Sunday SEL Reads: SEL, Creativity, Mindset and Perseverance

Figured I would post some SEL books to read and enjoy every Sunday.... Here is the first batch...

Theme: SEL, Creativity, Growth Mindset and Perseverance

The OK Book – by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

This book is about being OK at different things and that being OK can make you great. From a Growth Mindset perspective, students can take an inventory of what they are ok at and what they can become great at. it is a cute story about not having to be perfect at everything.

Read Aloud: https://vimeo.com/315343135 

The Dot – by Peter Reynolds

A great story about a student who is hesitant to draw but finds confidence and creativity and uses growth mindset to go for it. There was a cool lesson plan with this book I posted a few years ago here

Read Aloud:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzKHRO1HQB0

Ish – by Peter Reynolds

Ramon is passionate about drawing but stops after his older brother teases him about not knowing what he’s drawing. His little sister helps him realize each drawing is an “ish” of something – there is nothing perfect and everything is a work in progress. This book promotes growth mindset and goes nicely with “The Dot” in freeing creativity.

Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rrtysKBHu0

Beautiful Oops! – by Barney Saltzberg

This book has pop-ups and flaps to explore the idea of making mistakes “as an opportunity to make something beautiful” A fun and engaging book.

Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wbj3Hux0jM

The Girl who never made mistakes – by Mark Pett & Gary Rubinstein

Beatrice never makes any mistakes – until she does! This is a book about being able to laugh and enjoy the inevitable mistakes we make in life. It reminds kids to make mistakes and try new things without worrying about being perfect.

Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQG4vFGd6eU

Benefits of Art Integration in Education

One of our middle schools will be a school of fine arts in the Fall  and I am very interested in the concept. In a time where arts is often first on the chopping block, the focus on fine arts, rather than the cutting of it, is a welcomed idea.

I came across this article on research-based approaches to art integration in middle school through a program called 'artful thinking'

I wanted to share some of the article here as it shows some clear evidence on the benefits of art integration in education in some obvious and less obvious areas of learning and development.

Arts integration has been shown by several rigorous studies to increase student engagement and achievement among youth from both low and high socioeconomic backgrounds (Catterall, Dumais, & Hampden-Thompson, 2012; Upitis & Smithrim, 2003, cited in Upitis 2011; Walker, McFadden, Tabone, & Finkelstein, 2011). Arts integration was introduced at Wiley H. Bates Middle School, in Annapolis, Maryland, as part of their school improvement plan in 2008 after the district applied for and was awarded a four-year grant under the Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) Grant Program.

Since arts integration was first implemented at Bates, the percentage of students achieving or surpassing standards for reading has grown from 73 percent in 2009 to 81 percent in 2012, and from 62 percent to 77 percent for math during the same period, while disciplinary problems decreased 23 percent from 2009 to 2011.

Artful Thinking

Artful Thinking is a program developed by Harvard's Project Zero in collaboration with the Traverse City Area Public Schools in Michigan. It is an approach to teaching creative thinking that uses six routines to explore artistic works and subjects across the curriculum. These routines contain strategies to deepen art experiences.

1. Reasoning: Asking, "What makes you say that?" to prompt students to cite evidence to support claims
2. Perspective-taking: Asking, "What does the character (or author) perceive, know, or care about?" to understand diverse perspectives and ways of approaching problems
3. Questioning and investigating: Brainstorming questions and using prompts to spark observations and inquiry (e.g., How? What? When? Why? What if? and "I see," "I think," "I wonder")
4. Observing and describing: Describing and elaborating upon what you see and/or hear (e.g., imagining the artwork as the beginning, middle, or ending of a story, and/or describing formal qualities of a work of art)
5. Comparing and connecting new ideas to prior knowledge: Asking questions to prompt core ideas and connecting, extending, and/or challenging core ideas
6. Finding complexity: In order to uncover multiple dimensions and layers, asking questions such as, "How is it complicated?" "What are the different layers and pieces?" "What are its parts and purposes?" "What insights do you have about the topic?"

These routines are fundamental to critical thinking. In a meta-analysis of studies investigating methods of teaching critical thinking, Abrami et al. (2008) cite a broad definition of critical thinking as "purposeful, self-regulatory judgment, which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based." The meta-analysis found that the most effective way to teach critical thinking was by teaching a separate thread of general critical-thinking principles, and then involving students in subject-specific application of these critical-thinking principles. In accordance with this research(Abrami et al., 2008), Artful Thinking explicitly defines several habits of thought that are fundamental to critical thinking and then engages students in applying those habits within specific subject areas.

Read more at source.

Defining Ways Educators Can Tug Education Back in the Right Direction

I stumbled across this awesome blog post the other day and really enjoyed reading it. I found myself nodding, reflecting on things I do and don't do, and decided I needed to share it with you.

Take time to listen & learn every week 

Learn from intriguing people. Your energy and excitement is often in direct relation to the ideas you’re bringing into your life. Teachers learn best from other teachers and educators from other educators.

Teachers must be a living model of lifelong learning. To do this, we have to carve out time to learn. Administrators and others should leave behind the misconception that a teacher should always be working. Sometimes they should be learning if they’re going to be a great teacher. The best teachers are great learners.

Share your learning & inspire others

Educators who care, share. Take time to share your favorite books, internet radio, and resources to help inspire those around you.

First, share with your colleagues. Your peers don’t need a consultant — THEY NEED YOU. If you’re excited – you should be sharing.

Make copies of inspirational best practices and put them in the teacher’s lounge boxes.  Share something new you’ve learned every day with someone. Include people who don’t connect via social media. [Love this idea, I have colleagues not on social media and this is a brilliant way to share, sometimes I forget about how it was done pre-internet]

Second and perhaps most importantly, at least once a week share something you’ve learned with students. In my classroom these conversations will start like this:

• “I’ve been reading the book __ on __. I find ___ fascinating.’ or
• “When I learned ___ it blew me away (I’ll show the article on the board if it is online). What do you think?

Then, encourage them to bring things in they’ve learned too. “Show and tell” should become “care enough to share.”

Let’s be the lead learners in a society needing to see living examples of lifelong learning.

When you get the spotlight, grab a mirror

Some love the spotlight. But remember that hundreds of thousands of incredible educators are doing a great job every single day without encouragement or thank you. Most of us would agree that introverted genius teachers are under-recognized.  So, we can spotlight more teachers in two ways: grab a mirror or make more light.

Grab a Mirror

To be inclusive, when you gain a spotlight by winning an award or being given the chance to speak– grab a mirror. Shine some  light on those who inspire and help you. Point out teachers who deserve it. Mention your favorite teacher when you’re receiving recognition. Don’t teachers deserve some credit?

There are more ideas on the list at the original blog. Read the entire post here!

Dan Siegel shares 3 Popular Myths about the teen brain

We had Dan Siegel as a keynote speaker at our Professional Development Day last year in Coquitlam. This is a great article on the 3 Popular Myths about the teen brain...

Dan Siegel, award-winning educator, child psychiatrist, and author of New York Times bestseller Brainstorm, explores the power and purpose of the teenage brain in Mindful’s June issue. Siegel talks about the brain science behind teen angst and how to turn parents’ concerns into understanding and confrontation into connection. Siegel warns that some of the popular misconceptions we have about the teen brain are making life more difficult for adolescents and adults alike. He shares how science is refuting three long-held myths we mistakenly believe about what makes teens tick:

Myth No. 1: Raging Hormones Make You Crazy

Yes, hormones do increase during this period, but they don’t determine the ins and outs of adolescence—that’s for another piece of anatomy. “We now know that what adolescents experience is primarily the result of changes in the development of the brain,” Siegel writes:

Knowing we’re dealing with developmental and neurological changes—and not a kid hopped up on hormones—undercuts one of the most powerful myths we hold about the teen years.

Myth No. 2: You Just Need to Grow Up

That old phrase, “It’s just a phase,” is not helping. It stems from this idea we have about teenage-hood being a time of mindless upheaval that has to be endured by parents and teens alike. On the contrary, argues Siegel, this upheaval is fruitful and even foundational. Even seemingly senseless behaviors have purpose—beyond confounding parents. Siegel writes:

In very key ways, the ‘work’ of adolescence—the testing of boundaries, the passion to explore what is unknown and exciting—can lay the stage for the development of core character traits that will enable adolescents to go on to lead great lives of adventure and purpose.

Adolescence is turbulent—but teens aren’t just being “crazy” or “immature.” Not just a phase that needs to be grown out of, adolescence is actually a period of growth characterized by “emotional intensity, social engagement, and creativity.” So it’s not about surviving teenage-hood, but understanding and learning from these new desires and drives in ways that enable teens to thrive.

Myth No. 3: Strive for Total Independence

The image of your kid stuffing that final duffle bag into an over-packed station wagon has been cemented in our collective memories, thanks to Hollywood. Beyond fantasy, it is true that teens are pushing for independence during these years and spending more time with friends. But leaving home is not the final frontier for teens to start their passage into adulthood—and Siegel says everyone around the table should aim for interdependence: “The healthy move to adulthood is toward interdependence, not complete ‘do-it-yourself’ isolation.”

In other words, adolescents still benefit from being around adults, even if they are predisposed to nurturing friend bonds more during this period. Siegel writes:

Ultimately, we learn to move from needing others’ care during childhood, to pushing away from our parents and other adults and learning to lean more on our peers during adolescence, to then learning to both give care and receive help from others. That’s interdependence.

For more than just this Glimpse:

• See the full table of contents for Mindful's June 2014 issue. 

Source