Book Chat: Fostering Resilient Learners (Part V: Live, Laugh, Love)

This is part of a series of our school book chat on the book Fostering Resilient Learners.  Search for similar titled blogs to read about our previous chats.  

To start today's book chat, we used the I Notice, I Wonder protocol in looking at the following graphic and answered these two questions:

• On the left half, jot down anything you notice about the following slide.
• On the right half to jot down anything you wonder about the following slide.

“People have got to learn: if they don’t have cookies in the cookie jar, they can’t eat cookies.” - Suze Orman

Reflecting on this quote, teachers wrote:

• On the left half, describe the most meaningful, lasting “cookie” you’ve ever received.
• On the right half, describe a cookie you gave to a student that had a powerful effect on the student’s life

Fostering Resilient Learners, Kristen Souers with Pete Hall

Thanks to all who joined in one, many, or all book chats!

Book Chat: Fostering Resilient Learners (Part IV: Belief)

(From last week) This is part of a series of our school book chat on the book Fostering Resilient Learners.  Search for similar titled blogs to read about our previous chats.  

Self-Reflection: Think of a specific student that you know who has experienced a significant amount of trauma.

• How do you typically feel towards this student?
• What are this student’s strengths?  What are her/his weaknesses?
• When this student struggles, what do you think this student needs?
• How does this student respond to praise?  What types work?

Next, we each wrote down how we manage when we are not OK.  Who do we talk to?  How do we cope?  What rituals or routines do we rely on?

Then we shifted this discussion to our students.  Do we have safe places or routines in our classroom for when students are not OK?  

Finally, our goal was to get to the "Your Professional Fears" survey in the book's resources, however, we ran out of time.  Such a great conversations with colleagues!

Fostering Resilient Learners, Kristen Souers with Pete Hall

Book Chat: Fostering Resilient Learners (Part III: Relationships)

It's a busy time of year!  For those who wanted to join us but were unable to make our book chat this morning but wanted to follow along, here is what was discussed!  (Again, we had such a powerful discussion that we didn't get to everything, so some additional resources are included.) You can also read about our previous sessions on Part I: Trauma and Part II: Self-Awareness.

Self-Reflection: Write down the name of a teacher who made a difference in your life.

What was it about this person that motivated you to learn, to come to school, to try your hardest? What was it about this educator that inspired you to do what you do today? What traits did you appreciate about this person?  Write down some words or phrases that describe this person and his or her influence on you.

The group wrote down their thoughts on a notecard and then we each took a minute to share our reflection. We found that the teachers who meant the most to us were not necessarily those who were of our content area or even those that we spent time outside of the classroom getting to know. Most teachers were those who were consistent in expectations, challenged us, and related the content to topics that interested us at the time.

We didn't get to this part, but here is what we were going to do next:

Control
Think about this:

• The results of zero tolerance policies has been an increase in both behavior problems and dropout rates (American Psychological Association Zero Tolerance Task Force, 2008)
• Public elementary and secondary schools in the United States assign 110,000 expulsions and 3 million suspensions each year, along with tens of millions of detentions (Children's Defense Fund, 2010; Dignity in Schools Campaign, n.d.)
• More than 2,467 U.S. students drop out of school each day (Children's Defense Fund, 2010)

How does control play a role in these statistics?

Think about these four statements:

1.  I can't control whether _____ will come to my class today, but I can control...

2.  I can't control whether _____ passes this test, but I can control...

3.  I can't control whether _____ has experienced adversity and trauma at home, but I can control...

4.  I can't control whether we add _____ to our already overloaded plates, but I can control...

Doors vs. Windows
The book gives a great example of going to a cabin for the weekend, and mysteriously being locked in.  It describes your reaction to keep turning the doorknob or trying to push it open, repeatedly.  You are in your downstairs brain, in fight or flight mode, trying to force your way out of this door.  Then the book points out that you all you needed to do was step back, calm down, and look at the many windows in the cabin.  

How can we provide our students with windows instead of closing the door on them?

“Even if you don’t believe your efforts are reaping much of a result, keep in mind that you’re planting seeds.  Although you my not get to see the flower bloom, your efforts may result in something extraordinary.” (Page 131)

Fostering Resilient Learners, Kristen Souers with Pete Hall

Book Chat: Fostering Resilient Learners (Part II: Self-Awareness)

In case you missed our book chat this morning, here was what was discussed.  In all honesty, we didn't get to all of the discussion points because our conversation on cement shoes was incredibly powerful.

How do we react to student behaviors?

How do we maintain control in times of chaos?

To start off this book chat, we read this blog post while reflecting on the question "Have you ever said or done something that you regretted?" We followed up with a long discussion on the following two questions: How does this story make you feel? How does this change your mindset moving forward?

Cement Shoes

• Defining our sense of self so that no matter "how big the wave," we can stay true to our ideals, integrity, vision, beliefs, and self.
• The more self-aware we become, the easier it is to manage the needs of our students.
• Using your personal mission statement (i.e. your "WHY") to reflect on during those times when we are feeling most compromised and vulnerable

Staying Out of OZ

Remember Dorothy from Wizard of Oz?  She was seized by the tornado! Sometimes we are also caught in the tumult of disruptions to the learning environment.  

How do we create positive and safe environments for our students?

What strategies have worked in the past when a student has "tornadoed" through your class?  What do they need from you to regulate and move back into their "upstairs" brain?

"If it's predictable, it's preventable."

Square Peg, Round Hole

Round Holes:  the students who exhibit the desirable characteristics

Square Pegs:  the students who exhibit less than favorable attributes

“We often put a tremendous amount of effort into trying to make our square pegs fit into the round holes.  We try and try to force those column 2 students to exhibit desirable behaviors, but, inevitably, the two will never fit.
What if we gave up the notion of the round hole and instead made room for a group of amoebas?  Many of our students are just that: little amoebas trying to figure out what shape they want to become.  Those growing up with adversity and trauma have not had permission to even explore that possibility.” - Page 74

Communication Steps

• Listen deeply to the message being sent by your communication partner
• Reassure the person that her/his perspective is important
• Validate her/his emotional state
• Respond by explaining what occurred through your lens
• Repair by apologizing for whatever role you may have played in the miscommunication
• Resolve by coming to terms with what happened and collaborating to find alternative ways of acting to prevent future disruptions.

Fostering Resilient Learners, Kristen Souers with Pete Hall

Book Chat: Fostering Resilient Learners (Part I: Trauma)

In case you missed our book chat this morning, feel free to read through the notes below!

How does trauma manifest itself in the brain?   

How is this shown in our students’ behavior in the classroom?

Introduction Video:  Hand Model of the Brain

• Nearly 35 million U.S. children have experienced at least one type of childhood trauma. (National Survey of Children’s Health, 2011/2012)

• One study of young children ages 2-5 found that 52% had experiences a severe stressor in their lifetime. (Egger & Angold, 2006)

• A report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds. (ChildHelp, 2013)

• In 2010, suicide was the second leading cause of death among children ages 12-17. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011)

Correlation Between Number of ACEs and Struggles with School and Health

	Attendance	Behavior	Coursework	Health
3+ ACEs	4.9	6.1	2.9	3.9
2 ACEs	2.6	4.3	2.5	2.4
1 ACE	2.2	2.4	1.5	2.3
No known ACEs	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

The more ACEs a student experience, the more likely he or she was to experience serious school and health issues.

• 45% of students had at least one ACE
• 22% of students had multiple ACEs
• 1 in 16 students had an ACE score of 4+

What Fight, Flight, or Freeze Looks Like in the Classroom

Flight	Fight	Freeze
Withdrawing Fleeing the classroom Skipping class Daydreaming Seeming to sleep Avoiding others Hiding or wandering Becoming disengaged	Acting out Behaving aggressively Acting silly Exhibiting defiance Being hyperactive Arguing Screaming/yelling Drugs/Alcohol	Exhibiting numbness Refusing to answer Refusing to get needs met Giving a blank look Feeling unable to move or act

Upstairs Brain vs. Downstairs Brain

Fostering Resilient Learners, Kristen Souers with Pete Hall