Social Emotional Learning – Energizing Educators

Teaching to Strengths (Trauma-Informed Teaching)- a book-summary sketchnote

“Half the students in U.S. schools are experiencing or have experienced trauma, violence, or chronic stress.” – Teaching To Strengths (Zacarian, Alvarez-Ortiz, Haynes) That statistic came from a national study in 2012. Fast forward 8 years to mid-March 2020… and let’s update that statistic: “ALL students (and teachers) are currently experiencing trauma, and possibly chronic stress.” Welcome to life in a global pandemic. The book, Teaching to Strengths: Supporting Students Living with Trauma, Violence, and Chronic Stress, cannot be more appropriate for a back to school year. The text starts out with the foundations of strengths-based (vs. deficit based) teaching theory, and breaks down key criteria for setting up not only your classroom, but creating a school community that fosters a strengths-based approach. Some major categories explored in the video:

Preparing for working with diverse learners
Creating a strengths-based learning environment
Scaffolding student-to-student relationships
Fostering family/guardian engagement

Want to learn more? Click the links below!

Slide Deck used in the video

PDF of Sketchnote Summary

Behind the Curtain… how was it made? Welcome to “hopefully” a new series of blog posts I’ll be sharing that go behind the scenes and look at the process, obstacles, and aha’s as I “learn in public”. I intend to use this space to hold myself accountable to sharing my new learning as I go, rather than only posting after the final product (so that you can see more of the raw trials and revisions, not just the select few I feel are “ready” for publishing. As a #recoveringperfectionist, this has been a New Year’s Resolution for some time now, but it’s all about action, not intent. So here it is… the first behind the scenes look!

1- Read

First I skim the book, making note of the table of contents and what’s to come. This makes for a sort of “mental filing cabinet” by knowing how the book is organized and what to look for in terms of major content and subtopics. It is easy to dive “too deep” by over highlighting and annotating so sometimes I intentionally skim first then dive deeper on a 2nd read.

2- Summarize

A technique I used to teach my 4th grade students to help with recall was to put a post-it on the first page of each new chapter BEFORE reading the book. This intentionally slowed them down from speed reading without taking time to process what they just read. So post-it served 1. as a physical barrier from starting the next chapter, and 2. as a small space to capture a few main ideas while it was fresh in their mind. When I know I am reading a book with the purpose of sharing the main ideas with others, I tend to use this post-it summarizing trick to help keep a record of the main ideas since it typically takes me a few weeks (or months!) to read through teacher texts such as this one.

3- Synthesize

Next, I take those chapter summary post-it’s and scan for major categories or main ideas. For this sketchnote, I opted for that WHY-WHAT-HOW categories in order to summarize the founding research and principles (“start with why”) then invest the majority (top half of the Sketchnote) on the how… the practical ideas and takeaways. This stage is when I often thank myself for taking the time to do those chapter summaries. I often look back to the text for quotes/details, not main ideas since I already documented them.

4- Conceptualize

This is where YOU shine in this process. Anyone can do a basic summary. Anyone can read and outline a text, but your creativity, your organization, and your icons/fonts/flair (if you’re sketchnoting) is where the true personality shows. Deciding how to conceptualize an entire multi-hundred page text in a “one page” sketch is difficult. You have to take an Essentialist approach in identifying the key gems and cut out the extras. For this sketch, I opted to take Doug Neill’s recommendation and try out the app, Concepts. I learned it in my Digital Sketchnoting online course and decided to try it out after learning about the “infinite canvas” ability that allows you to keep sketching in any direction. Usually I have to intentionally sketch within the confines of a page, and have to be intentional about size/layout so I don’t run out of space. This mind mapping app actually allowed me more flexibility, and I opted to start in the center and branch out in more of a radial approach. You can see more of my initial thoughts on the app/sketching process on my Instagram post.

5- Vocalize

Lastly, while a sketchnote is great, a static image is elevated so much more when you get to hear the commentary behind the visuals and text. I found that panning through/screen recording the mind map actually led to some serious motion sickness from the zoom in/zoom out needed. Instead, with this one I opted to screen shot and sequence the sketches by putting them in order on slides. This text was a required reading for the EDUO 9944 Compassionate Classrooms professional development course I taught this summer, so the initial audience was the 39 K-12 teachers in the class. In the hopes to share with a larger audience (my school district + PLN on Twitter), I decided to re-record and post to YouTube. This is newer for me to share my videos and work but I hope that the investment in reading/sketching/sharing helps YOU with taking a strengths-based approach with your teaching and inspires you to learn more about the topic!

To my fellow sketchnoters- what is your work flow for synthesizing big ideas? Do you have a preference in mind mapping or sketching apps? Share a comment below! 🙂

“I hate running… I love having ran.” The Groan Zone in a nutshell.

A study of the “groan zone”. Pushing through the challenging parts of process in order to get to the side of accomplishment.

“I hate writing. I love having written,” Kelly Boswell says as she leads a room full of eager teachers at her writing workshop seminars. This saying has always stuck with me because the feeling is mutual. I hate writing (or at least have strongly disliked writing for many years). That said, upon contemplation, I realized there are actually quite a few things I “strongly dislike” doing in the moment, some of which I consider favorite activities. Here’s the main one that comes to mind:

I HATE… running.

An odd comment to say for someone who loves playing sports. Basketball? 4 quarters of back and forth sprinting. Soccer? Essentially a 90-minute test of endurance and willpower. But when it comes to running… the treadmill, a neighborhood street, the trail… I always come to the same conclusion. I hate it.

Here’s how a typical run goes. Welcome inside my thoughts:

Initial thought- “I should go for a trail run! I’ve been sitting all day, it’ll be good for me, and if I’m tired, it can always just turn into a hike.” (Notice how I trick myself into having an out. Mistake #1.)

1 mile in- “Ooh, this is a little harder than I thought it would be. I’ll just take a little walking break. No! That’s wimping out. Would I encourage the (basketball) players I coach to give up at the first sign of fatigue? No way. It’s only a mile. Pull it together and keep going.” (I tend to have a “tough coach” persona motivate me through the early stages.)

2 miles in- “This was a stupid idea. My ankle is still sore from when I got kicked in the soccer game two months ago. Now I’m going to be too tired to work out tomorrow. I’m only 2 miles in. How pathetic. I am not a runner. I should just call myself a hiker.” (Oh boy, does the negative self talk come out… it’s not healthy, nor is it productive, but more than a mile in, it sure makes itself known. Despite how many times I’ve played this game, that nagging voice still comes out. The difference in moving forward is whether I choose to listen.)

Welcome to the GROAN ZONE.

The groan zone is that point where you feel so stuck and down that you seriously consider turning back and giving up. In a run, it’s the point before what you’ve determined as halfway (be that time or distance) where you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, so negativity tries to outweigh the soon to be achieved benefits.

I first heard of the “groan zone” when introduced to Sam Kaner’s Diamond Model of Participation, during a teacher leadership workshop held by my district. It was going to be my first official time as lead facilitator for a group of fellow educators (little did I know that the experience would lead to my full-time role as an instructional coach/Teacher on Special Assignment, but that’s another story). Since then, it has always stuck with me as a reminder of the phases we go through, be it collaborative or even a solo project.

The Diamond Model- a quick summary:

You and your teammates are faced with a problem. As you start to brainstorm, you collaborate and welcome diverse perspectives (divergent thinking), even ones that do not fit within the constraints. In design thinking, this phase is the space for wild ideas. Just like improv, it’s the “Yes and…” game where quantity rules over quality. You’re still optimistic at this point because the journey has just begun.

And then WHAM! The emergent phase happens. Enter the Groan Zone. In collaboration, you’re at a phase where your team is tasked with making some tough decisions. Which idea(s) do you prioritize? How do you facilitate the shift from sticking by your opinion (because obviously yours is “right”) to truly seeing and hearing the opinions of others? How do you rank which idea to pursue? How do you move from divergent thinking into convergent thinking in order to reach a solution, a place of closure? Do you just turn back, call it a day, and pick up the project tomorrow? Or worse, scrap the project and start something new?

First step- Recognizing you’re in the groan zone. Too often when challenges come up, we tend to not accurately identify them for what they are. When you know you’re in the groan zone, you can switch from all of that negative self-talk, and instead switch to productive action steps to help move along in the process. Carrie Cappel has some great strategies in this blog post on moving from groan zone to growth zone.

In the Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making, Sam Kaner shared,

"When people experience discomfort in the midst of a group decision- making process, they often take it as evidence that their group is dysfunctional. As their impatience increases, so does their disillusion with the process. Many projects are abandoned prematurely for exactly this reason. In such cases, it's not that the goals were ill conceived; it's that the Groan Zone was perceived as an insurmountable impediment rather than as a normal part of the process."

While my process of running was a solo venture, unlike Sam Kaner’s suggestions for collaborative tasks, I believe the “groan zone” is well and alive all the same. Instead of misidentifying struggle as “evidence that their group is dysfunctional,” in personal matters, the negative self-talk that comes with struggle often leads to negative mindset around identity. “I’m not a runner. I should just stick to hiking.” These statements are untrue, and with even the most basic knowledge of growth mindset, we know better than to limit ourselves just because we’re faced with some struggle. If anything, new discoveries in neurology tell us the exact opposite, that brain plasticity means that anyone can learn new things to high levels. See this article by Stanford mindset mathematics professor, Jo Boaler, for more on that topic.

So, what groan zone are you in right now with your life?

What goal have you started that has led you to feeling stuck? Maybe you’re feeling unmotivated given the current stress of shelter in place. Maybe you’re scared to take the next step because it requires a leap of faith. Maybe it’s just that you’ve lost sight of all of the steps you’ve taken this far in your journey and you’re quick to see the mistakes or hardships as walls, not simple hurdles to pass.

I’m here to tell you that the time is now. Whatever it is you’re in process of, know that it too shall pass. And when you’re on the other side, the place where a task has been accomplished or a problem solved, you’ll know that the groan zone was fully worth it.

Find your ___-ing, whether it’s running, studying, working, organizing, creating… the -ing is just the process. There will inevitably be struggle. You will be faced with failures, challenges, and mistakes. But that does not mean YOU are a failure. So take the first step. You’ll feel better once you’ve reached your destination.

Push through.

You got this.

Having ran. Done. Terminado. Finito. The feeling when you crossed the finish line. That is the reason you run in the first place. I hate running, but I love having ran. Sometimes you just have to push through the process to get to the end point.

Don’t feed the dog, chew with your mouth closed, and other lessons in etiquette

Growing up in an Iranian-American household, etiquette was a big deal. Hosting large family parties was the norm, and I quickly had to learn when to give two kisses (one on each cheek as a greeting) and when to give three kisses for more traditional (often older) guests. In Iranian culture, you never know when someone might stop by for “chai” (pronounced cha-ee) so it’s expected that you always have a platter with fruit, cucumbers, nuts, and cookies available on your coffee table. All of these “life lessons” I wouldn’t have learned had I not been taught proper etiquette.

A common beef with young kids is that they don’t have the same manners expected of prior generations. But whose fault is that? Etiquette is something to be taught, modeled, and expected. So what better time to teach it than right before the holidays. So that’s exactly what I did.

I started off with a little pre-assessment on what they knew to be common table manners. We had a good laugh about a few:

Don’t feed the dog under the table! (This contribution proceeded to a very detailed story from a student’s personal experience)
Don’t start a food fight.
If you feel like you’re going to burp… hold it in. (That was an interesting variation haha!)After a few quick videos on proper etiquette, it was time for our simulation. (In retrospect, I wish I would have brought in proper utensils/plates/cups, but sometimes my most creative ideas come the day of the lesson!)

I sent all the students outside and quickly “set the mood”.

Dim the lights. Check.

Turn on classical background music. Check.

“Menus” in hand. Check.

I then proceeded to let students in, one table at a time.

“Group 1, your table is now ready. Welcome to the Fancy Schmancy Restaurant. Your server will be right with you.”

The students were hooked. What was originally just a math lesson on ordering and budgeting now turned into a full on restaurant simulation- the perfect chance for them to play and practice their proper etiquette.

As each table group was greeted and given their menus, I noticed a shift in the classroom. The typical squirrely kids sat up a little straighter in their chairs. The quiet ones spoke up a little louder with confidence, requesting “a turkey leg with mashed potatoes for the entree” and “apple pie a la mode for dessert”. Some who are quick to take a challenge tested my waitress skills, asking if I had half and half to go with their coffee! 😂

The most hilarious interaction of the day:

S: “Do you have espresso?”

Me: “Yes. One shot or two?”

S: “Two please.”

Me: “Okay, one double espresso coming right up.”

S: “Thank you. Can you make it dirty?”

Me: “Excuse me?” (Was she asking for a dirty martini?🍸)

S: “I don’t know. My parents always seem to order their drinks dirty.”

HA!

First lesson in true etiquette- don’t repeat what you don’t understand!

With this little interaction, it reminded me that as adults we model etiquette all day long. The choices we make, the ways we react to others, and the patience and self-control we demonstrate during times of success and times of hardship, all lead to the behaviors children mimic.

We have the potential of raising the “smartest” generation with information at their fingertips, yet, if they don’t have manners or social skills… what good is all that knowledge? The longer I’ve taught, the more I’ve realized that it is less the academic content that I’ll expose/teach, and more the skills, mindsets, and manners that are important for young children.

Lastly, after two weeks stuck inside due to poor air quality from CA fires, playing restaurant was exactly what we ALL needed. You’re never too old for a little time to pretend. And you never know, maybe you’ll be ordering a dirty espresso at your next fancy schmancy dinner. 😉

Let the struggle happen. Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Today was an eye-opening experience as a teacher. It’s the first Friday afternoon of the school year. For our 4th graders, this is the first time they haven’t had early dismissal after lunch like in their K-3 years. Being the only ones on campus when their siblings are done for the day can be hard to sell, but I try to reserve these afternoons for fun projects, teamwork challenges, and choice time.

As in typical first week tradition, I had my class put together our Room 14 Puzzle to display in our front window. Each person decorates a piece and they have to work together as a team to solve the puzzle. I don’t tell them what it will make (at the start) but some make a guess as it starts to form.

In activities like this, I can learn a lot about the culture of a class. Natural leaders step up to take charge. Natural followers listen to what they’re told by their peers. And some kids wait until all the work has been done by the majority of their group, and squeeze their puzzle piece in the 1 empty spot (not “initiative” but definitely a strategy for efficiency! Ha!)

Being my 10th year, I have made it an intention to respond to teachable moments as they arise, but also to let students “get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” This is a large factor of fostering a growth mindset, and an important component in building the traits of perseverance and grit.

And boy was it hard for them.

As they started the puzzle, I let them fully take the lead as I sat back and my desk and “appeared” to be distracted in my own work. Instead, I was observing, recording notes about personality traits, documenting the amount of time it took to get an idea started, and the approximate times that certain groups of students got frustrated and burned out. That window was quick. Within the first 4 minutes of the task. A few decided they didn’t like how others were taking lead, or they felt “bossed around” and quickly went to their seat. The difference this time was that they didn’t go to their seat disengaged because they had gotten bored. They were frustrated, and turned that frustration into gossip and complaining.

It took all my strength and willpower not to do the typical teacher move and come over and rescue those whose feelings were hurt and kindly suggest that the bossy leaders take a step back and let others have a turn. Instead, for 13 long minutes, I sat there observing how they handled their conflict. A few students came to me, asking for structure and suggesting that I have everyone rotate in for equal turns after 5 minutes. Others stuck it out, not knowing how to participate but also not wanting to give up. It got brutal as the train they’d hopped on was veering toward failure and frustration rather than success.

At the 13 minute mark, I stopped the clock, had them all go back to their seats, take a deep breath, and debrief. We talked about the difference between “Glows” (things that went well) and “Grows” (things that needed improvement), and their suggestions for how to solve the issue at hand. Then, each student got 5 minutes to reflect and share their opinion.

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After some deep discussion and reflection around the suggestions, they came up with the plan to divide and conquer. To start by finding a match to their puzzle (similar to the “find someone who…” activity I’d intentionally had them do earlier today) and only once they found a match, then try to add it to the larger puzzle, so there would be less conflict and crowding.

It was still tough, but in 6 minutes (less than half the time it took the first round) they were able to start fresh and complete the rest of their puzzle. Some smiles appeared, but no where near the cheers and excitement as in past years, because the struggle in the journey overpowered their excitement in seeing the end product.

My Takeaways:

Let the struggle happen. In my earlier years, I never would have had the chance to see how the students stepped up to handle the situation, because I would have handled it for them. Yes, there was some awkwardness. Yes, there were a few feelings hurt. And yes, some students were looking to me for guidance and I chose to sit back and observe. But what message am I sharing if every time a challenge or conflict arises, I jump in to be the problem solver because I don’t trust that they are capable of doing it themselves. They are capable. They have a voice. They just needed me to facilitate it so everyone could be heard. I never would have had the chance to do that if I had jumped in at the first sign of struggle.

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. This goes twofold. The students needed the experience of being uncomfortable with the struggle and not letting themselves give up. About a third of the class literally handed someone their puzzle piece and sat at their seats when they didn’t like how it was going. I had to get comfortable with not being in the “rescuer” role. I’m not a mother yet, but the first example that comes to mind is the recommendation to new moms to let the baby cry, to let them learn to self-soothe. What we model as adults in the decisions we make, the cautions we share (“Oh Johnny, don’t climb on that! You might get hurt!”), and the timing in when we choose to step in to “fix” something shares a message with children. Whether intended or not, the message shows that there is a conflict the child can’t handle themselves, and that an adult is needed to fix it. I’ve been on both ends of that situation, both as a child/student, and as an adult/teacher. I think getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is more difficult the older we get, and ever more reason to try it with intention.

This year, we will focus a lot on building the soft skills students will need to be successful. As educators, we can talk all we want about building a “growth mindset” and valuing grit, perseverance, and problem solving. But if we don’t actually give students (and ourselves) authentic experiences to practice and build these skills, we’re just telling them these skills are important without the opportunities to actually grow.

So… that first week of school puzzle activity may just look like a “filler” to the teacher who is worried about not having enough time to “cover” all of their curriculum before testing, but how I define success in a year is not whether or not they can excel on that test. Yes, do I want them to do well and show what they know? Of course. But is that going to define who they are and prepare them for the world beyond fourth grade?

Not at all.

It is the attitude, the confidence, the communication skills, the ability to be comfortable with letting themselves struggle a bit in order to achieve a goal. That is what building a growth mindset means to me. Not watching a video here or there, singing a song, or reading one book on how the brain works. It is creating a learning culture where lessons are authentic, teaching is more like timely coaching and facilitation, and risks and reflection are experienced and modeled by both teacher and student.

Letting struggle happen alerts all the red flags in my former perfectionist nature. And it is all the reason more for me to push past what is uncomfortable, and simply give it a try.

For more reading on this topic, check out:

“The soft skills college students need to succeed now and in the future”- American Psychology Association

TED Talk- Angela Lee Duckworth- Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

TED Talk- Luvvie Ajayi- Get comfortable with being uncomfortable

Forbes- Why Feeling Uncomfortable Is The Key To Success

What is something you can do for yourself or your class to get comfortable with being uncomfortable? Share your ideas in the comments below!

If you like what you’re reading, subscribe to keep posted for more on this topic and the soft skills of teaching and learning.

Let children play.

As I sit here on the beach holding on to the last moments of summer, off in the distance I see a group of kids playing in the sand. Have you watched kids play in the sand? They don’t need adult guidance. They don’t need ideas for how to be creative. Even the most tech addicted child doesn’t get bored.

They play.

They build sand castles with the highest work ethic, braving the waves and the distance to get that best scoop of wet sand. The child building the structure out of drift wood has a purpose. He sees a potential fort in his future. He doesn’t need a lesson on architecture to realize that there is a certain angle the wood needs to lay so it doesn’t fall. He discovered it through exploration.

In the start of the year, I challenge you- don’t overplan every second of the day. Build in some room to let students play- at all ages.

I always wait til the first rainy day recess to pull out the games, and each year I wonder- Why didn’t I do this sooner? When the games come out and students have choice and freedom, little micro cultures build in the classroom. You get the group that wants a challenge that will wait 15 minutes in line just for their turn at a round of Connect 4. You have the doodlers in the back discovering what they can make with form, shape, and color. You get the persistent student who will spend the whole break setting up Keva Planks or Dominoes only to knock them down 5 seconds before the bell rings. You may even get the students like I did last year, who built a fake town on our carpet solely out of privacy folders typically used for testing. When they honored new members to the town and offered them roles such as mayor, I was shocked when the next student came around collecting property taxes. I couldn’t come up with something this entertaining if I tried!

And remember, not everyone will be so willing. You may even find that student who is uncomfortable with unstructured time and instead asks for advice about what she should play, and when you encourage her to just give something a try and join a friend, she ends up bouncing around from activity to activity because she’s been trained to only do things with directions.

Watching rainy day recess is more informative to me than some of my best assessments. From those 20 minutes, I can gain insight on personality traits, strengths, motivators, and friendships.

So this year I make a challenge to all who will take it- let “rainy day recess” come early, with or without the rain. Let your students have choice time, but not in the sense of you being tired and wanting them to stay busy so you can get a break. Be intentional. Observe, play, and take note of the interactions and ways your students spend their time. That is more of a window into their natural motivations and tendencies than any beginning of the year survey you can give them. It gives you light into what students would want to do if they aren’t thinking they’re “playing school”.

Unstructured play is something lacking in today’s youth, that has been a pivotal part of childhood for generations. “Learning is what we do best. We learn through our lives by wondering and exploring, experiencing and playing,” says Wendy Ostroff, child development professor and author of Cultivating Curiosity in K-12 Classrooms and Understanding How Young Children Learn. When we over-standardize education during the school day, and students then go home to their structured tutoring sessions, sports practices, and after school classes, they can go a whole day with their only time to “play” at recess or lunch, should they actually get up and not just sit the whole time eating.

Some of my favorite childhood memories were from unstructured play. I remember finishing my homework quickly so all the neighbor kids could meet behind our houses in “the ditch”, or when my brother and I created our new favorite sport- roller blade basketball! Or the time a classmate and I went house to house advertising our “business” by selling marigold seeds to neighbors (sorry Mom, I didn’t realize I’d de-flowered your front garden!) I bet you have your own list of play memories that defined not only your childhood but helped positively develop you into the person you are today.

I am going to challenge myself this year to let kids play more.

Are you up to take the challenge?

Let children play.

They are only kids once.