our carefully constructed routines halted in their tracks; our field trips, concerts, sporting events, fundraisers and finals all canceled. We didn't expect this and had little warning.

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CASEL has developed a Google Doc resource page for COVID-19 located at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16zPfxkmTr-Sw04YS-20xbU9R5wDs2BUk.

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Renewing school climate and culture for the 21st century.

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25 Mindfulness Activities for Children and Teens

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25 Mindfulness Activities for Children and Teens

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25 Fun Mindfulness Activities for Children & Teens (+Tips!)

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Fun mindfulness activities for kids to teach them about mindfulness. Enjoy!

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The Kansas School Counselor Association invites all school counselors and counseling students to join KSCA. We hope you will find information and resources to assist you in our common goal to collaboratively address the mental health needs and support the academic, career, and social-emotional development of each student in Kansas.

KSCA, a state division of ASCA, is the professional association for school counselors in Kansas. KSCA is uniquely designed to provide both preventive and developmental instruction, support, and services within an educational setting. Through the management and delivery of school counseling core curriculum, individual student planning, and responsive services, our programs focus on both student and professional competencies developed for and within our schools. Kansas counselors use data to demonstrate the impact of Kansas school counseling programs on student achievement, attendance, and behavior to guide future action and improve results for all students.

Thank you for visiting the Kansas School Counseling website and KSCA to learn more about the school counseling profession. We value the opportunity to work closely with individuals and organizations that promote student mental health and achievement. There are many exciting opportunities ahead to grow through our service in the areas of leadership, collaboration, and advocacy. We hope you will join us!

Check out the latest KSCA/ASCA Newsletter, https://asca.informz.net/informzdataservice/onlineversion/ind/bWFpbGluZ2luc3RhbmNlaWQ9ODQ1OTM1OCZzdWJzY3JpYmVyaWQ9MTEyMTU3NTA0OA==

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The Kansas School Counselor Association invites all school counselors and counseling students to join KSCA. We hope you will find information and resources to assist you in our common goal to collaboratively address the mental health needs and support the academic, career, and social-emotional development of each student in Kansas.

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From our colleagues at ASCA:

We know you have lots of questions about ethics and school counseling in the current environment. We want to continue that conversation with you. Take a look at the FAQs here: https://www.schoolcounselor.org/…/faqs-virtual-school-couns…. If you don't see your question answered, please comment below with what you'd like to know. We are adding questions to the FAQs, as needed.

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Kansans Can College and Career Competency Wheel and Teaching Resources

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Kansans Can College and Career Competency Wheel and Teaching Resources

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UPCOMING WEBINAR SERIES

Join us for our upcoming webinars:

Understanding Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Community Youth Populations (Part One) with Dr. Janis Whitlock, Ph.D., MHP

Understanding Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Community Youth Populations (Part Two) with Dr. Janis Whitlock, Ph.D., MHP

See past webinars here.

FEATURED RESOURCES

Where to find TASN SMHI Online Learning Modules:

Where to find information on school mental health:

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Join us for our upcoming webinars: Understanding Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Community Youth Populations (Part One) with Dr. Janis Whitlock, Ph.D., MHP Understanding Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Community Youth Populations (Part Two) with Dr. Janis Whitlock, Ph.D., MHP See past webinars here .

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Directory of Mental Health Resources in Kansas

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Directory of Mental Health Resources in Kansas

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Brain gym exercises are simple activities that improve cognitive function. These exercises help enhance learning, communication ability, attention, memory, academic performance in children and also help maintain a healthy lifestyle ( 1), ( 2). While they were initially designed for kids, they also may help delay Alzheimer's XA brain disorder that impacts memory, thinking, and cognitive functions due to the shrinking of brain cells. disease, Parkinson's 3), ( XA brain disorder that leads to degeneration of the nerve cells and causes involuntary movement of the arms, legs, or the jaw disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems, and depression and anxiety in adults ( 4), ( 5), ( 6).

This article explores the 15 best brain gym exercises and their benefits. Keep reading.

Why Are Brain Gym Exercises Good?

Michael Hamlin, Certified Personal Trainer, says, "Brain gym exercises are based on the idea that certain movements, such as shaking your hands, rocking, and stretching, can help brain function. There needs to be more research on brain gyms. But a substantial amount of research has found that exercise, in general, can help relieve anxiety and depression by releasing endorphins and improving blood flow in the brain. For example, researchers found that those who exercised regularly showed fewer signs of anxiety and depression when exposed to stress."

Most brain gym exercises are appropriate for people of all ages. For example, some simple movements such as walking and stretching have been shown to be effective in easing anxiety, regardless of a person's age or fitness level. In fact, tasks such as sleeping or listening to music also allow the brain to rest and recover, which can help with mental health.

1. Make you smarter and sharper.

2. Boost your confidence levels.

3. Improve your self-esteem.

4. Improve attention and memory.

5. Boost thinking and decision-making abilities.

6. Revitalize your natural healing mechanisms.

7. Restore health and harmony.

8. Help improve eyesight.

9. Enhance creativity and communication skills.

10. Cheer you up when you feel disappointed or rejected.

The best part of brain gym is that anyone can do these exercises, from kids to older adults, and improve their quality of life. Explore the brain gym activities in the following section.

15 Brain Gym Exercises

According to Hamlin, "These exercises are designed to develop, increase, and improve functions of the body, such as vision, concentration, balance, coordination, and communication.

Next to this, brain gym exercises are the foundation for developing a more alert and relaxed body and mind, and this translates into improved physiological function. These exercises help improve the functionality of specific neural pathways so that the body and mind work harmoniously together and students can be more balanced and grounded in their physical, mental, and emotional activities."

Let's take a look at the brain gym exercises you can do.

1. Marching In Place

Marching in place is a great way to warm up your muscles. This low-to-moderate intensity exercise preps your muscles and improves breathing, balance, and hand-leg coordination.
How To March In Place
2. Cross Crawl

Cross crawl exercise helps improve the coordination between the right and left brain. You can do it either by standing, sitting, or lying, depending on your comfort level.
How To Do Cross Crawl

1. Stand straight with your legs hip-width apart, shoulders rolled back, and chest up. Look ahead.

2. Lift your right hand above your head. This is your starting position.

3. Lift your left leg off the floor, and bend your left knee.

4. Simultaneously, bend your right elbow and try to touch the left knee with your right elbow.

5. Get back to the starting position. Do the same with your left hand and right leg.

6. Do three sets with eight repetitions.

You may sit on a chair and do this exercise if you have a knee injury or are relearning to balance your body.

3. Ankle Touch
Similar to the previous exercise, the ankle touch exercise helps enhance balance and coordination between the left and right limbs. How To Do Ankle Touches
4. Ankle Touch Behind Your Body

This brain gym is another variation of the ankle touch. It is an effective way to improve balance and coordination between the right and left limbs.
How To Do Ankle Touches Behind Your Body
5. Step Touch
Step touch, also known as the dancer's warm-up, is great for lateral or side-to-side movement coordination. How To Do Step Touch

1. Stand with your legs close together.

2. Take a step toward your right with your right leg.

3. Place your left foot next to your right leg.

4. Take a step toward your left with your left leg.

5. Place your right foot next to your left leg.

6. Do this 30 times at a slow to moderate pace.

6. Neck Circles

Neck circles are good for the neck muscles and head movement coordination. This activity also improves balance if you do it while standing. Keep your eyes closed when you do this exercise.
How To Do Neck Circles
7. Cook's Hook-Up

The cook's hook-up exercise helps calm the nerves and improves hand and brain coordination.
How To Do Cook's Hook-Up
8. Brain Button

This exercise helps improve the flow of electromagnetic energy. It relaxes the eyes, shoulder, and neck and promotes body balance.
How To Do Brain Button Exercise
9. Lazy Eights

In lazy eights, you trace the number eight or infinity symbol with a marker on a whiteboard or with a pen/pencil on white paper. Following the shape with your eyes have several benefits. It improves eye muscle movement, visual tracking, peripheral vision X The ability to see objects away from the center that are out of the direct line of sight or from the corner of the eyes. , attention span, and coordination. This activity enhances your abilities to understand languages, study comprehension, and eliminate reversals and transpositions.
How To Do Lazy Eights
10. The Elephant

The elephant brain gym helps improve attention, recognition, perception, memory, speech, spelling, thinking ability, depth perception, and eye coordination.
How To Do The Elephant
Note: You can also do this exercise in a sitting position.

11. The Energy Yawn

The energy yawn exercise helps release tension in the jaw and relaxes the eyes.
How To Do Energy Yawn
12. The Thinking Cap

The thinking cap activity is one of those brain exercises for memory that effectively improve learning speed and mood, increases attention span, and boosts memory in kids and adults.
How To Do Thinking Cap

1. Sit on a chair. Place your index finger and thumb on your ear.

2. Massage the top of your ear and gradually come down to the auricle XThe outermost layer of the ear made of skeleton and skin (also called the pinna) that helps collect and transmit sound waves. .

3. Massage from the back to the top of your ear.

4. Do this slowly for 15 times.

13. Belly Breathing

This exercise helps increase oxygen supply in the body, which, in turn, helps you relax and improves your reading and speaking abilities.
How To Do Belly Breathing
14. Trace X

The trace X exercise helps improve eye coordination, vision, depth perception, hearing, and body coordination. It enhances your skills in writing, organization, mathematics, spelling, grammar, language learning, sports, and executive function (planning and scheduling).
How To Do Trace X
Note: You can also draw a big 'X' spanning the diagonals of a whiteboard and trace it with your eyes.

15. Positive Points

This exercise helps draw positive emotions and reduces the negative ones. It releases stress, relieves memory blocks, and boosts your mood. The positive points brain gym also enhances long-term memory and improves learning, reading, academic skills, and stage and sports performances.
How To Stimulate The Positive Points
Note: Practice it regularly to train your brain to restrict bothering thoughts.

Workout routines are good for maintaining a fit and healthy body. It is a universal truth that exercising improves your muscle tone and fitness, but there are a few exercises that improve your brain fitness or cognitive function as well. You can look up specific exercises to train certain aspects of brain functioning like brain exercises for concentration, brain exercises for focus, brain exercises for learning, and brain exercises for creativity. They help boost your memory and attention span along with academic and athletic performance. Make sure that you are doing the exercises correctly as incorrect form can lead to injuries or muscle pains. Additionally, you can practice mental exercises that stimulate brain function to enhance cognitive and memory functioning. Consult a therapist and primary care physician before beginning these brain gym exercises to learn how to make the most of these exercises.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you train your brain like a muscle?

Michael Hamlin says, "The brain is not a muscle, but in many ways, it does work like one. The brain is made up of millions of neurons communicating through electrical and chemical signals. Like a muscle, your brain can be trained to become stronger over time using activities such as brain gym exercises."

Is brain gym evidence-based?

Yes. Brain gym exercises help improve cognition, mental health, and overall well-being.

Which brain gym exercise is best for students?

The following exercises are best for students:

Belly breathing

Positive points

Thinking cap

Brain button

How do you exercise your left brain?

Do coordinated moves of the right limbs to exercise your left brain.

Is the brain gym an effective educational intervention?

Yes. The brain gym might help improve thinking, reading, and speaking abilities. However, no evidence shows the brain gym to be an effective educational intervention.

Which brain gym technique to use to calm children down?

You can use Cook's hook-ups and cross-crawls to help children calm down after experiencing anxiety and distress. Hook-ups can help control their breathing while cross-crawls can improve their focus and release stress.

Does brain gym help autism?

No, current scientific evidence shows that brain gym does not increase engagement in children with autism ( 7).

How much brain training should you do in a day?

You can practice 60 to 90 minutes of brain training or brain workout every week to keep your brain sharp and healthy.

What time of the day is your brain sharpest?

Studies suggest your brain is sharpest in the mornings following a good night's sleep ( 8), ( 9). Ideally, you can perform cognitive-heavy tasks in the morning.

Key Takeaways

Learn how to improve your focus and concentration with brain gym exercises. Discover simple and effective techniques in the video below to help you stay focused and productive.

Sources

Articles on StyleCraze are backed by verified information from peer-reviewed and academic research papers, reputed organizations, research institutions, and medical associations to ensure accuracy and relevance. Read our editorial policy to learn more.

1. THE EFFECT OF BRAIN GYM® ON ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT FOR CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1029010.pdf

2. Memory and Time of Day
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233046511_Memory_and_Time_of_Day

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Top 15 Simple Brain Gym Exercises For Children & Adults

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Brain gym exercises improve learning, memory, attention, academic performance, planning, and mood. Here are the 15 brain gym exercises for kids and adults.

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The Continuous Learning Task Force’s primary goal was to develop guidance for Kansas
educators to meet the immediate need of supporting learning outside of our normal practices.
The team intentionally adopted the word “Continuous” as a means to bring clarity and focus to
the experience of our teachers, students and families as we finish the 2019-2020 school year.

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The Kansas State Department of Education does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities. ( more information... )

To accommodate people with disabilities, on request, auxiliary aides and services will be provided and reasonable modifications to policies and programs will be made. To request accommodations or for more information please contact the Office of General Counsel at ogc@ksde.org or by 785-296-3201.

Kansas State Department of Education

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Kansas Continuous Learning 2020 - Content and Grade Level Guidelines

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The Kansas State Department of Education does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities. ( more information... ) To accommodate people with disabilities, on request, auxiliary aides and services will be provided and reasonable modifications to policies and programs will be made.

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KID smART’s curricula go beyond typical lessons, supporting students’ ability to construct and demonstrate understanding in traditional subject areas through an art form.

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Students who experience emotional or behavioral challenges often struggle to be successful in school settings. With Feeling is an arts integrated Emotional Literacy Curriculum through which students can learn to deal with emotions in ways that increase their personal power and enhance safety, health and happiness for them and those around them.

With Feeling is supported by the Institute for Mental Hygiene and The Wisner Fund.

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Arts Education Curriculum | With Feeling | kNOw What It Means

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Students who experience emotional or behavioral challenges often struggle to be successful in school settings. With Feeling is an arts integrated Emotional Literacy Curriculum through which students can learn to deal with emotions in ways that increase their personal power and enhance safety, health and happiness for them and those around them.

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When a tornado rips through Kansas, Dorothy and her dog, Toto, are whisked away in their house to the magical land of Oz. They follow the Yellow Brick Road toward the Emerald City to meet the Wizard, and en route they meet a Scarecrow that needs a brain, a Tin Man missing a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who wants courage.

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Movies & TV - Best for Character Development List

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Movies & TV - Best for Character Development List

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Character Development Lists | Common Sense Media

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Common Sense Media helps you choose character-building books, movies, and TV shows that will help your kids develop important strengths and life skills.

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Webinar Series: Understanding Trauma with Dr. Becky Bailey

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Webinar Series: Understanding Trauma with Dr. Becky Bailey

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Understanding Trauma with Dr. Becky Bailey

A 3-Session Webinar Series about Reaching and Teaching Children with Trauma
Free for 90 Days

Free Access for 90 Days

In support of the incredible responsiveness of our education partners to COVID-19, Conscious Discipline is offering 90 days of FREE access to this 3-session webinar series. Includes 120 minutes of video teaching with Dr. Becky Bailey, a downloadable participant's guide and additional digital resources.

Meet Dr. Becky Bailey

Dr. Becky Bailey is an award-winning author, renowned educator and internationally recognized expert in childhood education and developmental psychology. She is the creator of Conscious Discipline, a trauma informed program that transcends positive discipline to help families and educators become more resilient, more compassionate and better equipped to handle whatever challenges, conflicts or upsets life sends their way. Through Conscious Discipline, Dr. Bailey has inspired and trained more than 3 million educators and caregivers, impacting an estimated 15.8 million children. She has authored 21 books related to guidance and discipline, several of which have won national awards. She currently has over 1.2 million books in circulation.

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Webinar Series: Understanding Trauma | Conscious Discipline

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Understanding Trauma with Dr. Becky Bailey Free for 90 Days Free Access for 90 Days In support of the incredible responsiveness of our education partners to COVID-19, Conscious Discipline is offering 90 days of FREE access to this 3-session webinar series. Includes 120 minutes of video teaching with Dr. Becky Bailey, a downloadable participant's guide and additional digital resources.

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Conscious Discipline - COVID-19 Five Helpful Responses for Families

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Conscious Discipline - COVID-19 Five Helpful Responses for Families

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Kids don't say, "Beloved parent, I'm having difficulty in my daily life. I don't fully understand what's happening, I miss my friends, I'm afraid someone I know is going to die and it feels like life will never be normal again." Instead, they throw tantrums, become clingy, sulk, backtalk, refuse to do anything you ask, wet the bed, pick fights with siblings and suddenly forget how to do basic tasks they mastered years ago.

Whew! Let's step back, take a few deep breaths and learn a little about your child's brain: Safety is the brain's most basic need, followed closely by connection. When we feel unsafe or disconnected, our brains downshift from the higher centers responsible for learning and problem solving, to the lower reactionary centers. That's why all those challenging behaviors are popping up, and why a minor frustration is now Titanic in size.

We can help children (and ourselves) by creating a sense of safety, connecting, and cultivating a new sense of normal with these five tips:

1. Young children co-regulate with trusted adults and older children feed off our internal states. Our calm nurtures their calm. Our distress increases their distress. Check in with yourself. How are you faring? Practice active calming by taking three deep breaths when you feel yourself becoming frustrated, fearful, angry or desperate. Seek out activities and call people who calm you. Limit your news intake, social media and other sources of stress. Be a Safe Place for your child.

Acknowledge your feelings and your children's. Know that children's fits and meltdowns aren't just about the momentary point of frustration that triggered them; they're about the underlying state of uncertainty they're experiencing. Offer them calm, comfort and reassurance with deep breathing and phrases like, "You're safe. You can handle this. We'll get through this together." Encourage them to name and manage their feelings. And forgive yourself when you're the one who's had the fit or meltdown.
Helpful Free Resources:
2. Focus on safety and connection. The brain functions optimally when it feels both safe and connected. Children need to know that life is going to be different and that you will find a new normal together. Make safety and connection your top priority, especially in the first days; you can always add academics, chores and such later.

If you don't already practice active calming, start! Conscious Discipline uses S.T.A.R., Balloon, Drain and Pretzel breathing, and there are dozens of other websites with helpful breathing games and yoga for kids.

Build extra togetherness into your day. For young children, this might look like extra reading or playing blocks together. For older children, it might be doing a puzzle or playing a favorite video game together. Notice whatever your child is doing and join in their play. Go outside and play. Get down on the floor and play. Wrestle. Giggle. Snuggle. Hug, high five and enjoy. Connection isn't just good for your mood, it builds neural connections in your child's brain and increases cooperation (and who couldn't use a little of that right now?).

Age-appropriate information increases safety; "You're fine" does not. Information will help reassure and soothe children's fears, but it's important to know when enough is enough. Explain to children why life is different using the simplest terms possible. Answer their questions honestly, without offering too much detail or overwhelming them with information. Watch the news in private rather than having it running in the background all day. Limit social media for your children and yourself. Focus on statements like, "You're safe. You can handle this. We will get through this together," instead of dismissing with comments like, "Everything's okay," or "It's not something you need to worry about."
Helpful Free Resources:
3. Create your new normal. The brain thrives on predictable patterns. Our daily and weekly patterns have been turned upside down without warning. Creating a new normal begins with a new daily routine. Families with older children can work together to co-create your new daily schedule (co-creating gives children a way to exert some control over the situation), while parents of younger children will create the schedule for them. Plan it, draw it, label it, post it somewhere obvious and refer to it often so children know what to expect.

A successful daily schedule might be: Wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, project time, outside time, lunch, free play, rest time, family time, dinner, wash/brush, PJs, read, bed. The activities during "project time" could vary between creative play (art, dress up, building blocks), academics, gardening, household projects, or exploring online resources like museum tours, dance classes or storytelling sites. Be certain your schedule has ample opportunities for play. Creating a rhythm to your days and knowing what to expect next cultivates a sense of safety.
Helpful Free Resources:
4. Give children ways to contribute. Contribution lights up the reward centers of the brain and releases feel-good chemicals like dopamine and serotonin. Verbally highlight the way your family is helping your community and hospitals by staying home. Draw pictures and make cards to mail, leave on friends' and neighbors' doorsteps, or drop off at a nursing home.

Provide lots of little ways for children to be helpful at home and offer authentic praise for their helpfulness. The contribution needs to be voluntary, not coerced, in order to release those feel-good brain chemicals. Ask, "Do you want to make my coffee this morning?" If the answer is, "No," let it go. If the answer is, "Yes," show them how to make coffee and then rave about how helpful it was for them to brew it.
Helpful Free Resources:
5. Shift toward seeing the best. Notice your inner and outer speech. Are you "stuck at home" with your kids, or do you have an opportunity to connect with family and keep the community safe while you work from home? Are you "stuck at work," or are you helping to keep the community running by staffing hospitals, grocery stores and other important functions in spite of the risks? Are selfish people hoarding things, or are frightened people trying to make sure their families have enough? Are government officials doing too much/not enough/stupid things, or are they doing the best they can with constantly changing information about an unexpected, unprecedented threat? Should those idiots know better than to go out, or are there millions of individuals who are helping each other by staying home to slow the spread of the virus?

It's easy to get caught up in what's going wrong. Instead, make an effort to consciously shift toward helpfulness. Use your words as a spotlight to illuminate the behaviors you want to see more of and aspects you find helpful amidst the fear. The more positive aspects you discuss around your children, the more they are able to see the best in the situation. The more you notice and verbalize children's helpful actions, the more helpful they will become. Shifting your perspective from what you don't want to what you do want paves the way for a healthier internal state for you and your children.
Helpful Free Resources:
For 20+ years, "We're all in this together" has been one of the basic tenets of Conscious Discipline. It seems ironic that a virus that requires social distancing to slow its spread has drawn our attention to how intimately connected we truly are as friends, neighbors, communities and nations.

Conscious Discipline offers a wealth of social-emotional information online to help you during this challenging time. Some of the items are purchasable, but in keeping with our belief that we're all in this together, many of our webinars, podcasts, videos, printables, articles and other items are absolutely free for you to use.

We hope these resources are helpful. We are holding you in our hearts and wishing you well during this challenging time. This article is also available in Spanish.

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COVID-19: Five Helpful Responses for Families | Conscious Discipline

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Kids don't say, "Beloved parent, I'm having difficulty in my daily life. I don't fully understand what's happening, I miss my friends, I'm afraid someone I know is going to die and it feels like life will never be normal again."

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Trauma-informed SEL is an approach to fostering youths' social-emotional development with practices that support all students, but is particularly inclusive and responsive to the needs of children and youth who have experienced trauma. This approach calls for creating reliable learning environments where students who have experienced adversities and trauma

feel supported and connected;

are welcome to explore their strengths and identities;

can exercise their agency;

can develop meaningful, positive relationships with adults and peers; and

have access to the mental health supports they need.

Learn More about Trauma-informed SEL

Below, you can download our Trauma-Informed SEL Toolkit - a 120-minute professional development session designed for educators seeking research-based strategies to create a healthy classroom environment for students who have experienced adversities and trauma.

Why Download the Trauma-informed SEL Toolkit?

The research-based toolkit is rich with resources to explore, strategies to implement in the classroom, and prompts for reflections aimed at facilitating educator learning and engagement with the material. The toolkit includes:

More information about trauma and how it impacts students' success;

A range of strengths-based strategies educators can integrate into their classroom;

Overview of secondary traumatic stress and strategies for educator self-care;

A list of research articles, papers, and videos for further review; and

A facilitator's guide (including an abbreviated guide for a 60-minute session).

The download link includes a multimedia presentation, a three-page overview handout, and a brief facilitator's guide.

Trauma-Informed SEL Webinar & Accompanying Slides

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A full recording of our Trauma-Informed SEL Webinar is located below! What is Trauma-Informed SEL? Trauma-informed SEL is an approach to fostering youths' social-emotional development with practices that support all students, but is particularly inclusive and responsive to the needs of children and youth who have experienced trauma.

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Pure Edge Free Resources SEL-Centered Activities

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Pure Edge Free Resources SEL-Centered Activities

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SEL in An Unplanned Home School Setting 

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SEL in An Unplanned Home School Setting 

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With nationwide school closures in effect, many households have become unplanned home schools, and parents have become teachers, with all of the responsibilities that go with the job, including setting the climate for learning, managing "student" behavior, and supporting student motivation.

In my non-scientific sample of a handful of new home schools, one theme stands out: it's hard work. Most parents will find their way through a combination of instinct and trial and error. There are a few things that parents as teachers can do right now that can make their teaching experience, and the experience of their children, go well.

Most of our readers are educators, and many are also parents. I offer these ideas for your consideration. If you think they will help the parents in your community who are now your close partners in educating students, please feel free to forward this to them.

School Rules: Setting Expectations

In talking with friends and colleagues, it's clear that many are setting the stage by establishing agreed-upon expectations for how things will go, including how family members will treat one another. Here are some examples of how families are doing this:

One family met and, using a strategy from an SEL program called RULER, established a "charter," which described how they want to feel at home and how they will act and treat one another to support those feelings, along with how they will manage unwanted feelings and conflict. Every family member had a say, and they committed their charter to writing.

Another family member drafted a "constitution" establishing the rules of the road, including who is responsible for what, how spaces in the house are to be used, and even who the mascot is (spoiler: the dog).

Another family decided that they would treat home life as if they were on a spaceship that had embarked on an interstellar voyage. With that as the backdrop, they hammered out daily routines and ways to treat one another that would help in the days and weeks ahead.

Whether it's in the context of a charter, a constitution, or an interstellar voyage, the common theme here is that these families took steps to decide intentionally how they want to behave, to treat one another, and ultimately, to support one another through an unusual and upsetting time. In a time that feels out of our control, this is a small way of taking matters constructively in our own hands. It sets us up for kindness and support, even as we navigate close quarters and, sometimes, frayed nerves. And it sets positive conditions for learning in what has become an unplanned schoolhouse.

Teaching Social and Emotional Competencies

This unplanned moment in history presents an opportunity to engage parents as partners in student social and emotional learning like never before. Educators know that academic learning requires students to be able to manage their emotions, to understand and work with others, and to resolve conflicts, and that these competencies can be taught alongside academic skills.

Long before SEL programs, teachers have worked to support their students' social and emotional competencies. So have parents. Educators are increasingly making this work explicit by intentionally teaching these competencies. Now parents have a chance to do the same. How might that work?

I guarantee that life in the spaceship will present itself with opportunities to work on many social and emotional competencies. Let's consider a few.

Emotion management

Children may have concerns about what is going on, or simply be out of sorts because of the disruption in their routines.

Help them name how they feel. If they can't articulate it, state it simply for them, as in, "I get the feeling you're worried."

If one of the feelings is worry or fear, acknowledge it, and normalize it by acknowledging that they are not alone.

Worry arises from uncertainty and a lack of control over circumstances. Let your child know what is in their sphere of influence to manage circumstances and the feelings they evoke. Some of this involves things like the norm-setting routines described above; some involves the steps you as a family can take to stay safe and healthy, like social distancing handwashing. Some may involve self-talk reminding that we will get through this.

Distraction is helpful too. As such, set a list of acceptable diversions, like watching television for a set period. And of course, find healthy ways to manage your own emotions in these stressful times.

Procrastination over schoolwork is also an opportunity for emotion management. Procrastination is almost always a way to avoid situations that provoke unwanted emotions like worry or "boredom." Boredom, by the way, is not an emotion-it's a code word for unwanted emotions, most often anxiety. So if your child/student is avoiding homework, see if you can learn what he feels about the assignment, and "boring" is not an allowable explanation. If your child can't name the feeling, use a prompt like, "Sometimes, when kids have to do homework, it makes them feel _______ or ________ or ________. I'm trying to figure out what it's like for you." Then stop until your child volunteers an emotion word. Normalize the emotion (see above).

Next, help your child manage his emotions. "Self-talk" is a helpful way to manage emotions. These are statements that counteract unwanted feelings. Here's how to "do" self-talk:

Your child can generate useful self-talk by saying what advice he would give a friend who felt that way and then using that statement as his self-talk.

For, example, a child who worries he is not good at math might tell a friend, "If you work hard, you can learn the math."

Change the wording to make it a self-statement: "If I work hard, I can learn the math."

P.S. Also, help your child learn the math!

For more creative activities to support children's social and emotional development, our friends at Move this World are offering these free resources. My colleague Keeth Matheny from SEL Launchpad, in collaboration with the team at School Connect, also created these terrific videos and worksheets-perfect for home use. You can also find free lesson plans at this link -use what makes sense for you.

Recognizing the emotions and perspectives of others

It's important, particularly in close quarters, for us to be mindful and respectful of each other's feelings and experiences. That means we need to "see" each other now perhaps more than ever. Humans are wonderfully expressive and aren't very good at hiding our feelings. We show them on our faces, in our voices, in our posture, and even in our gait. Use this fact to practice compassion and the specific competencies that make compassion possible-specifically, recognizing the emotions and perspectives of others. Here's how:

A few times a day have everyone say what they think others in the family are feeling and how they can tell.

If one family member appears to be upset, stop the action and ask another what that person is feeling.

Take it a step further and ask what the person is thinking. By understanding others' points of view, this exercises the perspective-taking muscle.

Practicing emotion recognition and perspective-taking can also be folded into academic work too-particularly language arts and literacy. If a child is reading a book, for example, prompt her to describe how a character feels and thinks in a particular scene and have her describe how she knows that. This deepens students' connections to what they are reading and gives them an opportunity to exercise their social and emotional muscles.

Problem-solving

It's fair to predict that in close quarters over an extended period, we may get on each other's nerves from time to time (see "spaceship" above). Whenever there's a dustup, social problem-solving can help. When there's a problem or disagreement, here are the social problem-solving steps:

Stop and calm down.

Say what the problem is.

Generate several alternative solutions.

Weigh the pros and cons of each option.

Pick the best one.

Evaluate how well it worked and revisit if needed.

At the risk of giving away my age here, social problem-solving is kind of like the board game "Othello." The tag line for Othello was, "It takes a minute to learn, and a lifetime to master." In other words, even though social problem-solving seems simple, when you try it, you'll find that in the heat of the moment, it's not easy. Keep working on it even if it doesn't work at first. As you get better at it, social problem-solving can be enormously helpful for you and your children.

Motivating Students

How do you keep your students "on task" and motivated to continue to do the academic work? There is no easy answer to this, but there are a few things you might consider.

First, make it interesting. No one likes rote or boring work, in or out of school. All of us, from early childhood through adulthood, are most motivated by work that feels meaningful. But what is meaningful? For me, writing this blog is meaningful, because I'm wrestling with a challenging topic and working to articulate ideas that I hope are useful to others. This is hard. But it's also highly engaging and rewarding.

One parent I know shared that her teenage daughter was in a bad mood and complained of having nothing to do. This mom told her daughter that staying engaged in work had helped her feel engaged with others in meaningful activities. She shared that doing so helped take her mind off world events and helped her do something that made a positive difference, which felt good. She encouraged her daughter to find a project that was challenging and interesting to her. Her daughter went online and found a university course-an introduction to coding-and started taking it. She immersed herself in the lectures and problem sets (and the routine of the household, structured by the "spaceship" metaphor), and felt a lot better, and was learning in the process.

But what about the work that schools expect students to finish? The important point here is to help your students connect what they are expected to learn with something they personally care about. Let a child who is learning to read select the topic or book (with guidance). Have students who are learning how to calculate area pick a household object and calculate its surface area. Do whatever it takes to make learning coincide with something meaningful to your child-this will make learning intrinsically interesting and motivating (and lead to fewer behavior management challenges!)

Staying Connected

Social support-the love, care, and help we give one another-is an invisible and potent resource for our health and well-being. This is not just my opinion-there's lots of research showing that the more social support a person enjoys, the better their mental and physical health, and overall quality of life.

How do we maintain social support in an era of social distancing? Clearly, family remains the core social support for children, more so than ever. But peers are also a key source of support, particularly as children enter the tween and adolescent years. Thankfully, we live in an era where face-to-face contact through video conferencing software is accessible to most. Although I'm an advocate of limits on screen time, screen time that facilitates togetherness, particularly face-to-face togetherness, is a very real opportunity for our children to maintain their community and the love and support that goes with it.

This is not without its challenges. Many young people are used to interacting with devices when they spend time together, which lowers the premium on conversational skills such as turn-taking and asking questions to show interest. For some, connecting through video chat will paradoxically be more akin to good old-fashioned face-to-face conversation than to the technology-mediated interactions youth are often used to. As such, it is an opportunity for them to learn some conversational skills that will come in handy for the rest of their lives.

Final Thoughts

The thing about SEL is that it is deeply a part of life wherever people are engaged with others, which is to say everywhere, all the time. In your space capsule, you'll find plenty of opportunities to work on social and emotional competencies. Doing so can help create a positive learning environment. It will help your students be ready to learn. It will help everyone get through these tough times. And it will help equip them for a future that will increasingly value people who know how to get along and work together well.

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SEL in An Unplanned Home School Setting | xSEL Labs

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With nationwide school closures in effect, many households have become unplanned home schools, and parents have become teachers, with all of the responsibilities that go with the job, including setting the climate for learning, managing "student" behavior, and supporting student ... Read MoreSEL in An Unplanned Home School Setting

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Educational Toolkit for At-Home Learning 

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Educational Toolkit for At-Home Learning 

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As schools across the nation close to protect students and educators from COVID-19, many parents and caregivers are seeking ways to support their children's learning outside of the classroom. Guided by our founder's belief that "the parent is the child's first and best teacher," the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy is committed to empowering parents to fulfill that role everyday-and especially in these uncertain times.

The good news is that there are some wonderful, free online resources that can help children continue to build critical literacy skills while schools are closed. To help parents choose among the plethora of available options, our team of in-house literacy and education experts has curated a toolkit of trusted, high-quality online resources that can be used anytime, anywhere.

Barbara Bush Foundation Online Literacy Toolkit for Parents
Online Classroom and Library

Story Mentors: Created by the Barbara Bush Foundation, Story Mentors is a digital classroom focused on early elementary school aged children who are struggling readers. This online early literacy curriculum offers 25 weekly lessons that utilize early reading strategies to improve learning outcomes for struggling readers with the goal of helping students achieve grade level reading. Each lesson is accompanied by guides for mentors and parents that are designed to foster more connections and further learning between parent and child with activities using common household materials. The first-grade resources were developed with support from the AT&T Foundation. Access the digital classroom.

Read Aloud Books Online

The Indianapolis Public Library: This is a great way for parents and children to enjoy stories together from anywhere, even without a trip to the book store or the library. View the collections.

Storyline Online: This free children's literacy resource features the world's best storytellers reading books out loud. Each video includes an activity guide with lessons for K-5 students to do at home. Visit the site.

ReadWriteThink: The National Council of Teachers of English has an entire tab devoted to literacy resources for parents and afterschool professionals. You will find grade-specific literacy games and tools, activities and projects, tips, podcasts, and downloadable resources for no charge! Access the resources.

Reading Rockets: Reading Rockets is a multimedia project that offers a wealth of research-based reading strategies, lessons, and activities designed to help children from birth to age 8 learn how to read and improve their reading. Their resources are for parents, teachers, and after school professionals. Download free reading tips for parents and early literacy professionals, by age and stage, in English and translated into 12 other languages at this site.

Reach Out and Read: Reach Out and Read is a nonprofit organization that helps build a child's literacy basics by incorporating books into pediatric care and encouraging families to read together. The site also includes a literacy milestone chart for children from birth to 5 (free and downloadable in English). Visit the site.

U.S. Department of Education: Find tip sheets for families, caregivers, and early learning educators in English and Spanish. Research has found that providing children from birth to 5 with consistent, language-rich experiences - such as talking, reading, and singing - can have important benefits on their brain development and future school success. Access the resources.

Raising Readers: Raising Readers gives free books to all children in Maine from birth to 5. Their website has resources for parents and early childhood care providers. Click on "Promoting a Love of Reading" at the top of the page and scroll down to "Parents and Families" for a wealth of resources including reading tips in a variety of languages, free monthly downloads of literacy activities, and videos of best practices for supporting literacy at home. Click on "Early Childhood Professionals" for resources to support early literacy practices, book lists, suggestions for working with parents in low literacy homes, and a toll-free number for direct support. The Resources tab has "Book Activity Kits" that include companion activities for books, which help parents and caregivers enhance reading with children. Use the search feature to find engaging activities for a book you own or find a title your child will like and borrow the book from your library. The activities can be used in group settings or at home.

PBS: Find more than 125 fun and educational activities and games that support parents of 3-8 year olds to help their child(ren) boost their literacy. Scroll to the bottom of the PBS Parents' Page to select age-specific literacy tips and activities for children aged 2-8.
There are also math and science categories, plus games and videos.

Codex: The Lost Words of Atlantis: This gamified app is grounded in learning science and geared towards family learning. Players visit new locations around the world, where they find artifacts and relics that they use to decode the cryptic language of Atlantean into English. This award-winning app is available in both English and Spanish, and has been used in family literacy programs by parents and children together. The app was developed by People ForWords at Southern Methodist University through a competition funded by the Barbara Bush Foundation and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. Get the app. (enter code 20044)
Math and Music
Bedtime Math: This site makes math part of the family routine. Parents can sign up by email, on the website, and on a free app. Whether it's flamingos, ninjas, or pillow forts, kids can see the math in their favorite topics. No logins. No drilling. No scores. It takes only five minutes a day, and kids clamor for it. View the resources.

Sing With Our Kids: Singing with a child connects neural pathways and increases the ability to retain information. This site provides free, fun resources for music and reading. Visit the site.
Be sure to follow us on social media for more recommendations and tips, and to share how your family is learning together outside of the classroom.

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Educational Toolkit for At-Home Learning

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As schools across the nation close to protect students and educators from COVID-19, many parents and caregivers are seeking ways to support their children's learning outside of the classroom. Guided by our founder's belief that "the parent is the child's first and best teacher," the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy is committed to empowering parents to fulfill that role everyday-and especially in these uncertain times.

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K-3 Collection of Social Emotional Lesson Plans

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K-3 Collection of Social Emotional Lesson Plans

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SEL Resources for Parents, Educators & School Communities Related to COVID-19

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SEL Resources for Parents, Educators & School Communities Related to COVID-19

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As the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to spread, schools around the world are rapidly pivoting to support children's health and well-being. As districts shift to online learning, parents, educators and school leaders are searching for ways to continue prioritizing children's social and emotional development at home.

Our team at Inside SEL has put together an initial list of resources, blog posts and guides to help cope during this volatile and difficult time. Our intention is to continue to add to the list as we come across more relevant content.

We encourage readers of this post to share your most helpful resources here so we can expand our shared knowledge and support as many individuals as possible.
*Reintegrating Students to In-Person Learning with SEL* Adult Self-Care Tips: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Parenting Resources: Resources for School Communities: Other/Miscellaneous:
For a more expansive listing of resources related to various topics within the field social and emotional learning, visit our SEL Resources page.

Published by Nick Woolf

Social-emotional learning practitioner and researcher with interests in implementation science, family engagement, educational technologies, SEL, and education policy. View all posts by Nick Woolf

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SEL Resources for Parents, Educators & School Communities Related to COVID-19

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Our team at Inside SEL has put together an initial list of resources, blog posts and guides to help cope during this volatile and difficult time. Our intention is to continue to add to the list as we come across more relevant content.

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Second Step - Resources for Students and Families 

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Second Step - Resources for Students and Families 

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Curated for Educators and Families

Support Social-Emotional Well-Being

When children practice social-emotional skills throughout their day, they learn to understand emotions and cope with everyday challenges. Use and share these research-based social-emotional learning (SEL) resources to empower children to thrive at school, at home, and everywhere in between.

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SEL Activities and Resources | Second Step

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Use and share these research-based SEL activities and resources to empower children to thrive at school, at home, and everywhere in between.

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From Dr. Mark Thompson: “In case it’s helpful, feel free to share Wisconsin’s Trauma Sensitive Schools online training modules with educators.  These are modules we put together before COVID-19, but we’re finding them particularly helpful for educators right now as they support students remotely and think ahead to what students will need once schools reconvene.”

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For grade K-6
Have fun with teaching social emotional skills while playing fun games and learning about careers.

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There have been several questions about virtual counseling, I’ve attached the ASCA guidance and would remind all that if you plan to record sessions according to ASCA Ethical Guidelines you will need consent. I’ve attached a sample template you can use in drafting your own. The KSDE Distance Learning Guidance (1.1) has been edited to the following:

Page 51:

Educator Safety • 1:1 Live Video Conferencing with a student is NOT recommended. Please include two adults or two students for accountability and liability. Utilizing classified staff to be video partners on live calls would be an excellent idea. Exceptions may apply to health-related staff such as administrators, counselors, social workers, school psychologists and nurses, who would continue to follow their professional standards.

NOTE:  We need to clearly address mental health team referrals, documentation and coordination as part of the continuous learning plan. I would offer the following suggestions:

Pages 34-35

"Identify resources schools were providing students and their families, and work to maintain that support," "Schools should have a plan for referring students in need, or in crisis.”

NEW Bullet . Mental health team members should continue to convene via virtual meetings to coordinate and provide continuity of care."

"Just like in the school setting, if a teacher/staff member feels like a student needs counseling services, the school counselor, or mental health team member should be contacted according to the plan.

"Establish possible “office hours” posted on social media where individuals can meet with counselors, social workers or school psychologists on an as needed basis."

NEW Bullet "Mental health team members will maintain records of referrals, contacts and services as per their professional standards to ensure continuity and coordination of services provided to students."

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Assessment Update 3-25-2020

1. ACT has canceled all state contract spring testing. This means no make-up dates are available in April. KSDE is currently working with ACT to allow make-up tests next fall for all juniors who were not able to take the test on February 25. WorkKeys make-up test information is not yet available. At this time ACT is still planning to offer national testing in June and July. KSDE does not reimburse schools for students taking the test on national testing dates.

2. All DLM testing has been suspended for the remainder of the year.

3. All ELA, math and science general assessments were suspended on March 17th.

4. Please continue to score KELPA tests. Students who took the KELPA assessment will receive score reports when they return to school in the fall. Unscored tests (speaking and writing) will be indicated on the student score reports. Please contact Lee Jones if scoring will not be completed by Friday, March 27, 2020.

5. Kansas has requested a 2019-2020 federal waiver from required assessments and accountability. This means no new TSI or ATS schools will be identified next fall. All identified buildings should continue working with KLN for another year.

6. Assessment dates for the 2020-2021 school year will not be announced until late July or early August. We will set assessment windows as close as possible to the 2019-2020 windows.

The KSDE CSAS team is trying to consolidate information shared on listservs with buildings, districts, and teachers. We understand planning and delivering continuous learning to students is top priority. In compliance with this request from leadership, the KSDE assessment team will be relatively silent and attempt to consolidate our communication over the next two months. Please contact Lee Jones, ljones@ksde.org or Beth Fultz, bfultz@ksde.org with questions, comments, or concerns.

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Stacy Smith, Asst. Director for CTE, has forwarded out a series of Xello activities that would help you engage students with the career domain https://drive.google.com/open?id=16zPfxkmTr-Sw04YS-20xbU9R5wDs2BUk
Another resource for this domain is:

Kansas Career Navigator

The Kansas Career Navigator is an online dashboard intended to aid in the selection of education and training programs, access workforce training providers, analyze performance information and labor market information.  Students can use the Kansas Career Navigator to locate high wage occupations in their area that are in high demand, as well as explore education programs that lead to these occupations. They can learn about education, work experience, and job training requirements. In addition, this dashboard allows users to examine occupational salaries for workers by region and search job openings in the area. Click the link below to begin your journey through this occupational research resource.

https://kscareernav.gov/

Kansas Career Navigator Training Link:

https://rise.articulate.com/share/G6_B6FBlCtAOp4wVhSbGzd2WRki_RKzU#/

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"My Overcoming Obstacles" is our unique online platform that gives you the ability to truly make Overcoming Obstacles your own. With our easy-to-use tools, you can customize every part of an Overcoming Obstacles lesson, down to each word.

Maybe you want to change a starter activity, so it ties into something unique about your school? Or perhaps you want to take one of our decision making lessons and align it with an historical event that your students are learning? Whatever you need, "My Overcoming Obstacles" is here for you to use however and whenever you want. It's simple, intuitive, and-like all of our other resources-100% free.

Click Here To Try It Out!

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Overcoming Obstacles - Overcoming Obstacles - Free K-12 Life Skills Curriculum

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Overcoming Obstacles is a free, award-winning, and research-based curriculum for Elementary, Middle & High School Students. Learn More & Download for Free.

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"My Overcoming Obstacles" is our unique online platform that gives you the ability to truly make Overcoming Obstacles your own. With our easy-to-use tools, you can customize every part of an Overcoming Obstacles lesson, down to each word.

Maybe you want to change a starter activity, so it ties into something unique about your school? Or perhaps you want to take one of our decision making lessons and align it with an historical event that your students are learning? Whatever you need, "My Overcoming Obstacles" is here for you to use however and whenever you want. It's simple, intuitive, and-like all of our other resources-100% free.

Click Here To Try It Out!

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Overcoming Obstacles - Overcoming Obstacles - Free K-12 Life Skills Curriculum

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Overcoming Obstacles is a free, award-winning, and research-based curriculum for Elementary, Middle & High School Students. Learn More & Download for Free.

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Teachers trust GoNoodle to help their students stay active, focused, and calm while infusing good energy into their classrooms. Now, with so many kids home from school, we want to keep that good energy going with GoNoodle: Good Energy at Home, a free online resource. GoNoodle: Good Energy at Home provides ways for kids and families to move and learn together.

GoNoodle: Good Energy at Home offers free:
• Movement, yoga, and mindfulness videos
• Downloadable curricular activities
• Recommended off-screen home activities

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Grades 6-12                           186 Days of Character  

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Grades 6-12                           186 Days of Character  

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Maize Complete High School has put together 186 days of character full of lessons.  Developed by Kristy Custer and staff at Maize School District: kcuster@usd266.com.

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Supported Browsers: Requires HTML5 support. Internet Explorer 11+ on Windows 7+, Safari on Mac OSX 10.8+, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome on Windows and Mac OSX.
Adobe Flash Player is required for custom workout. Adobe Air is required for Brain Breaks Desktop App.

Click Here to download the PDF tutorial

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Brain Breaks®: Research based classroom activity brain breaks powered by HOPSports

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Brain Breaks® are web-based 2-5 minute activity breaks designed for the individual classroom setting.