SEL & MINDDULNESS

Workshop provides guidelines for developing an organized classroom management system that produces a self-managing classroom. Teachers who develop this type of classroom environment experience greater student achievement and fewer behavior problems. The goal is to begin the year with a strong foundation that will nurture and support the development of a positive environment for higher-level achievement.

No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship (Comer). In this workshop, we will provide strategies for building effective relationships with students and their peers to promote a positive learning environment. The goal is to develop an environment where all students feel valued and cared for and the learning will follow.

We want our students to develop self-agency, communication and social awareness skills. SEL( Social and Emotional Learning) should be interwoven into our teaching and learning organically and systemically. In this workshop, participants will learn how to integrate the 5 SEL sub-competencies across reading and writing

General education. and special education students alike were lonely during the pandemic. Equity among learners including WIFI, technology access, gaming systems, phones, nourishment, a stable learning environment, and sufficient workspace became a growing issue. Many students spent less than two hours a day on virtual school for more than a year as others tried to connect with peers through gaming headsets, or with neighborhood kids. Most spent countless days without peer contact. Extracurricular clubs and sports gave way to binge watching and video gaming. Building back already deficient or challenging social behaviors and breaking poor habits has now fallen on classroom teachers.

This inspiring, engaging and practical workshop introduces and explores mindfulness and its positive impact on improved job performance, present moment awareness, well-being, job satisfaction, resiliency, and leadership.
It is specifically designed for school leaders in learning and exploring a variety of mindfulness practices to support social emotional learning in their personal and professional lives and school communities.

This highly motivating and interactive workshop is designed specifically for the middle school and high school coach. This highly inspiring and motivational seminar focuses on mindfulness, mindset, confidence, optimism, resiliency, and self-efficacy in bringing out the maximum best in coaches and ultimately their athletes. Most coaches know the physical side of coaching and possess an incredible knowledge of the sport. We provide the difference by teaching our “keys” in an easily integrated manner into practice and games. Participants are provided with easy to integrate examples for any sport they coach. Coaches will develop their own “Personal Coaching Success Plan” for efficient integration of these principles into practice and games.

(Social & Emotional Learning through Theater Games and Improv)
This hands-on workshop introduces educators to new, fun experiences that provide students a chance to experiment, develop and reflect on their social and emotional skills while also building connections with each other. Skills such as resiliency, empathy, decision making, self awareness are brought to life in the classroom in a safe and nurturing environment. Theater games and improv will create an opportunity for students to take risks and further develop their SEL skills.

Sensory integration has become mainstream over the last 10 years. It is common to hear about people sleeping with weighted blankets or classrooms being equipped with flexible seating and fidgets. You may think you know all there is to know about this area of development but there are ways to create a sensory friendly classroom that do not actually require equipment

Self regulation is really about the ability to deal with life stressors. There is an epidemic of anxiety across the country. Anxiety can look like many things in the classroom. We may see defiance, shut-down, and hyperactivity as a reaction to stress.

Teaching children to self regulate starts with co-regulation. In this time of Covid there is never been a better time to understand co-regulation

The ability to self regulate is associated with children but it is a life- long pursuit that starts with us serving as models for the children in our lives.

The ability to self regulate is a foundational skill that is most often associated with young children. Though this skill is a very important part of development, our ability to self regulate does not stop in childhood; we are all on a continuum. Self regulation impacts every area of our life and within schools difficulties with regulation is one of the most common reasons to identify a student for special education. Movement and mindfulness are evidence based tools that can be used to bolster self regulation capacities for not only children but for educators as well. These workshops will introduce many fun, life enhancing practices that can be used right away to enhance educator’s work.

Discover how the language we use when speaking to and with students matters. Our words can be used to provide clear, explicit directions, to inspire, to support and encourage, and, ultimately to shape students' outlook on school experiences. In this workshop, paraprofessionals will collaborate and learn about how to effectively use their language to engage and support students across a variety of settings.

Mindfulness is the ability to pay attention, on purpose, non-judgmentally, in the present moment. Mindfulness is a powerful tool that supports children in calming themselves, focusing their attention, and interacting effectively with others, all critical skills for functioning well in school and in life. Incorporating mindfulness into education has been linked to improving academic and social and emotional learning. Also, mindfulness strengthens some underlying development processes, such as focus, resilience, and attention that will help students in the long run.

“The Optimistic School” seminar is transforming the way schools view themselves as a functioning organization. The climate and culture of a school are based on the people (administrators, teachers, students, parents, and support staff) and our “Keys” are what will set your school apart from the rest.

Topics include:

Optimism and it’s Profound Impact School Climate and Culture

Growth Mindset and Student Achievement

The Optimistic Teacher

Resiliency and Overcoming Setbacks

The Confidence Self-Efficacy Paradigm for Success

Mindful literacy is a simple concept with profound implications for literacy, learning and life. It is the application and use of mindful strategies to improve attention, focus and self-regulation to improve a reader's engagement with text and the application of reading and writing strategies. Mindful literacy supports a more immersive, present moment experience, deeper reading comprehension, and more authentic, creative, and thoughtful writing.

One of the most fundamental aspects of learning is the ability to focus and be present. This is, of course, true for all content areas, however, critically important in the areas of reading and writing. The simple act of slowing down alone changes the experience for the reader. This is a process of quiet reflection that requires mindful attentiveness, a skill that can be taught, practiced, and developed. This allows the reader to be fully present with the text. The simple act of slowing down alone changes the experience for the reader. This allows the reader to be fully present with the text.

We have found that this allows the reader to have a calm awareness, creating a more immersive experience, deeper reading and comprehension and more authentic, creative, and thoughtful writing. When students are taught the art of attention, they build executive functioning to maintain focus on the task at hand. Research indicates that mindfulness and social emotional learning are significant factors in academic success. A 2013 study found that mindfulness practice helped students raise their reading comprehension scores 16 percent, as well as build working memory and limiting distracting thoughts. (Mrazek et al., 2013)

Music is all around us and is an integral part of our lives. When you hear your favorite song how does it make you feel? Teacher well-being is of paramount importance in helping them be at their very best for their students.

Music has the ability to inspire and motivate, lower stress, energize, activate memory, boost cognition, improve mood, and enhance performance.

The success of schools depends upon positive, effective, and stable leadership. This inspiring, engaging, and practical workshop introduces and explores mindfulness, positive psychology, and social emotional learning to school leaders. It is specifically designed for school leaders in actively learning and exploring a variety of research-based social emotional strategies and practices for use in their personal and professional lives, school communities, and classrooms.

A positive and collaborative school culture begins at the top and school leaders enhance these two important aspects through the development of their own social emotional skills, enhanced well-being practices, and present moment awareness.

The practices of mindfullness are being integrated in classrooms and schools worldwide. Research studies clearly indicate mindfulness decreases stress, anxiety and hostility while benefitting well-being, academic performance, and social relationships. Join us as we discover how contemplative techniques can be powerful tools in our professional and personal lives.

Now more than ever, paraprofessionals are key components in meeting the needs of our students. Knowing students perform better if they are feeling understood, valued and cared for by the adults in the classroom, connection is a critical cornerstone in building safe and effective learning environments, even in the remote setting.