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Supporting SEL Competencies and Transferrable Skills Through Morning Meetings By: Joanie Wisdahl, MTSS Coach

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When students enter our buildings first thing in the morning, they are transitioning into the classroom setting, where they will be expected to engage in their learning throughout the day. Morning meetings allow students to participate in the classroom community, make connections with their teacher and peers, and set their learning intentions for the day.  Morning meetings typically involve a greeting that can be as simple as “good morning,” an opportunity to share, perhaps an activity or game that helps the class connect with one another, and a morning message from their teacher. Having these routines helps students set their intentions for the day, as well as provides them with consistency and predictability in their routines.  CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning describes SEL 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
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Ask Me Two Questions… or, It All Started with Mental Math…

  Ask me how I met Howie Hua. I wish I could say in sunny California, since he teaches math methods courses at Fresno State; or maybe at one of the math conferences he regularly attends across the country. Nope. I met Howie Hua via Twitter through one of his “Mental Math Monday” posts. Now, I follow him on Twitter, occasionally watch his watch his TikToks, and subscribe to his blogs. In a short time, I feel like I’ve met a colleague, who not only loves math but gently inspires teachers and students to grow as thinkers and doers. Howie’s ideas are modeled well and easily accessible.  Check out his site here -  https://howiehua.wordpress.com/ .  Here’s a wonderful teaching strategy from his site called …  “ASK ME TWO QUESTIONS.”   After presenting content, Howie doesn’t ask the typical question, “Do you have any questions.” Instead, he reframes it as an imperative statement that suggests he knows you will - that thinkers always have questions. Wow. Such a powerful language shift that li
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Trauma Informed Classroom Practices

Trauma Informed Practices Matter Understanding and incorporating trauma informed practices into our classrooms is critical for making sure that we meet the needs of all of our students. Utilizing trauma informed practices is critical to their success. For those of you who are part of this professional development strand, when we meet in March we will be diving deeper into some of the practices we discussed last time. I have included some links below to refresh you on what we discussed. For those of you who are not a part of this PD strand, feel free to look at the links and start to incorporate these important practices into your own classroom.  What is Trauma? ACES Quiz and Learn What it Does and Doesn't Mean - NPR Trauma 101 How Teachers Can Recognize the Signs of Trauma in the Classroom - Edutopia Responding to Trauma in Your Classroom - Learning for Justice Common Trauma Symptoms in Students and Helpful Strategies for Educators - IES Restorative Circles  https://www.ecrjc.org/r
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Inclusive Classroom Practices

  Dear Inclusive Classroom Practitioners: I am sending you all of my best midwinter wishes as the calendar turns to February, along with a reminder to hang in there, if you need one: “Hang in there. Within four weeks, the maple sap will be flowing. Within six weeks, the earliest migrating birds will begin to arrive in numbers. Within eight weeks, the early spring wildflowers will emerge from the earth. You will feel the warm sun on your face again.” – Nick Stow @stowecology I want to offer a recap of our first in-service gathering as well as a preview of our second. Our October 7th session centered on two essential questions from Dr. Rosetta Lee’s Inclusive Classroom Practices framework: Do you see me ? Representation in Curriculum  Representation on the Walls  Interest in Personal Story  Interactions In and Out of the Classroom Demonstration of Care Do you hear me ? Incorporation of Prior Knowledge Seeking and Responding to Student Feedback Student Choice in Curriculum  Empathy Refle
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SEL/NVC Letter from Joanie and Will

Hi All! We hope this message finds you well! We are looking forward to our upcoming session in March, and would like to share some tools that could help you reflect and prepare for the Spring. As you know, non-violent communication and social emotional learning are not skills to gain overnight, but require practice, self-reflection, and ongoing work. We hope that you will find value in these tools, and that they will inspire you to connect with members of our community.  NVC for Teachers Culture of Peace in Schools with NVC Video Series In this video series, watch as a teacher and her young students learn and practice using NVC skills to resolve conflict.  Self-Reflection Tools Needs-Based Self Check-In Wholehearted Inventory from Brené Brown  The Wholehearted Inventory instrument assesses your strengths and opportunities for growth. To learn more, you can read The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown.  Self-Care Why Teacher Self-Care Matters and How to Practice Self-Care in Schools
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UDL and SEL Intersect! They are not two separate initiatives!

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Teachers want to do everything they can for their students. And teachers' plates are FULL.  How can teachers avoid becoming  paralyzed by a too-full plate of mandates and initiatives, and instead move forward with a focus on students' growth? Here's one way to keep the plate from spilling over: Look for the intersections - then intentionally prioritize any instructional shifts you make toward these overlaps.  Case in Point: by carefully examining commonalities between Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Social Emotional Learning (SEL)- specific UDL guideline checkpoints  clearly match specific areas of SEL.  This Katie Novak article  by Lisa Bozio looks at the five areas of competence as described by CASEL ( Collaborative of  Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning). Bozio then identifies and explains the intersections in the UDL guidelines and checkpoints, as described by CAST (the organization that first articulated the UDL principles for educators).  Example #1 - Wh
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Universal Design for Learning Planning Tools

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  In Equity by Design: Delivering on the Power and Promise of UDL, authors Chardin and Novak argue for adopting a Universal Design for Learning framework: Many of the "tried and true" techniques and curricula perpetuate privilege and compliance rather than focusing on the power of learning, productive struggle, and empowerment...UDL calls explicitly for expert learning or teaching students how to learn, how to set goals, and how to share what they know to reach those goals in authentic, meaningful ways. Because students come to us with a unique mix of strengths and weaknesses, the UDL framework calls for educators to transfer power to students so they have options and choices for how to learn and how to share what they've learned. UDL, which is built on decades of research in neuroscience, is grounded on the foundation of three principles, all of which remind educators to provide students with options for personalizing their education: Multiple means of engagement Multipl
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