Eatonville School District
Teaching & Learning
January 6, 2021
Some thoughts
In case you need to hear it: Students are not falling behind. They are surviving a pandemic. Educators: you are not behind. You are also surviving a pandemic! And THANK YOU for every ounce you give.
"Only if a child feels right can he think right."~Hiam Ginott
"You can't teach children to behave better by making them feel worse. When children feel better they behave better." ~ Pam Leo
Welcome Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got this!
Let me know how your Novak Classes are going.
Diane
Novak Classes
Ashley Thibodeau
Novak Educational Consulting
NovakEducation.com
781-375-5581
WA K-12 COVID-19 Learning Loss
In October 2020, Challenge Seattle and the Washington Roundtable initiated a study on learning loss in Washington state with a three-fold purpose:
1. Document the existing research on COVID-induced learning loss and its impacts on students
2. Identify evidence-based strategies to halt the accumulation of learning loss, and then accelerate recovery
3. Broadly socialize and gather input on those strategies from key K-12 stakeholders throughout Washington state.
Click on the picture for more information.
10 Things About Childhood Trauma Every Teacher Needs to know
TOPIC: Supporting Students,Teacher PD
Brought to you by Starr Commonwealth
Break through trauma and the barriers to learning with 10 Steps to Create a Trauma-Informed Resilient School. Learn more and look inside the book.
With grief, sadness is obvious. With trauma, the symptoms can go largely unrecognized because they mimic other problems: frustration; acting out; or difficulty concentrating, following directions, or working in a group. Students are often misdiagnosed with anxiety, behavior disorders, or attention disorders rather than understood to have trauma that drives those symptoms and reactions.
For children who have experienced trauma, learning can be a big struggle. But once trauma is identified as the root of the behavior, we can adapt our approach to help kids cope when they’re at school. Starr Commonwealth Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Caelan Soma offers these tips for understanding kids who have been through trauma and the strategies that can help them.
1. Kids who have experienced trauma aren’t trying to push your buttons.
If a child is having trouble with transitions or turning in a folder at the beginning of the day, remember that children may be distracted because of a situation at home that causes them to worry. Instead of reprimanding students when they are late or forget their homework, affirm and accommodate them by establishing a visual cue or verbal reminder to help that child. “Switch your mindset and remember the kid who has experienced trauma is not trying to push your buttons,” says Soma.
2. Kids who have been through trauma worry about what’s going to happen next.
A daily routine in the classroom can be calming, so try to provide structure and predictability whenever possible. Since words may not sink in for children who go through trauma, they need other sensory cues, says Soma. Besides explaining how the day will unfold, have signs or a storyboard that shows which activity—math, reading, lunch, recess, etc.—the class will do and when.
3. Even if the situation doesn’t seem that bad to you, it’s how the child feels that matters.
Try not to judge the childhood trauma. As caring teachers, we may unintentionally project that a situation isn’t really that bad, but how the child feels about the stress is what matters most. “We have to remember it’s the perception of the child. […] The situation is something they have no control over, feeling that their life or safety is at risk,” says Soma. It may not be a singular event but rather the culmination of chronic stress—for example, a child who lives in poverty may worry about the family being able to pay rent on time, keep their jobs, or have enough food. Those ongoing stressors can cause trauma. “Anything that keeps our nervous system activated for longer than four to six weeks is defined as post-traumatic stress,” says Soma.
4. Trauma isn’t always associated with violence.
Trauma is often associated with violence, but kids can also suffer trauma from a variety of situations—like divorce, a move, or being overscheduled or bullied. “All kids, especially in this day and age, experience extreme stress from time to time,” says Soma. “It is more common than we think.”
5. You don’t need to know the cause of trauma to be able to help.
Instead of focusing on the specifics of a traumatic situation, concentrate on the support you can give children who are suffering. “Stick with what you are seeing now—the hurt, the anger, the worry,” Soma says, rather than getting every detail of the child’s story. Privacy is a big issue in working with students suffering from trauma, and schools often have a confidentiality protocol that teachers must follow. You don’t have to dig deep into the trauma to be able to effectively respond with empathy and flexibility.
6. Kids who experience trauma need to feel they’re good at something and can influence the world.
Find opportunities that allow kids to set and achieve goals, and they’ll feel a sense of mastery and control, suggests Soma. Assign them jobs in the classroom that they can do well or let them be a peer helper to someone else. “It is very empowering,” says Soma. “Set them up to succeed and keep that bar in the zone where you know they are able to accomplish it and move forward.” Rather than saying a student is good at math, find experiences to let them feel it. Because trauma is such a sensory experience, kids need more than encouragement—they need to feel their worth through concrete tasks.
7. There’s a direct connection between stress and learning.
When kids are stressed, it’s tough for them to learn. Create a safe, accepting environment in your classroom by letting children know you understand their situation and support them. “Kids who have experienced trauma have difficulty learning unless they feel safe and supported,” says Soma. “The more the teacher can do to make the child less anxious and have the child focus on the task at hand, the better the performance you are going to see out of that child. There is a direct connection between lowering stress and academic outcomes.”
8. Self-regulation can be a major challenge for students suffering from trauma.
Some kids with trauma grow up with emotionally unavailable parents. The result is the inability to self-soothe, so they may develop distracting behaviors and have trouble staying focused for long periods. To help them cope, you can schedule regular brain breaks. Tell the class at the beginning of the day when there will be breaks—for free time, to play a game, or to stretch. “If you build it in before the behavior gets out of whack, you set the child up for success,” says Soma. A child may be able to make it through a 20-minute block of work if they know there will be a break to recharge before the next task.
9. It’s OK to ask kids point-blank what you can do to help them make it through the day.
For all students with trauma, you can ask them directly what you can do to help. They may ask to listen to music with headphones or put their head on their desk for a few minutes. Soma says, “We have to step back and ask them, ‘How can I help? Is there something I can do to make you feel even a little bit better?'”
10. You can support kids with trauma even when they’re outside your classroom.
Loop in the larger school. Share trauma-informed strategies with all staff—from bus drivers to parent volunteers to crossing guards. Remind everyone: “The child is not his or her behavior,” says Soma. “Typically there is something underneath that driving that to happen, so be sensitive. Ask yourself, ‘I wonder what’s going on with that kid?’ rather than saying, ‘What’s wrong with the kid?’ That’s a huge shift in the way we view
For Your Information
This is a courtesy notice from the Professional Certification Office.
Our office has some exciting news to share! OSPI's E-Certification will begin accepting clock hours transmitted electronically from participating approved clock hour providers in January 2021. Certificated individuals will be able to utilize this new feature and may have questions that arise. Our office wants to share with you the process and what to expect.
OSPI has chosen to use pdEnroller as a proof of concept participant for this program. OSPI will be looking to further expand this new service to additional approved clock hour providers in the future.
Until now, educators had to manually input their clock hour certification data into several separate systems including pdEnroller and E-Certification. A recent software update developed within E-Certification allows for transcript data entered in pdEnroller to be automatically updated in the user’s E-Certification account. This streamlined process benefits certificate holders by making the clock hour certification process more seamless and less time consuming for users, as manual entry of pdEnroller data is no longer necessary.
Clock hours earned through pdEnroller will be automatically uploaded to E-Certification the day after attendance is posted. Individuals will no longer need to enter clock hours from pdEnroller.
Individuals who earned clock hours outside of pdEnroller, are still responsible for submitting clock hours to E-Certification directly. This change only affects pdEnroller clock hours reported to OSPI. It does not change local school district clock hour reporting.
There is no additional cost for the automatic clock hour reporting from pdEnroller to the user’s E-Certification account. In order to qualify, the clock hours must be earned. Earned clock hours will have appeared on the individuals pdEnroller transcript. pdEnroller will be reporting clock hours earned from July 1, 2015, forward. If an individual has already logged such clock hours, they will display highlighted in their professional development section of their E-Certification account as a duplicate entry. Our office recommends that users verify the automatic clock hour entries are correct and accurate.
Educators must have an active Educational Data System (EDS) E-Certification account in order to have their clock hours earned through pdEnroller automatically reported. If an individual is unsure if they have set-up their EDS E-Certification account or are having issues logging in, please encourage them to contact the Professional Certification Office to avoid creating duplicate accounts.
Visit pdEnroller's Website with additional guidance on this update, as well as contact information and an FAQ section for reference.
If you have any additional questions, please contact the Professional Certification Office at 360-725-6400 or cert@k12.wa.us
Check out these other Learning Opportunities
Here are some other Professional Development Courses
**These are not paid by the district.
Digital Do Nows
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SGa1fQB9qS3BJua38jeRhPsPfxIa8bMY/view?usp=sharing