Guest Lydia Henning
GuestForum Replies Created
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Not able to make it to the webinar? Watch the full recording here:
youtu.be
Webinar: Operationalizing Maxims (May 18, 2023)
When your school has a strong identity, members of the school community—students, teachers, staff, family members—should feel that the shared identity shows ...
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Thanks to everyone who attended! If you weren’t able to make it, here is the full recording: https://youtu.be/fCX_zCcU6sc
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What positive examples or experiences do you have of family and community engagement from your school or district?
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Carlos Hernandez from Anaheim UHSD shared an example during the March 16 webinar of collaboration between students, teachers, and community organizations to build a school garden to provide fresh food for the community.
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Below are systems and structures in Anaheim Union High School District that support the district’s vision for family and community engagement.
1) What do your systems and structures to support family engagement look like in practice? Are they authentic, inclusive of all families, and reflective of your vision & identity? 2) How do you know? Reflect on if or how you are using them well.
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Not able to make it to the webinar? Watch the full recording here:
youtu.be
Webinar: Family and Community Engagement (March 16, 2023)
This Crowdsource Webinar which featured Carlos Hernandez (Director of Community Schools, Family and Community Engagement at Anaheim Union School District) an...
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AUHSD Resources
- Video: Community Schools (5 minutes)
- Video: Magnolia Agriscience Community Center (3 minutes)
- PDF: AUHSD Board Community Schools Resolution
- PDF: Anaheim City Council Resolution supporting community schools
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EL Education: Leading Teams with Data Protocol (8 minute video) the leadership team at Capital City Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. uses data-centered protocols to analyze the effectiveness of different instructional strategies. Students also participate in activities where they regularly set goals and create action plans based on data.
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Thanks for sharing! Here’s a Toolkit item around setting up Capstone projects (usually for high school seniors), related to their interests and passions: https://portico.inflexion.org/engage-in-capstone-projects-focused-on-real-world-issues/
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Unable to make it to the webinar? Watch the full recording here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VM_KJpfGNY
youtube.com
Webinar: Reinforce Your School’s Identity to Launch the New Year With Momentum (January 19, 2023)
This webinar with Courtney Spelber, Huntington Beach Union High School District, covers ways to use your second term to get started the right way by reinforc...
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The following Toolkit items draw from stories about elevating student voice that Carmen Gelman shared during the Crowdsource event:
Unpacking the “All” Protocol: A key question in education is how we can serve ALL students, and how current structures or programs may leave out marginalized groups. This protocol helps to examine which groups of students exist in your community and how to include all voices.
Use Another Word: at Springfield High School, Carmen relied on student voice to make key decisions, and students had input at every level. The “use another word” campaign was created by students, as part of the effort to make all students welcome.
Building a Schoolwide System Around Shared Expectations: Carmen worked with Valley High School to develop a PBIS system and to create a common language around shared expectations. Input from students was crucial in each step of developing the expectations
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Unable to make it to the Crowdsource? Watch the recording of the event here: https://youtu.be/r9EdiMHiiiM
youtu.be
Webinar: Develop Structures that Elevate Student Voice in Equitable Ways (December 15, 2022)
This hour-long webinar covers the importance of student voice and how to create equitable structures to maximize its use in decision making. Carmen Gelman, D...
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Link to watch the full webinar: https://youtu.be/r2bsmvOoFqQ
youtu.be
Webinar: Building a Culture of Mind, Heart, and Spirit (November 17, 2022)
This hour-long webinar features Angela Stevens-Stevenson, former principal at Martin Luther King, Jr. Junior High School in Pittsburg, CA. Topics of conversa...
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If something hasn’t been working, we need to get rid of it. You have to be ready for change.
Resources Angela mentioned:
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Question for discussion: what would a four-day school week make possible at your school or district?
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IDEAS AND STRATEGIES SHARED
Personal experiences and strategies used to address educator exhaustion:
- Building a space where students can work on skill building, especially social-emotional and relationship skills, so they can enter the classroom ready to learn. This will require rethinking personnel assignments and spaces within the building, but may help with behavior challenges in the classroom that teachers struggle with managing.
- In professional development, focusing on providing training around SEL and trauma-informed practices for teachers and classified staff
- Providing positive feedback during observations, and getting into each classroom as much as possible, helps teachers feel appreciated and lets them know they are supported.
- Completing an initiative audit, to make sure all initiatives and programs are intentional and connected. This ensures that progress in one area is meaningful and relates to other structures.
- Referring to mission and vision as a reminder of the why we do things, which lets people know they are not alone and they have support.
How can you use your shared identity to help educators cope with burnout and demoralization?
- A shared identity guides us to intentionally take steps together as a whole team and share the experience
- Prioritize our energy investment on the things we value, as evidenced in our mission and vision statements
- Keep folks grounded in the “why”
- Knowing who you are and what you stand for is critical
- Spend more time connecting and learning about each other
- Shared experiences and shared best practices
- More time to plan and collaborate
- Helps everyone feel like part of a larger community
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📚 Recommendations shared in the chat:
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life, by Marshall B. Rosenberg, PhD
Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids’ Brains and What Schools Can Do About It, by Eric Jensen
Invitation to Brave Space Poem, by Micky ScottBey Jones based on Beth Strano’s original work
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Book recommendations shared during the event:
The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything, by Stephen M. R. Covey
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, by bell hooks -
Not able to make it to the event? Watch the full webinar recording here:
youtu.be
Webinar: Using Shared Identity to Connect Across Schools and With the Community (October 20, 2022)
This hour-long webinar explores the central role of shared identity in connecting schools to each other and to the larger community, especially in rural area...
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IDEAS AND STRATEGIES SHARED DURING THE EVENT
These were thoughts shared by leaders in the chat during the event, in response to the prompts.
Share your tough scenario, and any feelings or emotions that have come up for you around the decision or the process:
- Coming up with a protocol to problem solve, but not be punitive, but be tough about mask wearing has been difficult
- News that a vaccination clinic for our students (after hours) at our elementary school has many in our community up in arms. “You’re killing kids” is a phrase aimed at our district that I’ve seen more than once on social media. These are good, typically kind, supportive parents.
- I don’t know that everyone will be mad, but we will be changing the cell phone policy from what was written with previous administrators.
- Thoughts and feelings around the cell phone policy… it is needed. Students walk next to each other snappy chatting, no real conversations, etc. They really used that as a way to communicate last year and it is bleeding over into the classroom, social situations, etc.
- Situation where a student wore a KKK costume for Halloween on campus. Has caused a tremendous amount of feelings, hurt and disgust on campus. Dealing with the aftermath has been challenging for staff and students.
- Seems like every week! I tend to get anxiety ridden and stressed. I have to utilize mind tricks to get out of that zone and remember that my goal is to make people happy most of the time not all of the time. I try to be most transparent with all decisions and get viewpoints from all that will be involved it seems to go well. If I can’t involve all in the process it can get dicey.
- The decision to have staff teach virtually from their classroom, not at home.
- I think our families are getting less opportunity to practice social skills
- We are competing with more and more distractions that reduce the filters of our students and families (ex. social media).
Share any self-care strategies you use for maintaining mindfulness or helping yourself through a tough conversation:
- Self care = I eat more chocolate than is probably healthy
- Every teacher needs a stash of chocolate
- Keep perspective… it is generally the situation, not me specifically. Take a deep breath. Start by identifying what we can agree on and move the conversation in that direction. Taking it back to the kids… all the kids and the expectations of keeping our schools and sports events open and safe. What is in the best interest of the students.
- Jedi Mind Tricks aka CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy)
- Exercise
- The beach
- I reflect on a quote from my mentor – “People’s actions can make sense when you think in terms of their wants and needs”. Connecting with empathy.
- Exercise. Find a person to talk to. Gain perspective.
- Reminders to not take things personally, stay calm and pause.
- Changes are hard on everyone, reminders of what IS going well (90% of our masking triangle is healthy, example)
- Find your support. Find that team and/or person that is able to listen to you complain without judgement knowing that you also need to vent. Being willing to be introspective and responsible for what you can. Maybe I can do something different or handle something differently.
- The weekends are mine. I don’t check email or do schoolwork
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Hi Joann, I am glad you were able to watch the webinar!
Here is the link to the Intellispark webpage: https://intellispark.com/
And this is a video that gives an overview of the student surveys that are a part of the platform: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oesBs7o16Vc