TEACH WITH KINDNESS

The Heart of Teaching

The Science of Teaching

The Fun of Teaching

GOOD WORKS for future

Teachers' Operational Handbook

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The Heart of Teaching

Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.

Aristotle

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Every kid needs a champion Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids." Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don't like.'" A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level. www.ted.com⁠

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THE TIME HAS COME FOR SEL (Social Emotional Learning)

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Social-Emotional Learning: What Is SEL and Why SEL Matters Learn more at http://www.cfchildren.org/social-emotional-learning. What is SEL? Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the process of developing the self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are vital for school, work, and life success. The creators of Second Step® programs show what social-emotional skills are and the important role they play throughout our lives. © 2016 Committee for Children www.youtube.com⁠

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is defined as the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to:

Understand and manage emotions

Set and achieve positive goals

Feel and show empathy for others

Establish and maintain positive relationships

Make responsible decisions

SEL skills are based on five strategies:

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5 Keys to Social and Emotional Learning Success Studies show that sustained and well-integrated social and emotional learning (SEL) programs can help schools engage their students and improve achievement. Explore the classroom practices that make up the best and most effective SEL programs. Create a free account today to join the Edutopia community and subscribe to our weekly newsletter: https://edut.to/3wEVHUh Learn more at Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/social-emotional-learning *Follow us here:* Official Website: https://edutopia.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/edutopia Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edutopia Twitter: https://twitter.com/edutopia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edutopia/ #socialemotionallearning #sel #classroom #studentmotivation © 2013 George Lucas Educational Foundation www.youtube.com⁠

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Proficiencies for Social and Emotional Well-Being:

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JUST HOW IMPORTANT IS THE TEACHER?

In a word, profoundly!

What exactly do students remember about teachers?

Students best remember teachers who they perceived cared about them.

Caring by one’s teacher(s) is a very powerful force and is able to dramatically affect student motivation and school retention, achievement and improved classroom behavior.

The belief systems validated to be present in “good,” or effective, teachers are the following:

Empathic qualities. Good teachers are phenomenologically oriented. They are keenly aware of the perceptions of other people and use this understanding as the primary frame of reference for guiding their own behavior.

Positive self-concept. Good teachers see themselves in essentially positive ways.

Beliefs about other people. Good teachers characteristically see other people in positive ways as able, trustworthy, friendly, and so on.

Open, facilitating purposes. The purposes of good teachers are primarily broad, facilitating, and process oriented.

Authenticity. Good teachers are essentially self-revealing and genuine.

Studies show that SEL supports students’ social, emotional, and academic development:

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Kindergarteners with good social skills turn into successful adults, study finds In a report released today, researchers found that kindergarteners’ social skills, like cooperation, listening to others and helping classmates, provided strong predictors of how those children would fare two decades later. Judy Woodruff speaks to Damon Jones of Pennsylvania State University about the findings. www.pbs.org⁠

Davidson, Khmelkov, and Lickona (2010) conducted a meta-analysis of numerous other studies examining social and emotional learning factors. All combined, their investigations included data from over 200,000 students in kindergarten through high school. They concluded that participants demonstrated significantly improved academic performance as compared to controls

Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger (2011) found that students who receive SEL instruction have academic achievement scores an average of 11 percentile points higher than students who did not participate in SEL programs.

Other researchers have similarly documented the importance of caring teacher–student and student–student relationships in fostering students’ commitment to school and in promoting academic success (e.g. Blum & Libbey, 2004; Hamre & Pianta, 2006; Hawkins, Smith, & Catalano, 2004; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009).

Empathic listening - way to promote caring teacher–student relationships:

Empathic listening, also variously termed active listening and reflective listening, is a manner of validating to a speaker that you have fully understood what they are saying.

Five benefits of empathic listening:

Building trust and respect between individuals.

Enabling disputants to release their emotions.

Reducing tensions.

Encouraging bringing information to the surface.

Creating a safe environment that is conducive to collaborative problem solving.

CREATING EMOTIONALLY SAFE CLASSROOMS

THE WHAT: RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

In the classroom, restorative practices help:

Students own what they did.

Make it right for those hurt or affected.

Involve the classroom community in helping both the victim and the offender.

Acknowledge that those who do wrong need healing as well.

Restorative practices are being applied to 21st-century classrooms to promote dialogue, accountability, and a stronger sense of community.

Restorative practices are based on three premises: harms and needs, obligation to put right, and engagement of stakeholders.

THE WHY: BRAIN RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR RESTORATIVE PRACTICES

Restorative practices are made of:

Building Empathy

Empathy can be learned, and it may help with peer-to-peer difficulties.

Research shows that teenagers who are more empathetic do better in embracing failure and turning it into opportunities for learning.

Building a Growth Mindset

Building a growth mindset contributes to students’ belief in themselves as capable learners.

Carol Dweck's research indicates people with a growth mindset embrace challenges, persevere through setbacks, and learn from criticism

Mistakes are seen as an enhanced learning opportunity for those with a growth mindset

Building Community

Research indicates that restorative methods help build respectful relationships, deal with disciplinary problems, and reduce suspensions.

THE HOW: BUILDING STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH RESTORATIVE PRACTICES

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Restorative Circles/Classroom Meetings⁠

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Students sit on chairs in a circle.

Meetings are held every week.

A set format is followed.

Students lead the meetings.

Both problems and suggestions are discussed.

Students encourage and compliment one another.

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Setting Up Morning Meetings⁠

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Greeting. The greeting time is the “Hello, I’m glad to see you” portion of the morning meeting. Not only does the greeting welcome each child into the classroom each day, this practice also teaches critical social skills that are necessary to navigate life.

Sharing. Students share information about important events in their lives. Listeners often offer empathetic comments or ask clarifying questions. This fosters empathy and connection among students.

Activity. The activity is meant to engage students in team building, problem solving, or communication while it also builds students’ SEL skills (for example, reciting a poem, dancing, singing, or playing a game).

Morning message. The morning message is the teacher’s opportunity to set the agenda for the day. The message is usually read by students, but it may also be stated orally by the teacher.

Morning Meeting Prompts

Greeting. Students may say “good morning _______” as they personalize the greeting to the next person in the circle. Students may count by 5s or 10s as they say “good morning” around the circle. Students may say “good morning” in sign language or a different language. Students may shake hands, or high-five each other around the circle.

Sharing. Students may “check in” with something personal in their lives. Students may share something they observed on the way to school. Students may respond with something they have seen at home, in the community, on TV, or in a book that came from another country. Students may respond with something that takes energy to use. Students may respond with noticing a kind deed that they have witnessed.

Activity. Students may take a moment to interview another student and then share with the group something new they have learned about their classmate. Students may play a game and say, “I spy someone who got a new puppy,” and the rest of the students get three tries to guess which of their peers fits that statement. Students may play “Stand up if you_____” in which they would complete the prompt with a phrase they choose (e.g., “like to play baseball”); then, all the children who agree with the statement will stand up; then the next child repeats the prompt, “Stand up if you _____,” and fills in a different preference. Students may pass around (or toss) an object to see how many times they can do it without someone dropping it; then they start all over again and try to beat their record; for older students you may add more objects (like tennis balls) to make it more challenging; the goal, as the students soon realize, is one of cooperation rather than competition. Students may place a colored dot on their forehead and see if they are able to find others with the same color (teachers need to have 3”5 different colors available).

Morning Message. While the teacher usually shares some highlights of the day’s activities, it can also be a moment to have students relax and “gear up” (as in pretending to wind up) their brain to start the day with full brain power.

Classroom Meetings for Secondary Classrooms

Research indicates class meetings can enhance relationships, increase effective communication and problem solving, while facilitating a positive, caring school climate for learning. Class meetings are an ongoing prevention and intervention tool designed to enhance students’ social and ethical development, while increasing school, teacher and peer connectedness.

The activities and questions would be chosen to fit the needs of older students and there would be more opportunities for student-initiated and student-led discussion formats, e.g:

Sharing opinions regarding a social or political issue.

Problem solving regarding a conflict, either related to the class or one that is entrenched in society.

Brainstorming a project.

Discussing social media and safety concerns.

Questions for class meetings:

What is/are your favorite or top 3 favorites: actor, music style, musician, animals, songs, movies, books, things you own, foods, phrases, memories? Why?

What are your top 3 people you respect and why? Advice you were ever given? Things you want to do in your life?

If you had super powers, what would they be?

What could our school do to improve?

What is something that you think teens understand, but adults do not?

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

Can kindness be cool? Why or why not?

Respect Agreements

Everyone is asked to brainstorm what respect looks like, sounds like, and feels like in their classroom between student and teacher and between student and student. The agreements are posted in a prominent place in the classroom.

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