Leveraging the Power of SEL as You Prepare to Reopen (Dr. Tim Shriver)

August 28, 2020

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Just as children grow academically from year to year, their emotional world is also continuously evolving. Grounding instructional practices with an understanding of social development has never been more crucial for positive academic and health outcomes.

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00:00Thank you so much Greg and think I'm so
00:03glad that everyone can join us today.
00:07I'm really pleased to be able to host this
00:09web and R and the only thing better would
00:12be to be together with all of you in person.
00:14As Greg told you on the child study center,
00:17I in Scholastic has come
00:19together in a collaborative.
00:21We're actually similarly aged institutions.
00:23The child study center has
00:24been around since 1911,
00:26very much devoted to children and
00:28families and to the community,
00:30and to making things better for
00:32children and families in the community.
00:35My own career is as a pediatrician
00:37Ann Berry and I would say that
00:39the partnership and the work with
00:41the collaborative is one of the
00:43most special things either.
00:45My personally,
00:46I've been involved in,
00:47but also for the child study center.
00:50As Greg mentioned,
00:51the dark collaborative and this symposium
00:53has changed focus tremendously because
00:55of all the things that have happened.
00:58We came together around literacy
01:00and resilience,
01:01but now these tremendous tragedies
01:03and stressors that are affecting our
01:05nation and all of our communities
01:07at the most basic level, the virus,
01:10the virus of racial racism.
01:12A man.
01:13All the challenges that are still before us,
01:16including the uncertainty about
01:17reopening schools have shifted our focus
01:20for the collaborative an shifted our
01:21focus for the work that we will do,
01:23and we know where we hope that
01:25these are the questions that you
01:27are also also foremost on your
01:29minds that we can learn together.
01:32This is not going to be a
01:34symposium full of answers.
01:37As I said,
01:38part of this pandemic and pandemics is
01:40the massive uncertainty all around us,
01:43but we hope to bring together good thinkers,
01:46people that are thinking seriously
01:48kindly about these matters and also
01:51hear from you about what are the
01:54things that you're struggling with.
01:56We will call your attention that
01:58we do have a digital planner.
01:59I'm in other resources at a link
02:02that you'll we will send to you.
02:04And we invite your participation
02:06through a Q and a box and that
02:08you'll also learn how to use,
02:10but also your participation in ongoing.
02:12Why part of what has shaped
02:14this collaborative?
02:15This really venture together between
02:17Scholastic and the child study
02:19center is hearing from everyone
02:20in the field hearing from people
02:22that are working on the ground
02:24with children and families.
02:25It shapes what we do and we
02:28want to learn from you.
02:31I could talk more and more about the
02:33collaborative and a very special
02:35ways that we work together,
02:37but another special time Mr.
02:39Introduced him Shriver.
02:40You have Tim's bio in the materials,
02:42but just to say that Tim is a longtime
02:45friend and colleague at the child
02:47study center and now of the collaborative.
02:50I hope perhaps he will even tell
02:53you some of that history.
02:56But in most impactful is his work
02:58with Special Olympics and
03:00his work around social,
03:01emotional learning for children and Families.
03:03Something that is so important now.
03:06I can tell you that Tim at his at
03:09his roots and in every ounce of his
03:12body and being he cares deeply about
03:14children about their well being and
03:17about the education of children around
03:19the country and around the world.
03:22It's really very special to have
03:24Tim Shriver with us at anytime,
03:26but especially at this time.
03:28So let me turn it over to
03:30Tim. Thank you, thank you,
03:32Linda, and thank you Greg.
03:34I'm thrilled to be joining this symposium.
03:37Greg has the look of a professional
03:39and he's got his jacket on
03:40his appropriate background,
03:42so he's a step ahead of me.
03:44I'm just in a traditional zoom working
03:46outfit here and of course to be in the
03:48presence of the director of the Yale
03:50Child Study Center as a colleague.
03:52This is as close as I'll ever
03:54get to being a professor,
03:56and it's a It's a thrill,
03:57and Linda was gracious and not naming
04:00the number of years at which four
04:02during which I've been a student
04:04of hers and a student of so many
04:06people at the child study center.
04:08I'll say a little bit more about that.
04:10But just to recognize that in this
04:13collaboration you we have an extension,
04:15one of the great pioneering gifts of
04:17the child study center over the century.
04:19Plus that it's been in business,
04:22and that is the power of
04:24integration initially,
04:24as I understand it,
04:25at least the child study center was
04:27created because Pediatrics and child
04:29psychiatry and child development
04:31and Family Support Services.
04:32They were all separate,
04:34and once you got into the medical system,
04:36families were removed,
04:37parents were removed,
04:38the social and emotional needs of children
04:41will remove the practical challenges.
04:43Of raising children were removed and
04:45all these ideas were were forced.
04:48We force children to become
04:50kind of scientific laboratories.
04:52The child study center forced
04:54us to come together.
04:56Invited new kinds of pioneering
04:58research challenged us to think about
05:00education and family, life and medicine,
05:03and psychiatry and child development,
05:05social work, psychology, sports,
05:07recreation, health law enforcement.
05:09Look at them from a holistic POV,
05:12so this collaboration.
05:13In my view,
05:15is yet another pioneering advance
05:17in the work of the integration
05:19of the needs of children in in
05:21the in the world of adults.
05:23If I can put it that way,
05:26so I'm thrilled to be here.
05:28I spent my first year as a fellow
05:30at the child study center in 1984,
05:33and it was even before then.
05:35I've been studying a little bit
05:37with Doctor Al Sol net and looking
05:40at the Child Support systems
05:41in the state of Connecticut.
05:43So anyway,
05:44we've been working and collaborating.
05:46I've been learning.
05:47From this community for a long,
05:48long time,
05:49and it has changed the course
05:51of my career and I would dare
05:52say the course of my life.
05:54So I'm thrilled to be here
05:56to try to contribute now,
05:57not just as a student,
05:58but in some ways to share back.
06:00Much of what I've learned over the years.
06:02So thank you, Linda,
06:03and thank you Greg and thank you.
06:05All the folks who organized
06:07this count and so many others.
06:08And thanks all of you who joined.
06:10I know that you've got a million
06:12things and there's back to back
06:14zoom life and people are in schools
06:15already and the pressure is on.
06:17So to have those of you who were able
06:20to join today live where I'm thrilled,
06:22and I hope this will provide some
06:25support for those of you who were
06:27able to watch it on recording as well.
06:30So let me dive right into it.
06:31If we can go to my first slide.
06:35You know, we started to plan
06:37this event a few weeks ago,
06:39right in the moments around which the
06:41country was celebrating. John Lewis.
06:44And I thought to open with congressman
06:47Luis this Time magazine cover and I just
06:50want to invite all of us to just spend a
06:54moment in the presence of this presence.
06:57These eyes this face this
07:01expression this life.
07:04Uh, and maybe dwell just for a moment
07:06if we can gather ourselves a little
07:09bit into this space on these words
07:11that he spoke so many years ago.
07:14You cannot be afraid.
07:16To speak up or and speak out
07:19for what for what you believe.
07:22You have to have courage raw courage.
07:26To do what you believe.
07:29And I just want to invite all of us to
07:32maybe draw inward just for a moment.
07:34On the word raw. Courage.
07:38Like you to think a little
07:40bit about your own journey.
07:42To the principles to the values to the
07:47convictions that you believe in most deeply.
07:52Ann wonder maybe for a moment
07:53as we look at John Lewis,
07:55how do you see?
07:57How does one of us see like he saw how?
08:01How do we find raw courage in this moment?
08:05Because I would say that educators
08:07are at the central nexos of the
08:09future of the country right now,
08:11probably more than ever.
08:14And we're being told a lot about
08:16what the issues are to be.
08:18Politics is the issue, opening,
08:19not opening as the issue.
08:21Even I would dare say Covid is the issue.
08:25I would venture to invite us to say
08:27that none of those are the issue.
08:30Children are the issue. Same.
08:34Yes, somebody interrupted children are.
08:39Our our issue I'm hearing
08:41some background noise,
08:42but let me just continue.
08:44So if we go to the next slide you know
08:48people might say that John Lewis was angry.
08:52Yeah, John Lewis had agency.
08:54John Lewis was a man of action and I would
08:56invent invite you all now just for a moment.
08:59We don't have time.
09:00We can't do this unfortunately interactively.
09:02But what do you believe in right now?
09:05Maybe just take out a piece of paper,
09:07a word or two?
09:08A clause.
09:09I invite you to do this practically
09:11because putting yourself in the game
09:14right now is as important as anything
09:16you want to think about children.
09:18So what do you believe in right now
09:20that's important to you and maybe
09:22just make a note under that clause.
09:24Who do you share that with?
09:26Who's in your circle who you trust with
09:30that which you believe in most deeply?
09:33And maybe one more tick here.
09:35One more move. How could you show courage?
09:40Right now.
09:42In speaking out in pursuit of that belief.
09:46Want to invite you just for a moment
09:48to dwell on this and I'm going
09:50to be quiet just for about 10 or
09:5215 seconds and I invite you to,
09:54as I say, practically speaking,
09:56if you are comfortable right down if you can.
09:59You ran. Answers.
10:02Your belief your connections.
10:05Your path to showing courage.
10:18So of course, if we work together,
10:20we could have some quick dyads and maybe
10:22a hand would go up and I invite you
10:24to use the chat if you're comfortable
10:27sharing any reactions you have to
10:29this or questions come up for you.
10:31It's too bad we can have good rich
10:33conversation on these matters,
10:34but let's go to the next slide
10:36and let me pivot now to what I
10:39think is the agenda for today,
10:41which is you've just participated.
10:43In a learning exercise that
10:45promoted all of these, your social,
10:47your emotional and your academic development.
10:49Because you had to go inward in
10:52that little exercise to discover
10:55something that you believe in deeply.
10:57So this invited you to the exercise of
11:02self awareness of internal self knowing
11:05of drawing back from distraction.
11:09I also asked you to name someone
11:11you could share this with,
11:13so I invited you to connect to
11:15develop the social relationships
11:16that would empower you to go from
11:19what you believe deeply to a sense
11:21of agency and connection to others.
11:23Team building.
11:24And I asked you to also think
11:28about what you could do,
11:30which is the pivot towards task towards
11:33plan towards goal in our strength,
11:35social connection, task orientation,
11:37that little exercise.
11:39In my view, or at least,
11:41I think in the view of the child
11:44development to list in each of us
11:46helps us to see how these are related,
11:49how the emotional self awareness,
11:51the social connection and the
11:53academic or cognitive or task
11:55part of life are all linked.
11:56And when we bring them together when we
11:59synchronize them in learning experiences,
12:01we activate learners in a way that
12:03is far beyond what we might have
12:06thought of as an academic exercise.
12:08Let's keep going next slide,
12:10so this is,
12:11as Greg said at the outset of his,
12:14Linda has echoed a really
12:17difficult time to be a child.
12:20We have political division.
12:22We have health based division.
12:24We have raced based division.
12:27We have fear based division and
12:30none of it is good for children.
12:34None of it is good for children.
12:36As much as we might believe
12:38in our political perspective,
12:39as much as we might believe in our
12:41perspective on the covid crisis,
12:43as much as we might believe in our
12:46own perspectives on all of these
12:48challenges that our countries facing.
12:50To be hateful and divided and angry
12:53at others is not good for children.
12:56Now this data you see on this slide,
12:59the overwhelming anxiety and children at
13:02the high school and the college level.
13:05The sense of feeling isolated and
13:07that continues on into adulthood.
13:09The rampant rates of addiction,
13:11depression, suicidal, ideations,
13:12even people taking their own lives.
13:15This is all symptomatic.
13:16Of what our children viscerally
13:18are feeling right now.
13:20I know I'm talking to educators.
13:22I don't need to tell you this.
13:24You see it in your children.
13:26You see it in your students.
13:28Maybe you even see it in your
13:30peers and in
13:31your own families.
13:32But it's important for us to be honest.
13:35About the toll that this,
13:37that all these stressors are taking
13:39on children, because as I said,
13:41we're not here to talk about health care
13:43practice when I'm not an expert on that.
13:46I'm not an expert on politics.
13:48God knows I'm not an expert
13:49on cultural division,
13:50but I hope we all see ourselves
13:53as experts on children.
13:54And this is the context in which children are
13:57growing up and coming back to us in school.
13:59Let's keep going. Next slide.
14:01Now I wrote this book of quick digression.
14:04I wrote this book a few years ago,
14:06fully alive and one of the struggles
14:08of writing a book is trying to
14:10go on a book tour.
14:11I was on a book tour and I was in a
14:14small hotel down in a southern state.
14:16I won't name it 'cause I'm hoping.
14:18Maybe some folks are on the call
14:20and I got in the elevator to go up
14:22to the mezzanine where the little
14:24book function was taking place and
14:25I was all stressed out and there's
14:27a guy in the elevator with Big 10
14:30gallon hat and blue jeans and a
14:31silver belt buckle and cowboy boots.
14:33And I push the button for the magazine.
14:35The thing goes up and he looks
14:37over at me and he goes.
14:38Anyone ever tell you you look like a Kennedy?
14:42And I was, you know, stressed out.
14:45You know,
14:45I wasn't thinking about it obviously was
14:48short elevator ride and the door open.
14:50I said, You know, I've heard that before.
14:53And as I turned to walk out, he said,
14:56well, that must really piss you off a.
15:00Now I mentioned the story to give
15:03a little humanity.
15:05To how divided we are?
15:09In that little interaction.
15:12A particular kind of an appearance
15:14of particular kind of her, I guess.
15:18Led this gentleman to see he's a good.
15:21I'm sure he's a fine person.
15:23I'm not picking on him but let him
15:26to see someone who he assumed.
15:29Had certain points of view,
15:31certain perspectives, certain ideas.
15:33And at some level to judge me
15:36or to judge what I represented
15:38just based on a snap appearance.
15:43Now, with all due respect to this guy.
15:47Uh. The point I want to make is we
15:50do this all the time to each other.
15:53And right now we're doing
15:56it at a toxic level.
15:58We're judging and we're getting each
16:01other wrong over and over and over again.
16:05And it's an epidemic that is a
16:08cancer on the educational process.
16:11And on the life and development of children,
16:13let's go to the next slide.
16:15Years ago Jim Comer in the 4th floor
16:20of the Yale Child Study Center asked
16:23me this question on my first week.
16:26As a fellow there in child development.
16:29He said, Tim, you're studying education.
16:32Do you know the difference between
16:35these two shapes?
16:36In the eyes of a child.
16:38And I was exhausting my understanding.
16:40I was thinking through my theories
16:42and John Dewey and Vygotsky,
16:43and all these different Maria Montessori
16:45trying to come up with the right answer.
16:47And he said,
16:49you all of your answers are wrong.
16:52The difference between these two
16:54shapes in the eyes of a child.
16:56Our that shaped one has an adult that
17:00cares about the child understanding it.
17:04The shapes themselves have no intrinsic
17:07difference in the eye of the child,
17:10but shaped one has an adult.
17:14That cares about it and cares
17:16about the child knowing it.
17:18So the child is alive with
17:20desire to understand shape one
17:22if that relationship is strong.
17:24And so he told me in one simple exercise,
17:29the teaching and learning isn't
17:31supported by relationships.
17:33Teaching and learning isn't helped.
17:35By mentoring or tutoring or
17:38supportive outside connections.
17:39Teaching and learning is a relationship.
17:44And his point he went on to say was
17:47that when it came to children of color.
17:50The relationships had been so damaged by
17:54UN welcoming adults by unwelcome in cultures,
17:58unwelcoming systems,
17:59judgmental human beings.
18:01Imagine the idea, the audacity,
18:03the absolute absurdity.
18:07Of school systems.
18:08Adults who expected children to bond to
18:11them even though they were on welcoming,
18:14judgmental and oppressive.
18:17And his point was that children of
18:19color were coming into the mainstream,
18:22treated negatively oppressively
18:23and Judgmentally,
18:24and then blamed for it.
18:27Because the relationships
18:30amongst the educators.
18:32Were so damaged and so
18:35oblivious to development,
18:36so oblivious to connection,
18:38so oblivious, to love and support,
18:42and challenge.
18:43That we educators had done so much damage.
18:49Buy at first not understanding
18:51the power of relationship.
18:52Second,
18:52not addressing the oppressive nature
18:54of the relationships we were bringing
18:57to children of color and then
18:58third blaming the children for it.
19:03And so in this basic framework,
19:05he challenged me and I hope a generation
19:08of educators to shift our focus from
19:10judging children to welcoming children
19:12to shift our focus from finding the rule,
19:15reasons why children and families don't
19:18fit to understanding that development
19:20is the process of helping them to fit.
19:23And redoubling our efforts to
19:25integrating the social connections,
19:27the emotional development,
19:29the cognitive growth in one structure
19:33of learning that we bring together.
19:37If we go to the next slide,
19:39doctor Comer wrote,
19:40has been writing about this topic,
19:42for I will go.
19:43I've covered that one already.
19:45Let's go to the next slide.
19:47He's been writing about this
19:48topic for over 50 years.
19:50School power was the book,
19:51and I still recommend this
19:53book without apology.
19:54It's almost 40 years old.
19:56His book beyond black and white over
19:5850 years old, but in the Internet.
20:00Into his book,
20:01beyond black and white
20:02doctor Robert Coles writes,
20:04this dock Tacoma makes it clear
20:06children of color in their parents
20:08had long experience the sting of
20:10rejection and racism in the larger
20:12society and even from the schools that
20:14were supposed to be educating them.
20:17And Furthermore,
20:18those same schools are in different,
20:20were indifferent to the social and
20:22emotional trauma and oppression,
20:23and unprepared to change the system or
20:25support the needs of children in it.
20:28Sorry,
20:28that's not from doctor calls,
20:30that's from Tim Shriver,
20:31that's my those are my words.
20:33But the reason I wanted to dwelling
20:35on this a little bit is as we
20:38pivot to what to do about it.
20:40I think we have to recognize
20:42the revolutionary paradigm,
20:43shifting nature of this challenge.
20:45It's not about adding a little piece of.
20:47Support to children.
20:49It's not about addressing children
20:50of color as though they were
20:53somehow problematic.
20:53It's not even about addressing
20:55children who have anxiety.
20:57Children who are stressed out by
20:59covid children who are under enormous
21:01duress because of their families right now.
21:04Economic crisis.
21:04It's about shifting the whole paradigm.
21:07Of schools.
21:08It's about shifting the whole
21:10paradigm of Education.
21:11Let's go to the next slide.
21:14So many of us thought that all sounded well,
21:17but then in the last few years I
21:19just wanted to compliment this point
21:21because some people say all about.
21:23That's nice,
21:23but we've got to get to the test scores.
21:26And oh,
21:26that sounds good because
21:28it's about social justice.
21:29But what about learning chemistry
21:30or English or social studies?
21:32Here's the point.
21:33Even the brain science tells us.
21:35That learning is a relationship.
21:37This is a slide from my colleague and well,
21:39my wish.
21:40I would say my colleague,
21:41my friend and mentor pad cool out at
21:44the University ad in Washington state
21:46who has done research on infants and
21:48her point in this little slide and
21:50she has fantastic research on this.
21:52I encourage you to check it out.
21:54Is that even infants at the
21:56age of 11 or 12 months?
21:57Don't learn anything.
22:00Unless there's a relationship they will
22:02not connect with any task in less they
22:05are connected to a human being first.
22:07I love this low picture
22:08of these little fellow,
22:10this little fella imitating his.
22:12His older adults may be
22:13his dad or maybe others,
22:15but you can see in this picture.
22:17I hope the volumes and volumes
22:19of neuroscience that tell us
22:21this is a critical scientific
22:23discovery and scientific truth,
22:24not just an opinion from a bunch
22:26of child developmentalists.
22:27Let's go to the next slide.
22:30So and you can click through
22:33this until it fills all up.
22:35If you don't mind,
22:36I'm going to go quickly here.
22:39Our goal in.
22:41In response to Doctor Commerce
22:42Challenge was to build a field,
22:44not a program, not a project,
22:46not even a curriculum.
22:47Butterfield and I know the folks
22:49at Scholastic have thought a
22:51great deal about this at the
22:53center of this field you'll see
22:55this pie shape chart and some of
22:57you may have seen this already.
22:59I won't go into a lot of detail here,
23:02but just recognize that in the two
23:04red pie slices you have the structure
23:06of helping children to become self
23:08aware and capable of managing themselves.
23:10Not controlling,
23:11not conforming themselves.
23:12Keep this in mind 'cause people misunderstand
23:15self management as suppression.
23:16No, no, no.
23:17Self management is.
23:18How do you learn how to use
23:22what you're feeling?
23:23And regulate what you're feeling
23:25in order to get what you want and
23:29what you believe to be necessary
23:31in the blue pie shaped slices.
23:33You'll see relation ull issues,
23:35issues around how do we teach empathy,
23:38active listening, perspective taking,
23:40these kinds of skills,
23:41all the relationship skills that
23:43help children strengthen an help
23:45adults strengthen their relationships
23:47with children in the green pie
23:49slice you'll see a whole inventory
23:52of strategies and skills and.
23:53Support systems that help children
23:56make good decisions that are in
23:58their interest not destructive
24:00of themselves or others.
24:02But recognizing these three circles,
24:03if I can say very quickly that
24:05this is a paradigm shift because
24:08it involves in the 1st circle.
24:10Curriculum and instruction.
24:12I'll say a little bit more
24:14about that in the 2nd circle,
24:17schoolwide practices and policies.
24:18Issues around discipline issues
24:20around supports issues around special
24:22education issues around inclusivity,
24:24issues around respect issues
24:26around all these kinds of
24:28requirements that make up a school,
24:31a welcoming culture and climate.
24:34And then in the 3rd circle,
24:36the integration of family relationships,
24:38community based organizations and others.
24:39Now the the idea here is that
24:42social and emotional learning
24:43is a systems level change right
24:46from the classroom all the way
24:48out to the family and back again.
24:50We tried to integrate the social
24:52and emotional life of children
24:54and the social emotional needs of
24:56children in new a program that is
24:59actually a school that supports their
25:01development will go to the next slide.
25:06So here's just a quick example.
25:08This is a curriculum that we
25:09taught when I was in New Haven
25:12public schools to 6th graders.
25:13It's developed by my colleague and mentor,
25:16doctor Roger Weisberg,
25:17whose name you see at the bottom
25:20just gives you a little sense.
25:22This actually could take almost 50 lessons in
25:25the initial design to teach this curriculum,
25:28so it looks pretty simple.
25:31Stop light when you have a problem.
25:34Stop calm down and think all the work
25:37that is required to self regulate.
25:40Become aware to become detached
25:43from emotional elevation.
25:45And you see, as you go through the steps,
25:49problem statement, feelings,
25:50awareness, goal setting,
25:52consequential thinking, planning,
25:53strategizing, team building,
25:54all these very practical skills.
25:57Imagine if you will just for a quick
26:00second that this kind of a program
26:03isn't just taught in 6th grade,
26:06but it's used in discipline.
26:08It's used in peer mediation.
26:11It's used on playing fields.
26:13It's at home.
26:14On people,
26:16screens or maybe on peoples refrigerators.
26:18When children go to the church basement
26:20or do the boys and Girls Club or to
26:24the community based organization,
26:25they might see this on the wall
26:28when they get into a challenge.
26:30Maybe the youth development specialists
26:32in the community or folks in their
26:35other community based organizations
26:37are all singing from the same tune.
26:39They're all helping children solve problems,
26:41self regulate,
26:42build relationships and make good decisions.
26:45That's the idea.
26:46In simple form of a social,
26:48emotional, and academic integration,
26:51let's keep going.
26:52So.
26:55This is in this day and age
26:57and this is really I think,
26:59quite important to think of social and
27:02emotional learning as not just a support
27:05system but a transformation ull system.
27:07And here I want to just
27:10send her for a moment,
27:12not just on what we teach but how we
27:15teach the pedagogies that are necessary.
27:18The Co creation all the way back to
27:21doctor combers relationship message.
27:23The Co learning strategies that are
27:25needed not just to learn chemistry
27:28or punctuation or literature.
27:30But to learn how to overcome many of
27:33the systemic problems in the systems in
27:35which our children are being educated,
27:38that must be overcome.
27:39Now we talked about building back better.
27:41I know that's a political slogan 1020 years
27:44ago is also a human development slogan.
27:47It we don't need to be partisan.
27:49We've got to build our education systems
27:51back better with this kind of transformation.
27:54Ull perspective Carter Woodson
27:56said this almost 100 years ago.
27:58Most of you, of course,
27:59will know.
28:00Emma is really in some ways people
28:03call him the father.
28:04Or maybe I should say the parent
28:07black history of the integration of
28:09the critiques of the curriculum.
28:11All the ways in which the curriculum
28:14in his day, and I'm sorry to say,
28:17still in our own betray deep biases.
28:20The mere imparting of information
28:22that's not education. It doesn't work.
28:25It's not learning, it's not gross.
28:27It's not development.
28:28Education is the transformation
28:30of a human being,
28:32right is the growth and development
28:34of human being to become his or her
28:37most deeply felt self most deeply
28:39true self most deeply powerful self,
28:42most deeply change making self.
28:45Let's keep going then I get
28:47excited about this stuff.
28:48Sorry if I'm if I'm overwhelming
28:49folks with my enthusiasm.
28:50Let's keep going to the next slide.
28:53So I think you'll know this,
28:55but I just want you to.
28:58You know this is not Tim or doctor Mays or
29:01others it Scholastic saying this right now.
29:04The demand for social and emotional
29:07learning strategies is at an All Time High.
29:10Yeah, some people just have heard the
29:12word and they think that sounds good.
29:14Some people have heard their Superintendent
29:16or their chief state school officer
29:17or even leaders at the federal level.
29:19Now there's more increasing funding.
29:21So people are asking for this,
29:23you know, 10 years ago, he said,
29:25how do you convince your principle?
29:26Or how do you convince your teachers?
29:29Or how do you Excel this to parents or
29:31to school boards or superintendents?
29:33I don't mean that that's not
29:34still a challenge,
29:35but it's a lot less of a challenge.
29:38What's a challenge today?
29:39Most people ask for?
29:40Is not should we be doing SCL alongside
29:42the academic program, but how?
29:43How do we do it?
29:45Well, how do we find the support?
29:47How do we find the coaching?
29:48How do we find the implementation strategies?
29:50It's not so much yes or no as how to
29:52do it well and that is the challenge.
29:55I think that's in front
29:56of all of us right now.
29:57Let's go to the next slide.
30:00I will go quickly through here.
30:03This is just to reinforce this is a whole.
30:06We did about several months ago.
30:08When asked, are you aware of the concept
30:11of social and emotional learning?
30:13You can see the numbers at the top.
30:17Don't worry bout all the detail
30:19in the bottom,
30:20just to know that this is across the board.
30:23Rich poor black White Heartland
30:25Coastland urban,
30:26suburban rural districts.
30:27There's a widespread awareness.
30:29Anna widespread interest in implementation.
30:31So again, this is just.
30:33Underscore that I hope I'm not
30:34here to sell you that social
30:36emotional learning is important.
30:38Hopefully to give you some context about why.
30:41But to help now let's pivot to
30:43how we do this. Well, next slide.
30:50So a few weeks ago, Castle,
30:52the collaborative for academic,
30:54social and emotional learning,
30:56another child of the Yale Child Study
31:00Center released this road map, reunite,
31:03renew, and thrive aroad map for reopening
31:06schools with attention to the social
31:09and emotional needs of children,
31:11adults and families,
31:13educators and families.
31:14I'm going to do a.
31:17Quick overview of what's in this guide.
31:19But I strongly encourage folks to download
31:22it and to read it and to bring it back.
31:26If you're back in school already
31:28to share it with your colleagues.
31:30If you're headed back soon.
31:33To look at it will go through very quickly.
31:37It's highlights right now.
31:38I hope it gives the practical level
31:40strategies that are necessary to
31:42help with not just the theoretical
31:44challenges of integrating social,
31:46emotional and academic learning,
31:47but the actual practical ones.
31:49Let's go through this quickly next slide.
31:54So here are the topics that are in
31:57in the guide. It focuses on teamwork.
32:00It focuses on sense of urgency.
32:02It invites people to think about
32:04how we use our time.
32:06It recognizes complexity and
32:08tries to help you navigate it,
32:10and it understands the guide is very clear.
32:16And I dare say this without shame, Ann.
32:19I hope without surprise we're
32:22all overwhelmed.
32:25You know, we're just all overwhelmed.
32:28There's no shame in it.
32:30In fact, the greatest mistake in
32:32some ways we can make is to deny it.
32:35Down and to see our children.
32:38Moms and dads, grandparents,
32:40caregivers, community leaders.
32:41Every time we have an encounter now,
32:44let's remember that the person
32:47we're meeting is also overload.
32:50You can say, Well,
32:51this person shouldn't have
32:52to be or shouldn't be.
32:54Let's let's suspend judgment.
32:56We're going back to try to support our
33:00children and we are all struggling.
33:03So the guide invites you.
33:06To understand that and work with it
33:08rather than try to deny it and suppress
33:10it and therefore overrun both your
33:12own needs and the needs of others,
33:14let's go to the next slide.
33:17So here's the here's the.
33:19Here's the critical practices paradigm
33:21or guide book we're going to.
33:23As I say, go through it quickly.
33:25Let's go,
33:25but just just to give you a sense that
33:28it's available to you and all this,
33:31I hope, and I believe,
33:32given the fact that it's very popular,
33:35will present.
33:35Really, I think,
33:36practically useful information.
33:37Let's go to the next slide.
33:40Critical practice number one.
33:42Take the time to cultivate and deepen
33:45relationships and partnerships.
33:47Here's where we're starting to talk
33:50in the guide about planning around
33:53recognizing that people are all
33:56stressed out but bringing parents together,
33:59bringing teachers together,
34:01bringing administrators together,
34:03even bringing school and children together.
34:07To recognize the priority of relationships
34:09in this back to school window,
34:11I know people say I don't have time.
34:14I don't have time.
34:15I don't have time.
34:20If you don't have time for relationships,
34:22you're not. We just can't honestly say
34:24we're in the business of Education.
34:27Now I know where it's beyond our control.
34:30A lot of the time, and I know be it's beyond
34:34our control most days to find the time.
34:38But the guide Ann,
34:39I think common sense is pretty clear here.
34:42Build 2 way communications as best
34:44you can and build coalitions.
34:46It will be worth its weight in gold in terms
34:49of the return on time on task down the road.
34:53If we can focus on relationships,
34:55let's go to the next slide.
34:59So here's a practical example.
35:03And now I again, if we were in a room,
35:06I'd say how many people
35:07have taught terteling.
35:08How many people have learned turtling when
35:10you're trying to build relationships?
35:12May be the first thing you do is
35:14introduce a little bit of social
35:17emotional learning into the meeting.
35:19And so this little example here,
35:21I hope, brings a smile to your face.
35:24It's a. It's an example of a scale.
35:27We teach adults,
35:28but this is designed for children.
35:31The old turtle skill, right?
35:33So when you're feeling angry or
35:35stressed out or about to explode,
35:37drop into your shell.
35:39You know, pretend like your eternal.
35:41Your head goes down,
35:43put your arms around your shoulders,
35:45teach children, these kinds of things.
35:46Take deep breaths and do some positive
35:49self talk. Maybe the first meeting.
35:51Or maybe the second meeting.
35:52'cause maybe people have already
35:54had their first meetings back.
35:56Now we invite people to just take a
35:58moment and learn how to turtle adults.
36:01Yeah, adults.
36:02I can calm down, I'm OK,
36:04I can solve this problem.
36:06I'm good at solving problems.
36:08I can be supportive to others.
36:10I can be a good listener.
36:12Whatever it takes.
36:13Take a moment, take a beat, take a pause.
36:17It will help you strengthen
36:19your relationships. I promise.
36:19I know some of you are thinking
36:21this is ridiculous.
36:22Why is he talking bout this?
36:23I promise you this is really effective.
36:25Let's go to the next slide.
36:27Step 2.
36:28Critical practice now we spend a
36:30lot of time and I've spent a lot
36:33of time talking about children.
36:35I think if there's one thing that's
36:38become critically clear in the in
36:40this field in the last few years,
36:42it's that adults need social emotional
36:44learning as much as children.
36:47So.
36:48Build into the back to school window some
36:52strategies that help adults feel connected,
36:55empowered and supported amongst themselves.
36:59Now,
36:59if you told me to do this when
37:01I was a high school teacher,
37:03I would have thought Oh my God,
37:05you're going to make me feel like
37:07I'm going to look like a fool.
37:09I'm telling my fellow teachers in the
37:11in the teachers lounge that we need
37:13self care that we need well being,
37:15but I don't think that's true anymore.
37:17I think if you walked into most teachers
37:19lounges or teachers rooms or if you
37:21walked into most faculty meetings
37:22and said look, we're going to prioritize
37:24affair principles or system principle,
37:26I want to prioritize this year opportunities
37:28where you, my teachers, my team,
37:29my bus drivers, my cafeteria workers, my.
37:32Security staff my custodial staff my coaches
37:34my arts teachers my community based work.
37:37We're going to prioritize times where we
37:40connect, heal and build our collective
37:43trust and support for each other.
37:46I think you'd find people go.
37:48Oh my God, thank God somebody sees me.
37:51The teacher, the person on the front lines,
37:53the person who's working so hard,
37:55the person who's trying to
37:57support his or her family too.
37:59In this moment of stress, thank goodness.
38:02Someone's looking at and seeing me.
38:07Don't underestimate by any means.
38:09I daresay the importance of
38:11supporting teachers and adults.
38:12All the adults who have interactions
38:15with children. Go to the next slide.
38:19Practice #3 Build a plan.
38:25Ah.
38:26Here there are many steps in the guide to
38:29help children feel a sense of belonging,
38:33have consistent opportunities to
38:35learn and reflect on SCL practices
38:37to learn skills like terteling.
38:39There many, many,
38:40highly highly effective evidence based
38:42social, emotional learning curriculum.
38:44I'll talk a little bit about
38:46that in just a second,
38:48but build a sense of support
38:50and skill building and equity
38:52into the culture of the school.
38:55Now you're going again.
38:56I can hear folks saying.
38:59What if we're doing this electronically?
39:01What if we're trying to do this
39:03over the Internet? It can be done.
39:06Not easy, complicated, more work.
39:08I grant you.
39:09What about children who aren't
39:11getting access to the Internet?
39:13We gotta be resourceful.
39:14Equity has to be at the center of all
39:17social and emotional learning strategies.
39:20We cannot claim to care about
39:23the development of children and
39:25then say we only care about some.
39:28That makes us liars.
39:31So equity safety support for the
39:34development of children and their social
39:37and emotional needs has to be addressed.
39:40Racism has to be addressed.
39:43And as we know,
39:45that's not simply for children of color,
39:48that's for everybody.
39:49Has to address racism.
39:50Everybody has to reckon with the
39:53with our all of our complicity
39:55in systems that have pressed so
39:58many Americans for so so so.
40:00So long.
40:02That's our CL to next slide.
40:09If we can go to the next slide.
40:13Maybe we can't go there we go.
40:15So I just want you to see this
40:17is an example of. Of a student.
40:21In a school in Chicago,
40:23Melanie Garcia and you know,
40:24people often say, well,
40:25this is not going to help our
40:28children learn academics.
40:29I'll say a little bit more
40:30about that in a minute.
40:32How does it actually look at?
40:34This?
40:34Is a child who's had a strong social
40:36and emotional learning program and a
40:39rigorous academic program at the same time.
40:41And when it came time to write
40:43poetry and do write their own poetry,
40:46after studying some poetry in their school.
40:49This was Melanie's poems.
40:50She presented it at a little
40:52workshop which I attended in Chicago,
40:54and I asked her for if she would
40:56share it with me at the end
40:58and she gave me the original,
40:59so I'm sharing it with you.
41:01And if if we could,
41:03I'd ask one of you to read it,
41:05but I'm going to take an extra
41:07beat here and read the whole
41:08thing and just invite you to be
41:10in Melanie's presence and think
41:12about this child as a learner.
41:14As a emotionally intelligent,
41:17socially intelligent,
41:18academically intelligent young woman,
41:19here's what she wrote just because.
41:23Just because I'm sensitive, I'm not dramatic.
41:26I'm not fragile, I'm not weak.
41:28I am emotionally intelligent.
41:31Just because I'm smart, I'm not lonely.
41:33I'm not a loser. I'm not awkward.
41:36I am intelligent.
41:38Just because I'm 10, I'm not in mature.
41:41I'm not hopeless, I'm not worthless.
41:43I am young.
41:46Just because I'm a girl I'm not worried
41:48about my looks I'm not bad at sports.
41:51I'm not weak,
41:51I am me.
41:55Listen to Melanie.
41:57Listen to this child who's challenging.
42:01Cultural stereotypes.
42:04Listen to this child who's
42:06challenging gender? Stereotypes,
42:07listen to this child who is
42:10challenging the adults in her life.
42:12Who are treating her because
42:14she's young as somehow lesser?
42:18This is a child who is not compliant.
42:22Not a child. Who is, you know,
42:25some people say when they critique
42:27social emotional learning strategies,
42:28but this is going to build
42:31structures of subordination.
42:32Or, you know,
42:33not letting children find their voice.
42:35This is not a child who hasn't founder,
42:38of which the child whose voice
42:40is powerful at 1010 years old.
42:45And make no mistake,
42:46she's learning how to write.
42:48She's learning how to punctuate.
42:50She's learning what poetry is.
42:51She's learning what proses she's learning.
42:53What self awareness is?
42:55She's learning what emotional and
42:56social and cultural criticism is.
42:58She's learning all of that at a very,
43:01very, very high level.
43:03That's the kind of picture.
43:05Of social,
43:05emotional and academic integration,
43:07it empowers students to be their best.
43:09Let's go to the next slide.
43:13Critical practice for data evaluate,
43:16share, deepen relationships,
43:17but continuously evaluate the success
43:19and the strength of these relationships
43:21between students and families and
43:23ongoing and community partners.
43:25This is critical because, as we all know,
43:28if we don't evaluate if we don't measure and
43:31we can't document that we're strengthening,
43:35supporting helping children. You know,
43:37I like to say under moments of great stress
43:40the likely outcome is post dramatic.
43:43Stress disorder.
43:46We're in a moment of trauma.
43:48Let's evaluate and see if we can reach
43:51towards post traumatic STR development.
43:54So we don't have a generation
43:56so badly damaged by this trauma,
43:59but rather strengthened and
44:01resilient in the face of it.
44:04You'll see on the next few slides,
44:06let's go to the next slide that there's
44:08been quite a lot of data evaluating
44:11quite a lot of evaluation on social
44:13and emotional learning strategies.
44:15More broadly here, you see I think
44:17there's a double click on this one gang,
44:19but here you see that,
44:21sorry, let's go back.
44:22One will just go very quickly here that
44:25when we've looked at these programs,
44:27evidence based programs,
44:28hundreds of them.
44:29Actually,
44:29we find out not just they went implemented,
44:32well,
44:32they improve social and emotional skills and.
44:34Attitudes and not just that they reduce
44:38behavior problems and emotional distress.
44:41But look at that last point in the
44:43green 11 percentile point gained
44:45on standardized achievement tests.
44:47It's a win win.
44:48All the way back to doctor Comer
44:50all the way back to pack cool all
44:53the way back to Linda Maze all
44:55the way back to the great great
44:57child developmentalists they've
44:58told us this all along.
44:59If you integrate the social and emotional
45:01life you will have better learning.
45:03You will have more productive relationships.
45:04You will have better citizens.
45:06This is the data,
45:08but build your own supports for
45:10this data you see on the next
45:12one that we on the next slide.
45:15Also that this data persists.
45:16Recently this is.
45:17This study is just a few years old.
45:20We found that the persistence rate
45:23of these gains are multi year.
45:25Multi year benefits from these kinds of
45:28supports and strengthening of systems.
45:30Let's keep going.
45:31I know we're running out of time and I
45:35want to just get to the end next slide.
45:39Now, some of you may say,
45:40Well, that all sounds good,
45:42but it sounds like it's politically
45:44hot button.
45:45Uh, maybe that's sounds very much like.
45:50You know,
45:51a Democratic or progressive view
45:53of Education? No, it's not.
45:55Absolutely not. These are the.
45:58This is the language.
45:59This is a study done by our colleague
46:01Stephanie Jones up at Harvard that
46:03looks at all the different models and
46:06frameworks around social emotional learning.
46:08And I just offered this because,
46:10you know people will say
46:12well employability skills.
46:13That's very resonant with more
46:15conservative leaning educators.
46:16So his character,
46:17so his college and career readiness.
46:19That's all the same.
46:21It's just different words.
46:22You know,
46:23maybe if you're a little more blue leaning
46:25you like student agency and emotional
46:28intelligence and equities kinds of things,
46:30we can do both of these
46:32the same time we can end.
46:35I hope I. I hope I can.
46:37I hope I can make you believe this.
46:40We can avoid or end the
46:43culture wars in education.
46:45By focusing on evidence and by
46:47focusing on the integration of child
46:50development and teaching and learning,
46:53because there should be
46:55no difference politically.
46:57Between us, if we do that.
47:02So I hope people aren't hearing well,
47:04this isn't gonna work in my district because
47:07we need more of X or we need less of Why.
47:10Might have to change the
47:12language a little bit.
47:13But focusing on the social and
47:16emotional development of children.
47:18Should not have any political
47:20bias built into it. Next slide.
47:24This is just to give you
47:26a little bit support.
47:27Here are the 26 states currently up
47:29and running that offer implementation
47:31tools on their websites.
47:33These are States and you can see this
47:36is not a red state or blue state list.
47:39This is a this is United States list
47:42an unfortunate it's not 50 states or
47:4451 or depending how you look at it.
47:4757 I think I heard last night but
47:49but this is growing and so you
47:52have a lot of backup.
47:54Regardless of where you sit
47:55politically on this Ledger,
47:57and just because your state might
47:59not be on this list doesn't
48:01mean it's not working on it.
48:02These are the ones that are more advanced,
48:05but the others are coming along.
48:07I think. Also quite quickly next slide.
48:11So just to close.
48:15This is a quote from Pharrell Williams.
48:17You know, I've talked a lot about
48:20science and child development and
48:22scholarship and education and parents,
48:25and you know, Pharrell Williams
48:27is songwriter pop artist,
48:28great performer himself.
48:32And we have a lot of people in our culture.
48:35We don't always hear them,
48:36but there's a lot of people in
48:38our culture who are telling us.
48:40That it's time we healed the divisive,
48:43angry toxins in our culture.
48:45Now this is him speaking
48:48spontaneously on talk show,
48:50so it's not about not about schools.
48:53It's not about our lecture,
48:55just telling you how.
48:58More and more Americans are hungry.
49:01To heal a crisis that is even in some
49:04ways deeper than all of the things
49:06we're seeing right now, I would dare
49:09say it's almost a spiritual crisis.
49:11I would dare say that at our deepest level
49:14were hungering for exactly what he says.
49:17People who will choose empathy.
49:20People who will choose inclusion.
49:23People who will choose love for everybody.
49:27Just trying to lift everyone.
49:31Not fancy. Maybe Intuitive.
49:34Maybe it seems like a dream too far off.
49:39But if anyone is going to fill it.
49:41My bet.
49:42Is it going to be educators?
49:46If any community of professionals
49:48in this country has the chance.
49:51To give birth to a new version of justice.
49:55And belonging and purpose and conviction.
50:00For the.
50:01Future of our country, its educators.
50:03I'm sorry to say,
50:04notwithstanding.
50:04A lot of wonderful people.
50:06I don't think it's going
50:07to be come from politics.
50:09I don't know if it's going
50:10to come from the Academy.
50:12I dare say I don't think it's going to
50:14come from maybe even business leaders.
50:16They all have a role to play,
50:18but if I had my chips and I can
50:21only put them on one group,
50:22I'd put it on educators to build
50:24this kind of a future.
50:26And if I had a second round of
50:28chips I put him on children,
50:30which is the next and final slide.
50:32This was a slide.
50:33If you go to the last slide.
50:35This was an exercise last
50:37year during back to school.
50:38You can see the 12th of September teacher in.
50:42I think this was a 6th grade teacher
50:44has had her students write a little
50:47short essay on the purpose of school
50:50and this is what one young boy wrote.
50:52The purpose of school is not just to
50:55learn but to become a better human being.
50:59Sure, you also need to know
51:02your math and history and facts.
51:05But the point of school is to
51:08gain skills like compassion,
51:10self awareness,
51:11organization and kindness.
51:13That's the teacher's ultimate goal.
51:16So for all of you teachers of
51:19all different sorts and stripes,
51:21whether you're in a classroom
51:22or in a administrative office,
51:24weather in central office or in the building,
51:27whether you're in a community
51:28based organization or in a school,
51:31whether you're a doctor or a
51:33frontline worker in the cafeteria
51:36or on the bus or in the playground.
51:39I hope you'll remember what this
51:42young boy has taught us or taught me.
51:45Yeah,
51:45sure we need to know our math and
51:47our history facts. Yes we do.
51:50By Golly,
51:51we surely do.
51:52An we this is no compromise on
51:55knowing what we need to know.
51:57Yeah, this little guy gets it.
52:00But embedded in that commitment to learning.
52:05Surrounding reinforcing the
52:07foundation of and the destination of.
52:11Is to become a better human being?
52:13And when we finally get our
52:15our paradigm right in schools,
52:18we can not only help generations of
52:20children grow and optimize their their their
52:23their deepest and most positive selves.
52:25But we can.
52:26Also, I hope and pray and I'm willing
52:29to commit my life to working on end,
52:32the extraordinary injustice,
52:34an extraordinary inequality
52:35that is dividing us now.
52:37And I hope will not persist in the future.
52:40An I know I joined with
52:42so many of you and saying.
52:45We're ready to commit ourselves
52:46to ensuring that it doesn't.
52:48So with that I will stop and thank you.
52:51I hope this has been a sum value and
52:54look forward to questions or comments.
52:58Or as we go forward.
53:01Further,
53:02interactions around the collaborative
53:03with Scholastic and with the
53:06child study centers.
53:07We try to think about resilience and
53:10its power and its essential requirement for.
53:19Tim, thank you so much.
53:22Hi Kim, thank you so much for that
53:25wonderful presentation and for joining us
53:27today and for joining the collaborative,
53:29you're very valued partner to us and
53:32I've been getting all sorts of comments
53:34in the Q&A, mainly just saying,
53:36can I have the recording?
53:38Can I have the slides?
53:40This is an amazing presentation
53:41so so thank you.
53:43There is a lot of enthusiasm
53:45from our attendees and I have.
53:47I have a question for you
53:49to start things off.
53:51You know, I know you've you've devoted.
53:54You know a good part of your career
53:56to thinking about children's social
53:58emotional needs and to funding the
54:01Special Olympics and Castle an.
54:03I'm just wondering if this current crisis,
54:05the current crises and moment in time
54:08that we're in as lead you to any
54:11fundamental shift in the way you're
54:13thinking about social emotional
54:15learning and how it can be used as
54:18a lever against these pandemics.
54:20Yeah, well, thanks Karen.
54:21And I just want
54:23to say I just got a quick look
54:26at the chat and I saw my.
54:29One of my mentors, Jan Pal and Tonio,
54:32who's a teacher in Rhode Island on the chat,
54:35wish she were giving this talk
54:36because in the front lines and
54:39genius had changing school culture,
54:40human relationships in human
54:42hopefulness that she's she's there.
54:44So thanks Jen for being on the call
54:46Karen and answer your question,
54:48I had two reactions,
54:50I guess to this moment first is and I hate
54:54to put it this way because it sounds.
54:57Kind of mechanistic,
54:58but let's not waste this crisis.
55:01I think for many of us who have
55:04been talking about inequality had
55:06been seeing inequality, exclusion,
55:09judgment, oppression.
55:10In our systems,
55:11it's been hard to convince people.
55:12I mean, honestly speaking, it's been
55:14hard to convince people it is there.
55:16It's not hard anymore.
55:19No resistance to.
55:23Addressing inequality's are certainly around
55:26race around income around disability.
55:29The resistance is down.
55:32It won't stay down forever.
55:35So the one thing that I've been moved
55:37by is the desire to make sure we don't
55:40waste this moment and propose big radical.
55:43I mean dream big right now.
55:46I mean, we've been again for many of us.
55:49I mean,
55:49I went into education not because I
55:51was in love with teaching US history,
55:54but because I really wanted.
55:55I felt it was the career that would
55:58most empower me to make a real,
56:00meaningful difference in the social and
56:02political inequality in our country.
56:03That's why I went in.
56:05I was raised around those issues,
56:07and so I think we have a real moment
56:09now to be to think bigger than we've
56:12been able to think in the past.
56:14That's number 1 #2, I think.
56:16It's all the more urgent that
56:18we listen to hear.
56:19I've spoken for 45 minutes.
56:21I'm going to say this was a mistake.
56:24What we should be listening
56:26to his voice of children.
56:27We should be listening to the
56:29voice of children who have
56:31experienced exclusion stigma,
56:32judgment,
56:32marginalization,
56:33who have been thrown out of school
56:36systems have been laughed at in
56:38schools who have been told to sit
56:40in the corner in the lunchroom who
56:42have been humiliated with mocked
56:43by adults by other children.
56:45Those are the. Knows the real teachers.
56:47Not because I want to make everybody
56:50feel bad, although we need to reconcile.
56:52Reckon with the truth.
56:54And we all do.
56:55You know, I'm just as much in
56:57need about as anybody else.
56:59I'm not pointing the finger,
57:01but we need to listen.
57:04To the solution.
57:06Centers which are the people who have
57:09been on the outside of the circle,
57:11and so I hope that there might
57:14be a flourishing of student voice
57:16and student agency.
57:17I hope that will include children with
57:20Down syndrome in children with autism.
57:22I hope it will include children of color.
57:25Of course.
57:26I hope it will include children
57:27of all generations and sexual
57:29orientations and political persuasions
57:31and things like
57:33that. We got to listen
57:34more to children. It's so.
57:36Counter intuitive for so many teachers,
57:38we think we were brought into this
57:40profession 'cause we know something here
57:42we gotta bolted onto a brain as it goes by.
57:45And that hierarchical relationship
57:47we have so often with children
57:50is itself a barrier to learning.
57:52So I hope two things that we think
57:54big and dream big and push for big
57:57solutions and I hope we do it in a
58:00way that really empowers the voices
58:02of those who have not been heard.
58:04You know, because they will be the
58:06most powerful advocates for the new.
58:10Thank you, Tim. That resonates with
58:13everything you were saying earlier
58:15and I hope that the
58:17educators in the audience.
58:18I'm sure you're probably preaching
58:20to the choir if they're listening,
58:22but I know they're going to
58:24be starting school trying
58:26to hear from the children.
58:28So just one more question for you is.
58:32In your role at Castle,
58:34what questions have you been
58:36hearing most frequently from
58:38educators now as they think about
58:40getting ready for back to school
58:41and meeting children's needs?
58:45Well, I think I think we hear you
58:48know a lot of two big points.
58:51The first is this painful concern about
58:54recognizing that at least some of our
58:57good deal of what is going to cost
59:00you back to school will be virtual.
59:03This enormous challenge.
59:04Around what to do about children who don't
59:07have access to virtual communication and
59:09who don't have comfortable rooms like this.
59:12I'm going to work center that
59:14children don't have comfortable,
59:16quiet rooms like this.
59:17They don't have great Internet,
59:19they don't have great devices that
59:21can manage this kind of bandwidth.
59:23What do we do?
59:24I mean, people are so in pain over this
59:27and struggling with Kim I do outreach.
59:30Can I go into communities?
59:32Can I help with a buying new devices?
59:34Can we?
59:35Expedite the you know access to the Internet,
59:38so I think that's a big challenge.
59:40I wish I had a magic wand on that one.
59:43I don't, but I know there are a lot of
59:45people coming up with great solutions.
59:47The second is this issue of uncertainty.
59:51It's hard to face saying to
59:55children that we can't be sure.
59:58How this is all going to turn out?
01:00:01Children are hungry.
01:00:02We all are just tell me
01:00:04what's going to happen.
01:00:05Please give me some sense of safety.
01:00:07Get even if it's bad news.
01:00:09Tell me so I can so I can know what to do.
01:00:14And as adults, we're now at a
01:00:17point where we can't do that.
01:00:19So we've got to find if you will a new
01:00:22heart space and new almost emotional.
01:00:26Tool kit.
01:00:27To be able to be in support of
01:00:29children without solving problems
01:00:31for them that we can't solve.
01:00:35To help them see that their concern is
01:00:38also ours that we don't know either.
01:00:41Exactly what's going to happen.
01:00:42We're going to be there for them.
01:00:45We're going to do everything
01:00:46we can to keep them safe.
01:00:48We're going to do everything we
01:00:49can to help our country recover.
01:00:51We don't know.
01:00:54We don't know exactly what's
01:00:56going to happen next,
01:00:57but will be there to keep
01:00:59to in support of them.
01:01:01So this sense of deep deep uncertainty
01:01:03combined with the inequality's I think
01:01:05are the things that are resident
01:01:07or popping most in our community,
01:01:09and I, as I say,
01:01:10I wish I had easy answers for either one.
01:01:13I don't, but I think more.
01:01:15We talk about them and the more we share
01:01:18solutions and strategies for them,
01:01:19the more will I think.
01:01:21Come closer and closer to the idea that yes,
01:01:24we are actually.
01:01:25Living in the midst of a great and
01:01:27deep crisis, but in this crisis,
01:01:29if we let our heart space out a
01:01:31little bit more, if I can put it that way,
01:01:34that's not science.
01:01:35That's not the way.
01:01:36Maybe doctor Mays or the other
01:01:38child psychiatrist would put it.
01:01:40They'd have more clinical terms
01:01:41to describe the challenge,
01:01:42but for me, it's just.
01:01:44We've spent a lot of time generations
01:01:46talk about educating the heart,
01:01:47educating the head.
01:01:48We gotta put the heart in the head back
01:01:51together and they come in the same package.
01:01:53Each of us has both.
01:01:55And maybe as adults if we can bring
01:01:58our hearts a little bit more to bear
01:02:00and our our our sense of ultimate
01:02:02meaning and value to children.
01:02:05I think then maybe this spiritual
01:02:06crisis will find an edgecator
01:02:08solution in very public,
01:02:10very secular,
01:02:10very safe settings that help children
01:02:13learn but also help them grow and
01:02:15feel safe and strong and help them
01:02:17build a better and more just future.
01:02:21Thank you Tim and I do have a few questions.
01:02:25I'm reading coming in on the question
01:02:27and answer Box 1 is from Kim Groom who
01:02:30is a high school teacher in Princeton,
01:02:33NJ and she asked if you have any
01:02:35pointers on how teachers can most
01:02:37effectively involve parents in virtual
01:02:39learning and also in particularly in
01:02:42particular if you have no of schools
01:02:44that are doing a great job with this
01:02:46or any recommendations for reading
01:02:49on this topic. Yeah, I should.
01:02:51I don't have great recommendations. I would.
01:02:53I would offer two very quick pointer.
01:02:56First, I think it's really important
01:02:59to let parents know they are not
01:03:01supposed to become teachers.
01:03:03I know many parents feel that
01:03:05they've had to become teachers.
01:03:07Many parents have had to become teachers.
01:03:11But I'm going to take a chance
01:03:13here and say that even if a child
01:03:15loses two or three or six months of
01:03:18learning in the worst case scenario,
01:03:20I know that sounds horrible
01:03:22and it is difficult.
01:03:23Don't get me wrong,
01:03:24but don't lose your parents too.
01:03:27A parent should not be a teacher.
01:03:30I support yes,
01:03:31but if you don't know the answer.
01:03:34Don't worry about it.
01:03:35You know if you don't know
01:03:38how to structure a lesson,
01:03:40that's not your job.
01:03:43You know, if you're worried that your child
01:03:46is falling behind support love coach,
01:03:48guide your child.
01:03:49But if the curriculum is too much,
01:03:51you know my solution is we have hundreds
01:03:54of thousands of years of human beings
01:03:57who learn really pretty much by reading.
01:03:59That was it.
01:04:01So whether it's online or in a
01:04:03book or the lending library,
01:04:05or from a neighbor,
01:04:07get your child six books, five books,
01:04:09two books,
01:04:1010 books.
01:04:13This recommendation, I mean
01:04:14it's it's. It sounds so pathetic when you
01:04:16think when my child supposed to be doing
01:04:18chemistry or my child supposed to be learning
01:04:21the history of the Revolutionary War,
01:04:23my child supposed to be learning how to
01:04:25punctuate the sentence with a semicolon.
01:04:27I don't know that stuff.
01:04:29I'm going to parent.
01:04:30Don't worry. Don't worry.
01:04:31Don't worry, well will pick up.
01:04:33The Semi Colon, will will get to it.
01:04:36For the time being,
01:04:37read a book with your child, really.
01:04:39I mean, it sounds.
01:04:40It sounds silly at an again,
01:04:42I know, maybe some people
01:04:43will disagree with me on this,
01:04:45but I think the worst thing we can
01:04:47do is make parents feel guilty
01:04:49and stressed and overwhelmed
01:04:50even more than they already are.
01:04:52That's number one.
01:04:54And I forgot my second response to that,
01:04:56but maybe I just done a layout
01:04:59for scholastic to get the books.
01:05:01That was not intended by whatever
01:05:04answered that weather scholastic
01:05:05was was supporting this or not.
01:05:08I think I think you answered that
01:05:10quite fully and there's another
01:05:12question coming from Jacqueline
01:05:13Gomez who asked how can I meet
01:05:16the social emotional learning
01:05:17needs through distance learning,
01:05:19and I think you covered this a
01:05:21little bit in your presentation,
01:05:23but you may have some
01:05:24other additional tips offer,
01:05:25but I think a lot of the program providers,
01:05:29the people who write the curriculum right,
01:05:31the social emotional learning curriculum.
01:05:33Who right? Structure of the lessons
01:05:36that curricula that teacher training
01:05:38programs they've put a lot.
01:05:39There are hundreds of these
01:05:41programs and there's,
01:05:41you know at least a couple of dozen
01:05:44which who are terrific and you can
01:05:46go to the Castle website to find
01:05:48those that have reached a level
01:05:50of certification and excellence.
01:05:51Most of them have moved a lot
01:05:53of this stuff on line,
01:05:55so I I put that turtle exercise there
01:05:57because I just wanted to give people
01:05:59a sense of in some ways how easy
01:06:02and user friendly this work can be.
01:06:04Sometimes it feels threatening emotionally.
01:06:05You know I'm not comfortable with
01:06:07that kind of talk or I was never
01:06:10taught to be emotionally self aware
01:06:11and God knows I wasn't either.
01:06:13So I'm a good example of a person
01:06:16who wasn't raised with a lot of
01:06:18this kind of talk,
01:06:19but I learned it and it's pretty easy.
01:06:22So take the turtle,
01:06:24take the social problem solving
01:06:25model I showed you earlier.
01:06:27I take there are hundreds of these
01:06:29online parents love this stuff.
01:06:31We find kids love it.
01:06:34And so you know,
01:06:35go to the the high quality
01:06:36program providers look at what
01:06:39they're putting online,
01:06:40and you can begin to integrate.
01:06:42I think this stuff fairly easily.
01:06:44It's grade grade appropriate.
01:06:45Most of these programs have great specific
01:06:48curricula and instructional modules,
01:06:49some of them, of course, will ask.
01:06:52You know,
01:06:52will have to charge for the services,
01:06:55and some of them will ask you to do training,
01:06:59but those are good
01:07:00investments of time and money,
01:07:02and I think especially right now
01:07:04with the stress levels look.
01:07:06No one's going to be able to learn.
01:07:09When their stress level is at a 10 out of 10.
01:07:12I mean, we just know this from the science.
01:07:15You just can't learn this.
01:07:16You use.
01:07:16We say I could sit here and talk
01:07:18till I'm blue in the face and
01:07:20tell every great story and have
01:07:21every great experience and every
01:07:23great exercise in the classroom.
01:07:24If the child is at a 10 out of 10,
01:07:27the chat,
01:07:27the brain is not taking an information.
01:07:29It's just not going in.
01:07:30So if we can't bring the stress
01:07:32level down and the connection
01:07:33and the supporting the safety up,
01:07:35there's not going to be learning anyway.
01:07:36So take the time right now.
01:07:38I think again, think bigger.
01:07:39You know a lot of schools are
01:07:41saying We want to do something.
01:07:42Let's do something comprehensive.
01:07:44Let's let's use this moment to say we
01:07:47want our school to have a new discipline,
01:07:49strategy and new parent engagement
01:07:51strategy and new commitment to
01:07:53SCL curriculum that supports and
01:07:55matches the academic curriculum.
01:07:56New strategies for recruiting teachers,
01:07:58new commitments to equity,
01:08:00new commitments to community engagement.
01:08:02Let's do the whole thing.
01:08:03Let's make this the year.
01:08:06Let's rebuild.
01:08:08It's it's May seem overwhelming,
01:08:10and I'm sorry if it does,
01:08:12but I guess I just think this is the
01:08:15kind of dream big and to think big.
01:08:17We've never had an opening like this.
01:08:19Let's not waste it. Thank
01:08:23thank you Tim. I I agree with that.
01:08:25I think that that's a theme that
01:08:27we're going to hear throughout this,
01:08:30imposing that we have a moment
01:08:31right now where there is a window
01:08:34to make some big changes and
01:08:35Castle has some amazing resources.
01:08:37People are asking for specific examples
01:08:39and I think I've put in the chat box
01:08:42some of the links to castles resources.
01:08:44Just go to castles website
01:08:46and thank you again.
01:08:47Tim and I think we're going to.
01:08:51Close out now and give
01:08:52a little bit of a break.
01:08:55We're going to come back with the
01:08:57next session with doctor Mays and.
01:08:59Net, Kendall Taylor and Lauren Tarshis at
01:09:0111:30 so everyone can take little break.
01:09:04Watch some clips that we're going to be
01:09:07showing in between events from our kid
01:09:09reporters and see you all back soon.