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What message should I convey at Parent-Teacher Conferences?
We all know how important strong, healthy relationships are between school and home and that children, parents, and teachers all benefit when these relationships are positive and productive. Parent Teacher Conferences offer a chance for the child, parent, and teacher to develop a shared plan. So, what message should we attempt to convey at parent-teacher conferences? I would suggest that the goal is to let parents know we are:
Positive and Caring:&nbsp;We want parents to know that we care about their child&hellip; as a unique individual. We see their child&rsquo;s strengths and believe in their ability to succeed. To that end, we purposefully share more strengths and celebrations than we do challenges and frustrations. Strive for a 4:1 ratio.
Competent and Prepared:&nbsp;We also know that all children can learn, but they don&rsquo;t all learn the same. We want parents to know we are working hard to bring out the best in their child. When we share struggles and challenges, we come prepared with solutions or at least questions. Consider using the&nbsp;<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/ParentTeachConferenceCheckList.pdf" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">Parent Teacher Checklist</a>&nbsp;to guide your preparation.
Open and Collaborative:&nbsp;Ultimately, we want parents to understand that we are all partners in helping this unique child learn and grow.
Ask questions to listen. Seek to understand.
Take a team approach.
Finally, remember that parents bring their own history to a parent-teacher conference. Some have never been to one&hellip; or have had bad experiences&hellip; some have language barriers&hellip; or cultural barriers&hellip; and some aren&rsquo;t sure how to help their child or how to respond to a teacher&rsquo;s concerns about their child.
That said, we help set the tone and when we strive to convey the right message, we also help them see how they can work with us to help their child.
<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/ParentTeachConferenceCheckList.pdf" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">Download our FREE Parent - Teacher Conferences Checklist</a>

Building Relationships Between School & Home

Building relationships with students can be difficult. Especially if your students have experienced trauma in their home environments. However, as educators it is important to make those connections, and make an effort to communicate effectively.
Many educators pose the question - Do you have any tips for teachers with concerns about certain students who may be struggling with talking about what&rsquo;s going on?
Here are tips for every grade level, from our experts here at Boys Town:
K-3rd Grade
When children are struggling to talk about their feelings, it is important not to press them to share before they feel they can trust you. Start by planting seeds to build a strong relationship. Use active listening, be comfortable with silence and do activities that allow children to express their feelings in other ways (e.g., artistic expression, role-play, journaling and mediation exercises).
-Bridget Barnes, Director, Boys Town&rsquo;s Common Sense Parenting
4th-8th Grade
Some tips include:
<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Adults are often too quick to jump in with answers, to try to solve problems and to give advice to kids. But we get farther faster if we can be patient, listen, validate the child&rsquo;s feelings and let them do the talking. A good approach to building relationships is to let silence provide an opportunity or a platform for students to express themselves. So, instead of jumping in to try to solve problems, give students an opportunity to get to know you and come to trust you and your opinion.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Another good way to build rapport is to discover and talk about common interests like music, sports, books or other subjects or activities you both might be interested in.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">It&rsquo;s important to be genuine and authentic. Sometimes we want to put on our adult hat (teacher, coach, parent, etc.) when really what kids want and need is somebody to be authentic with them. They are pretty good at spotting somebody who&rsquo;s not being genuine and that can really hinder your relationship.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">On a more subtle level, communicate availability. Either with language or just being physically present. This helps to send a message to the student that you are available.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">It is important to acknowledge when you might not be the right person for a kid. Sometimes we try to hang in there because we want to make it work and we know we can help, but it just isn&rsquo;t working. It&rsquo;s okay to say, &ldquo;You know what? This isn't a good fit. Let me find somebody that I know who will be.&rdquo;</li>
</ul>
-Julie Almquist, Manager, Boys Town Behavioral Health Clinic
9-12 (Teens)
<ol style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Set expectations for students regarding communication. Teach them to take responsibility to communicate circumstances affecting performance, mood and behavior.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Encourage a variety of means to communicate within what is allowed by the school &ndash; email, text, twitter, in person or voice mail.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Check with other teachers, coaches, aides, etc. to give all a heads up and enlist a team approach.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Involve parents, counselors and any other administrative staff right away.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Don&rsquo;t develop exclusivity with students as you may be in over your head and you will not always be available in their time of need.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Build an action plan with the team and discuss it with the student.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Keep parents informed (e.g., school card, emails, text, etc.).</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Even if it seems that the situation has been resolved, continue to check back with the student at scheduled intervals and randomly as well.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Design lesson plans and develop learning experiences that draw students into the group.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Praise approximations. Empathize.</li>
</ol>
-Linda McGuire, Boys Town National Hotline Supervisor
Download our FREE Resource Guides:
<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/K-3_Resource-Guide.pdf" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">K-3 Resource Guide</a>
<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/4-8_Resource-Guide.pdf" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">4-8 Resource Guide</a>
<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/9-12_Resource-Guide.pdf" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">9-12 Resource Guide</a>

Communicating With Students

Gossip on its own simply means conversation between people about a person not present. However, to most of us, gossip currently has a negative connotation as it is typically a conversation criticizing an absent person. Rumors are based on hearsay and/or outright lies with the intention of being malicious.
Where does gossip and rumor spreading thrive? In-person and on-line. Many students experience gossip and rumors at school, daycare, sports, and after-school activities. In today&rsquo;s technological oasis, children are spending up to 10 hours a day interacting with technology. This means that gossip and rumors don&rsquo;t stop with the end of the school day, nor can they be squashed as quickly or easily.
You might be asking yourself,&nbsp;&ldquo;How can I help lessen the impact of gossip and rumors?&rdquo;
1. Technology usage and awareness.&nbsp;As a parent, would you let your 11 year old navigate a large city unsupervised? As a teacher, would you allow your class to lead the way on a field trip to a large city?
Setting boundaries and expectations on technology use can help limit exposure to gossip and rumors and minimize their perpetuation. You can require electronic devices be stored in a communal area of the house or classroom; set a &ldquo;Shut Down&rdquo; time. For parents specifically, if your child has social media accounts, you can require them to add you to their accounts.
Much like other social skills, children need to learn how to interact appropriately with others using technology. A common acronym about technology/social media etiquette is THINK (True, Helpful, Inspiring, Needed, Kind). A more explicit skill to teach and have children practice could be Using Social Media Appropriately&ndash;
Step #1&nbsp;&ndash; Avoid reading or posting negative, harmful, or offensive messages about others.
Step #2&nbsp;&ndash; Use the skill of peer reporting or self- reporting if you run across a dangerous or harmful situation (such as words or images depicting bullying or harm to others or self).
Step #3&nbsp;&ndash; Ask a trusted adult for help if you feel uncomfortable about something you have seen or read.
Step #4&nbsp;&ndash; Treat social media interactions like face-to-face interactions &ndash; with respect.
2. Intentional questions.&nbsp;Find time to connect with the children and students in your life during the day. Ask specific questions that elicit thoughtful responses:
<ul>
<li>What was an unexpected event that happened?</li>
<li>Who did you eat lunch with?</li>
<li>How did you tackle a tough moment during the day?</li>
<li>Who helped you out the most today, how?</li>
<li>Were you able to help someone out today, how?</li>
</ul>
3. Proactive conversations and practice.&nbsp;As adults, we are the guides to help teach social skills. Some beneficial skills could be:
<ul>
<li>Greeting Others</li>
<li>Accepting Criticism</li>
<li>Disagreeing Appropriately</li>
<li>Offering Help</li>
<li>Problem Solving</li>
</ul>
By providing exposure and explicit practice with these skills, we are providing students with tools to help them navigate their way through the social nature of our environment.
Parents can work on skills after school/work while checking in on their child&rsquo;s day. Teachers can blend social skills into academic lesson plans to show students how the skill they&rsquo;re working on can be utilized in different scenarios.
When we empower children to self-manage their interactions with others throughout the day and advocate for themselves, they are able to positively confront gossip and rumors, which, lessens the impact and strength of the initial issue.

Rumors, Gossip and Children, OH MY!

In all my experience in education and training there has always been one or two kids that leave a lasting impression. More often than not, these students are the&nbsp;tough kids.&nbsp;You know, the students that have the ability to always be the center of attention, find all of our triggers, require all of our patience and time, but often touch our hearts. Some of us enjoy working with these students, but many reading this find this task exhausting (if not impossible). Many teachers and administrators consider the&nbsp;tough kids&nbsp;enigmas wrapped inside Pandora&rsquo;s Box. For the most part, I would agree. There is no magic strategy, rulebook, or easy answer. More often, these students present an ever-changing set of challenges that require multiple approaches and supports. However, three simple shifts in mindset can make working with these students easier, and in many cases rewarding.
Be Consistent and Predictable
As educators, we bring varying tolerances and values into our schools and classrooms. This variance creates environments that are often inconsistent and unpredictable. Unpredictable environments are difficult for even the most socially adept student to navigate; much less, students that have difficulty managing their behaviors. The best thing we can do is to create an environment that is consistent and predictable. This is done through a consistent set of expectations and tolerances, so that each day is an&nbsp;instant replay. This predictability creates a level of trust between you and the students, and trust improves compliance when correcting behavior is necessary.
Create Space for Grace
The tough kids in our schools have often experienced trauma in their home environments and from the adults in their lives. Therefore, they often have difficulty trusting adults and building relationships. Moreover, these students exhibit negative behavior to push adults away. This makes building relationships with these students difficult. However, as educators, it is important for us to make&nbsp;space for grace. This means understanding that students will exhibit negative behavior. They will attempt to push us away. They will make building relationships difficult; but these actions are not personal. We have to be able to separate the behavior from the student and create space to build relationships over time. This process will not happen overnight, but the final outcome is worth the wait.
Reinforce the Small Stuff
Reinforcement is a powerful tool in promoting positive behavior. Tough kids often crave attention, but in many cases only know how to get attention in negative ways. By being intentional with your praise, you are able to provide attention in a positive way and increase the likelihood of positive behavior. Additionally, we need to look for the small changes in behavior, not only the obvious. Reinforcement of these approximations make it possible for students to achieve small goals on the way to larger positive changes. As educators, we have the power to affect change in students just through the application of positive praise.
It would be dishonest to say that the&nbsp;tough kids&nbsp;will ever be easy. However, when you are able to affect change in the lives of these students, the payoff can be life changing. By applying these three shifts in mindset, you may be able to improve student behavior and your love for teaching even the most difficult students.

Working With The Tough Kids

Parent/Teacher Conferences have the potential to be a very informative and rewarding part of teaching. However, to many teachers, it can also be stressful. Whether your conferences involve only teachers and parents, or if your school conducts student-led conferences, the goal is to use the limited amount of time you have to provide a meaningful experience for all involved. How is that possible? Here are some things to consider:
#1 Preparation.&nbsp;Time spent organizing can help each conference be effective and efficient. When planning conferences, think about the information you want to share with parents and consider how you can prepare your students.
Gathering Information. While academic strengths and challenges are certainly top priorities during conferences, adding behavioral elements to the conversation can reap bonuses. Consider noting each student&rsquo;s behavioral strengths and challenges. For instance, how does the student do at Following Instructions or Staying on Task? Is the student able to Accept &ldquo;No&rdquo; For an Answer or Disagree Appropriately? Please keep in mind, no parent wants to hear a litany of how his/her child can do better. Accentuate the positive. List 3-4 behavioral strengths the child has and limit the challenges to one behavior that can used as an attainable goal.
These notes can help you with the next step in planning for conferences by preparing your students.
Preparing Students. Conference time can be just as stressful for students as it is for teachers. There may be so many unknowns for the student- &ldquo;What is the teacher going to say about my grades?&rdquo; &ldquo;Does the teacher think I&rsquo;m doing by best or slacking off?&rdquo; To help alleviate student anxiety regarding conferences, take time to talk with each student about information that you will share and the information the student would like you to share. Discuss with each student what they see are their own strengths and challenges. Asking questions such as &ldquo;What do you do well? What is hard for you?&rdquo; &ldquo;What kind of help could you use to get better at . . . ?&rdquo; Students may answer these questions with a focus on academics. However, many academic struggles may be due to the inability to use an appropriate social skill. For example, does the student use the skills of Getting the Teacher&rsquo;s Attention or Accepting a Criticism? Once you have had that conversation with the student, together come up with an agreement of what information to share at the conference. Having a plan of important points to cover that the student has had a voice in can lead to less anxiety for the student and a more effective conference and purposeful goal for the future.
#2 Conferencing.&nbsp;It is important to stick to the plan you created with each student. Make sure you have your preparation notes available. Also, be sure to take notes during the conference as well. This will not only help keep you on track but will also provide information to guide your future goals for the student.
During each conference, it will be beneficial to follow a structure for providing information and providing the parent an opportunity to have input. Here is a format you can use to start and end the conference on a positive note while still providing key information:
Start with a positive greeting. Introduce yourself, smile and make a positive comment about the student. Parents want to know that you know their child.
Praise positive gains the student has made. Here is where you want to take time to note both academic and behavioral strengths. When noting behavioral strengths, remember even the most challenging students do some things well. The skill can be as basic as the child looks at you when you are talking to her or as complex as the child is able to work well with others on a group project. Remember too, we want to accentuate the positive. Be sure to let parents know at least 3-4 things the student does well.
Discuss what you and the student determined to be a challenge. Here is where you can guide the conversation into providing information and a goal. Remember, it is best to focus on one attainable goal. While a goal of getting a better grade may be the focus, being more specific can make the goal more reachable. For example, in order to get a better grade, the student may need to be able to use the skill of Asking for Help when things get difficult. Using the appropriate social skill can lead to more academic success.
Ask the parent for their input. A parent/teacher conference should not be a one-way conversation. The more we can get parents involved in the conversation the more likely they be helpful moving their child toward his/her goal. Ask parents if the plan sounds doable or if they have additional thoughts to help it be more successful.
End the conference on a positive note. Thank the parent for attending the conference.
#3 Follow-Up.&nbsp;Open, productive communication with parents should not begin at conferences nor should it end there either. Make it a goal to reach out to parents with an update on the conference conversation. Let them know the gains the student has made toward the goal. Also let them know the steps you and the student are taking should there be a setback. Follow the same format as you did for the conference. Start with a positive greeting. Praise what the student is doing well. Discuss the next steps in helping the student be successful. Ask for the parent&rsquo;s input and end the conversation on a positive note. You can choose the communication venue that works best for you and the parent. Regular communication with parents is more important than whether you decide to send a note, email or make a phone call.
Parent/Teacher conferences are an important tool in helping students reach their potential both academically and behaviorally. Make them as efficient and effective as possible.
<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/ParentTeachConferenceCheckList.pdf" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">Download our FREE Parent - Teacher Conferences Checklist</a>

Parent Teacher Conferences

The upcoming holidays: they are touted as &ldquo;the most wonderful time of the year.&rdquo;
Now, imagine spending those days before the holidays with dozens of students who are overexcited, overstimulated and overtired. This wonderful time of the year can easily turn into a nightmare.
Many teachers can attest that the weeks before a winter break can be the hardest. If you have ever been a classroom teacher, you know the following are likely to occur:
1. Students will forget expectations.
2. Students will have difficulty following instructions.
3. Students will forget how to get the teacher&rsquo;s attention.
4. Students will find it hard to stay focused.
5. Students will have difficulty listening.
However, you can maintain that &ldquo;most wonderful time of the year&rdquo; with your students if you keep these three things in mind:
TEACH, PRAISE, TEACH!
TEACH!
Just because you have already taught expectations, you may find that it is worthwhile to revisit skills that your students struggle with at this time of the year. Basic skills such as Following Instructions, Getting the Teacher&rsquo;s Attention, Staying on Task, and Listening are just a few of the prosocial behaviors your students may need reminding of. Get ahead of misbehavior by being proactive! Take the time to teach/reteach before these behaviors continue! The more often we teach proactively, the better our students are prepared when situations arise. Whatever behaviors your students may be struggling with, remember to assess which social skill may be the best to teach a more appropriate skill.
Teach the skill by letting your students know the name of the skill, the specific behavioral steps to performing the skill, and a reason why it is important to use the skill. It is also essential for your students to practice using the skill. After all, practice helps students become more proficient in using social skills. You can <a href="/free-resources#lessonplans" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">find sample lesson plans on social skills on our website</a>. Another great resource you can find at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.boystownpress.org/?utm_source=boystowntraining&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=boystowntraining_website_referral&amp;utm_content=PreparingfortheHolidaysBlog" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">www.boystownpress.org</a>&nbsp;is the book&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boystownpress.org/teaching-social-skills-to-youth-3rd-edition/?utm_source=boystowntraining&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=boystowntraining__website_referrals&amp;utm_content=PreparingfortheHolidaysBlog" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Teaching Social Skills to Youth</a>. This book is an easy to follow guide to teaching 183 basic to complex social skills.
PRAISE!
Once you have taught or retaught a social skill, the next step is to reinforce it through praise. Students love it when adults notice when they have done something right! Because it may be more difficult for students to choose appropriate behaviors when their minds are filled with thoughts of upcoming holidays or vacations, it is vital for adults to notice positive behaviors more often.
Praise can come in many forms. A &ldquo;great job!&rdquo; or a &ldquo;super!&rdquo; are always nice to hear. However, those words may not provide enough information for the child to know exactly what it is that he or she did. Adding a description of the specific behavior helps students know exactly what to replicate in the future. Some examples would be &ldquo;Magnificent job listening!&rdquo; or &ldquo;Way to go! You stayed on task and got all your work finished.&rdquo;
Adding a reason to the praise can help students have an even better understanding of why a social skill is important to use. It may sound like this &ldquo;I&rsquo;m impressed with how you followed instructions. When you follow instructions right away, you are more likely to get your work finished and not have to take it home.&rdquo; Whatever type of praise you use, remember, the more we find opportunities to let students know when they get it right, the easier correcting them can be when they get it wrong.
TEACH!
Let&rsquo;s face it. We all make mistakes. Making mistakes help us to learn. Just as we teach students more appropriate behavioral choices proactively, our students can be more successful when taught better choices for appropriate behaviors during correction. When a student makes a behavioral mistake, it is important to address the mistake by teaching the student what he could have done instead. This is done in the same predictable structure as we taught proactively.
First, it is important to let the student know what he did wrong. Then it is important to teach him a better choice by letting him know what skill would have worked better, what the skill looks and sounds like, and why it is important to use the skill. Just as we do when we proactively teach a child, it is vitally important to provide him an opportunity to practice this alternative choice. Students can quickly learn the words we use when we teach them prosocial behaviors, but that does not always equate to the ability to actually perform a more appropriate choice. Having a student physically practice an alternate behavior helps the student to deepen learning and gives us an opportunity to see if the child truly knows what to do. The more often we can teach within the context of correction, the more likely the student has the background knowledge to pull from in future situations.
Let&rsquo;s hope that this time before the holidays and your next break can be fun and focused for your students. If behaviors get challenging, remember to&nbsp;TEACH, PRAISE, and TEACH!

Preparing for the Holidays

Have you ever had days when&hellip;
<ul>
<li>You seem to be putting out behavioral fires most of the day?</li>
<li>You seem to have continuous interruptions?</li>
<li>A couple of students need a lot of one-on-one attention?</li>
<li>The telephone keeps ringing?</li>
</ul>
As a result, the lesson you worked so hard to prepare has to be placed on hold. If we are honest, most of us have had a day or two like that. So, what can we do to maintain our classroom?
Do you think you&rsquo;ll have another one of those days? Do you have a plan in place to help you get through the next incident? Do you have a plan B?
If you have a plan B, do your students know what to expect?
I have a colleague who came up with a very appropriate phrase several years ago, &ldquo;if you can predict it, you can plan for it.&rdquo;
Boys Town recommends that you create an Alternative Plan.
What is an Alternative Plan?&nbsp;An Alternative Plan is simply a procedure for students to use when you are otherwise engaged.
An Alternative Plan&hellip;
<ul>
<li>clarifies your expectations</li>
<li>is pre-taught</li>
<li>is age appropriate for your classroom</li>
</ul>
An Alternative Plan is a proactive way to teach your students what to do inany situation. Something to keep in mind - you will need to proactively teach this procedure to your students. When the time comes for students to use the plan, you simply provide a brief reminder or prompt and they will know how to proceed.
You can create an Alternative Plan by doing a task analysis of exactly what you would have your students do when you are not available. Analyze your Alternative Plan by following these steps:
<ol>
<li>Give your plan a name</li>
<li>Keep the plan focused</li>
<li>Identify behaviors of the plan using specific steps</li>
<li>Use specific and observable terms</li>
<li>Put the steps in the appropriate order of performance</li>
</ol>
It is usually helpful to create both verbal and nonverbal prompts to give your students when you want them to use the Alternative Plan.
Students need to be taught how to use the procedure. Simply introducing the procedure to students will not ensure everyone will remember how to use it appropriately. When teaching the Alternative Plan you will want to include the following steps:
<ol>
<li>Introduce the Alternative Plan and explain the steps they should follow</li>
<li>Explain the importance of the plan</li>
<li>Have the entire class practice following the Alternative Plan</li>
<li>Let students know what the potential consequences will be for using the Plan (or choosing not to follow it)</li>
</ol>
Creating an Alternative Plan allows teacher to manage the classroom, even when the unexpected happens. Students will know what the expectations are in situations when you are not available.
Some keys to creating and implementing a good Alternative Plan are:
<ul>
<li>Be proactive!</li>
<li>Create and teach the Alternative Plan as early in the school year as possible. Reteach as needed.</li>
<li>Limit the number of steps in the Plan.</li>
<li>Ensure students have everything they need to follow the plan</li>
<li>Practice.</li>
<li>Praise students for following the Plan.</li>
<li>If necessary, deliver consequences for noncompliance.</li>
</ul>
Download our&nbsp;<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/AlternativePlanSampleActivity.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FREE Alternative Plan</a>&nbsp;for your Classroom.

Alternative Plan

March Madness. It is definitely a fun time of year with the college basketball championship, but perhaps not when you are a classroom teacher trying to prepare your students for annual academic testing. In order to set your students up for success, think about being proactive, praising, and celebrating.
Be Proactive
Students tend to perform better at any task when they know what to expect.
Questions students may have could include: what kind of test, how long will they have to work, what types of questions will be asked, what to do when they finish a test. Rather than simply telling students what to expect, proactively teach them.
Here is an example of how a proactively taught lesson might sound:
<ul>
<li>Introduce:&nbsp;Class, today we are going to go over and practice a timeframe for a test you will be taking.</li>
<li>Teach:&nbsp;In each of the tests you will take, there is a limited time in which you will have to work. When you need to work within a timeframe, it&rsquo;s important to
<ul>
<li>Read each item.</li>
<li>Decide whether to answer it immediately or tag it to return to later.</li>
<li>When you are finished with the last item on the test, return to the tagged items to complete.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Give a reason:&nbsp;When you follow these steps, you are more likely to be able to answer the questions you can answer quickly and have more time to answer questions that take you longer.</li>
<li>Practice:&nbsp;Let&rsquo;s try this out. I&rsquo;m going to pass out a 10-item review test that you will have 10 minutes to complete. Remember to wait until I say &ldquo;Start,&rdquo; then answer all the questions you know first and tag ones you need to go back to work on before the ten minutes is up.</li>
</ul>
Teaching students specific behaviors to help them be successful is important. However, don&rsquo;t underestimate the power of using&nbsp;reasons&nbsp;and&nbsp;practice&nbsp;for teaching any skill or expectation. Knowing why specific behaviors are important helps students to internalize the importance of those behaviors. Practice helps students experience real life situations and will more likely help them to be successful in real life moments.
Praise
Everyone likes to be encouraged during difficult endeavors.
While students are testing, praise can go a long way in encouraging them to continue to work hard and do their best. While you may not want to have praise be a distraction to the testing there are little ways to embed it throughout the testing period.
Use a nonverbal gesture when a student looks up from testing. This could be a quick wink or a thumbs-up to let a student know you see him/her working hard or staying on task.
If possible, take the time to walk around the testing environment. When needed, whisper a few simple words to students who would benefit from a quick acknowledgement such as&nbsp;&ldquo;Keep up the good work,&rdquo; &ldquo;I can see you are working hard,&rdquo;&nbsp;or&nbsp;&ldquo;Great job staying on task.&rdquo;
After each testing period and especially after all testing is complete, let all students know they did well by using both individual and group praise. Adding a reason when using praise at this time can both show students you noticed what they did and help to reinforce expectations for future testing situations.
Praise here can sound like:&nbsp;&ldquo;Wow! You worked very quietly. That helped others to work without distractions&rdquo; or &ldquo;Nice job staying on task. When you stay on task you are more likely to do your best."
Celebrate
Providing frequent, small celebrations may help your students stay motivated to continue doing their best when testing takes several days to complete
Ideas for small celebrations may include spending a few minutes at the end of a testing period doing an activity your students enjoy such as playing a game, visiting with their classmates, or eating a snack. The possibilities are endless.
At the end of all testing, a larger celebration may be a positive consequence you would like to provide for your students for completing all the assessments. Many schools provide end of testing celebrations by having special assemblies or activities the entire student body (teachers, too!) participates in.
I hope these tips will help both you and your students experience less stress during this time of year. Who knows? Just as they highlight &ldquo;One Shining Moment&rdquo; at the conclusion of each college basketball championship, you may find your students&rsquo; own shining moments to note and celebrate.

Overcoming March Madness

Happy New School Year! As we think about the goals and resolutions we&rsquo;d like to accomplish in the new year, such as: cleaning out clutter and starting fresh, educators start thinking about getting students back in the classroom.
We all know that it is hard to get back into the swing of things after a break or vacation, but it is especially hard for students. So, it is a good idea to plan for a little backsliding in behavior and academics after a long break. At Boys Town, we always remind ourselves, &ldquo;If you can predict it, you can plan for it!&rdquo;
Over the past few weeks, I&rsquo;ve been asking educators how they plan for the new school year and tackle behavioral challenges after summer break.
The overall answer was clear &ndash; you have to set your expectations at the beginning of the year and make sure your kids learn how to meet those expectations. Being proactive is so important &ndash; it is so much easier to remind kids of your expectations in a positive, neutral environment rather than trying to correct it after the fact.
One activity to use with your students is to our&nbsp;<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/Class_Motto_Printable.pdf" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">FREE classroom motto activity</a>. As a class develop your motto for the classroom in 2019. This is a great way to combine a review of expectations with setting goals for a new year. This process will reinforce the idea that it is important to remember and use what we have already learned, but we also need to use that information as we continue to develop and move forward.
One teacher, who has been teaching kindergarten for over 20 years, shared the teaching strategies she and her colleagues use with their kids. They start the year introducing their students to Gulp. He is a puppet character that comes to school looking for help on how to behave. There are stories and lesson plans featuring Gulp. One of the keys to the success in this activity is involving students in teaching Gulp lessons on behavior. If you want to <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classroom-Management-Teaching-Classroom-Rules-3962961" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">learn more about Gulp</a>, check out the items they have available on Teachers Pay Teachers! They have even created a puppet you can purchase!
This story about Gulp highlights how important it is to be proactive and teach kids from day one, but you can find fun ways to involve students in the lesson. It is often said that retention goes up to almost 90% when we personally teach others the information.
Another common idea that these educators shared was the use of positive reinforcement. When kids come back to class after a break, be sure to reinforce the positive behavior choices they are making. This helps to reinforce their behavior, as well as model to other kids who may need a little more support.
One teacher I talked to about using positive behavior reinforcement systems said she is changing hers up this school year. This will keep the consistency of using external motivators for positive behavior choices, but will also keep it fresh and new for her students. Last year she used tickets and this year she is going to use&nbsp;<a href="https://www.classdojo.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ClassDojo</a>.
If you have specific questions <a href="/contact-us" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">ask one of our trainers</a>.

Predict and Plan for Positive Classroom Behavior

As teachers and administrators, you are bound to see behaviors from students that parents don&rsquo;t experience. As parents, we are protective and sometimes naturally defensive, especially when others don&rsquo;t see our children the way we do. Even worse, if it appears that someone is mistreating our child or not being fair with them, we sometimes turn into people we don&rsquo;t even recognize
I have witnessed positive and negative behavior from both the school perspective and as a parent.
I recall going to meet with my daughter&rsquo;s history teacher because &ndash; according to my daughter &ndash; he spent most of the class period talking about sports and everything except history. He also expected her to know what to expect on his exams, and of course, to pass the exams. The more he talked, the more I believed my daughter and . . . yes, I became very defensive and prepared to let him know exactly what I was thinking.
I have witnessed teachers and administrators trying repeatedly to contact parents when students needed to leave school due to serious rule infractions. I have watched teachers become frustrated with students and after threatening to call the parent for several minutes, they finally called. Unfortunately, by that time the agitated teacher ends up leaving a voicemail message with a&nbsp;long&nbsp;list of behaviors they have had to &ldquo;deal with all week.&rdquo; Unfortunately, parents became even less inclined to work with the school.
What can be done to bridge the communication gap that oftentimes occurs when we are talking about our children or students? What can be done on both sides to help our children be successful at school? Ironically, the answers to this dilemma can work for all parties &ndash; parents, teachers and administrators.
Whether you are the parent or a part of the school&rsquo;s staff, consider the following suggestions to help build and maintain relationships that benefit the child/student:
1) Take time to manage your own behavior.&nbsp;If you really want to be heard, be sure you are in control of your actions. Sometimes it helps to talk it over with another person to get his or her opinion but also to give yourself a chance to calm down. On the other hand, if you are responding by email, let someone else read it first before you hit send. If you know you have a hard time talking with the parent, teacher or administrator, take someone with you to help you remain calm, especially if your child or the student is going to be present. You &ndash; the adult &ndash; need to &ldquo;be what you want them to see.&rdquo;
2) Ask clarification questions.&nbsp;Sometimes our children don&rsquo;t convey the story quite accurately or they may inadvertently leave out a few key parts of the story. At other times, they are right on. Either way, take the time to ask questions for clarification. Be willing to ask enough questions (and listen to the responses with an open mind) to feel comfortable that you have a clear understanding of the other person&rsquo;s expectations and perspective.
3) Be an active listener&nbsp;throughout the conversation by:
Limiting what you have to say while the other person is talking;
Keep the conversation going;
Acknowledge what is being said;
Accurately paraphrase back to the person what he or she said (when necessary);
Offer statements of empathy and understanding;
Use appropriate voice inflection;
Finally, display proper posture or body language.
4) Give and receive feedback.&nbsp;We have a common purpose&hellip; to help our children be successful in life, at home, school, etc. It is important that we are all able to give and receive feedback in a manner that will help achieve our common goal. As parents, we should be our child&rsquo;s cheerleader and advocate. On the other hand, we must also be willing to hear the school&rsquo;s perspective regarding the behaviors they observe in the academic setting. As teachers and administrators, we want parents to be a part of the student&rsquo;s team and need to be mindful of the importance of conveying information in a way that parents will receive it . . . and be willing to hear the parent&rsquo;s perspective. Below are a few suggestions to help school staff and parents:
Giving Feedback&ndash;
Convey your positive intent;
Describe specifically what was observed or said;
State the impact of the behavior or action by doing it differently;
Ask for input from the other person;
Focus the discussion on solutions.
Receiving Feedback&ndash;
Give the other person your full attention;
Listen to the situation as told by the other person without making excuses and with limited interruptions;
Discuss possible solutions together;
Follow-up later to see if the solution worked (optional).
You may be thinking, even if I implement these suggestions, what if the other person does not?
Remember, the only person we can control is ourselves but we might be able to set an example for the other person.

Parent-Teacher Conferences are fast approaching!&nbsp;<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/ParentTeachConferenceCheckList.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Download our FREE Parent - Teacher Conferences Checklist</a>

Bridging the Communication Gap between Parents and Teachers

As many of us know by now, we will not be heading back to the classrooms this school year. Typically, we&rsquo;d throw a big send-off on the last day of school and tell our kids, &ldquo;Good luck,&rdquo; &ldquo;See you next year,&rdquo; or &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll miss you!&rdquo; So, how do we end the year with our students?
Seeing our students at the end of the year provides closure &ndash; not only for students but for teachers and staff as well. It&rsquo;s an important building block in any student/teacher relationship.
Here are a few ideas to make the end of the year special, while being apart:
1. Host a Zoom Party! In the last week of school, pick a day, and encourage any student that CAN to log on to a Zoom meeting at a certain time. If you have party supplies, put them up! Go around and have each student share:
a. One thing they learned this year
b. One positive thing about distance learning
c. What they&rsquo;ll miss about this particular class
d. Things to look forward to. Give them a preview of some things they&rsquo;ll learn in the next grade.
2. Do a recorded video summary. As we know, not everyone has access to attend Live Zoom Meetings. If/Where possible, record a video and send it out to parents and students via email. Keep this video upbeat and encouraging! It will be of comfort for your students just to hear your voice and see you.
3. Host a Theme Week. You may have seen schools posting pictures online of different theme days/weeks that they&rsquo;re hosting virtually for their students. This can be a great idea! We recommend sticking to things like Crazy Hair Day, Crazy Sock Day or Red Shirt Day that most students can participate in without having to go buy new things. Also give options for them to participate during the live Zoom meeting or send in pictures later.
4. Celebrate this year&rsquo;s accomplishments with awards! Get creative here &ndash; you could include things like Most Entertaining Zoom Guest (who has a pet?) or Best Communication Skills During Distance Learning.
5. Create a class yearbook. You can do this through Google Docs, set up a form for each child and allow other students to leave a nice comment for their classmates. Then, you can filter through the comments and forward the submissions to each student.
The end of this school year will definitely be unusual, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean you have to leave things unfinished. Say good-bye, have a good summer, and let them know that we will be here for them when they return to us! We hope you find a way to connect with your kids and have some fun!

5 Ideas for Ending the School Year after Distance Learning

Teachers have long been viewed as Superheroes for the support, compassion and dedication they provide to students and communities. During the Covid pandemic teachers have once again put their capes on and set forth to perform the heroics of educating from a distance and offering social-emotional support to students and families. Like many superheroes, focusing on other peoples&rsquo; needs is natural, but attending to our own needs through self-care requires planning. Here are some tips for the HERO to Heal Thy Self:
H-Help
Asking for help is not always natural for us as educators. Day-to-day we are expected to have the answer key. In this new environment of Covid Crisis, we are all operating in uncharted territory and we don&rsquo;t have all the answers. Forgive yourself for not having all the answers during this unique time. Identify resources that are available to provide answers and guidance and be willing to ask for help. This is a great opportunity for us to model the skill of&nbsp;Asking for Help&nbsp;to our students and let them know that if we don&rsquo;t have the answer, we know who to ask.
While practicing accepting help for yourself, helping others is also a great way of self-care. People who help others get sick less often and&nbsp;<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1359105305057310" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">live longer</a>. Helping has also been shown to improve a person&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/schleien_s_inclusivevol_2002.pdf" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">self-esteem</a>, foster a rosier view of the world, decrease risky or problematic behaviors, and stave off depression. &ldquo;Helping others takes the mind and emotions off the self, allowing the mind to move past anxieties and rumination,&rdquo; said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stephengpost.com/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">Stephen G. Post, PhD</a>, director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics at Stony Brook University. &ldquo;Even when helping others as only external action, our emotions over time tend to shift to joy and kindness, especially with good role models.&rdquo;
E-Encourage
It is important to stay positive during difficult times to maintain well-being. Take time during the day to list the good things that have happened. Send encouraging messages to students and parents. Be intentional to engage in activities that bring you joy. Take breaks from social media and the news and focus on the positive things around you. When we are intentional on focusing on the positive things around us we are better prepared to encourage others.
R-Reflect
Reflect on your accomplishments of the day identify your &ldquo;ahas&rdquo; and &ldquo;uhohs&rdquo;. This is a time of exploration and learning for all of us. Keeping a journal on what is working and things that are challenging can help us develop better processes and plans to improve learning from a distance. This is a great opportunity for us to share lessons learned and develop new&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareteachershelpline/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">tools</a>. Forgive yourself when things don&rsquo;t go as planned, share your experiences with others, and reconcile when necessary. Being reflective throughout this situation will create resiliency and hope to get through tomorrow.
O-Overcome
We all know that superheroes always come out on top in the end. They overcome all obstacles no matter the hurdles or poor odds. Our Teacher Heroes will also overcome this pandemic and come out stronger. Apply this HERO approach for self-care and continue to be the hero that students and families are counting on during Covid classroom closures.
<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/Self-Care-Ideas-National-Training.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to download our Self-Care Idea Guide</a>

Self-Care: Take Time for YOU Before Returning to the Classroom

Building positive relationships within a classroom has a major impact on a student&rsquo;s academic and behavioral success. When students believe that their teacher values and respects them, they are more likely to value and respect the teacher. This mutual respect leads to students behaving more appropriately and participating in classroom activities. In addition to a healthy relationship between teacher and student, healthy peer-to-peer relationships encourage inclusion, participation and make kids feel safe. When kids feel safe in the classroom, they are more likely to take positive risks both academically and socially.
With these benefits in mind, it&rsquo;s not hard to believe that building healthy relationships is very important! Here are five tips to creating healthy classroom relationships and transforming the culture of your classroom:
Greet students at the door and use their names.&nbsp;This lets students know that you know who they are and care for them. Additionally, you will have a pulse on the emotional state of students as they enter your room.
Call on students randomly and equitably.&nbsp;Students view themselves (and are viewed by others) as more reputable when the teacher trusts them enough to call on them in class.
Allow for journal writing or other activities that allow students to share their experiences.&nbsp;This gives students a voice and a stake in their classroom.
Engage students in cooperative activities.&nbsp;Cooperative learning allows for peers to rely on each other, to begin to trust each other, to problem-solve, to practice conflict-management, and to use social skills.
Increase class pride by displaying student work and showing your pride through verbal praise.
Relationships are the hallmark of positive, welcoming, and focused classrooms. The development of strong relationships can create a positive classroom climate in which students feel welcome, validated, and can learn and thrive.
Additional Resources:
<a href="http://bit.ly/1LRhIxs" target="new">http://bit.ly/1LRhIxs</a>
<a href="http://bit.ly/1DDjjRB" target="new">http://bit.ly/1DDjjRB</a>

5 Strategies to Build Healthier Classroom Relationships

<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">&ldquo;To improve (schools), one must invest in people, support people, and develop people.&rdquo; -Phil Schlecty,&nbsp;Schools for the 21st Century
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Most school districts have strong mentoring programs for new teachers. Unfortunately, this approach rarely meets the on-going needs of the entire staff. Developing a school-wide mentoring program may appear daunting, but by just following six simple action steps, staff needs can be met!
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding-left: 40px;">1. Identify your priorities!
&bull; Is there a new initiative, or a data point that needs to be improved?
&bull; How about classroom management?
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding-left: 40px;">2. MTSS (Multi-Tier System of Supports)/RTI (Response to Intervention) isn&rsquo;t just for students!
&bull; Tier your staff.
&bull; Who needs weekly support? Monthly? Quarterly?
&bull; Who needs individualized support vs small group?
&bull; By &ldquo;chunking&rdquo; staff into these groups, you will find your time and resources to be utilized more efficiently!
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding-left: 40px;">3. Align everything!
&bull; School improvement plans, grant requirements, staff evaluation instruments&hellip;they all require effective leadership and instruction.
&bull; Do you have a guiding document that covers everything, or do you need to draft a new one?
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding-left: 40px;">4. Use your team!
&bull; Who scored the highest last year in learner engagement? Can they lead a small group each month to support others?
&bull; Do you have instructional coaches? Which group/tier do you want them supporting?
&bull; If staff understand the roles and responsibilities of everyone supporting them, they will feel much less stressed about how to manage their many responsibilities.
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding-left: 40px;">5. Put it on paper!
&bull; What&rsquo;s your school-wide goal?
&bull; Is there a different goal for identified groups (based on data, years of experience, position)?
&bull; Include an individualized goal for each staff member.
&bull; Is there a template that you can utilize for all staff that includes this information? Include support team members, descriptions of types of support, frequency of support, deadlines and how improvement will be measured.
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; padding-left: 40px;">6. Communication is key!
&bull; What&rsquo;s your message?
&bull; How will you present your initial approach?
&bull; What artifacts will you utilize to make your new approach part of your school culture?
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">School wide improvement is difficult. School leader&rsquo;s time is often spent on hiring and student behavior. However, consider the reasons for teacher turnover. Studies indicate that teachers leave their school district or the profession because of student behaviors and a lack of administrative support. Follow these six steps in your next school-wide improvement plan.

Staff Mentoring

Social and emotional competencies help promote student success in core academic areas, such as reading and mathematics. The same help build the foundation for healthy, competent adults and citizens. If we, as educators, want to meet state&nbsp;Every&nbsp;Student&nbsp;Succeeds&nbsp;Act (ESSA) goals in academic measures, it is imperative that we meet the&nbsp;Social and&nbsp;Emotional&nbsp;Learning (SEL) needs of all of our students. Research shows that when students feel supported and encouraged in school, academics improve; behavior and attitudes toward school improve too.
What steps can you take to integrate SEL into ESSA goals? Here are some tips:
Train and Support Staff in SEL Strategies
We can&rsquo;t implement what we don&rsquo;t know. Educators need training to implement SEL strategies consistently and intentionally at a universal level. Basic teacher preparation largely excludes training on how to manage behavior and build relationships with students. If we want to create structured, predictable environments, teachers need training and support. The Boys Town Education Model&reg; provides many training options to support the implementation of SEL strategies within the school environment.
Teach Social Skills
Developing SEL competencies occurs in the same way we develop academic competencies. Social skills provide a foundation for developing the five key competencies of SEL across all systems. Identify core social skills for all staff to teach universally. Once school-wide social skill needs are determined, offer specific lesson plans for teachers to use.
Practice and Reinforce
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;">Implementing SEL strategies is a new process for many educators and requires practice and reinforcement. Develop&nbsp;<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">P<span style="color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;">rofessional&nbsp;<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">L<span style="color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;">earning&nbsp;<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">C<span style="color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;">ommunities (PLC) to provide adequate support for staff as they begin to implement new strategies. PLC&rsquo;s can lead coaching sessions and address specific areas of challenge with SEL, improving implementation. Create opportunities to reinforce and praise staff. Happy teachers lead to happy students! Look for creative ways to reinforce staff throughout the school year as they work to meet the SEL needs of students. As we begin to understand new ESSA policy, we need to focus on the important part that SEL plays in academic achievement. Create plans and opportunities to blend academic goals with SEL goals to support the needs of staff and students. For more educational resources visit the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boystownpress.org/?utm_source=boystowntraining.org&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=training_referrals&amp;utm_content=ESSABlog" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: #ffffff; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Boys Town Press.</a>

Developing ESSA Plans to Meet SEL Needs

Teachers are some of the hardest working people on the planet. Whether we are parents, administrators, or fellow teachers, it is important to show our appreciation for all the work they do, now, during Teacher Appreciation Week (and as often as we can throughout the year).
One way to show our appreciation and acknowledgment of teachers&rsquo; commitment and expertise is to ask for and encourage their input when implementing school initiatives. After all, teachers are the experts on how their classrooms work.
How, then is the best approach in encouraging Teacher Engagement? Think about having a&nbsp;PLAN.
P: Purposeful Communication.&nbsp;At the beginning of the planning stage for any new initiative, it is important to get teacher input. When teachers buy-in to new programs, the program has a greater potential to take hold. Include them in conversations regarding reasons for the initiative and research supporting it. Don&rsquo;t stop there! Generate conversations and ask for input concerning strengths and challenges teachers might find when implementing.
We find ourselves at a time when meeting the social and emotional needs of our students can be just as important as meeting academic needs. Here at Boys Town, we provide programs and training for schools looking to strengthen that aspect of a school&rsquo;s mission. As you begin conversations about the behavioral needs of your students, encourage teachers to discuss the behavioral struggles they see in their students. When teachers are given a voice to articulate these challenges, they are more likely to embed strategies they learn in a workshop such as our&nbsp;<a href="/well-managed-schools" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Well-Managed Schools</a>&nbsp;to meet the needs of their students.
L: Lay the groundwork for clear goals and expectations.&nbsp;Too often district and school administrators ask teachers to implement a new program without providing an opportunity for them to fully understand expectations or short and long-term goals. Clearly articulate professional development opportunities, implementation timelines, and a timeline for goals. When developing a timeline for goals, be sure to include teacher input here as well.
Schools have many options when looking into training and professional development opportunities provided by Boys Town. Our website www.boystowntraining.org provides information on workshops designed for teachers, administrators, and parents to help students learn positive, prosocial behaviors by using proven behavioral teaching techniques. As you lay the groundwork for implementing our&nbsp;<a href="/well-managed-schools" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Well-Managed Schools</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="/well-managed-schools" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Specialized Classroom Management</a>&nbsp;programs, let teachers know about trainings, implementation timelines, and expected goals and outcomes.
A: Allow for authentic collaboration.&nbsp;Throughout implementation, keep those lines of communication open. As teachers get into the day-to-day work of any new program, inevitably new challenges will arise. It will be important to discuss and problem-solve any issues early on so that consistency can be maintained. However, don&rsquo;t discuss problems only. Give teachers an opportunity to share successes as well.
When implementing a new program, it is helpful to allow teachers to collaborate in order to hear how others are able to embed the initiative into their classroom&rsquo;s day. The more efficiently and effortlessly a new program is embedded and teachers are able to coordinate with other initiatives makes it more likely teachers will find success and value in a new program. The strategies teachers learn in our workshops work with and can enhance other initiatives.
N: Notify all stakeholders of progress.&nbsp;As your implementation gets going, take the time to discuss those short- and long-term goals on a regular basis. Teachers appreciate knowing they have reached benchmarks. As you talk about how your staff is progressing towards meeting goals, generate a conversation regarding what additional support they need to reach those goals. This support might come in the form of quick reviews or coaching visits.
It is so important to keep a new initiative in the forefront of teachers&rsquo; minds. Doing so may mean just making it a consistent, scheduled conversation. This can be done regularly at staff meetings, daily conversations, or email blasts. One thing I&rsquo;ve noticed when consulting to teachers who are implementing our programs is that they simply want to share what they&rsquo;ve done and the successes they&rsquo;ve seen. Many of the stories are powerful testaments to positive changes that can happen using Boys Town strategies.
In order for new initiatives to get off the ground and take hold, teacher engagement throughout the process is critical. At the start of your next initiative, be sure to include your teaching staff in the entire process. Doing so will not only help strengthen the implementation but will show teachers, we appreciate them by including them in the initiative conversation.

Teacher Engagement

I frequently find myself talking with teachers and administrators about the core principles of the Boys Town Education Model&reg;. I emphasize that the change agents of this Model aren&rsquo;t the skill posters, or Skill-of-the-Week announcements, or even the sophisticated motivation system we use with high need students&hellip; these are just tools. Effective tools, but just tools. Rather, I note that the magic of this Model is in the&nbsp;teaching&hellip; the frequent and intentional use of teachable moments to help a child learn and grow.
In truth, I believe the magic of our Model goes far deeper. Fundamentally, this Model works because we recognize that&nbsp;all&nbsp;children are unique and irreplaceable human beings first. It works, because we choose to care about them, even when their behavior makes it difficult. We choose to show up every day to help children develop because we believe in the dignity, value, and potential of&nbsp;all&nbsp;children.
We want each child we work with to know we see them as:
Unique:&nbsp;they bring their own talents, challenges, history, and personality. We try to get to know them so we can both appreciate them and teach them more effectively.
Valuable:&nbsp;we recognize that each child has dignity simply because they are a human being and they were born with gifts that the world needs.
Teachable:&nbsp;we recognize that every child can learn&hellip; they may not learn the same or as quickly as someone else, but they can learn.
Part of the Community:&nbsp;A school is a community with a lot of diversity. We recognize that we are stronger when we learn to appreciate and work with each other and we recognize that takes both the will to do so and specific skills to make it work.
We recognize that each student (and adult) in a community is human and mistakes will be made. We teach skills, apologies, and restorative practices to help everyone learn how to recover from mistakes and avoid them in the future.
For students who struggle, this can be new information. They may not see themselves this way. Children who have experienced unpredictable or uncaring adults or childhood trauma may not trust us yet. They may test us. They may get distracted or frustrated. They may give up on themselves. As caring adults, we continue to strive to see the person under the behavior. Each day, we:
See difficulty ahead and attempt to prepare them.
Act as a mirror, reflecting the best in a child, so they can see their successes too.
Help them see where they went wrong, how they can fix it, and the costs involved.
Help them manage difficult and hard to control emotions and empathize with them when they struggle with the same challenges every day.
When we don&rsquo;t know what else to do&hellip; we collaborate with our team, collect data for clearer insight, and try to come up with a better way to help them.
Through it all, we remain committed, caring adults who show up every day to help a child learn and grow&hellip; that&rsquo;s who we are. It&rsquo;s who we have been for 100 years.

Why Boys Town Really Works

In 2004, I was the newly appointed Director of Safe Schools for a school district in Arizona. My first task was to find a new classroom management/school discipline program that would be effective for the fourteen diverse campuses. After a lot of investigating, I was thrilled to have found a model that I was confident would be great for kids. Back then it was called PBS (now PBIS). As a young leader in a new position, I approached my superintendent with unbridled excitement about this newfound solution!
My superintendent agreed-it sounded amazing and a perfect fit for our kids; and then he asked me about training, capacity building and sustainability. A little deflated, I returned to my office and called George Sugai. His response changed my professional life. He said that PBS was not yet prepared to meet our programmatic needs, but that I should contact Boys Town. As he explained, the Boys Town Education Model&reg; matched his research on best practice, and Boys Town had been successfully putting the framework into practice for years. They offered formalized training and the structure my district needed.
I contacted Boys Town and immediately found a new mentor and friend. My leadership experience to this point had been less than two years as an assistant principal. I knew nothing about working with outside consultants, developing strategic plans or gaining buy-in from large groups of people. Fortunately, the Boys Town Training team had the experience and the capacity to support and guide me and the district to comprehensive implementation.
Implementing the Boys Town Education Model&reg; (BTEM) district-wide is about building a culture, changing the way students are approached and the way adults think about behavior and discipline.
Our implementation of BTEM included developing our capacity with Well-Managed Schools throughout our general education setting and expanded into alternative settings. My personal passion has always been to help facilitate change for the most challenging students. In 2004, when my journey with Boys Town began, we also opened an alternative education school for students who would otherwise be facing long term suspension or expulsion. It grew over time into one part of the continuum of services for student with behavior issues. Students as young as five were able to attend at parent request as an intensive behavior intervention opportunity. For this program, the Boys Town Specialized Classroom Management model was adopted. Like Well-Managed Schools, the success of that program can be measured with quantitative data. But the best data is when former students, now adults reach out to say thank you.
As one young man put it recently,&nbsp;&ldquo;&hellip;The way I see it is all that I learned and gained from being at (school) were little seeds being planted &hellip; and like most things, they just needed time to grow into a tree and the fruit is good. You are an inspiration to me, the way you helped me and other people is what I aim to do.&rdquo;
Two years ago, I joined the Boys Town National Training team. I am often asked why I do what I do. It is a lot of traveling; can be exhausting, and leave you feeling like the work is never done. But that is life as an educator. I have been given the time and space to figure out how to best impact the lives of struggling teachers and students across the country. My superintendent refused to give up on any child. He refused to believe that K-8 students were destined to fail. Fortunately, my current role with Boys Town has allowed me to meet more leaders who are just as committed to helping young people. The commitment of adults to put aside their egos, work hard and always put young people before themselves continues to move me. It drives my work. It makes me believe that my decision to transition from public education to Boys Town Training was the right thing to do. This work continues to prove that, if you believe and are willing to make hard decisions, all children can and will succeed, no exceptions!

Innovation to Integration

According to a new nationally representative&nbsp;<a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/07/17/teachers-support-social-emotional-learning-but-say-students.html?cmp=SOC-EDIT-FB&amp;fbclid=IwAR0ynC0udAqmtefdCiz7lPQT5tW_Z_E1Dj8MmpyyRlAGEQkZ8frwgLSaaEs" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">survey from the Education Week Research Center</a>, 78% of teachers say it's important for them to teach SEL skills, yet many still don't feel equipped with the strategies and professional development to implement SEL practices.
I think teachers have the most training in how to implement SEL strategies, &ldquo;It depends on how you look at things&rdquo;.
One of my all-time favorite children&rsquo;s stories is The Churkendoose (Berenberg, 1964). The story of the Churkendoose comes to mind any time I am facing a challenging situation that needs a new perspective. In those moments I hear the voice of the Churkendoose saying, &ldquo;It depends on how you look at things.&rdquo; This is a good motto when we consider bridging the gap between Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) instruction and academic instruction.
Teachers are the experts on how to teach academic curriculum - SEL skills follow the same basic continuum of learning as academics. Educators have an innate understanding that academics are learned in a progressive way with one academic skill building toward higher academic achievement, or scaffolding. SEL learning is mastered in a similar scaffolding process. Once we understand the scaffolding of SEL competencies we can identify practices and strategies to intentionally develop SEL.
Would you ever expect a kindergartener to independently write a 5 paragraph essay? No? Then why would we expect them to be able to manage their big emotions?
&ldquo;It depends on how you look at things.&rdquo;
In kindergarten we are looking for basic learning of the alphabet and phonics, putting sounds together and identifying sight words. We understand that mastering the basics of language is the first step in moving toward greater academic achievement like writing sentences, writing a paragraph and finally, writing an essay. We don&rsquo;t expect kindergartners to come to us with the full knowledge and understanding to write an essay. SEL happens in the same way. Let&rsquo;s apply our academic understanding and strategies for learning to write to the SEL strategy of managing big emotions, or &ldquo;Staying Calm&rdquo;.
TEACH:&nbsp;The first thing we would do academically is introduce students to each letter of the alphabet. We may do one letter a week, spending time on the shape of the capital and lower case of each letter, the sound of the letter. Introduce words that start with that letter. We understand that this is a process that takes time and we want to be sure that they can master each letter before we go on to the next to build a solid foundation to scaffold upon. We can teach the skill of staying calm in the same format. First, introduce how to stay calm by giving a specific example. Teach a calm down strategy like smelling the hot cocoa and then blowing it to cool it down, flower breathing, etc. You can find many great examples&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kindercare.com/content-hub/articles/2016/october/mindful-breathing-for-kids" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">here</a>.
PRACTICE:&nbsp;After teaching the skill we give students multiple opportunities to practice. We might give them worksheets to practice writing the letter of the week. We may have them practice drawing the letter in the air with a &ldquo;magic wand&rdquo; or a &ldquo;sword&rdquo;. We practice the sound of the letter in our &ldquo;outside voice&rdquo; and in our &ldquo;whisper voice&rdquo;. We can apply the same strategy to staying calm. Practice smelling the hot cocoa or the flower, cool the hot cocoa or blow the petals of the flower.
REINFORCE:&nbsp;After we teach and practice the skill, both academic and SEL, then we reinforce. When students trace the new letter we reinforce them-even if it&rsquo;s not exactly perfect. They may trace outside the line, or even write the letter backwards, but we still encourage their attempts. We want them to keep trying. We know that this is new and challenging for them and we encourage their effort. We can do the same with SEL skills. Even if they don&rsquo;t get it correct the first time, we can continue to encourage them to try.
PROMPT:&nbsp;When students have the foundational knowledge we can prompt them on times they need to use it or apply it in a situation. If the child doesn&rsquo;t remember the sound the short &ldquo;a&rdquo; makes we can prompt, &ldquo;apple&rdquo; (exaggerating the aaaaa sound). Oftentimes, that quick prompt will help them to recall the correct sound. In situations when we see a child struggling with emotions, or when we can predict situations that might be problematic we can prompt them to remember to bring their cup of hot cocoa.
CORRECT:&nbsp;When students make mistakes academically we help them identify the error and assist them to correct the problem. Generally, we will go back to the beginning and reteach, give them more opportunities to practice, and reinforce. We don&rsquo;t punish them or send them to the office. The same approach should be applied to SEL. If a child has an emotional melt down, we can help them to identify the problem, reteach how to respond differently (stay calm, let them practice, and reinforce them.)
All of these practices for teaching and scaffolding academics can be directly applied to SEL. Educators are the most qualified and equipped to teach both academics and SEL, it just, &ldquo;Depends on how you look at things&rdquo;.

Bridging the Gap: Connecting SEL and Academic Instruction

Coming back from winter break can be tough on both students and staff, it feels a bit like hitting the reset button on procedures and behavior. But, that first week back to school can also offer a fresh, positive start!
Start the new semester off right by offering behavioral support to your staff. We&rsquo;ve created a&nbsp;<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/ClassroomCultureChecklist.pdf" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">Classroom Culture Checklist</a>&nbsp;for you. It&rsquo;s a quick walk-through that checks classroom expectations; behaviors and relationships; and praise and consequences &ndash; the building blocks of a positive classroom culture.
Three tips to help start the new year off right:
1. Ensure that teachers have their classroom expectations/rules posted where all students can see them.&nbsp;It&rsquo;s important to make sure as students head back in to the classroom that teachers take time to re-teach their expectations/rules and procedures. It is easier to reteach/review than it is to correct and it is inevitable that students will need a refresher after all the hustle and bustle and time away.
Posting expectations/rules, procedures, and skills where students can see them throughout the classroom serves as a simple reminder for students throughout the day.
We also recommend having your students help write a&nbsp;<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/Class_Motto_Printable.pdf" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">class motto</a>&nbsp;and other procedures! Involving the students helps to improve buy-in!
2. Encourage teachers to greet students as they enter the classroom.&nbsp;We&rsquo;ve all seen those great videos online of a teacher or a student greeting each child as they enter the classroom, either with a &ldquo;Hello! How are you doing this morning?&rdquo; or a fist bump.
The first week back to school after winter break is a great time to implement this strategy. You never know how each student spent their break, coming back to class may be the best thing that could have happened to them. Greeting each student as they enter the class for the day will remind them that they are seen, they are welcome, and they were missed.
For a building wide approach, have your kindness club greet students as they enter the building in the morning before classes begin.
3. Encourage intentional or skill-focused praise.&nbsp;It&rsquo;s so easy to say &ldquo;Greg, you did a great job today,&rdquo; or &ldquo;Cindy, I appreciate you.&rdquo; But, to reinforce positive behaviors, it&rsquo;s important to offer intentional and specific praise. For example, &ldquo;Rebecca, thank you for showing respect to our visiting guest,&rdquo; or &ldquo;Steven, I noticed that you followed instructions and put your pencils in your desk before heading out to recess. Great job!&rdquo;
Creating a plan to promote a positive culture throughout your school will take time. With the right steps in place, both your staff and students will be happier &ndash; and ready to tackle the new semester in no time.
Download the classroom culture checklist,&nbsp;<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/ClassroomCultureChecklist.pdf" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Three Tips to Promote a Positive Schoolwide Culture

Think about this&hellip;
Classroom teachers have had their world turned upside down this year. The typical morning now looks like&hellip;
Waking up early to check emails to make sure they&rsquo;re up to date on today&rsquo;s policies for distance learning
Answering the struggling parent who just can&rsquo;t exactly remember long division
Trying to get in a cup of coffee before their own children wake for the day and they become a ringleader trying to juggle the newfound part-time gig of homeschooling
Planning for Zoom meetings with students
Trying to navigate this new curriculum that they&rsquo;ve had to pull together, and still trying to make relationships with the students in their classroom &ndash; even from miles apart
That&rsquo;s just the tip of the iceberg. Teachers are working harder than ever before and trying to navigate new waters. Many principals, superintendents and other admin are doing a fantastic job with support, but how do we help them feel connected? Here are a few tips:
1. Show empathy.
It&rsquo;s important to remember that we&rsquo;re all facing hardships and experiencing some level of trauma. Some districts were more prepared for distance learning than others, some teachers have worked remotely before, some haven&rsquo;t. Regardless of the situation, teachers have had to adapt and learn on the fly, without much notice. Be patient when they take five extra minutes to sign into the Zoom staff meeting (they may have had to help their own children with fractions). Provide words of encouragement when they&rsquo;ve accidentally hit the mute button and are talking to themselves without even noticing.
Most importantly, stick with this consistent messaging &ndash; normal curriculum will NOT happen this semester. It&rsquo;s more important to ensure students are learning, students are growing, and they feel loved. It&rsquo;s less important that EVERYTHING that was in the plans gets addressed. The curriculum that&rsquo;s taught once we&rsquo;re all back in school might look drastically different, but that&rsquo;s a problem that we&rsquo;ll deal with when we get there. Focus on today, focus on what you can do to support your students with what you have.
2. Recognize that your teachers may have helpful ideas when it comes to policy changes &ndash; include them in establishing school wide rules and routines during this new norm.
Teachers across the country have been posting to social media trying to help each other with routines, tech help, and other ideas.
For example, one teacher may be implementing morning meetings each morning at 10am with their students. Whoever can pop on live at 10am gets to see their teacher via Zoom face-to-face, and if students are unavailable, they can watch it later, on replay. If this is working really well for one teacher in your school, ask them about the logistics of what they&rsquo;re doing, and try to implement it across the grade, or even across the entire school.
3. Delegate different tasks to your teachers.
Lots of teachers/schools are posting about theme weeks for their schools. With the cancellation of things like Prom, Spring Sports, Graduation, etc. these are great morale boosters! Have a group of teachers brainstorm different theme weeks that their class can participate in.
For example, have a crazy sock week. Each Zoom Classroom day, students show off their craziest socks. Or, honor your seniors. Have parents or students tweet out their senior pictures and have a district wide graduation party via Twitter. Use a specific hashtag and have your principals/superintendents retweet.
Whatever the fun activity may be, involve your teachers! This will give them a chance to connect with each other, with their students, and bring a sense of normalcy.
4. Have a quick zoom meeting (this could also be an email if you are strapped for time) regarding online engagement.
While it&rsquo;s important that all students complete the tasks that they&rsquo;re assigned in one way or another, remind teachers that every student&rsquo;s situation is different (they know that better than anyone else). It is OKAY if students don&rsquo;t log on live every day. Encourage them to reach out to the students who cannot attend live classes in different ways (maybe a letter home or try to coordinate a phone call, ask the parents to set something up).
Just as you&rsquo;re showing grace to your teachers during this new norm by working with their schedules and offering support, remind your teachers to give themselves some grace when it comes to worrying about their students.
5. Practice self-care.
Send your teachers fun articles, memes or other resources and encourage them to take time for themselves. We&rsquo;re all stressed, but this is a great time to take a step back and do something for ourselves.
As educators, we&rsquo;re all facing hardships &ndash; your teachers need you now more than ever for guidance and support. Even from 6 feet apart, we can be connected and build relationships.

5 Tips for School Leaders to Stay Connected with Teachers During COVID

We often talk about the importance of relationships between students as a way to improve both behavior and academics. In his article published in&nbsp;<a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning_deeply/2017/06/the_six_relationships_that_characterize_great_schools.html" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">Education Week</a>, Robert Kuhl looks at two other internal school relationships that contribute to a positive learning environment. We will explore those here along with strategies for building these important types of relationships.
Adult and Student Relationships
Relationships between adults and students within a school setting are vital for success. When relationships are positive, there is mutual respect and trust. This often leads to less misbehavior and easier correction when needed, along with increased academic performance.
A powerful tool adults can use to build these types of relationships is empathy. Empathy can be used to show students you care about them and their success, leading to stronger relationships. Using empathy statements when correcting behavior makes it a conversation, not a confrontation.
Here are some simple statements that can be used to show empathy to students:
It sounds like you are&hellip;
I understand that it can be difficult&hellip;
It looks like this is tough for you&hellip;
I get that you have a lot going on right now&hellip;
Students cannot reach their full potential unless their teachers and others in the school encourage them through words and actions. Strengthen your student-teacher relationships with these general strategies:
Use a pleasant voice tone &ndash; it&rsquo;s important to stay calm when addressing students, even in chaotic situations.
Call on everyone in the room equitably &ndash; teachers should make sure that they are not showing favoritism to certain students.
Show concern &ndash; concern is often shown when a student suffers a personal injury or experiences a traumatic life event, but showing concern can also include showing an interest in a student&rsquo;s achievement and outside activities.
Communicate respect &ndash; make eye contact with students, answer questions pleasantly, use appropriate humor and show pleasant facial expressions.
Adult and Adult Relationships
A positive school culture is not all about the students; in fact it starts with the adults in the building. Positive adult relationships encourage sharing of ideas and collaboration along with creating a support system within the school. Use these strategies to improve the adult relationships in your school:
Implement sharing time during staff meetings &ndash; the relationships among staff in a school help to define that school's culture. Create a positive culture among staff by allowing the first 5 minutes of any staff meeting to serve as a special time to inform each other about POSITIVE activities, achievements and successes staff members have accomplished since the last meeting. These positive shout outs help to build morale throughout the building and give staff new ideas to try.
Encourage staff collaboration &ndash; staff collaboration gives everyone a voice and an opportunity to express opinions. When staff work together to create school-wide procedures, expectations and consequences everyone will feel as if they have made a contribution and had a voice in school decisions. It is also important for adults to problem solve some situations together, acknowledging that everyone brings something worthwhile to the table and it is an excellent way to gain different perspectives.
Creating a strong school community, built on healthy relationships provides a foundation for learning and success. Implement these strategies to ensure that students and staff are working together towards common goals, supporting each other along the way.

 Relationships: The Foundation for Healthy Schools

For many teachers and school staff the holidays feels like riding a sleigh, headed down a bumpy hill. Think National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation when Chevy Chase, known as Clark, hops onto a metal disc sled. Not only does he head down the hill, but through a forest, in one side of a full-blown shed and out the other. Laugh as you may, but this joyous holiday season can consist of behaviors disguised as those, wrapped up in a neat bow but ready to scratch and claw their way out of the box.
About 4 years ago, I changed my strategy and started treating the holiday season like the first week of school. At administrative meetings my assistant principal and I begin asking questions:
What routines and procedures have become a little relaxed since the first few weeks of school?
What are the most difficult times of the day?
How are you doing with your praise to correction ratios?
What specifically have you put in your lesson plans to increase engagement?
Have you consistently been enforcing and following the school-wide rules, expectations and schedule?
While this may seem redundant and silly, especially if you have a veteran staff, it is very purposeful in nature. The holidays can be stressful for adults as we think about all we "have to get done" in the upcoming weeks: shopping, cooking, cleaning, cookie baking, holiday concerts, the list goes on and on. While we are consumed with our stressors, we can sometimes forget how stressful the time is for our scholars. Many are thinking about the two weeks off from school where they may not receive food on a consistent basis or where the heat has been shut off or if there's a loving adult to provide as much praise and positive attention as you give them on a daily basis. Without knowing it we tend to add to that stress with change in routines, adding in all of those fun holiday activities, and relaxing more than we should as we all "survive" December in solidarity.
Recently our administrative PLC met, another principal asked if we had Elf on the Shelf or Santa Cams present in our rooms. My initial response was, "come again?!" Followed up with a quick, "No!" When I inquired what the purpose of them was, she went on to explain that teachers had begun using them as a strategy to improve behavior but it had turned into a distraction to learning. Even creating more behavior issues in some cases. Teachers had fallen into the trap of repeatedly stating, "Oh, Santa is watching!" or "Looks like our Elf will be reporting that to Santa!" All I could envision was a poor primary teacher having to say that at least 60 times a day as a corrective strategy. Is that effective? Probably not.
I began to think a little bit about why this new craze hadn&rsquo;t started in our school and thanking my lucky stars that Santa had not installed any of his cams or that we have not been paid a visit by one of his elves! I was also grateful when one of our rock star staff members said, "we don't believe in the gimmicky stuff to change or maintain behavior!" Ahhh, they get it! This is why we start conversations about consistency with routines and procedures, about how to make our environments safe and predictable, providing explicit and frequent feedback, and about maintaining high expectations, so that when the stressors hit we're all equipped to keep ourselves centered and the center of our universe consistent for our scholars who are facing many unknowns this season. From our happy school to yours, Happy Holidays!

Elves on Shelves, Santa Cams, and Consistent Expectations

As an administrator, you have a large impact on the culture and climate of your school. Teachers and students will always look to you as the model for what is expected in your building or across your district. At first glance, these strategies may seem too simple, but just like students look to teachers for guidance, teachers are looking to administrators for that very same guidance. The old saying of, &ldquo;Be what you want to see&rdquo;, should be your motto both inside and outside of your school.
Improve the culture of your school with these 4 simple strategies:
Greet Everyone, Everywhere
One simple thing that you can do that makes a huge difference in schools is a simple greeting. When we travel across the country consulting to schools, this is one of the behaviors that we see in all schools with a positive culture. This should not stop at welcoming visitors to the school; it should be happening in the hallways, when students and teachers enter the school and when students enter the classrooms. The small acts of saying &ldquo;Hello!&rdquo; and asking &ldquo;How are you?&rdquo; create a welcoming atmosphere for students, teachers and visitors.
Take this one a step further by going out of your way each day to try to get to know a different student. Asking simple questions can instantly create a bond between two people.
Intentionally Reinforce the Small Stuff
All too often as administrators we are quick to reinforce the large things like improvements in school-wide initiatives, discipline data, attendance, etc. However, we are not as good at reinforcing the small day-to-day achievements of our teachers. Be intentional about finding out where your teachers are struggling with specific students and reinforce small changes in academic achievement or behavior progress. This helps teachers frame success for their students into smaller measures, which helps them to feel less frustrated and helpless by always looking for the big fix. In addition, this helps your teachers and students build momentum for change, and you will often see change happen faster as a result.
Create a Professional Learning Community
Professional learning communities (PLC) are a great way to increase leadership and problem solving opportunities for your teachers. To accomplish this, you must allow teachers time to meet on academic and behavioral issues that the students in your school are experiencing. Often, these meetings will allow teachers to problem solve many of the issues they are facing, resulting in a reduction of office discipline referrals and an increase in academic achievement for your highest need students.
PLCs can also bring an increase in teacher leadership, as well as an increased sense of community, because they are able to work together and feel connected to others, rather than alone and unsupported.
Implement New Initiatives with Teachers Rather than to Teachers
New initiatives, whether academic or behavioral, are part of providing professional development for teachers and helping them to be better at their craft. At times, what we fail to do as administrators is adequately prepare teachers for the change, causing teachers to feel that the initiative is being done to them rather than with them. The result is often a feeling of animosity, an unwillingness to participate and a reduction in a positive school atmosphere. We can avoid this pitfall by creating implementation teams for any new initiative that includes teachers, administrators and informal leaders so that information can be delivered not only from the administration or district, but by your staff as well. This will help teachers accept the change more readily and provide momentum for successful implementation.
As administrators and leaders, we have a responsibility to maintain school culture and make improvements where necessary. The best way to do this is by leading by example. When leadership is strong and committed to having a positive environment, staff and students will thrive. This commitment will trickle down to staff and teachers who will feel more connected to their school and community, leading to increased student success and growth both academically and behaviorally.

Positive Culture Starts with You: 4 Tips for Administrators

As with any successful leader, the school principal must perform as a highly skilled&nbsp;multi-tasker&nbsp;at all times. Of course, referring to the principal&rsquo;s responsibilities as&nbsp;tasks&nbsp;is a major understatement, but this is a word that we are all familiar with. A day in the life of a principal can include responsibilities that range from consoling an upset parent, to presenting a proposal before the school board or monitoring a classroom for a sick teacher &ndash; all before lunch! Their most pivotal role is to be leaders among their team, which involves providing ongoing support to teachers and school staff.
Just like principals, teachers are frequently juggling innumerable tasks at the same time. While their responsibilities may differ slightly, they might include activities such as conducting well-planned lessons, caring for sick or struggling students, de-escalating and monitoring disruptive student behaviors or emailing a parent about their student&rsquo;s successful completion of a project. We refer to teachers as the front-line staff, or primary&nbsp;change agents, in the lives of their students. Why? Teachers spend the most time directly working with students and are hopefully able to develop healthy, caring relationships with each student. So, how do principals ensure that they are always working toward preserving and, most importantly, supporting this gold mine of resources? One of the most significant ways a principal can demonstrate support is by developing and maintaining a&nbsp;supportive relationship&nbsp;with all staff, especially those&nbsp;primary change agents.
Supportive relationships allow principals to fulfill all roles and responsibilities professionally and effectively. The development of mutual trust, respect and confidence through setting mutual goals and exchanging information produces an organizational atmosphere that is conducive to quality services. The development of trusting and mutually caring relationships can benefit morale, particularly during stressful situations within the school environment. Studies have suggested that offering social support may prove more important than any other variables (e.g., salary, behavioral problems) in fostering long-term staff retention. (Boys Town, 2007).
Let&rsquo;s take a closer look at four behaviors or expectations that promote supportive relationships in schools.
1. Communicate &ndash;&nbsp;Communication is an extremely important factor in developing a supportive relationship and can be facilitated in several ways.
Allow Them to Express Feelings &ndash; Teachers are more likely to express their feelings when they have been given permission to do so. First of all, principals must ask themselves if they allow time during individual meetings (regardless of how much time is available) to allow teachers to share feelings, opinions, thoughts, etc. With some teachers, the principal may need to ask very direct questions to assure the teacher that they are genuinely interested and want to hear from them. This goes beyond just those feelings about the job. Of course, the key is to ensure that the relationship doesn&rsquo;t cross professional boundaries into a social relationship. As the saying goes &ndash;&nbsp;people do not care what you know until they know that you care.
Using Teacher&rsquo;s/Staff Ideas &ndash; Building on the previous point, whenever it is possible to use a suggestion or idea presented by a teacher, use it! Or at least look into the possibility of using it, even if it has to be fine-tuned. This not only helps keep that teacher motivated, it may encourage other teachers to offer their suggestions or ideas, too. Just be sure to give credit to the person who originally came up with the idea, as failing to do so could have the opposite effect on staff members.
Make Yourself Available &ndash; As busy as principals are, teachers need to know that principals are available to provide advice, direction, support, crisis intervention and other forms of assistance whenever possible. When the opportunity to spend time with teachers becomes available, be responsive during conversations and listen attentively. When principals establish a pattern of not being available, teachers lose confidence and trust in their leader. Establishing, publishing and disseminating communication guidelines are paramount to teachers&rsquo; awareness of the next step or person to contact when principals cannot make themselves available.
Provide Feedback &ndash; Research indicates that feedback should be given in a positive and pleasant manner, even when it is corrective. Feedback is most effective when given as immediately as possible or preceding the person&rsquo;s next opportunity to make the correction or change.
Honesty &ndash; Finally, honesty in any relationship is key. Everyone prefers real, true and accurate information, especially from their leader. With honesty comes sincerity, many times staff members can tell if their leader is being insincere and this can destroy the relationship more than help it.
2. Praise Job Performance &ndash;&nbsp;Stronger relationships develop when principals take time to notice teachers&rsquo; efforts and accomplishments. John Maxwell states, &ldquo;recognition is a way to give meaning to a person&rsquo;s existence.&rdquo; Everyone needs and wants praise . . . even those who state differently. A study completed by Blas&eacute; and Blas&eacute; reported the following findings:
&ldquo;Praise focusing on specific and concrete teaching behaviors significantly affected teacher motivation, self-esteem, and efficacy. It also fostered teacher reflective behavior, including reinforcement of effective teaching strategies, risk taking, and innovative/creativity&hellip;1&nbsp;&rdquo;
3. Be Pleasant &ndash;&nbsp;Everyone prefers being around people who are pleasant. One of the principal&rsquo;s primary responsibilities is to establish and maintain a positive work environment. Of course, the principal cannot always be held responsible for other adult&rsquo;s behaviors. They can, however, set the expectations and model behaviors that promote a positive climate for all staff, students and parents. Simple behaviors, such as smiling, using a pleasant or neutral voice tone, using humor, being able to laugh at themselves, giving rationales and just being polite help promote a positive environment. Keep in mind, people do what people see&nbsp;so be what you want them to see!&nbsp;One of the principals that I had the privilege of working with shared a story about a staff member who was known to be &ldquo;grumpy.&rdquo; As a conversation ensued between the staff and a parent (who was also not having a good day), the principal made the decision to step in and demonstrate a different way to address the parent. She started by listening, using a calm voice and showing a bit of empathy. The intervention helped the parent calm down, helped side-step a potentially volatile situation, but most importantly showed the staff member how to apply the feedback he had been given.
4. Staff Development &ndash;&nbsp;Research has also revealed that staff development or promoting professional growth rates high among the factors that demonstrate supportive relationships to teachers. Teachers sought more growth in terms of supporting collaboration efforts among educators and developing coaching relationships among educators, among others.1&nbsp;Principals often serve as the conduit through which teachers can achieve their career and personal goals, which when used effectively, can promote supportive relationships.
Being a principal comes with a multitude of challenges, supporting your staff and letting them know you are all on the same team is one of the most important steps you can take in making your life easier and improving school culture. Remember back to when you were a teacher and how you wanted to be treated by your principal. Need more tips? Watch our FREE on-demand&nbsp;<a href="/free-resources#webinars" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">webinar</a>,&nbsp;Leading in Times of Change: Using Coaching and Consultation to Achieve Your Goal.
1Blase, J., and J. Blase. "Principals' Instructional Leadership and Teacher Development: Teachers' Perspectives." Educational Administration Quarterly 35.3 (1999): 349-78. Web.

Building Supportive Relationships With Your School Staff

What is service?
&ldquo;It is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.&rdquo;&nbsp;National Service Learning Clearinghouse
&ldquo;In service learning, students learn educational standards through tackling real-life problems in their community.&rdquo;&nbsp;Edutopia
This sums it up:
&ldquo;Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn.&rdquo;&nbsp;Benjamin Franklin
What are the benefits?
&bull; increases awareness of current societal issues and develops civic responsibility
&bull; enriches the student learning experience and makes learning exciting and engaging
&bull; strengthens the community, project, or people who are the recipients of the service-learning project
&bull; makes learning relevant to students and helps to shape their life experiences and career choices
&bull; broadens perspectives of diversity issues and enhances critical thinking skills
Here are several ideas for service learning:
&bull; Creating Community Sustainability through Urban Farming
&bull; Work on a Habitat for Humanity building site
&bull; Pack up food bags for the homeless
&bull; Work with a neighborhood association
&bull; Work with a political campaign
&bull; Set up a tutoring system with younger students
&bull; Clean up a local park highway, or beach
&bull; Launch clean water awareness campaign
&bull; Organize/assist with voter registration
There are four key components of a service-learning project: They are: (1) preparation, (2) action, (3) reflection, and (4) assessment. If you want your service learning to become a more meaningful experience, then these components should be included. (Not all organizations use these exact components in their service learning projects, but many are very similar to these.)

Service Learning

In my life I wear many hats. Professionally, I am a trainer, consultant, and author for Boys Town. Personally, I am a father, husband, coach for youth sports. With each hat comes different responsibilities. But, there are parallels; especially in the areas of teaching and supporting children in their social emotional growth.
Throughout my career, I have learned that one of the greatest challenges that our children face today, is access to strong modelling in the area of skill development. Children today are inundated with negative messages through social media, the internet, and television. In addition, the social pressures kids are facing make it more and more difficult to learn how to regulate their emotions and deal with everyday adversity.
One of my most rewarding hats, outside of being a father, is coaching youth sports. Every child we encounter has a different set of skills and experiences that shape how they interact with adults and respond to coaching. Participating in sports gives youth the opportunity to experience many different types of challenges that translate into valuable life experiences, improving their overall skill set. Coaches have the unique opportunity to teach skills through these challenges. There are three common challenges that youth face when playing sports.
How to Accept and Implement Feedback
One of the primary jobs of a coach is to improve a child&rsquo;s physical skill to help them be the best they can be at a given sport. However, each time you offer them advice - how to swing a bat, tackle a runner or kick a ball - they are being given feedback from an adult. Children have two options; they can accept or reject the feedback. Feedback is the child&rsquo;s opportunity to improve. Their ability to accept this information from an authority figure is a life skill that will follow them throughout their lives. Some people refer to this skill as being coachable, but as children get older this translates into success in school and eventually in their jobs. As coaches, we can support this challenging skill by providing feedback in a calm manner, recognizing small changes in behavior, and allowing time to change.
For more resources on Accepting Feedback, check out Julia Cook&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boystownpress.org/thanks-for-the-feedback-i-think/?utm_source=boystowntraining.org&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=training_referrals&amp;utm_content=YouthSportsBlog" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Thanks for the Feedback (I Think)</a>.
How to Win and Lose
Winning and losing are part of any sport. However, how to win or lose is not typically a skill that children know intuitively. Many coaches think that losing is the only skill that kids need to learn. But, how to win with class is just as important. As coaches, we have the opportunity to model this behavior in every game. The children we coach take direction from our actions:
&bull; Do we support the other team when they make a good play?
&bull; Do we intentionally shake the other coaches and players hand?
&bull; Do we lose control of our emotions after a tough loss or bad call?
These situations shape our youth to become both good winners and players that have the ability to overcome defeat.
For more resources on winning and losing, check out Bryan Smith&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boystownpress.org/if-winning-isnt-everything-why-do-i-hate-to-lose/?utm_source=boystowntraining.org&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=training_referrals&amp;utm_content=YouthSportsBlog" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">If Winning Isn&rsquo;t Everything, Why Do I Hate to Lose?</a>
How to Regulate your Emotions
Sports truly are the weight room for emotional regulation. Every time a child goes out to play a sport they experience highs and lows. Managing these situations is difficult under the best circumstances; add the stress of a game and that difficulty increases exponentially. As coaches, we can support the growth of this skill by being more proactive than reactive and understanding that stress is part of the game. We can never prepare our players for every situation, but we can them how to stay calm. These skills should be taught at neutral times, during practice, not during the game or immediately after the stressful situation. In addition, as coaches, we have to remain calm when our players lose their cool because we are modeling how to manage stress.
For more resources on staying calm, check out Stephie McCumbee&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boystownpress.org/priscilla-the-perfect-storm/?utm_source=boystowntraining.org&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=training_referrals&amp;utm_content=YouthSportsBlog" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">Priscilla and the Perfect Storm</a>.
Sports provide players opportunities for skill development, both physical and social emotional. Coaches have the opportunity to model and teach these skills. The skills that they learn while playing generalize outside of the playing field and help to produce better young adults that are able to deal with the adversity of everyday life.

The Power of Social Skills in Youth Sports

<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Who:&nbsp;Carol Dweck, the psychologist and lead researcher who developed the concept of growth mindset, and you.
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">What:&nbsp;Growth Mindset
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<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" align="center">Fixed Mindset
<ol style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">The belief that intelligence or talent are simply fixed traits.</ol>
<ol style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">The focus is on finding evidence to defend intelligence and talents instead of developing them.</ol>
<ol style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">The belief that talent alone - without effort - creates success. (Dweck, 2015)</ol>
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<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" align="center">Growth Mindset
<ol style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">The belief that abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.</ol>
<ol style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Develops a love of learning and resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. (Dweck, 2015)</ol>
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Why:&nbsp;A classroom with a growth mindset is one that values growth and effort, as well as the process of learning. It develops learners who embrace challenge, love learning, and demonstrate resiliency; while increasing academic achievement and reducing the achievement gap.
How:&nbsp;Think about our own thoughts- do we believe all of our students are capable of growing, learning, and making incremental progress? Do we believe we are capable of growing, learning, and improving in our instructional practice? A growth-minded classroom begins with us.
When:&nbsp;Now, tomorrow, each day
Where:&nbsp;For more information, watch Carol Dweck&rsquo;s 10-minute TED talk.
Additional Tips:
&bull; Share a book or video using developmentally appropriate language to teach students that brains are muscles which are constantly making new connections. With challenges, effort, focus, and learning from mistakes we can achieve great things.
&bull; In Carol Dweck&rsquo;s words, &ldquo;praise wisely&rdquo;. Praise the process of learning- praise effort, strategies, focus, perseverance, and improvement. Don&rsquo;t praise how smart or &ldquo;good&rdquo; a student is; this can actually negatively impact achievement.
&bull; Model a growth mindset with our words and actions. Use wording that promotes effort and include students in the process of problem-solving.
&bull; Help students set achievable mini-goals. Reflect on their progress, and connect it to their effort, focus, and perseverance.
&bull; Have students write a letter to a younger student offering words of encouragement. Have them teach that hard work and effort will help them to learn more in school. Have them include an example of hard work and resulting success from their own life. (Aronson, 2002)
Research connecting the growth mindset with real academic outcomes is deep and encouraging. What&rsquo;s more, there are small, practical ways to incorporate the growth mindset into our daily pedagogical practice. It really does start with us. When we view learning as an ongoing process- for both ourselves and our students- resulting from effort and perseverance and allow that belief to guide our actions, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. We witness the success and achievement we expect.

Growth Mindset

Employability skills, career readiness skills, or soft skills. No matter which terms you use, these generally refer to the same concepts. Employers are looking for employees with certain knowledge, skills, and abilities that, when combined, form key workplace competencies. If you go online and conduct a search for &ldquo;career readiness&rdquo; or &ldquo;career soft skills,&rdquo; more often than not, the results will include lists with the following competencies: problem solving/critical thinking, teamwork/collaboration, work ethic/professionalism, oral/written communications, leadership, and self-management. Though the order of the list may vary, this list has remained mostly consistent for the past decade. When onboarding new hires, most employers are focused on job-specific skills and training &ndash; hard skills; so they tend to recruit and select employees who come in the door with these soft skills.
Then who is responsible for teaching students these skills? Isn&rsquo;t it enough that educators need to teach math, science, history, English and so on?
Before answering these questions, let&rsquo;s give some thought to what skills students need in order to be successful in our classrooms. We need our students to listen, to problem-solve, to work with others, and so on. As students move through our education system, one important thing we can do for them as educators is to help them realize that all the rules, expectations, and skills they need to be successful in school do not stop being important once they leave high school. These same expectations will apply later in life &ndash; whether they choose to go straight to work after high school, or pursue a college degree or vocational trade. They also help students develop positive friendships and romantic relationships (which is a great rationale to help students understand the &ldquo;why&rdquo; behind all of this). And it&rsquo;s safe to assume that not all students will come to this conclusion by themselves.
As they become more proficient with important skills like following instructions, disagreeing appropriately, accepting no, and so on, we need help them learn to generalize these skills outside the classroom. Taking the time to help students think about what these important skills look like in the work world could potentially mean the difference between their getting hired and getting fired.
Let&rsquo;s look at the keys to generalizing soft skills:
<ol style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">
<li>Teach the basic skill steps. Proactively take the time to help students analyze what a specific skill might look like or use the Boys Town resource&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boystownpress.org/teaching-social-skills-to-youth-3rd-edition/?utm_source=boystowntraining&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=training_referrals&amp;utm_content=career_readiness_blog" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">Teaching Social Skills to Youth</a>&nbsp;to teach the basic skills. This book has 183 different skills broken down into specific, observable, and measurable skill steps. Doing this teaching at a neutral time is a great way to keep the teaching positive!</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Teach students that these same skills apply in other environments. Once students are proficient with the basic skills and you have practiced what these skills look like in the school environment, show them how these skills look in other situations. Use the provided tools to help your students find success beyond the classroom:</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Practice, practice, practice! Just like so many things in life, skills don&rsquo;t become habits without practice and reinforcement. Taking five minutes to teach a skill with practice, then shaping skill mastery through praise, correction, and appropriate reinforcement, will pay off more than you can imagine in the long run.</li>
</ol>
So when thinking about whose job it is to teach these skills to students, try hard to focus less on whose responsibility it is, and more about the long-term benefits of a collaborative effort. These simple steps not only improve your classroom environment, but also prepare students for success in work and life. There is nothing better than running into a former student in their new work environment, and seeing an adult who is succeeding in the workforce.

Social Skills for Career Readiness

As spring approaches and images of warm breezes, budding trees, and outdoor social activities beckon, the allure of isolated and reclusive hobbies wane. This is especially true for students who spend more than 1,200 hours between August and May focused on learning, and their mentors who spend considerably more time preparing for, planning, and facilitating the learning process. For these individuals, the end of the school year marks the beginning of an 8-10 week &ldquo;brain break&rdquo; from all things academia. While some may still choose reading as summer pastime, others will eagerly forsake it in lieu of other, high-spirted amusement.
Let&rsquo;s not fool ourselves&hellip;.setting aside time for recreation is important; and medical experts recommend that kids and adults alike get a minimum of 60 minutes of aerobic, muscle strengthening, and bone strengthening activity each day. For students however, increased physical movement and lengthy departures from intellectual activities can take its toll; and for many elementary and middle school students, long recesses from learning can lead to lapses in reading skills. Research shows that routine reading and exposure to print leads to easier phonological processing, increased reading fluency, growth in reading vocabulary, and subsequently better comprehension. While high expectations and calculated efforts by teachers at the beginning of the school year can help remediate the effects of summer deterioration, there are things that can be done prior to and during the summer months to reduce achievement gaps.
Here are some strategies that students, parents, and teachers can try:
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<td style="width: 33.4232%;">Students</td>
<td style="width: 33.4232%;">Parents</td>
<td style="width: 33.1536%;">Teachers</td>
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<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.4232%;">Make a habit of reading before you get out of bed for the day. Leave a book by your bedside so that it is accessible. It is important to remember that even six minutes each morning will make a difference!</td>
<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.4232%;">Take your children to visit a new or used bookstore at least once a month over summer vacation; or if appropriate, help them make a plan for getting there independently.</td>
<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.1536%;">Before school dismisses for the summer help students to identify some books that are closely matched to their abilities and interests. Make certain that all books selected can be read independently and with little difficulty.</td>
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<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.4232%;">Create an outdoor space for yourself where you can go to read. Make it special with comfortable seating, a cold, refreshing drink, and shelter from the sun.</td>
<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.4232%;">Play language-based games with your children such as Scrabble&reg;, Apples to Apples&reg; or Blurt&reg;. If you do not own any games, ask a friend/neighbor to borrow or purchase some inexpensive games from eBay, Craigslist or a thrift store.</td>
<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.1536%;">Allow students to &ldquo;check out&rdquo; books or magazines from your classroom library, or let parents know of some nearby places where they can go to obtain books for their children. Also, provide parents with a list of books that are appropriate.</td>
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<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.4232%;">Challenge yourself to read a certain number of minutes for each hour spent on video games or in outdoor activities. Keep a log of your activity each day to hold yourself accountable.</td>
<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.4232%;">Start a family book club. Choose a book that every member of your family can read. Allow each person to read at his or her own pace, but plan some times for when you can talk about what you have read as a group.</td>
<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.1536%;">Create a list of free or low cost literacy events that will be held over the summer at community centers, universities or libraries. Encourage your students and their families to investigate these options and choose three events to attend.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.4232%;">Swap a book or books with a friend or classmate at the end of the school year and make a plan for reading them over the summer. Be sure to keep them safe and return them when the school year begins in the fall.</td>
<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.4232%;">Allow your children to purchase a couple of audio books or check out a few books on tape/CD from your local library. Encourage your children to listen to their books daily and read along.</td>
<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.1536%;">Create a bingo game that encourages your students to read from different genres of books over the summer. Give them a game board that they can use to track their progress and ask them to create a list of their favorite titles to share when school is back in session.</td>
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<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.4232%;">Read to a younger brother or sister, or engage a group of neighborhood friends in a reading challenge. When the challenge is complete, reward yourselves with a fun activity.</td>
<td style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 33.4232%;">Set aside time to either read with your children or listen to them read 2-3 times each week. As you read, keep a log of the characters you encounter or the facts that you discover.</td>
<td style="width: 33.1536%;">Send three post cards to students over the summer to inquire about what they are reading and ask pertinent questions. Provide each student with three self-addressed stamped envelopes that they can use to reply.
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</td>
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</table>
Visit <a href="https://www.boystownpress.org/?utm_source=boystowntraining.org&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=summer_reading&amp;utm_content=NTSummerReadingBlog" target="_blank" rel="noopener">boystownpress.org</a> for great summer reading resources!

Summer Reading

You just spent two days absorbing and processing a ton of new information. I&rsquo;m guessing there are a ton of creative ideas that you&rsquo;re excited to implement racing through your head! You&rsquo;re inspired&hellip; but, where do you start? Here&rsquo;s a quick list with a few ideas on where to begin:
1.&nbsp;Classroom Procedures&nbsp;&ndash; Sure this isn&rsquo;t rocket science, however, run through the school day in your head. Where do find the most headaches throughout your day? Pencil sharpening? How students enter or exit the classroom? Submit classwork? Identifying those chaotic moments in the day and creating a quick three to five step procedure can help make those rough patches take a long vacation. Remember to practice these procedures regularly and at neutral times to keep them tight and fresh with your class.
For me personally, the pencil sharpener was my kryptonite. Whenever a student would ask to sharpen their pencil or I&rsquo;d hear the sharpener go off, I&rsquo;d become instantly annoyed. Students need functioning pencils, I get it, but I needed to find a way to preserve my sanity while making sure they had the necessary tools to complete their work. Here is how we did it in Miss Z.&rsquo;s class:
<img src="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/upload/mceu_72963595711676666516376.jpg" style="max-width: 350px;" />
It may seem simple, but having this routine in place and practiced alleviated a lot of headaches for my students and myself over the course of the year.

2.&nbsp;Teach Social Skills&nbsp;&ndash; Be intentional and carve out time within your day to practice social skills with your class. Follow your campus&rsquo;s &ldquo;Skill of the Week&rdquo; (S.O.W) schedule, as developmentally appropriate. Younger grades tend to need more time focused on a smaller set of skills, while older grades may master a skill quickly or have more complex needs. Dedicating a set amount of time each day to social skills solidifies their importance.
When using Planned Teaching and other strategies for the S.O.W, remember that simply listening to an announcement and quick reason of the importance of the skill isn&rsquo;t enough for most students to internalize the skill. Giving students a &ldquo;kid friendly&rdquo; reason to use the skill and practice are just two examples of how to better support internalized skill usage. Here&rsquo;s an example of a S.O.W schedule:
<img src="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/upload/mceu_18366649821676666535283.jpg" style="max-width: 350px;" />
Taking a few minutes to discuss the S.O.W and how they used it encourages them to genuinely find instances to use the skill and helps to build automaticity in usage throughout their lives.
3.&nbsp;Intentional Positive Reinforcement&nbsp;&ndash; When we&rsquo;re talking positive reinforcement in the Boys Town Education Model&reg;, we aren&rsquo;t pulling an Oprah and giving out praise willy-nilly. Praise should be delivered with intentionality in mind. This means that yes, you may be giving praise to a student for simply &ldquo;doing what they&rsquo;re supposed to do.&rdquo; However, if this same student typically struggles to meet expectations or usually has a major meltdown when asked to complete said task, think of the power that small moment of positivity has.
Positive reinforcement is meant to encourage students to replicate the desired behavior and if a student hasn&rsquo;t built up the intrinsic motivation to do it on their own, it&rsquo;s okay for us as adults to help them out with some external motivation. We also want to make sure that we are reinforcing behavior equally with academics, especially with our students that have a tendency to push boundaries with their behavior. Always be on the lookout for students doing what they are supposed to be doing and offer either general statements of approval or if the student tends to struggle, add on a little specificity by stating what they did well.
For example:&nbsp;Think of a student that typically gets your attention by shouting out your name, today they raise a quiet hand and wait for you to come to them. Since you know how hard it probably was for this student to demonstrate getting your attention appropriately, layer on some specific praise to encourage this student to continue to practice this skill. &ldquo;Awesome job raising a quiet hand to get my attention!&rdquo;
If you wanted to take it a step further, add on a reason why it was so valuable that they got your attention that way such as, &ldquo;when you get my attention appropriately, I am more likely to give you my undivided attention.&rdquo; This helps motivate them to do it again because they can connect how it benefits them.
Providing the what and the why alongside positive reinforcement guides students with some bigger misbehaviors to better understand why it is important for them to follow the expectations asked of them. It also supports and fosters a positive relationship between you and your students.
4.&nbsp;Help Keep Misbehaviors Small&nbsp;&ndash; We know that it&rsquo;s not really a matter of &ldquo;if&rdquo; but &ldquo;when&rdquo; in terms of misbehavior. However, with a few tips, we can help keep those instances small, quick, and relatively painless.
a. We as the teacher need to manage ourselves and make sure we&rsquo;re not leading with emotion when correcting a student.
b. Correct misbehaviors when they are small. Sometimes we have the urge to just let small things go until they become bigger issues that tend to elicit less controlled responses. Keep your tolerances low and your expectations high.
c. To help encourage a quick redirect is to go to the student and provide the correction in close proximity. This helps keep the correction between the two of you and discourages the student&rsquo;s need to &ldquo;save face&rdquo; in front of their peers.
d. Sometimes students may not know what they should do, so providing a replacement behavior can help guide students back on track.
5.&nbsp;Time to Cool Down&nbsp;&ndash; One of our biggest goals is to help students manage themselves by having a sense of awareness about their needs. Let&rsquo;s talk about how to create a system where students can advocate for themselves (with adult guidance from time to time) when they feel heated or upset.
<img src="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/upload/mceu_79254530231676666594105.jpg" style="max-width: 350px;" />
When bringing in a procedure or routine, remember that we need to proactively teach students the expectations, in this case emotion recognition and using our cool-down time/space. We will want to clarify what they can do, where they can do it, and how long they can hang out in cool-down time.
Here are some examples of cool-down activities:
<img src="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/upload/mceu_33416305841676666614311.jpg" style="max-width: 350px;" />
I hope you&rsquo;ve found these reminders helpful and generated some ideas to kick start a new school year! Head over to boystowntraining.org if you have any questions or seek more examples to continue generating ideas!
<img src="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/upload/LynetteZurek_2.jpg" style="float: left; padding-right: 12px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 150px;" alt="Lynette Zurek" />Lynnette Zurek&nbsp;&ndash; Boys Town National Training Consultant
Bio: Lynnette holds a Master&rsquo;s Degree of Elementary Education focused on curriculum and instruction from Arizona State University. She has worked in education for 11 years as an educator, interventionist, trainer, and instructional coach. Lynnette has implemented the Boys Town Education Model in the classroom, as well as provided training and support across multiple sites.

I Just Attended a Well-Managed Schools Workshop... Now What?

The first days of school were always some of the most anticipated and enjoyable times of year I experienced during my decades-long career as a classroom teacher. It was a time of starting fresh and &ldquo;on the right foot.&rdquo; I found that when I took the time to establish expectations and procedures in the first few days, the rest of the school year went much more smoothly.
Here are 3 social skills I taught on the first day of school no matter what grade I taught:
Greeting Others
Greeting Others is not only a great skill to use at the beginning of each day, but also a lifelong skill to teach students to use when they meet someone else. Kids don&rsquo;t naturally know how to look someone in the eye, use a pleasant voice, and say &ldquo;Hi.&rdquo; It takes teaching and modeling for them to learn.
In the first moments of the first day of school, even before we walked into our classroom, I taught my students what it looked and sounded like for us to greet each other every morning. I had my students line up at the classroom and listen quietly as I explained our procedure. In my classroom, we added a step to the basic way to greet someone by adding a handshake.&nbsp;<a class="btn-text lightbox-92044605195153" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;">Download our Back-to-School Resource Guide</a>&nbsp;for a handout on&nbsp;Greeting Others.
Teaching my students a simple greeting procedure had multiple benefits. The most important benefit I found for my classroom was that it was a way for me to have a positive contact with each student at the beginning of each day. As my students became proficient with this basic skill, I added some small talk asking them questions to get to know them or by commenting on any positive behavior I recently noticed. These positive comments helped me to work toward praising my students more often than correcting them.
If you are an elementary teacher, you can find additional opportunities to use this skill by greeting students again after lunch and using a similar skill or procedure for saying good-bye to each student at the end of the day.
Following Instructions
We all know how important it is for students to follow instructions. Just think about all the instructions kids get every day. From the moment they wake up and get ready for school, they have most likely heard several instructions from their parents. Then, when they arrive at school, they hear more instructions from the adults they encounter before the school day starts. Add those to all the instructions they get throughout their school day and a typical child may hear several dozens of instructions every day. Anything we expect a child to do well, it&rsquo;s important that we provide them lots of practice. When children are able to follow instructions well, it can help them avoid frustration. Following Instructions was the second skill I taught the first day.&nbsp;<a class="btn-text lightbox-92044605195153" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;">Download our Back-to-School Resource Guide</a>&nbsp;for a handout on&nbsp;Following Instructions.
Having students practice the skill of following instructions during the many instructions you give in the first days of school helps it be more likely students become proficient at the skill quickly.
Staying on Task
Finally, the third important skill I taught very soon on the first day of school was Staying on Task. For students to be successful both behaviorally and academically, staying on task is another key skill for them to become successful at as soon as possible.&nbsp;<a class="btn-text lightbox-92044605195153" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;">Download our Back-to-School Resource Guide</a>&nbsp;for a handout on&nbsp;Staying on Task.
Staying on Task makes it more likely students are able to complete their work in a timely manner. That is always helpful when your students have several academic tasks to complete each day.
Taking the time to teach your students key social skills in the first days of school helps your students know exactly what to do to be successful each and every day of the school year.
<img style="float: left; padding-right: 12px; max-width: 150px; margin-top: 0px;" src="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/upload/JoAnnFlaxbeard.jpg" alt="JoAnn Flaxbeard Portrait" />
Jo Ann Flaxbeard&nbsp;&ndash; Boys Town National Training Consultant
Bio: Jo Ann has 30 years of experience as an Elementary teacher. During her time in the classroom, she was honored both for excellence in teaching and for her support for students with special needs. After earning a Master&rsquo;s degree in Educational Administration and Supervision, she served as an instructional coach, guiding teachers in the application of educational best practices. Jo Ann uses her classroom and coaching experiences in her role as a National Trainer to both teach and support educators in their implementation of the Boys Town Education Model&reg;.

Three Skills to Teach in the First Few Days of the School Year

The winter holiday season can be a busy time. There are lots of special activities and events. Consistency, predictability, communicating with parents, and relationship-building continue to be important during this time. These qualities help to reduce anxiety, build a sense of community, and continue routines that provide stability for students, thus preventing an increase in negative behavior.
Consistency, routine, and relationship-building have many obstacles and can be especially difficult to maintain during this time of year, but here are a few tips for a successful transition into the holiday season.
1. Reflect on routines begun at the beginning of the year that have allowed for predictability- both within the classroom and with families. Resolve to continue these practices during this time- students and families alike depend on them.
2. Communicate weekly with families via an app, email, or newsletter. Include academic and social skills you are teaching, upcoming dates, and tips to support classroom success during the holiday season.
3. Plan a culminating academic project. This provides for student engagement, problem-solving, an opportunity to use social skills that have been taught, and family engagement. (And bonus&hellip;include a rubric up front and grading is made easy!)
4. Invite parents to the project presentations. This communicates that every moment is used for learning and that families are important and vital to students&rsquo; academic achievement.
5. Choose a few social skills to teach that are pertinent to the learning at hand, i.e. showing appreciation,&nbsp;working together,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boystownpress.org/diversity-is-key/?utm_source=boystowntraining.org&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=preparing_holidays&amp;utm_content=AcceptingDifferences" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">accepting differences</a>,&nbsp;<a href="/free-resources#lessonplans" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">sharing</a>, volunteering, etc.. Students must work together and share to successfully complete a group project. Students can volunteer to go above and beyond during clean up after messy project time, and show appreciation and accept differences during presentations. Communicate these skills to parents so that they, too, can teach and reinforce these social skills at home. 
6. If any homework is sent home over the holidays, make sure clear written instructions and the purpose for the assignment accompany them. Unclear communication can make it difficult for families to enforce and for students to complete. Let&rsquo;s set our students up for success!
When interacting with parents, keep these tips for success in mind:
1. Communicate often, consistently, and in various ways.
2. Ensure that parents can understand the information- keeping languages and reading ability in mind.
3. Actively listen to parents.
4. Be welcoming to all types of families. Accepting diversity is a vital foundation of teaching classroom community. And we are our students&rsquo; model!
5. Share every success!
6. Thank parents; show appreciation- yet another opportunity to be what we want to see.
7. Invite parents to events to celebrate together.

Six Tips for a Successful Holiday Season in the Classroom

Before second semester began, Amanda submitted a question to our trainers about integrating some of her social skill plans into her academic lessons. Check out their conversation&hellip;
Amanda:&nbsp;I am laying out my lesson plans for the upcoming semester, and I am trying to delve into the various social skills. Is there a suggested format for introducing each new skill? How long should I spend on each skill?
Lynnette, National Training Consultant:&nbsp;Now that you&rsquo;ve had a semester with your students, you should have a solid idea of the skills they are using well, and those they are struggling with. Typically, we recommend starting with the skills that they are weaker in.
We suggest a &ldquo;Skill of the Week&rdquo; format, based on your students needs. Meaning, a skill might take just a week or more than a week. If you start with a week long plan, that should give you an idea of where to go as the semester progresses. If you have the flexibility in your daily schedule, you can intentionally plan a consistent time for skill work.
We&rsquo;ve seen several schools that have their teachers incorporate skill time in their morning meetings, for example. When we commit to a set time for skill work, it sends a message that this is important.
If you can carve out consistent time each day, you can then implement a consistent schedule and simply change the skill as your students master them.
Here&rsquo;s an example:
Monday&nbsp;&ndash; Introduce the skill (Planned Teaching).
Tuesday&nbsp;&ndash; Review and role play how the skill can be used in the classroom.
Wednesday&nbsp;- Review and role play how the skill can be used school-wide.
Thursday&nbsp;&ndash; Review and role play how the skill can be used in the community or at home and encourage students to use the skill at home as homework to talk about during Friday&rsquo;s skill time.
Friday&nbsp;&ndash; Review and discuss opportunities students had to use the skill over the past week and evaluate how it went.
Our job as educators is to meet students where they are. If you find that your class has a hard time asking for help or listening, start there. Be patient, students learn at different paces. Praise each student throughout the week as you find them displaying the skill correctly. Social skill lessons aren&rsquo;t meant to interrupt our academics, they&rsquo;re meant to make academic lessons easier. When students are prepared, focused, and informed about rules and procedures, they&rsquo;re more likely to succeed in their academics.
If you have questions about integrating SEL into your academic plans,&nbsp;<a href="/contact-us" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">reach out to our trainers</a>.

How to Introduce Social Skills into Your Lesson Plans

Social Distancing and Social Skills seem like polar opposites. The former asks us to keep our space while the latter is about the ability to communicate and interact with others.
But even as we distance ourselves we are still interacting, just in a different way. Classes were moved online but kids still need to know how to take turns and stay on topic and visits to loved ones may be from between a glass door which means we need a good handle on reading facial expressions.
So how do we continue to help children develop these skills? The tips below can help you to work on these skills safely while you are social distancing at home. We recommend sharing these tips &amp; the attached downloadable with parents this summer!
1.&nbsp;Get creative.&nbsp;Virtual snack times can be a lot of fun and are a great way to continue working on these skills while maintaining a safe distance. Invite classmates, family members or friends to a set meeting online and talk away as you have a yummy meal.
2.&nbsp;Bring back game night.&nbsp;Board games tackle so many social skills. Things like turn taking and being a good sport are just a few. So if this is something your child has trouble with talk about it before hand and set up a game plan and clearly outline the rules so everyone knows what is expected.
3.&nbsp;Get some fresh air.&nbsp;This is a great way to work on compromise by alternating who is the walk leader each time. Or work on conversational turn taking by letting each person pick something to talk about and then pausing to allow others to comment by counting out three steps before sharing again.
4.&nbsp;Turn on the TV.&nbsp;That&rsquo;s right, your TV is a great way to work on social skills but there&rsquo;s a catch: You must turn off the volume. With the TV muted you can pause and look at people&rsquo;s facial expressions. How are they feeling? What might the problem be? You can fill in the blanks and make your own script with a familiar or new show.
5.&nbsp;Use the classics.&nbsp;There are so many wonderful books that address every social situation you can imagine. Read them, act them out, or even review them like a critic.
Just because we are keeping our distance doesn&rsquo;t mean that we can&rsquo;t continue to hone our skills. Now more than ever we need to build strong communicators as we adjust to a new normal.
<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/Getting-Creative-During-Social-Distancing.pdf" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;" rel="noopener">Download our FREE Getting Creative During Social Distancing Idea Worksheet here.</a>

5 Creative Ways to Work on Social Skills in the Time of Social Distancing

There is one key skill all students can learn that can contribute to their classroom success: Being organized!
This may sound simple to someone who is a &ldquo;naturally&rdquo; organized person. But for students whose thoughts can often go off in random directions, being organized can be tough.
Here are a few tips I use with my students at Boys Town that you can share with your students (and their parents) to help them stay focused and stay on track with all their classes.
Keep an assignment notebook.&nbsp;Students should keep a list of everything they need to do each day for every class. This provides a visual &ldquo;roadmap&rdquo; of assignments, and having a completed list of schoolwork at the end of the week gives students a sense of accomplishment. You may even want to create a system to have parents sign off on their child&rsquo;s assignment notebook.
Use folders or a binder to keep everything together.&nbsp;Some students may prefer to use different colored folders for each subject while others might like using a binder with tab dividers. Help your students set up whatever works best for him or her. For example, a folder&rsquo;s left pocket can hold papers that need to be done and turned in to the teacher while the right pocket can store papers that have been completed. Or, you can organize a binder with tabs for each subject, separating assignments that need to be completed from those that are done. Let students take the lead in deciding what method to use and how to set it up; this will give students &ldquo;ownership&rdquo; of the project and make it more likely that he or she will use it.
Ask parents to check the assignment notebook and share organization tips with them.&nbsp;Parents can greatly contribute to homework success by supporting their child as they learn to be more organized. Here are some tips you can share with parents as you help students learn to become more organized:
Help supervise the homework and organization process until your child feels confident enough to do it on his or her own.
Set a homework time early in the evening so your child can complete and organize all the assignments for the next day before he or she gets tired.
Take time to evaluate how this method is working at least once a week.&nbsp;Ask students these questions about his or her organizational system:
Do you feel more confident about knowing where your work is and when it is due?
Is it easier to pull assignments together for reviewing for tests and quizzes?
Can anything be adjusted to make the system work better?
Finally, praise progress!&nbsp;It will take time for students to develop these new habits. But if he or she can begin to see the benefits of being organized and using an organizational system, and earn your praise for working hard and improving their homework, those habits are more likely to stick. And, your students will be learning a skill he or she can use for a lifetime.

It's All in the Organization!

Though the world of education always remains vigilant to the negative effects of bullying on our students, the month of October brings with it a renewed focus on awareness, action, and advocacy. October is National Bullying Prevention Month, a month devoted to prevention, intervention, and spreading awareness. Great strides have been made in our crusade against bullying in schools in recent years, but we still have progress to make. The National Center for Educational Statistics reported in 2019 that 20.2% of students still report being bullied. That&rsquo;s more than 1 in 5.
According to Pacer.org, school-based bullying programs can decrease bullying by 25%. I may be biased, but I believe that books are fantastic additions to these school-based programs. The right books can be used as interventions to spark courageous conversations in our schools. There are numerous fantastic children&rsquo;s books about bullying on the shelves, most of which tell the story from the perspective of the victim. In recent years, however, I have become increasingly interested in a perspective in addition to that of the victim: the position of the bystander. If 20.2% of students report being bullied, how high must the statistic be for those who witness bullying? This interest was part of the inspiration for me writing&nbsp;My Name's Sammy, and I&rsquo;m No Snitch.
When I wrote&nbsp;Sammy, I knew that I wanted to present a story from a bystander&rsquo;s point of view, to showcase the unique perspectives and conflicts that come with being in that position. In a school peer culture that denounces reporting to adults, students find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. Do they tell an adult and risk personal ostracization and potential retaliation? Or do they do what they can to prevent harm from happening? It is incumbent upon us working within schools to encourage students to speak up when they see bullying taking place and then to do everything within our power to ensure their safety and anonymity.
How do we do this? Proactively. We work from the start to develop strong, compassionate, and trusting relationships with our kids, so that when times get tough, they know they have a safe person to turn to.
As educators and support personnel, we also must remain cognizant that the realm in which bullying takes place has also expanded and, consequently, so has the role of bystanders. In our world of social media, students are unable to escape onslaughts of provocation even in their own homes. But for the media to be&nbsp;social, others have to see it. Therein lie the bystanders. In addition to those who like, comment, or share instances of cyberbullying, there are those who see the posts and are faced with the opportunity to remain silent or to let someone know. Let&rsquo;s help them choose the latter.
This is by no means a call to remove the primary focus away from the victims of bullying. They should always be our foremost concern. What I do ask as we transition into this National Bullying Prevention Month is that we remember to consider the bystanders. Encourage them to speak up, applaud their bravery when they do, and then do everything in your power to protect them.

Being a Bully Bystander

As our National Training team works with educators across the country, we sometimes hear them say that with everything that needs to be accomplished in a school day, there simply isn&rsquo;t time to teach social skills. However, inappropriate behaviors happen. Rather than waiting to try to teach appropriate behaviors during correction, we recommend proactively teaching students alternative positive behaviors.
Proactive teaching includes setting aside time for a purposeful social skills lesson, prompting students when an opportunity arises to use a social skill, and helping students see the value of using a skill outside the classroom. All of these help set students up for success by creating expectations for behavior in a variety of environments.
Once students have been taught social skills, teachers can embed additional social skill instruction and practice into the academic day. Blending academic and behavioral teaching can provide effective and efficient enhancement of social skills teaching. This blending can be done by pairing social skills with both&nbsp;academic content&nbsp;and&nbsp;academic activities.
Pairing social skills with academic content. Whether you are teaching kindergarteners or seniors in high school, curriculum at all grade levels can lend itself to discussion and reinforcement of social skills.
Reading and literature discussion lessons can sometimes be the easiest way to embed social emotional learning into the comprehension of a story or a novel. One story included in a reading basal I remember vividly from my years as a classroom teacher was the story about a man who lived on a &ldquo;neat&rdquo; street where all of the houses looked the same until one day a seagull (who happened to be carrying a can of orange paint) spilled the paint on the man&rsquo;s house. The man had a choice. He could repaint his house to look like everyone else&rsquo;s or he could repaint his house to represent his dreams. He chose the latter. One by one his neighbors came to talk to him to convince him to change his house back so the street could remain a &ldquo;neat street.&rdquo; Social skill such as &ldquo;Listening,&rdquo; &ldquo;Accepting Criticism,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Having a Conversation&rdquo; not only aided in the comprehension of the story, but also helped my students see real life application of those skills.
Social studies, government or history lessons also provide amble opportunities for social skill discussion. For instance, when teaching the Branches of Government, a variety of social skills comes to mind. Our website, Boys Town Training has lesson plans on &ldquo;Disagreeing Appropriately&rdquo; and &ldquo;Making an Apology&rdquo; that you may find could work well when reinforcing skills in a social sciences class.
Pairing social skills with academic activity.&nbsp;There can be several times in the course of a school day in which students have the opportunity to apply social skills. Adding social skill instruction or reminders need only take a minute or so. This is time well-spent as it can help prevent time wasted when having to redirect or correct students.
Many teachers find using math manipulatives enhance a student&rsquo;s understanding of concepts and processes. Before having access to manipulatives, a teacher many want to review &ldquo;Following Instructions&rdquo; to keep students focused on the task at hand. Perhaps even, &ldquo;Ignoring Distractions&rdquo; from others who may be using the manipulative inappropriately might help the activity run more smoothly.
When conducting a science experiment, it may be important to reinforce with students the skills of &ldquo;Staying on Task&rdquo; or &ldquo;Asking for Help.&rdquo;
Any time students work in Cooperative Learning Groups, skills such as &ldquo;Working with Others&rdquo; and &ldquo;Appropriate Voice Tone&rdquo; help students be more efficient and productive.
With all that needs to be accomplished each and every school day, teachers can enhance their efficacy in both academic and behavioral instruction by taking the opportunity to blend academics and social skills whenever the opportunities present themselves.
Be sure to take a look at our&nbsp;<a href="/free-resources#lessonplans" target="new" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">lesson plans &amp; activities page</a>&nbsp;for helpful tools and strategies!

Blend Social Skills with Academic Teaching

Every teacher recognizes the signs&hellip; students start losing their focus and soon no one can concentrate, including you. First, a boy in the back starts tapping out a song on his desk with his pencil. Then two girls start making faces at each other and giggling. And now, a perpetually fidgety student starts a slow, yet relentless slide out of his chair.
It&rsquo;s a perfect storm&hellip; more academic rigor&hellip; less recess time. Or perhaps it is time for a test or complex task&hellip; We know that students really need to focus, but what you have is a classroom full of potential distractors that can&rsquo;t seem to settle and concentrate. Students, especially students with a lot of energy, can struggle in these situations.
This is a perfect time to take a brain break! Brain breaks can serve a variety of purposes: to energize, focus or calm students, while also rewarding them and having a little fun. That said, brain breaks aren&rsquo;t magic. They take preparation, supervision and structure, just like any classroom activity.
Without a proper set up, these activities can lead to additional chaos&hellip; Two boys may get too close to each other while dancing and run into each other, a group of girls might start laughing uncontrollably or students may simply have a hard time returning to their classwork after being distracted by a little fun. The good news is if you can predict it, you can plan for it. Just like any class routine or procedure, brain breaks should be:
1. Introduced in advance. This includes the activity&rsquo;s purpose and benefits.
2. Planned ahead of time. Specifically teach students how brain breaks will be chosen, as well as what will happen if someone can&rsquo;t handle the brain break.
Use a quick and fair system to select the brain break (e.g., draw a student&rsquo;s name and give them 5 seconds to pick from 3-5 options or place the choices on popsicle sticks and randomly select one.)
If a student can&rsquo;t participate in the brain break appropriately, they may be asked to sit down at their desk and wait for others to finish the activity. If and when this happens, remember to talk to that student about the specific behavior that was inappropriate and to teach a replacement skill they can use to be more successful in the future.
3. Practiced ahead of time. And more than once!
4. Space is assessed for the activity. Students should have room to participate in the brain break without touching others. Consider putting tape on the floor to mark a student&rsquo;s boundaries when needed.
If students are going to move away from their desks, assign the same spots every day. Practice moving to these spots quickly and quietly before your first brain break activity.
5. Specific expectations provided. Like any activity it is important to clearly explain your expectations before starting the activity. Keep low tolerances, and be consistent in holding students to the expectations you have set.
Taking time out of your busy day to give kids (and yourself) a much needed break is an excellent way to keep students focused and prepare them for the next activity. Even better is utilizing this time to practice social skills. You&rsquo;ll not only prevent off-task time with the break, but your students can also practice specific skills to help prevent more problem behaviors.

Give 'Em a Break: Using Brain Breaks to Reinforce Social Skills

Have you ever told someone about a time you received bad service at a restaurant, only for him or her to respond with, &ldquo;Must be nice to be able to afford to go out to eat!&rdquo;? Or what about a time when you had a particularly tough day at work, and were sharing it with a friend only to hear, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s nothing, you should hear about MY day!&rdquo;? In both of these examples, the response offered is not what you wanted to hear, and most likely didn&rsquo;t make you feel any better about the situation. Confiding in others is not always easy but is an important part of building relationships and self-care. When we share our feelings with others we are often looking for an empathetic response. We don&rsquo;t want to be judged, we often don&rsquo;t want advice and we definitely don&rsquo;t want to be told how we should feel.
Empathy, like many social skills, is a difficult skill to master and a skill that must be consciously taught. Problems often arise when people struggle to express empathy. Common problems include hurt feelings, miscommunication, bottling up emotions and even bullying.
<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">What is empathy and how is it different from sympathy?</h2>
Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.
Sympathy is defined as having pity or sorrow for another person.
Empathy is when you try to put yourself in someone else&rsquo;s shoes.
Empathy is a high level concept, but can be taught to children of every age.
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Researcher and speaker Bren&eacute; Brown has a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&amp;v=1Evwgu369Jw" target="new" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">great video</a>&nbsp;that plainly shows what empathy looks like.
<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">How can I teach empathy to young children?</h2>
The Golden Rule &ndash;&nbsp;It may sound silly but this is a great place to start. It&rsquo;s as simple has having a conversation with your students and asking them, &ldquo;If someone pinched you, how would you feel?&rdquo; or &ldquo;How would you feel if someone called you a name?&rdquo; Have them describe the feelings they would have in these situations to help them understand why they should treat others as they want to be treated. Use this&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&amp;v=9_1Rt1R4xbM" target="new" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">fun video from Sesame Street</a>&nbsp;to start the discussion.
Encouraging Acts of Kindness &ndash;&nbsp;Start the day by encouraging students to help one friend during the day. As the day closes, meet as a group and allow children to describe something nice they did for another person during the day. Ask them how that made them feel, and how they think it made the person that they helped feel. We all know that young kids rarely do anything unless it makes them feel good; help them recognize the positive reinforcement they get from showing kindness. If kids can understand the positive feelings they received from being kind, they will want to do it more in the future.
<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">How can I teach older children about empathy and bullying?</h2>
Teach Students to Ask for Help &ndash;&nbsp;Students may be in the position of a bystander or victim and not know what to do. Fear and hopelessness may quickly set in and further halt these students from seeking help. Open the doors for more conversation by simply teaching the skill of how to ask for help. When you encourage students to ask for help, you encourage them to be willing to stand up to bullying and to no longer accept it as a norm. Get more tips on teaching kids to stand-up as a bystander from the author of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boystownpress.org/the-power-of-bystanders/" target="new" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">The Power of Bystanders</a>, Kip Jones.
Teach Accepting Differences &ndash;&nbsp;Oftentimes bullying stems from a person&rsquo;s inability to accept anything or anyone that is different from their idea of normal. These students may need help finding common ground with other students, and learn when it&rsquo;s appropriate to comment on others&rsquo; differences. For example, these students may need to be taught that sometimes, silence is the best response, or &ldquo;If you can&rsquo;t say anything nice, do not say anything at all.&rdquo;
Teach Kids to Read Body Language &ndash;&nbsp;In most cases, those who &ldquo;bully&rdquo; have little regard for other people&rsquo;s feelings. They are focused on their own needs and desires. These students may need extra coaching on how to read others&rsquo; feelings through their facial expressions. They may need to be taught how to express empathy and then practice using empathetic statements. To help you facilitate learning for students grades 5-8, we have provided a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boystowntraining.org/assets/noroomforbullieslessonplan.pdf" target="new" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">free lesson plan</a>&nbsp;from&nbsp;<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/noroomforbullieslessonplan.pdf" target="new" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">No Room for Bullies: Lesson Plans for Grades 5-8</a>, available from Boys Town Press.
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #000000; font-family: source-sans-pro; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Teaching kids the skills needed to interact and build relationships is often overlooked when we think of bullying.

The Power of Empathy: Creating Connections

Teasing is a part of life. Sometimes it helps us, sometimes it hurts us. Some teachers feel strongly that their classrooms need to be TEASE-FREE ZONES, but teasing is not going away, and learning how to deal with teasing effectively is a life-long problem-solving skill. When approached the right way, the classroom can be the ideal place to teach that skill.
Teasing is a human social exchange that can be perceived as friendly, neutral or negative. The goal of productive teasing is to create closer relationships and make connections. Pro-social teasing helps to satisfy a fundamental human motivation -- to be an integral part of a group.
The benefits of teasing include:
<ul>
<li>It can be playful</li>
<li>Promotes social affiliations</li>
<li>Allows people to better deal with awkward situations</li>
<li>Helps to bring both the teaser and the person being teased closer together</li>
</ul>
Sometimes simple teasing can go too far. Teasing turns into bullying when kids use it to gain greater social status or when the intent of what is said or done is to harm. Teaching kids the difference between teasing and bullying can avoid hurt feelings, improve relationships and prevent an exchange from crossing the line into bullying. The best way to help your students deal with teasing is to teach them to understand it.

Here are somee helpful tips:
<ul>
<li>Define the differences between teasing and bullying with your students:</li>
<ul>
<li>Teasing creates stronger relationships while bullying damages relationships.</li>
<li>Teasing adds to your character as a person while bullying takes away from your character.</li>
<li>Teasing occurs between equals (age, power, intelligence, friendships) while bullying occurs between people who are unequal.</li>
<li>Teasing maintains dignity and respect toward a person while bullying is done to embarrass or hurt the feelings of a person.</li>
<li>Teasing may include harmless nicknames that the recipient also thinks are funny. Calling a person names that are derogatory or directed at his or her religion, ethnicity, speech, appearance, etc., is bullying.</li>
</ul>
<li>Teach your students how to tease and accept teasing through body language, laughter and sarcasm so that he or she can see the differences between a serious and joking interaction. Use examples of each from your past, and share them with your students.</li>
<li>Listen to your students without disagreement. If a child tells you that one of her classmates said her clothes are ugly, don&rsquo;t jump in to reassure the child that her clothes are beautiful. If you do that, you infer to her that she has been victimized. Instead listen carefully to what the child is telling you, and then work with her to come up with a plan to address this situation the next time it happens. (When the situation warrants, address the behavior with the person who made the negative statement.)</li>
<li>Teach your students how to effectively respond when teasing turns into bullying:
<ol>
<li>Remain calm, but serious.</li>
<li>Assertively ask the person to stop the bullying behavior.</li>
<li>If the behavior does not stop, ignore the person or remove yourself from the situation.</li>
<li>If the behavior stops, thank the other person for stopping and explain how the behavior is making you feel.</li>
<li>Report continued bullying or hazing to an adult at school or an adult at home that you can trust. If you don&rsquo;t want to tell him or her in person, write him or her a note. Signing your name on the note can be optional.</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ul>

Basically, what is boils down to, is teasing is just like math&hellip;
&ldquo;A MEAN tease bite is negative (-), and it takes away from your life. It divides you in half, and can even make you cry. Mean teasing is bullying, and it&rsquo;s not a good thing. The ones that do it are trying to be mean. 
It&rsquo;s a mean tease bite when it comes from someone who doesn&rsquo;t care about you and wants to embarrass you or make you feel bad on purpose.
A NICE tease bite is positive (+), and it adds to your life. It multiplies your strength and your voice that&rsquo;s inside. It can help you solve problems in humorous ways. It can get you through life on the not-so-great-days. 
A nice tease comes from someone who cares about you and would not want to hurt you or make you feel bad. Nice teases are good because they can help you build better relationships with other ones.&rdquo;
-Excerpt from Tease Monster by Julia Cook available from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boystownpress.org/?utm_source=boystowntraining.org&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=bullying_prevention2019&amp;utm_content=tease_monster_blog" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boys Town Press.</a>

Teaching Students the Difference Between Teasing and Bullying

Misconception: If my lesson is interesting and engaging enough, students will be so enamored and awed, they will not misbehave-at all.
Anyone who&rsquo;s spent considerable time in a classroom will probably chuckle at this. A friend of mine once said that she could be wearing a clown costume and juggling flaming batons and it wouldn&rsquo;t be enough to motivate and engage students. Research agrees. The National Council onTeacher Quality (NCTQ)1&nbsp;says that engaging academic lessons are not enough to create a well-managed classroom. Instead teachers should rely on research-based strategies. A good place to start is with what NCTQ calls The Big Five.
1. Rules: Establish and teach rules
2. Routines: Establish and teach routines
3. Praise: Reinforce and praise positive behavior
4. Misbehavior: Issue consequences for misbehavior
5. Engagement: Teach interesting lessons with student participation
Teacher preparation programs overwhelmingly focus on the 5th point-Engagement, but spend very little time preparing educators in the first four areas. Leaving teachers frustrated and students confused about behavioral expectations.
Let&rsquo;s apply what we know about evidence-based academic teaching strategies as outlined by The Australian Society for Evidence Based Teaching2&nbsp;and apply that to behavioral teaching:
1. Determine clear lesson goals:&nbsp;Clearly-defined lesson goals are more effective in driving student achievement than simply holding students to high expectations.3&nbsp;Decide exactly what you want students to know and use this to guide lesson design and delivery.
Behavioral implication:&nbsp;Clearly define your behavioral expectations for specific tasks students need to complete. This may include listening during instruction or your expectations when working in a group. Clearly describe the specific behaviors, or desired outcome, to students in terms of what you want to see, what you want to hear or what you want to receive. Describe behavior as if you are holding up a mirror.
2. Show and tell:&nbsp;Expectations for a lesson or concept must be accompanied by modeling concepts and behaviors. Show students exactly how they can be successful.
Behavioral implications:&nbsp;Teach students behavioral expectations through modeling, breaking down tasks and showing students exactly how you expect something to be done. Modeling is important not only during teaching of expectations but also in your own behavior and interactions with students and colleagues.
3. Check for understanding:&nbsp;During a lesson check for student understanding before moving on to next steps or concepts. Asking specific questions or doing practice problems is a great way to ensure students are understanding the lesson.
Behavioral implications:&nbsp;When reviewing behavioral expectations, check for students&rsquo; understanding. This might include: asking students to paraphrase the expectations, having a student model the behavior or having students explain the expectation to each other.
4. Summarize new learning in a graphic representation:&nbsp;Use graphic representations in addition to linguistic explanations to teach content. This is similar to the concept of show and tell.
Behavioral implications:&nbsp;To increase students&rsquo; use of desired behavior, try using graphic representations to convey expectations. This might include (but are not limited to): T-charts of correct and incorrect behaviors,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boystownpress.org/best-me-i-can-be-poster-set-14-posters/" target="new">posters</a>&nbsp;of what proper behavior looks like, for example a picture of what a listening body looks like, step by step instructions using icons to remind students how to perform certain routines or meet expectations.
5. Practice, especially over a spaced-out period of time:&nbsp;Student achievement is largely tied to student practice. When students correctly practice what has been taught during show and tell, it results in increased student understanding and use of skills. Practice is especially potent when used over time.
Behavioral implications:&nbsp;Giving students many opportunities over time to practice and demonstrate the desired behavior makes it more likely students will learn and exhibit the behavior when expected. Students can role-play, create posters or write stories to practice and demonstrate appropriate behavior. Practice also plays a key role when misbehavior occurs. Reteach any skills to help students meet behavioral expectations and have them practice during your corrective interaction.
6. Provide feedback:&nbsp;Providing feedback should include praise of what the student did well and providing any specific feedback on how they can improve.4
Behavioral implications:&nbsp;Providing behavioral feedback is almost identical to providing academic feedback. Even if a student did not meet the behavioral expectations, there is always something positive to praise. Follow this with a specific explanation of how students can meet expectations in the future.
7. Be flexible about how long it takes to learn:&nbsp;An important way to differentiate learning is to maintain the same learning goal while allowing students to practice the skill until they have mastered it. This is a central tenet of mastery learning.5
Behavioral implications: As teachers, we have a clear understanding of desired student behavior. While some students readily demonstrate appropriate learning behavior, others struggle. It&rsquo;s important that we don&rsquo;t lower our expectations for students but approach behavior as learning, just like academics. Some students need additional practice, time and feedback. Allowing for additional learning time provides students the opportunity to successfully meet expectations.
8. Get students working together (in a productive way):&nbsp;It&rsquo;s important to provide ample opportunities for students to work together, ensuring each student has a task so they can contribute to the final outcome.
Behavioral implications:&nbsp;When students work cooperatively, they are provided the opportunity to apply social skills, like working with others, staying on task, having a conversation, asking for help and using appropriate voice tone. Teaching and reminding students of the expected skills just before a cooperative activity and providing individual feedback during the activity allows students to practice the appropriate behavior in a safe and learning-focused environment.
9. Teach problem-solving strategies, not just content:&nbsp;Teaching content without problem-solving techniques confines students to using academic skills only in familiar contexts. Teaching students problem-solving strategies to tackle unknown situations and problems that might arise equips them with the necessary tools to be independently successful.
Behavioral implications:&nbsp;While it&rsquo;s important for students to be able to demonstrate compliance-based behaviors like following instructions, accepting criticism and accepting no, students must be able to problem-solve and navigate unknown social situations. Problem- solving skills may include how to regulate their emotions, how to advocate for themselves, how to disagree appropriately and how to use a social filter. These skills equip kids with the necessary tools to be better self-managers.
10. Nurture metacognition:&nbsp;Metacognition is not just applying problem-solving strategies but thinking about choices before acting and the possible consequences of those choices. Encourage metacognition by having students verbalize how they might tackle a problem, why they chose this strategy and how it might help them accomplish the goal.
Behavioral implications:&nbsp;When teaching social-emotional skills to students, having them discuss, write, draw or act out possible choices and outcomes before they try their solution allows for metacognition, encourages executive functioning and increases demonstration of positive behavior. Use problem-solving methods,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boystowntraining.org/assets/sodatechniques.pdf" target="new">SODAS</a>&nbsp;and POP, to help students with executive function and metacognition in the context of social and behavioral decisions.
So what to do next? Play to your strengths. Think about which of these strategies you excel at in an academic context. Think about how you might use those same strategies to effectively teach students how to manage their own behavior and the likely outcomes of applying those strategies to behavior. Consider how students&rsquo; behavioral learning might affect time-on-task and academic outcomes.

Greenberg, J., Putnam, H., &amp; Walsh, K. (2014). Training our Future Teachers: Classroom Management(pp. 1-54, Rep.). Washington, DC: National Council on Teacher Quality.
Killian, S. (2013, November 20). Top 10 Evidence Based Teaching Strategies. Retrieved August 7, 2017, from http://www.evidencebasedteaching.org.au/evidence-based-teaching-strategies/
Hattie, J. (2012). Visible Learning For Teachers. Routledge.
Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., &amp; Pollock, J. E. (n.d.). Classroom Instruction That Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Gusky, T. R., &amp; Gates, S. L. (1986). Synthesis of Research on the Effects of Mastery Learning in Elementary and Secondary Education. Educational Leadership,43(8), 73-80.

10 Tips for Teaching Students Positive Behavior

We are seeing today&rsquo;s kids using wireless devices at early ages to do everything from staying connected with family and friends to using applications for education and entertainment. According to Digital Information World, 65% of pre-teen kids, under the age of 13 own their own cell phone, 57% of kids use their phone mainly for gaming, and 42% of kids report spending 30+ hours a week on their phones.* This much access, use and dependence on technology at such early stages of development can have a negative impact on positive social development. It is estimated that 60 to 90 percent of communication is unspoken. Nonverbal communication expresses feelings and attitudes that may not match what is being said. Because so much of communication is nonverbal it is impossible to replicate through technology, we cannot learn emotions through emojis!
Kids need to have real-life experiences and opportunities to communicate and interact with people in the real world to develop the skills necessary to build and maintain healthy relationships. As parents and teachers, we can help cultivate positive social-emotional development if we follow the 3 C&rsquo;s: Communicate, Connect, Contribute.
Communicate:&nbsp;Set clear expectations about screen time and teach social skills that help kids develop real life communication skills. Basic skills to help kids communicate face-to-face include:&nbsp;<a href="/free-resources#lessonplans" target="new">Greeting Others</a>, <a href="/free-resources#lessonplans" target="new">Having a Conversation</a>,&nbsp;<a href="/free-resources#lessonplans" target="new">Listening</a>,&nbsp;<a href="/free-resources#lessonplans" target="new">Working with Others</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="/free-resources#lessonplans" target="new">Disagreeing</a>. These skills provide the foundation for kids to develop healthy relationships off-line. Click the links provided for FREE social skill lesson plans.
Connect:&nbsp;Once we communicate these skills with kids, we need to provide opportunities for them to practice these skills and connect in real life. As educators, we can practice Greeting Others and Having a Conversation as kids enter our building/classroom. This helps us connect with students and build relationships. There are many opportunities during the school day for kids to practice Working with Others and Listening. Another great way to connect with kids and practice social skills is through board games. Kids love board games! Playing board games together provides opportunities to practice Listening, Having a Conversation, Working with Others and even Disagreeing! Check out a BRAND NEW&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boystownpress.org/but-what-if-they-had-a-social-studies-social-skills-card-game/?utm_source=boystowntraining.org&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=emojis_blog&amp;utm_content=CardGame" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social skills card game</a>&nbsp;from the Boys Town Press!
Here are a couple of examples of greeting students at the door that we love:
<a href="https://www.edutopia.org/video/making-connections-greetings-door" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Making Connections with Greetings at the Door</a>
<a href="https://www.theglueedu.com/blog/2017/7/16/3-h-greetings-and-goodbyes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3H Greetings and Goodbyes</a>
Contribute:&nbsp;As kids experience positive they develop the confidence to actively participate and contribute in real life situations. When kids feel they can actively contribute and make a difference they develop resiliency, hope and a positive outlook. Everyone wants to feel that they are valuable and make contribute something in relationships and socially. We can create opportunities for kids to contribute in our classrooms, homes and communities leading to a healthy sense of self-confidence and belonging.
Technology will never be able to replace vital ingredients to human development and healthy relationships. A reliance on relationships built in cyber-space will never fill that innate desire to connect with another human being. We can help kids be successful in real-life interactions when we Communicate the social skills they need to be able to Connect and Contribute.
*https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2019/07/kids-cell-phone-use-survey-2019-truth-about-kids-phones.html

Emotions, Not Emojis: Closing the Communication Gap with Social Skills

Creating relationships with my students is important. Many of my students have hard lives.
I know the effects of poverty and trauma and want to be sensitive to my students&rsquo; experiences.
My students earn positive rewards. I want to &ldquo;fill them up&rdquo; and build our relationship. But some students have disruptive behaviors. I&rsquo;m told to use consequences. Should I really take away rewards they&rsquo;ve earned?
But I love my students. I know the effects of poverty and trauma and want to be sensitive to my students&rsquo; experiences. I want to create, not erode Student/Teacher relationships.
How do I reconcile all these principles that at times seem to oppose each other?
What do I do?
I need a road map and a plan.
<ul>
<ul>
<li>Lead with love and lean heavily on empathy.</li>
</ul>
</ul>

<ul>
<ul>
<li>Build relationships by being predictable and consistent.&nbsp;Children learn best from those with whom they have a positive relationship. This is just one protective factor that helps mitigate the effects of risk factors.</li>
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<ul>
<ul>
<li>Recognize that all moments are an opportunity to teach. Our students need intentional teaching.&nbsp;Many have hard lives. Plus, they&rsquo;re children. They&rsquo;re developing and learning (positive and negative) lessons all the time. We do students no favors by stopping after love, empathy, and relationships. Someday students will be set free in the world. And navigating the world is difficult. They need instruction- from us- on how best to do so. Lead by example and modeling.&nbsp;Treat colleagues, students, families, and community members how we want students to treat others. Lead by example and modeling. Do so out of having a heart for kids. Directly teach&nbsp;students skills and behaviors they need to be successful in and out of school. Do so out of having a heart for kids. Explicitly teach pro-social life skills and behaviors.&nbsp;A trauma-informed model recognizes when students are using &ldquo;functional behavior&rdquo;- behavior that has served a purpose in one area of their life but is not necessarily adaptive. (Think about a student who argues when told no. Often arguing is the most successful way they&rsquo;ve gotten adults in their life to listen to their point of view.) Use explicit instruction to teach students what to do when they&rsquo;re&hellip;told no, given an instruction, are rejected by a classmate, etc. Teaching students coping skills.&nbsp;Many students have experienced trauma and struggle interacting with others and/or making positive choices for themselves. Life can feel overwhelming and they might express their big emotions and frustration in a variety of maladaptive ways. Teach students calming and coping skills to help them be successful at school and life. Do so out of having a heart for kids.</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>Consequences are important. Use positive consequences - especially praise.&nbsp;A Consequence is the outcome of a behavior, which influences whether or not that behavior is likely to occur again in the future. Praise is the most powerful positive consequence. what they&rsquo;re doing well. Tell them with your words, show them with your facial expressions and body language. Have students praise each other. We do children no favor if they get our attention more from undesired choices than from desired choices. Use positive consequences, especially praise. Do so out of having a heart for kids. Correct students.&nbsp;Lead with love and empathy. All moments are an opportunity to teach. We do children no favor if we allow them to continue negative behavior without correcting them. Teach children we care enough about them to not let them behave in maladaptive ways and that we care enough to teach them a better way. Children learn all the time and it&rsquo;s imperative that they learn skills and strategies that will help them to be successful in school and in life. We correct in many ways: the look, the head nod, a quiet conversation to talk about a better way next time, redoing/undoing, and more. All are corrections. All are meant to teach a better way, not to harm. We correct children with the hope that the behavior reduces over time, which means they serve as a negative consequence. Correct children. Do so out of having a heart for kids. Use negative consequences.&nbsp;Negative consequences are an outcome that a child will work to avoid. This might include a short quiet conversation to talk about returning what was taken, temporarily moving to a different seat, losing a reward point, redo/undo, and more. Lead with love and empathy. All moments are an opportunity to teach. We do children no favor if we save them from negative consequences because life has negative consequences and we are teaching them to navigate successfully. (If I speed in my car, I pay a ticket, losing money I earned. Choices have outcomes.) Use negative consequences. Do so out of having a heart for kids.</li>
</ul>
All are methods of teaching- being a role model, direct skill teaching, using positive consequences- especially praise, using negative consequences, correcting children, and teaching of coping skills. We can&rsquo;t only understand that students have hard lives. We have to teach them how to navigate through. We are teachers. That&rsquo;s our game. We teach, reinforce pro-social skills, correct maladaptive skills, use positive consequences- especially praise, use negative consequences- sometimes letting students know they&rsquo;ve lost a reward, and re-teach pro-social skills and behaviors. Because that&rsquo;s what builds resiliency in our students. In the words of Carol Dweck, &ldquo;Create hearty kids.&rdquo;
<a href="https://content.liftwithboystown.org/posts/blog-pdfs/relationships-and-consequences.pdf">Download our Relationships &amp; Consequences Roadmap for a quick reminder to post in the classroom.</a>

Building Relationships and Using Consequences in the Classroom

23 of your 27 students are at their desk working quietly. Occasionally, one of them raises his or her hand with a question. But then there are the other four... Mike is wandering up and down the aisles... Kristin has been sharpening the same pencil for 5 minutes... Chris has his head down on his desk... Sabrina is practically falling out of her chair trying to get your attention&hellip; and this most likely represents a good day.
Creating a classroom environment where everyone can learn, while also addressing the individual needs of each student, is not easy. You are constantly thinking about praising students, prompting desired behavior from individual students, maintaining behavior charts and addressing on-going negative behavior. All the while, you are also trying to manage the entire classroom.
Have no fear. Balancing this all while maintaining your sanity is possible.
1.&nbsp;Teach students classroom routines&nbsp;&ndash; Clear, consistent routines reduce chaos and make it more likely that students will be self-sufficient and behave as expected. Have routines for entering &amp; exiting the classroom, conducting lunch count, completing morning work/bellwork, sharpening any pencils, getting necessary supplies, etc.&nbsp;<a href="/free-resources#webinars">Watch our FREE webinar</a>&nbsp;for more tips.
2.&nbsp;Greet students at the door&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17624071/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A study from Allan Allday &amp; Kerri Pakurar</a>&nbsp;showed that greeting students at the door increased engagement and assisted students in getting on-task faster. Greeting students at the door allows you to have contact with each and every student and to gauge how they are doing that particular day &ndash; before class even begins! This short moment each day is a great way to build relationships.
3.&nbsp;Check in on students who seem a little &ldquo;out of sorts&rdquo; that day&nbsp;&ndash; Another benefit of greeting students at the door is that you will immediately know if students seem a little different than normal. Take the time to check in with those students individually during bellwork. Being proactive shows students you care about their well-being and can prevent problems from arising later in the day.
4.&nbsp;Circulate throughout the room&nbsp;&ndash; Proximity and engagement with students has also been shown to increase on-task behavior. Circulate during whole-class instruction to increase engagement. During group or independent work time, circulating the classroom will increase on-task behavior and improve learning. This will allow you to monitor students and interact with them individually. This is a key step in working to better meet students&rsquo; individual needs.
5.&nbsp;Have individual conversations with students&nbsp;&ndash; As you circulate, interact individually with students: smile, offer help, praise or redirect. Most importantly, talk quietly so only the student you&rsquo;re addressing can hear you. Talking loudly to the whole class while addressing one student encourages others to stop doing their own work and listen. Having quiet, individual conversations with students ensures the rest of the class stays on-task. Doing so teaches students that you can have individual conversations with students without making them a big deal. This makes individual correction much easier and more personal.
6.&nbsp;Praise more than you correct&nbsp;&ndash; Students don&rsquo;t care what you know until they know that you care. They are more likely to try hard and take risks when their efforts are recognized and praised more than they are corrected. When we praise purposefully more than we correct, we create a positive environment in which students feel safe to learn and take chances.
7.&nbsp;Begin correction with praise or empathy- Beginning correction with praise or empathy &ldquo;disarms&rdquo; students, so to speak. It communicates that this is merely a conversation, not a confrontation, making students more likely to accept correction.
When these structures and skills are in place, the classroom can function without the teacher running around playing whack-a-mole with student behaviors and constantly having to micromanage students. This can free the teacher up to circulate and facilitate while managing the entire classroom. Students also learn to manage their own behavior and be more empathetic and understanding when you need to spend extra time to assist their classmates.