I did it. I started a Substack and will be doing a lot more of my writing and longer posts over there. I’d love for you to check it out and subscribe!
I Started a Substack!
Category: Business
Yearlong Trauma-Informed Training Partnership Opportunity
Every spring, I open up 5 yearlong partnership opportunities for the following school year.
This is a fantastic opportunity to begin, or build on, your journey toward becoming a more trauma-informed school or district.
This partnership also allows teachers to take in and process new information in smaller chunks, apply it to their classrooms and evaluate what works and what doesn’t alongside their colleagues and me.
Are you ready to commit to more than a one-and-done training for your staff? Email me to secure your spot!
New training announcement! – Building Educators’ self-awareness to achieve wellness and transform classrooms
I’m thrilled to announce a brand new training that focuses on educator well-being!
If your school is looking for ways to better support the wellness of staff members, address and increase teacher satisfaction and retention or transform the culture of the building so that students and staff are happier, my newest training may be perfect for you!
A few things you will learn during this training include:
- What self-awareness is and why it’s so important for educators
- How self-awareness relates to wellness and classroom culture building
- The ways in which our students and our classroom management is impacted by self-awareness
- What collective care is and how we can use it to leverage teacher wellness and retention
- Dozens of strategies for building self-awareness, both individually and collectively
This training is designed for teachers and other school staff. It can be done as a stand-alone 2, 4 or 6 hour professional development.
If you’re ready to join the thousands of educators (and parents!) who have benefited from my trainings and expertise, send me an email at alisa@akeducationalconsulting.com. Let me help you build a happier and healthier school!
Being informed about trauma doesn’t make you trauma-informed
I’ve been reviewing the Missouri Model for Trauma-Informed Schools guidance document, and I LOVE this breakdown of stages to becoming trauma-informed.
I often say that I hate the term “trauma-informed” because it’s so overused and seldom actually understood.
This is such great insight into how most schools are actually only in stage 1 – trauma awareness. Until you begin to research and implement change at the building level, and see the results of those changes, you can’t leave the first stage.
Being informed about trauma does not make you TRAUMA-INFORMED.
Back to School 2024!
Well, it’s early August in Indiana which means…back to school. I know, I know…it feels WAY too early to go back to school. I agree! I don’t make the rules, though, so back they all go.
If you are one of the lucky ones who still have a lot of summering left to do, enjoy it! Your time is coming!
As we prepare for a fantastic 2024-2025 school year, though, let’s take some time to consider the culture we are building in our classrooms and schools. Is it one of safety, love and belonging or is it one of fear, submission and alienation?
I am passionate about building schools where children feel safe and loved, where behavior management is logical, intentional and appropriate, where communication and interactions are respectful and thoughtful and where feelings and emotions are welcomed and embraced.
If this is your wish for your school, let’s work together to make it happen! I believe we can change the landscape of education in this country, one school at a time.
MAY 2024 SEL THEME – RESILIENCE & PERSEVERANCE – Picture book list
Looking for picture books to support a lesson or discussion on resilience or perseverance? Check out one of these great titles!
What other books about resilience and perseverance do you love?
Relationship mapping tool
This week, I talked all about the importance of connecting, and building relationships, with kids over on YouTube. One of the strategies I discussed was relationship mapping. I found this excellent tool for use by any teacher/school looking to do a more formal relationship mapping of their students.
I realize that this might be a difficult task to undertake for educators working in larger schools, but if you’re in a smaller school or up to the challenge, this tool really is fantastic and well worth the time it would take to complete.
I’d love to hear from you, if your school has done any kind of relationship mapping! How did you do it? What were the take-aways?
May 2024 SEL THEME – Resilience & Perseverance – AN INTRODUCTION
Welcome to May and our 5th social-emotional learning theme of the month! This is, arguably, one of the most important skills we can help our kids develop so get ready for some great information and strategies!
In this first week of the month, we will define our theme, discuss why it’s an important SEL skill and talk real-world application. This will serve as a springboard for the resources and other ideas I will be sharing throughout the remainder of the month.
So, let’s dive in!
What are resilience and perseverance exactly? You may not know there is a difference between them, but there is! Here’s a good starting point to use with kids of all ages. You can adjust this definition to best fit the needs of the age group you work with. I know many of these themes are pretty self-explanatory, but sometimes we just need someone else to sum it up for us!
Now that kids know what resilience and perseverance are, we need to help them understand why these skills are important and how they will be beneficial to them.
Next, we can begin connecting resilience and perseverance with kids’ real lives by helping them recognize what these skills actually look like and when they may come in handy!
Resilience is a skill that takes some time and support to fully develop. How can you aid your kids or students in resilience building this month and beyond?
Be sure to follow along all month right here on the blog, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. I will be sharing all sorts of tips, strategies and resources throughout May.
APRIIL 2024 SEL THEME – EMPATHY & COMPASSION – Strategies for parents and educators
Empathy can be a very tricky skill to build in kids. Heck, lots of adults struggle to be empathetic!
Starting early with very young kids is key. Here are three activities/strategies that can be used with kids of all ages but are particularly beneficial to younger kiddos.
- Caring for Plants, Animals and Babies – Involving young children in caring for plants, animals and babies is a very effective and “entry-level” way to begin building empathy. Model and assign specific tasks to them and discuss how they are helping that living thing to survive and thrive. Have conversations around how we are all responsible for caring for other living things in the world and encourage them to think of ways they can do so. Eventually, you can take a more global perspective with this strategy by moving from them caring for siblings, houseplants and family pets to caring for these things in their classroom or school community, neighborhood or city and beyond.
- Story Talk – This strategy is exactly what it sounds like – talking about the characters in a story. By discussing their lives, their problems and hardships, and how they might be similar or different from us, we can begin to open our children’s eyes to all the different types of people who share our world. Beginning to understand the concept of diversity is a critical first step toward building empathy. If the book calls for it, ask your kids or students to brainstorm ways they could help the character through compassionate acts. This is a great way to, not only build empathy, but encourage kids to take their empathy one step further by acting on it.
- Walk the Line – While this activity from Big Life Journal is geared toward older children, you can certainly adjust to make it work for younger kids. The idea is to help a group of kids begin to see how others have similar experiences as them and begin to build empathy for people who seemingly “don’t have problems” or “have it easier than they do.” With younger children, simply focus on identifying the things that kids in the group have in common. This is a great first step. You can also extend this activity through a variety of writing activities that are mentioned at the article link.
What other activities do you use to build empathy in your kids or students? I’d love to hear about them so please share!
MARCH 2024 SEL THEME – CONFLICT RESOLUTION & PROBLEM SOLVING – Recognizing, Identifying and Labeling Emotions
Today, rather than share any strategies with you (which I’ll do next week), let’s talk about the very first step in conflict resolution – being able to recognize, identify and name our own emotions, also known as having self-awareness.
Think about it. If we are unable to identify what we are feeling, as well as the cause of that feeling, it’s going to be nearly impossible to recognize in another person. This lack of self- and social awareness will make it very difficult to resolve any type of conflict that may arise.
Aside from being a critical component of conflict resolution, these emotional awareness skills are really important in so many other facets of life – from emotional regulation to advocating for ourselves.
So how do we help kids build these muscles? Here are a few things you can start doing with kids of any age (but the earlier, the better!)…
- Talk about feelings openly and honestly in your home or classroom. We shouldn’t hide them or be ashamed of how we’re feeling. A safe, loving environment is a must in encouraging kids to share their feelings.
- Model, model, model. Constantly talk through how YOU are feeling in different situations. Not only will you send the message that it’s ok to share their feelings, you will also be giving them the vocabulary to do so.
- Teach emotion vocabulary words. Kids need to know how to label their emotions, and they need more words than just sad, glad and mad! Dig deep with them to get to the root of what they’re feeling and provide them the words until they’re able to do it on their own.
- Help kids to understand that feelings are information. We have to pay attention to them to help us decipher the message. Then, we are able to begin the problem solving process.
What else is missing from this list? What do you do to build your kids’ emotional awareness muscles?
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