Moving From Toxic Stress to Positive Growth (Dr. Linda Mayes, Dr. Nat Kendall-Taylor, Lauren Tarshis)

Name: Moving From Toxic Stress to Positive Growth (Dr. Linda Mayes, Dr. Nat Kendall-Taylor, Lauren Tarshis)
Uploaded: 2020-08-28T17:58:57.16Z
Duration: 1 h 5 min 43 s
Description: This session provides a grounding in research about the effects of toxic stress, with a focus on mitigating the impact of the pandemic on children’s development. Speakers explore strategies for facilitating the transition to back to school (in person or remote), including how to alleviate the effect of trauma on children and nurture positive adaptive skills.

August 28, 2020

This session provides a grounding in research about the effects of toxic stress, with a focus on mitigating the impact of the pandemic on children’s development. Speakers explore strategies for facilitating the transition to back to school (in person or remote), including how to alleviate the effect of trauma on children and nurture positive adaptive skills.

Information

ID: 5513
To Cite: DCA Citation Guide

Download Transcript

00:00Everybody welcome back.
00:03I'm doctor Linda Maze again and it's good to
00:06be back with you to for this next session.
00:09I hope you had a good time for a break.
00:13And I want to begin this next
00:16session with my colleagues.
00:17Net, Kendall Taylor and Lauren Tarshis
00:20where we're going to be talking about
00:22the concept of toxic stress and how we
00:25move to a more positive growth perspective.
00:28Stress is certainly something that is
00:30in all of our minds and everything that
00:33we're experiencing over these last months.
00:35And so let's let's dive in.
00:37But first I want to just
00:39tell you about my colleagues.
00:41Net, Kendall Taylor and Lauren Tarshis.
00:44I couldn't be presenting with
00:46two people that I admire more.
00:48As you, you have their BIOS in
00:50your materials and that Kendall
00:51Taylor is the Chief Executive
00:53Officer Frameworks Institute.
00:55But Nat and I have known each other
00:57for many years and I always learn
00:59every time I hear him present.
01:02So how about we can be better
01:04communicators for the issues that can
01:06we all care about and communicate in
01:09a way that the message that we hope
01:11we are sending is the message that's
01:14received and has a positive impact,
01:16especially on issues related to children.
01:18And family,
01:19so I think you're going to to both
01:21learn a lot and hear the importance
01:24of words and communication.
01:26And then we'll move to Lauren Tarshis.
01:29His biography is also in your packet.
01:31Lauren is the author of the New
01:34York Times Award winning.
01:36I survived series,
01:37but among the many people that I've
01:39met in this scholastic journey,
01:41Lauren is one of those that carries
01:44children's inner world so deeply in the
01:47way she thinks and writes an creates.
01:50Books for children that speak to
01:52the issues that are so deeply
01:54on children and families,
01:56minds and Lauren will end this
01:58session by bringing us into that
02:00format into the resilience format
02:02and how one thinks about resilience.
02:05Very, very important,
02:07especially in these times where our
02:10communities are so are so stressed
02:13an facing so much uncertainty.
02:15My task in the next few minutes
02:17is to bring you into the topic of
02:20toxic stress affrays, by the way,
02:22that our colleagues at frameworks and
02:24I'm just going to turn on the light
02:26that may make it slightly more yellow,
02:29but not quite as dark topic that
02:31our colleagues at frameworks on
02:33actually help a phrase that they
02:35helped to create Amen.
02:37It's a phrase that's very much in
02:39the now in the popular literature.
02:41If I could have the next slide.
02:45I want to breast stress three points,
02:48three key ideas about stress and
02:51resilience in the first is that
02:54stress is normative.
02:56And as much as it our communities
02:58and our families in our in us as
03:01individuals are stressed these days,
03:03it is built into our biology.
03:05It is absolutely essential.
03:07It is essential to responding to
03:09danger and uncertainty and it is.
03:11It is absolutely normative and
03:14their capacities and our systems
03:16developed in the first years of life.
03:19The second point,
03:20key point is about toxic stress.
03:23Toxic stress is not about the amount of
03:26stress that an individuals experiencing,
03:29but about the bodies response to that stress,
03:32and in that relationships are key.
03:35And we'll talk about that.
03:38And within that I want you to
03:40actually think about not that
03:42toxic stress leads to a deficit.
03:44Or our damage,
03:45though we may talk about that,
03:48but it actually in the moment is
03:50an adaptation to the environment.
03:53And so be thinking about what
03:55our current environment is.
03:57And the third key point is adaptation.
04:01We're all normatively vulnerable
04:02were all normativity vulnerable
04:04to shifting environments,
04:05and we learn how to respond
04:08to our environments?
04:10Think about how you've all learned
04:12and all of us have learned to respond
04:15to social distancing and how we've
04:17learned to respond to working from home.
04:20How we've learned to respond to
04:22this environment of speaking over
04:24a virtual platform when we're
04:26very social beings and very much
04:28used to being with one another.
04:31We all learn how to respond
04:33to our environments.
04:34They may take our biology some time to adapt,
04:37but adaptation is key.
04:39And it's absolutely key
04:41to the idea of resilience.
04:43How you can more flexibly
04:45adapt to new environments.
04:47I could have a next line.
04:51Suggest to the first point the stress
04:53response is absolutely normative.
04:55It's about the brain and the body's
04:58response to a threatening situation.
05:00And if you imagine what's happening now.
05:05There's been a lot of alarm
05:07signals in our communities.
05:09The sound of ambulances through
05:11the day and in the night.
05:14The images on the news, the images of
05:18people waiting in long lines for food.
05:21The images of very tired
05:23healthcare professionals.
05:24All those are threatening signals that
05:27may activate our body stress response.
05:30It makes us feel as if there is
05:33something that is potentially dangerous.
05:36But if you don't have it,
05:38we wouldn't actually survive as a species.
05:41It alerts us its normative.
05:43It's with us.
05:45And if I could have the next slide.
05:48Just as a graphics,
05:50there is a brain architecture built
05:53into our biology into our brain
05:55is a brain architecture of fear,
05:58response and threat detection.
06:00And using the phrase architecture,
06:02you might think of this is this is like the.
06:06This is like the circuit panel in your house.
06:10This is what alerts you to the
06:13uncertain dressing situations in your
06:15environment and this architecture
06:17develops in the first years of life.
06:20But I'm the next slide.
06:24And if you could just press through.
06:27So learning how to cope with
06:30moderate shortliffe stress.
06:32Bill so healthy stress response system.
06:36So it's not just that exposure to any
06:39stress is bad or detrimental for the body,
06:42it's actually learn exposure to stress.
06:45Some short lived stress short
06:47lived uncertainty is good.
06:48It's like becoming more fit.
06:50It's like learning how to
06:52respond and developing then
06:54an adaptation to situations.
06:56It bills a kind of stress response fitness.
07:00To the next slide.
07:03Next line. And just.
07:06There's the first then key points.
07:09Is that this brain
07:11architecture all of the brain,
07:13but especially this architecture
07:15about stress response as established
07:17very early in life and it supports
07:20lifelong learning behavior in health.
07:22And the second point is that stable,
07:25caring relationships?
07:26That are based in a kind of
07:29serve and return interaction.
07:31That is the child's something
07:33the parent responds.
07:34The adult says something,
07:36the child responds back and forth.
07:38That's the interactions that shape
07:40this developing brain and all about
07:43this early brain architecture.
07:44Think of it as the foundation of
07:47a house is key to then all the
07:50later things that we often think
07:52about in terms of Child Health,
07:55Education, economic productivity,
07:56living in the SoC.
07:58And especially lifelong health.
08:00I can have the next slide.
08:05And just just ask through yes.
08:09Key point is that brains are actually
08:11built overtime and they start in
08:13the earliest years of life with
08:15simple skills coming online first,
08:17and you can see in the graphic with
08:20the red and the blue and the yellow
08:23lines that sensory pathways first,
08:25then language and then higher
08:26order functions.
08:27But this architecture is built
08:29and layered just like you would
08:31layer house from the foundation
08:33up in all of these skills,
08:35especially those for responding to the
08:37stress in our world are coming online.
08:40Pretty early,
08:41and having this foundation
08:43improves the odds for a much
08:46better outcome in children.
08:48So next line.
08:52And just to emphasize a bit more about this,
08:55serve and return nature of human
08:57interaction through these sets of pictures
09:00doesn't just have to be with adults.
09:02Social interactions are
09:03about serve and return.
09:05There about giving and receiving,
09:08and indeed I think one of the
09:10enormous stressors the current
09:12pandemic is that we've had a very
09:15different way of socially interacting,
09:17very different now children have.
09:20If all has gone well been
09:22within their families,
09:24but broader groups and the classroom
09:26with peers have been changed.
09:28So the nature of human interaction is
09:31very different in the current pandemic,
09:34but it is.
09:35These early serving return skills
09:37that are that are key to the
09:40building of a healthy brain.
09:42The next slide.
09:46So young children naturally reach
09:48out through the various gestures,
09:51expressions, and adults respond in kind.
09:53That's what serve in return is a key to
09:57developing very healthy brain arkatech Sure,
10:01for responding to stress and uncertainty are
10:04systems that support early relationships,
10:07childcare systems, communities and homes,
10:10and it always interventions
10:13that support this development.
10:15You might ask what's happened in these last
10:19five and a half months with the pandemic,
10:22and they're actually a number of
10:25these social systems that are key to
10:27supporting the quality of relationships
10:29had been seriously impacted.
10:31Services that for families that
10:33support this kind of serve and
10:36return building healthy children.
10:38Healthy brains have been seriously
10:40impacted by the pandemic next line.
10:45So I want to turn them to toxic stress.
10:48And to emphasize that this is
10:50about the bodies response.
10:51It's not about the events and again
10:53serving return relationships matter,
10:55so if you could go to the next slide.
11:01And just through we tend to think
11:04about stress on in three ways.
11:07One is positive, those brief
11:09increases and your heart rate.
11:11So you're about to do
11:13something new or different.
11:14Take a test, do an athletic event.
11:17Meet someone knew all of those kind of
11:20positive or very brief stressors that you
11:23are aware that you're a little stressed.
11:26But if that it's positive you
11:28learn from the experience,
11:30you learn that you can master it.
11:33You learn it wasn't so bad.
11:35Tolerable stress can be quite serious loss,
11:39and Heaven knows that's happening a great
11:42deal in the current current kovid world.
11:46But the key point,
11:48intolerable stresses it's buffered
11:50by supportive relationships.
11:52That there's a tremendous amount of
11:54uncertainty around you worry about.
11:57Worry about the health of your family,
12:00but that you have people with you
12:03as a child who can explain the world
12:06and try an buffer you from the world.
12:10Toxic stress becomes where those
12:13same serious stressors are prolonged.
12:15Activation of that stress system that
12:17I touched on but without protective
12:20relationships that your left.
12:22As a child with that continued
12:24activation of the stress response system
12:27without someone to buffer it for you,
12:29that's when it becomes toxic.
12:31When it's the prolonged activation
12:33of our bodies,
12:34biology and chemistry and the
12:36effect then on the developing brain,
12:39I could have the next slide.
12:44Next line. So then a third
12:48core concept of development,
12:49child development as toxic stress
12:52in the early years of life where
12:55there is the serious stressors loss.
12:58Family homeless. Abuse or neglect.
13:03Parental alcoholism or drug abuse.
13:05The serious kinds of stressors
13:07that impair adults.
13:08Ability to do that, serve and return.
13:12Can also derail healthy development
13:14by impacting this early foundation
13:17for healthy brain architecture.
13:19Next line.
13:23And this says what I've just actually
13:25said that the excessive prolonged
13:27activation of stress response
13:29leads to long-term disruptions,
13:31not just in brain architecture,
13:33but in our immune system.
13:35In our metabolic system,
13:37and even in heart and
13:39cardiovascular function.
13:40And toxic stress associated with poverty,
13:43neglect, abuse.
13:44What profoundly what's important is Sevier.
13:47Family disruption has long term
13:49consequences as shown in the next slides.
13:55And we tend to think about that early.
13:58Toxic stress embeds itself in the body and
14:01in our biology across then the lifespan.
14:04Where there's disruptions in
14:07number of systems, the brain,
14:09the immune system, heart and that's
14:12expressed in variety of early diseases,
14:16low educational achievement in the sense
14:19that individuals may not because of a
14:23range of health issues, not necessarily.
14:27Get the education they need.
14:30There's health threatening
14:31behaviors by again,
14:32not really having all the resources
14:35that they need so that early toxic
14:38stress can beds itself in the biology
14:41and then has widespread effects.
14:44We could go to the next line.
14:48Next slide. So then the question is,
14:51that's a pretty grim while presenting it.
14:54That that there are stressors that
14:57impact children in profound ways.
14:59If there aren't supportive
15:02relationships around them.
15:04And then it sets the tone.
15:06It sets the biology for
15:08the rest of their life.
15:10Is what what about adaptation?
15:14So a way to think about toxic stress,
15:16and as I said earlier,
15:17that it's not a deficit as much as a
15:20way of adapting to an environment.
15:22So if you have had an
15:25early environment where.
15:27There aren't boat serve and
15:29return those adults around you
15:31that you're always on the alert.
15:33Your hyper, your biology is hyperactivated.
15:35You're going to be then responding to
15:38subsequent environments in that way.
15:40'cause That's how you've responded,
15:42learned to the environment that
15:44you wear when you were developing
15:46this brain architecture.
15:48And that later response may not
15:50be adaptive to that it that
15:52new environment that you have.
15:54And so how do we then guarantee
15:56and help children begin to adapt
15:58to subsequent environments,
16:00even if they've had this early
16:02impact on their brain architecture?
16:04Could we have the next slide?
16:08Some children are more
16:10susceptible than others.
16:11But importantly, other adults such as
16:14teachers such as more extended families,
16:17conserva, buffering, caring, role,
16:19even after these early kinds of events that
16:23help children learn new ways of adapting.
16:26And also importantly,
16:27there is a tremendous capacity
16:30to repair across development,
16:32tremendous capacity and early
16:34interventions can make a difference.
16:37Next slide.
16:40So metaphor created by our colleagues
16:43at frameworks around resilience or
16:46what we might call tipping the scale.
16:48So if you think of child development
16:50is loaded on one side with various
16:53potentially environmentally negative events,
16:55and on another side with positive events,
16:58and that you can also shift the
17:00fulcrum in ways that will help
17:03children adapt in different ways.
17:05So on one side shown on here are
17:08some of the positive outcomes.
17:10Stable housing families that
17:12get unemployment benefits are
17:13responsive relationships.
17:14And then I want you to think about how
17:17kovid might have impacted that side.
17:20And on the other side,
17:22some of the things that are
17:24happening right now with Kovit.
17:25Family member that seal job walls,
17:28physical distancing, closing schools.
17:29Those are the things that
17:31are tipping the scale.
17:32This resilient scale and So what
17:35can we do in the next slide?
17:39And one of the things we can do
17:42is reduce the sources of stress.
17:44We can impact the we can try different
17:47ways of getting education to children.
17:49We can try to have unemployment benefits.
17:52We can impact.
17:53The second is we can support responsive
17:55relationships and on the positive side.
17:58And then on the fulcrum,
18:00shifting the fulcrum,
18:01we can begin to give children some core
18:04life skills about how to think about
18:06their environment and that I'm going
18:08to set the stage for Lauren as well
18:10is one of the things that we think a
18:13lot about when we're thinking about
18:16education and literacy for children.
18:18So I'm gonna turn it now to my colleague
18:20Matt Kendall Taylor, who will carry
18:23us into the next phase of this.
18:25Thank you very much.
18:26That's the floor is yours.
18:28So hello, thank you for
18:30that introduction, Linda.
18:30And it's great to be here with you all.
18:33I'm really excited to get the chance
18:34to follow that science presentation
18:35with the presentation on framing,
18:37which is pretty much my all time
18:39favorite thing to talk about,
18:40which I realize is kind of sad and
18:42pathetic and I fully realized that most
18:44of you on the phone or probably are
18:46on the web and are probably not that
18:48quite as excited about this as I am.
18:50But one of my goals is that
18:52by the end of this,
18:53at least one of you is at least half
18:55as excited about framing as I am.
18:57So I think that's an achievable goal.
19:00I learn you're the only one I can see,
19:02so I'm going going with you on that goal.
19:04You can give me a thumbs up by the end.
19:07So first of all,
19:08thanks to Linda and Greg and Karen
19:10and the rest of the Scholastic Cooper
19:12inviting me to be on and no offense
19:14to Linda Gregg Karen Scholastic crew,
19:15but more importantly,
19:16thanks to all of you.
19:18Who are taking your time to be
19:20on this web and RI?
19:21Realize your time is really
19:23valuable and important.
19:24An exchange for that valuable resource.
19:26I'm going to try to add some value
19:28to your work in your thinking by
19:30telling you about some of the work
19:32and thinking that I've been doing
19:34for about 15 years now on how people
19:36think about these concepts that
19:38Linda has talked about resilience,
19:39stress and how we can through our role.
19:42It's communicators and I'm going
19:44to argue that every single one
19:46of us on this web and R is a
19:47communicator we can deliver.
19:49Information we can kind of
19:51shift perspectives and create
19:52change in some important ways.
19:54So I tell you just a little
19:56bit more about myself.
19:57And that's not because I'm
19:59suffering from some dill.
20:00Vision that you actually care,
20:02but it's because the background
20:03that I have the kind of work
20:05that I've done over the last 20
20:07years is really important to what
20:09I'm going to be talking about.
20:11So I'm not a traditional
20:12communications person.
20:13I've never worked in PR,
20:14never worked in a communications,
20:16public relations organizations.
20:16I'm an anthropologist by training,
20:18and I do a specific kind of anthropology
20:20that's called psychologically apology,
20:21which means that I'm really interested
20:23in concerned with the way that culture
20:25influences the way that people think.
20:27How people use culture to process
20:29information and make meaning of messages.
20:30Anne and formulate unreached decisions
20:32and when I'm going to be doing today
20:35is telling you about the work that
20:37I've done as an anthropologist.
20:39Thinking about how scientists
20:40like Linda can communicate what
20:42they're finding out from science
20:44to those like you all who are in
20:46positions to influence the way
20:48that people think and what they do
20:50and how they feel and importantly,
20:52what they,
20:52the behaviors and actions
20:54that they they decide
20:55to make.
20:58I do not have control over
21:00my slides for some reason.
21:05Ah, there we
21:05go. I don't know if I did that or
21:08somebody else did that, but it's magic,
21:10so I'm going to take a little
21:12bit of time at the top here to
21:13tell you about this term framing,
21:15which I imagine everyone has heard of.
21:17But I imagine very few people actually
21:19have an understanding of what it means.
21:21So when we talk about framing
21:23for the next 15 minutes,
21:24we're going to be talking about
21:25is the way in which slide forward.
21:30I have no idea why I can't advance my slides.
21:33There we go, they went.
21:34I don't know why the choices that we
21:36make in how we present information and
21:39sometimes those are those are really
21:41small choices and window made a number
21:43of them throughout her presentation
21:44which are informed by research.
21:46Sometimes it's as small as the
21:48pronouns that we use. Do we say,
21:50do we say them they those or do we say we?
21:53And sometimes it's really obvious
21:55things like the values that we choose
21:57to argue for why our issue matters.
21:59Ann is so important to address,
22:01so it's how all those decisions,
22:02both big and small.
22:04Affect how people think,
22:05how they feel and how they act.
22:07So really simply variations and how
22:09we present information and people
22:11who are who are writers and authors
22:13like Lauren know this very well.
22:15All those small,
22:16seemingly insignificant decisions.
22:17How those choices affect what
22:18people do as a result of hearing
22:20your information of reading your
22:22text of reading your awesome.
22:24I survived books which my
22:25kids have all read many times,
22:27so I'm going to give you an example of
22:30what that looks like to hopefully make
22:32this really concrete and bring it home.
22:35So we have done and a lot of this
22:37has been done with Linda realizing I
22:40should maybe call her doctor Mays with
22:43doctor Mays over the last 15 years.
22:45In trying to help people understand
22:47the importance of child development
22:49to support policies and practices
22:51that improve the process of child
22:53development and the outcomes that it
22:55facilitates an so this particular study
22:57that I'm going to walk you through
22:59right now is is a large about 6000
23:01people nationally representative sample.
23:04And really what we're doing
23:06here in an online experiment.
23:08Is we're exposing different groups of
23:09people to different frames, right?
23:11Different ways of hearing
23:12about child development,
23:13so some of the people in the experiment
23:15read message about child development.
23:17That's about future progress
23:18and social prosperity.
23:19That's the messages are on the
23:21horizontal axis that you see,
23:23so they would they log on to this experiment
23:25and they'd read a passage that starts with.
23:28It's important that we do a better
23:30job of supporting child development,
23:32because then we wouldn't say
23:33it in such a cliched way.
23:35But children are future right there.
23:37Solid,
23:37stable mental health.
23:38Is really vital to our ability
23:40to progress and be prosperous
23:42as a society moving forward.
23:43Other people are randomly assigned to read
23:46a different message so they would log on.
23:48They read about 80 of the words are the
23:51same except the thing that's different
23:53is that top lead in sentence the frame,
23:56the way that the message is
23:58being framed or presented,
23:59and so those people who received
24:01the vulnerability message would read
24:02something like it's important that
24:04we do a better job of supporting
24:06child development because children
24:07are most vulnerable citizens.
24:09They deserve our empathy and
24:11compassion as individuals and we must
24:13Karen do. More and do better by them.
24:15And then there's a third group
24:16which gets no message there,
24:18called the control condition.
24:19They are the group against which these
24:21two other messages are compared.
24:23Then everybody answers the set
24:24of questions to determine,
24:26kind of how they understand
24:27child development,
24:28and specifically how supportive
24:29they are of a set of evidence
24:31based policy's that scientists
24:32like Linda and her colleagues have
24:34found effective in improving child
24:36development and the health learning,
24:37relational outcomes that it generates.
24:39And So what you're going to
24:41see on this next click,
24:42hopefully is what I think are two
24:45absolutely gorgeous green bars are
24:46going to appear on the screen,
24:48and what those green bars are
24:50going to show you is the degree
24:52to which hearing those different.
24:54Ways of framing the information
24:55affects people.
24:56Support for those policies,
24:57and so I imagine there are some
24:58very statistically inclined people
25:00on the audience.
25:01But just so we're on the same page,
25:03here's your stats lesson everything
25:04you need to know about progressions
25:06and complex statistics in one
25:07sentence up is good down as bad.
25:09So what you see on the left hand side
25:11of the screen is that first message,
25:14the one about future progress in
25:15social prosperity is increasing
25:17the extent the degree to which
25:18people support those policies.
25:19That's good news.
25:20There's a little framing dance that we
25:22do when we get those kind of results,
25:24but I'm on the West coast and
25:26it's way too early for that.
25:28So I'll skip that,
25:29but your eyes probably wandered towards
25:31the right hand side of the screen
25:33where you saw that this valuable
25:35vulnerability is having the opposite effect.
25:37So not only is it having no effect,
25:40which is 0,
25:41but it's actually decreasing the
25:42degree to which people support
25:44these policies that experts,
25:45scientists,
25:45practitioners are advocating.
25:46So to translate that really quickly.
25:48If you're an expert or an advocate working
25:50on child development and use the value
25:53of vulnerability to frame your messages,
25:55you not only waste your breath,
25:57waste your very valuable
25:58communications resources.
25:59But you actually use those very
26:01valuable communications resources in
26:02a way that directly disadvantages the
26:04things that you are advocating, right?
26:06So just to be really clear,
26:09that's not good.
26:09That's not what we want to do with
26:12our communications resources.
26:13And the kicker is that in a subsequent
26:16analysis where we looked at all the fields,
26:19external facing materials over
26:20a three year period,
26:22we found that over 90% of those materials
26:25were framing messages about child
26:26development with the value of vulnerability.
26:28So in essence,
26:30using.
26:30What,
26:30in retrospect,
26:31is a tremendous amount of resources
26:33to advance a value that not
26:36only is not having any effect,
26:37but it's actually having a negative
26:39or a detrimental backfire effect.
26:41So I've come to think about framing.
26:45As as what you see on the screen
26:47as a key as a really valuable
26:50tool that we can use
26:52and use intentionally to unlock
26:54ways for people to think about
26:56new information to create space
26:58for new kinds of discussion,
27:00to shift and open perspectives,
27:01and support for solutions.
27:03That's the good news.
27:04That's kind of the future progress.
27:06Social prosperity version of the key.
27:08There's also the more you know,
27:11the less optimistic perspective
27:12that this key, if not if not used.
27:15Appropriately and effectively can
27:16have the opposite effect, right?
27:18And we know this kind of open the newspaper
27:21and you can find examples of frames
27:23that immediately shut down discussions.
27:25Turn people off, shut,
27:27shut off peoples thinking closed
27:28down that space into which we want
27:30people to have productive discussions.
27:32So this is all to use a metaphor to
27:35emphasize the importance of all of those
27:37choices that we make as communicators,
27:40that they are not just kind
27:42of Flowery Purple prose,
27:43but actually they are incredibly
27:45strategically important.
27:46Decisions and choices that we
27:48make as communicators and again.
27:49When I say we,
27:51I mean everybody who communicates
27:52information about issues right?
27:54And that just so that's clear rhetorically.
27:56That's everybody, right?
27:57And So what I wanted to do for
28:00the rest of my time is go through
28:02three ideas about framing adversity
28:04that I think are really important.
28:06I think they're probably really important
28:08generally, but I think there are,
28:10like, really,
28:11really important during the
28:13Times that we are in.
28:15When adversity and children's
28:16experiences thereof are kind of
28:18front center and are kind of extra,
28:20robust and significant in
28:22terms of in terms of learning,
28:24but also some of the health outcomes
28:26that Linda spent a good deal of
28:29her presentation talking about.
28:30So the first one,
28:31and I realized that this is going to
28:34be hopefully not obnoxiously redundant.
28:36Hopefully productively redundant is
28:38that Linda actually did these three
28:40things in the presentation that she
28:42just gave. So what I'm going to?
28:44I'm not claiming that these are.
28:46Wildly new and fantastically original,
28:48but I really just want to take my
28:50time to pull these three ideas
28:51out and emphasize them and kind of
28:53operationalize them for you as things
28:55that you can do when you communicate.
28:57So the first one is that it is important in
28:59the current context to talk about adversity,
29:01right?
29:01Kids are experiencing
29:02adversity is significant,
29:03it is urgent,
29:04and it's important it is gripping
29:06it as resident is all those things.
29:08But when we talk about adversity,
29:10it is absolutely essential that we
29:12always do so alongside this capacity for
29:14resilience or this idea of plasticity
29:16that these biological systems are flexible.
29:19They're not,
29:20they're not up static,
29:21their dynamic,
29:22they change overtime in response
29:24to experiences that we have.
29:26And so you know when we work
29:28with developmental scientists,
29:29they say things and want to say things
29:31like this and unfortunately can't see
29:33half of my screen serious ongoing
29:35adversity during childhood can have.
29:37I'm guessing it says detrimental
29:39or negative effects on the
29:40developing brain and body, right?
29:42That's something that in our
29:44colleagues would really want to say.
29:45The problem is that when
29:47you say those things,
29:48people just don't hear those things right.
29:50They use culture,
29:51they use their mental models to
29:53process that information and how that
29:55kind of a message tends to be heard.
29:58Is that kind of damage done?
29:59His damage done?
30:00So if a if a child experiences
30:02some trauma than bad outcomes
30:04are inevitable or inescapable,
30:06and this is clearly not how we want
30:09people to be thinking about adversity.
30:11Given the science of resilience
30:13and plasticity,
30:14and a resulting kind of hopelessness.
30:16And if you are a parent or a teacher
30:18of a child experiencing trauma,
30:21defensiveness,
30:21which really powerfully we
30:23found leads the disengagement.
30:25And So what you want to do instead
30:27is reduces introduces introduced this
30:29idea of resilience early and often,
30:31and use an efficacious tone.
30:33So an application stone means
30:35one that's not doom and gloom.
30:37Dire in on fire,
30:38but that presents the opportunity
30:40for positive outcomes to occur
30:41even if significant adversity
30:43and trauma has been experienced,
30:45and so you know,
30:46with a little bit more detail what
30:49that looks like is you want to you
30:52want to keep your eye on the goal
30:54and talk about what can happen.
30:56And not be overly preoccupied with
30:58the past experiences of University.
31:00So sometimes people talk about
31:01that as being aspirational.
31:02Aspirational is one of these words
31:04that I think is kind of hope.
31:06You changing GUI and I try not to use it,
31:09but I probably will in this
31:10presentation a couple of times.
31:12You want to try to be kind of
31:14inspirational and be very clear
31:15about the positive outcomes that
31:17are possible and attainable.
31:18And again,
31:19not just focus on the experiences
31:20of adversity.
31:21That said,
31:22those first 2 points said the bad guy
31:24is really important in this story, right?
31:26So you don't want to.
31:28Be all woo you know know
31:29nothing bad is happening is all
31:31resilience and great outcomes.
31:32There needs to be tension as Lauren
31:34can tell us in every story right?
31:36There needs to be a bad guy
31:38in that bad guy right now.
31:40Is significant adversity that is.
31:41That is being experienced.
31:42So this is kind of a complex
31:44recommendation to hit.
31:45But I think I think it can be hit and
31:47I think it's unbelievably important.
31:49And So what this looks like.
31:52And again, I can't even half of my screen,
31:55so apologies.
31:56But significant adversity
31:57has damaging effects on.
31:58I'm guessing that says learning health
31:59behavior and can derail positive development,
32:01so that's the before.
32:03That's the thing that people who work
32:05until they don't really want to say.
32:07And the after you can see
32:08the content is the same,
32:10but the framing is different.
32:12So providing every community with
32:13a robust system of support helps
32:15build resilience in the face of the
32:17potential harmful effects of adversity.
32:18Again,
32:19so you can see kind of
32:21there's there's those
32:22three. Recommendations kind of
32:23encapsulated in this. Right now.
32:24It's also really important to
32:25avoid deterministic language,
32:26and this is at the level of really
32:28small kind of Micro language stuff,
32:30so there are a set of words
32:32that we want to put in a vault.
32:34This is not like a vault where we
32:36keep our valuable money and gold
32:38and things that you would think of.
32:40This is about where we put things.
32:42We locked them away and we don't use them
32:44because they are dangerous and unproductive.
32:46So these are words that connote very
32:48powerfully for people that damaged
32:49on his damage done understanding,
32:51set, fixed, rooted, determined.
32:52Pre determined even worse than determined,
32:54damaged or threatened,
32:55and instead we want to use these
32:57words that allow for the introduction
32:58of resilience of plasticity,
33:00can may more likely to affect
33:01shape undermine.
33:02These are much less deterministic
33:04words and we have found in research
33:06in experimental research that simply
33:07moving from what you see on the left
33:10to which you see on the right is
33:12incredibly powerful in again kind
33:13of unlocking and opening up these
33:15spaces for people to have the kind
33:17of thinking and conversations that
33:18we need to advance these issues
33:20that we're working on.
33:22The second recommendation is to and
33:24Linda talked about this in the second
33:27idea about serving return relationships.
33:29Is to always put relationships in
33:31context and we do this to avoid
33:34having those who are the adult members
33:36of relationships experience either
33:38perceived or real stigma and guilt as
33:41a result of experiences of adversity.
33:43So what this you might want to say here,
33:46but shouldn't is that adults need
33:48to buffer children from the
33:50detrimental effects of adversity.
33:52This is especially important right now,
33:54and you can probably already see
33:56after I've said the word stigma
33:59and guilt why this is problematic.
34:01And the problem is that parents
34:03teachers anyone who's a member of that
34:05relationship who is participating in
34:07that serving return feel incredibly
34:08blamed when the stressors of their lives
34:11are preventing them from providing
34:12engaging in those responsive relationships.
34:14And the best way to get someone
34:16to tune out an reject.
34:18What you're having to say is feel
34:20that they're being attacked and
34:21become defensive or ego defensive
34:23by what you're saying,
34:25so you can see how that message
34:27at the top again.
34:28The intention is really positive,
34:30but the effect is that if you're.
34:32A person who is in a relationship
34:34with a child.
34:36I wouldn't be super responsive to
34:37anything that follows that right?
34:39I would, I would become very defensive.
34:41I would. I would feel blamed.
34:42I would feel guilty.
34:44I would tune out and turn off.
34:47Um,
34:47So what helps is we want to deepen
34:50people's understandings of how.
34:52Of how conditions of stress.
34:54Sorry, we got another call going here.
34:56Hopefully that's not for me,
34:58deepen understandings of how conditions
35:00of stress affect relationships,
35:01and one way that we can do that.
35:04So you heard Linda use a lot of metaphors.
35:07She used toxic stress and brain
35:09architecture and serve and return.
35:11And I want to tell you that those were
35:14all very intentionally used metaphors.
35:16Those metaphors do specific things that
35:18need to be done in terms of opening peoples
35:21understanding of child development.
35:23So one of those metaphors that's
35:25really helpful in making the point that
35:28context influence relationships in a
35:29way that doesn't cause adults involved
35:32in relationships to feel the burden of
35:34guilt is to to use this overloaded metaphor.
35:37There's lots of different variations of this,
35:40and you can kind of go wild and adapting it,
35:44but the idea is that there are these
35:46weights of adversity on adults who
35:49are in relationships,
35:50whether that be extreme poverty,
35:52housing problems, health problems.
35:53That that bear down on a on a on
35:57a relational participant and keep
35:58them from moving forward,
36:00impair or block their ability to
36:02have the kind of relationships
36:03that are necessary in student.
36:06As soon as you've done that,
36:08you've kind of got this contextual
36:10element that you are kind of forcing
36:12people cognitively to consider and
36:14how they are assigning blame and
36:16responsibility in situations and how
36:18those people who are part of relationships
36:21are experiencing those messages.
36:22So the third.
36:23And final recommendation
36:25that's really important.
36:26And Linda did this in between her kind
36:28of her middle box and her third box
36:31is to balance the sense of urgency
36:33that you're attributing to a situation
36:36with a clear sense of Efficacy.
36:38So when I say efficacy,
36:40I mean a sense that there are
36:43things that can be done,
36:44and that if we do them remediate,
36:47improve, fix, address the situation,
36:49and so there's really tons of things
36:51that are being said right now about.
36:54Really,
36:54the urgency of the situation that
36:56we're in that Covid is amplifying
36:58adversity of threatening.
36:59You can kind of do a frame analysis
37:01of this quote and you can see this
37:03is this is like Super Duper urgent.
37:05This gives me toxic stress.
37:09And it kind of makes us feel that there's
37:11this heavy weight of the situation,
37:13but but unfortunately,
37:14what that does is it leaves people thinking
37:16that this is a huge and horrible problem,
37:18and as soon as you've got a huge and
37:20horrible problem without solutions,
37:21people readily.
37:23With great eagerness and willingness
37:25disengage from what you have to say,
37:27they think that there's really nothing
37:29you can do about this situation and so
37:31they kind of place this on the pile.
37:34Dire social problems that exist
37:35over here that we know about,
37:37but that we don't know of anything we
37:39can do about and so great research in
37:42social psychology that shows that they
37:44are kind of different degrees of urgency
37:46in different degrees of Efficacy in
37:48our messages have different effects.
37:49So first of all, when we have that
37:52high urgency and low efficacy.
37:53No problem problem.
37:54Problem example of problem story bout
37:56problem, data problem the effect is.
37:59Peace,
37:59I'm out like you haven't given me a sense.
38:02There's anything could be done here I'm done.
38:04You haven't earned warranted any
38:06of my psychic resources I'm on to
38:08other things where we might stand
38:10a chance of doing something.
38:12The problem is that you can't
38:13just flip it and go you know we
38:16hope you change the rainbows.
38:18Unicorns, lollipops, rivers of cotton candy.
38:20I don't think that's possible abound
38:22because when you do that you lose the grip
38:25and urgency of the problem and you have
38:28low motivation out of snore and board.
38:30Now Linda's heard me say this many
38:32times that there are no magic words.
38:34There are no silver bullets when
38:36it comes to communications.
38:38This is the one exception of that
38:40where we have found and others have
38:42found that when you have these
38:44messages that combine a high sense of
38:46urgency with a high sense of Efficacy,
38:48you have these kind of magically
38:50persuasive messages that pull people in
38:52through the grip intention of the urgency,
38:54but but make them lean forward with the
38:56idea that there are things that can be done.
38:59I'm going to skip this example here
39:01because I think I'm out of time
39:03and just tell you what helps here.
39:05I think there's a number of things,
39:07and I think these are like you can
39:09do these later today or tomorrow
39:10when you go back to your desk.
39:12When you go back to your work and the
39:14first thing is to bring solutions
39:16to the conversation.
39:17If you look at a message and it
39:19is all about problems,
39:20that is not a message that
39:22should leave your mouth.
39:23Leave your computer leave however,
39:24you're communicating,
39:25right is that solutions are really
39:26important components of this conversation,
39:28and it's not enough to just drop one.
39:30Anne and leave it right.
39:31They need to be explained.
39:33We need to explain how doing this
39:34thing leads to this different outcome.
39:36Kind of make people smarter
39:37about solutions and how they
39:39work are tone matters greatly.
39:40This is where I've got the word aspiration.
39:42Even though I hate it, but I think it's
39:44really an important word to have here.
39:46Is that we need to inspire
39:48and be aspirational in the
39:49messages that were laying out.
39:50We can't just focus doom and gloom on the
39:53extent severity in depth of the problem.
39:55Um? We we we do.
39:58However, like I said, can't leave out the.
40:00The bad guy, right?
40:02We can't forget the urgency part
40:04of this equation. With that,
40:05I'm going to end with what I think is,
40:08uh, you know.
40:09My new favorite aspirational
40:11quote about about framing and
40:13the choices that we make.
40:14How we communicate.
40:15At the world as we know it is built
40:18on a story to be a change agent
40:20first is to disrupt the existing
40:23story of the world and 2nd to tell
40:25a new story of the world so that
40:28people have a place to go with that.
40:30I will thank you all very much
40:32encourage you all to frame on and I'm
40:35going to hand to Lauren hopefully.
40:46Natalie and Linda are so
40:48inspiring to me and I was, um,
40:51I'm always daunted when I put
40:53into a a setting where I am with
40:57brilliant scientists who have
40:59devoted their lives to research and
41:02synthesizing and are bringing so
41:05much understanding and illumination
41:07to us all so I don't have charts.
41:10And I don't have any beautiful graphs,
41:14have no scientific background,
41:16no expertise.
41:17What I do have is 30 years experience
41:21writing stories and a truly evangelical
41:24belief in the power of those stories,
41:27especially to build to really help.
41:32I guess I'll use the word frame like Nat has.
41:36I'll borrow some of Linda's
41:38terminology to really help provide
41:40models of resilience to to mitigate
41:43feelings of stress and hopelessness
41:45to build knowledge that makes kids
41:48more confident that strengthens
41:50our connections with each other.
41:52That helps people build empathy
41:54and understanding,
41:55and motivates people to want
41:57to take action to try to engage
42:00in the problems that often.
42:02Even at a very young lay age can
42:05feel overwhelming and helpless, so.
42:08Just a little bit about me.
42:11I have, you know,
42:12for years and years worked at Scholastic.
42:15I now oversee 25 very dazzling
42:17resources that are used in
42:19classrooms all over the country.
42:21From pre K all the way up to high school.
42:25We have many many different great
42:27tools in these magazines but really
42:30the centerpiece of all of our work.
42:32Our our stories which we write ourselves
42:35and I have been very fortunate because.
42:39I have my work has given me the
42:41opportunity to not only be connected
42:43to amazing educators like you all here
42:46and to people like that and Linda,
42:48but to be spent a lot of time with
42:50kids in their classrooms and to witness
42:53how stories can really be transformation.
42:55Ull, especially in classroom.
42:56So I just wanted to tell you about one
42:59story in particular really, that was quite.
43:03Was a pivot point for me.
43:05In my understanding,
43:07an in Mycareer,
43:08so I had I wrote a story for one
43:11of our magazines.
43:13Storyworks was many years ago on
43:15the iconic historical disaster.
43:17If you go to the Midwest to the Great Plains,
43:21you'll probably meet many people who
43:23can tell you family stories about
43:25the with what became known as the
43:28children's Blizzard Blizzard that in
43:301888 cent a wall of ice and snow from
43:34the from Canada down through Dakotas.
43:36Minnesota and Nebraska and just slam.
43:38You know it's just a catastrophic event,
43:40so I wrote about the story an my focus.
43:43I always when I write I want to
43:45find a child to tell that story.
43:48I want that child's experience
43:49to be at the center.
43:51So I found a real child whose name
43:53is Walter Allen who was eight years
43:55old who got lost in this Blizzard.
43:58And then the heroic efforts of his brother.
44:00Will his 12 year old brother will to
44:03find him and bring him home safely.
44:05So I wrote this story.
44:07And you know a few weeks later I
44:09got an email from a teacher from
44:11the South Bronx of New York City
44:13who wanted to tell me about this.
44:15What the impact that this
44:16story had on her classroom,
44:18particularly one boy named Hector.
44:19And I'll never forget this.
44:20'cause I pictured this child,
44:22she described him so vividly he had been
44:24in foster care for most of his life.
44:26She did not even know his reading level.
44:29She wasn't able to assess him.
44:30He was extremely disruptive,
44:32and she didn't even really shake a
44:34little bit kind of given up on him.
44:36I mean, she had been.
44:37Working all year with him
44:39and nothing really worked.
44:40So she notice that as she was
44:41reading the story of Little
44:43Walter Allen in this Blizzard,
44:44Hector was riveted and at lunch time he
44:46snuck the magazine off of her desk and
44:48put it in his backpack and brought it home.
44:51And the next day he came back and he
44:53had read the story so many times he
44:56had basically memorized it and he was just,
44:58you know,
44:58he wanted to know more about Walter and more
45:01about will and he wanted for the first time.
45:03He asked her to go to the library and so she
45:06was saying to me this is just incredible.
45:08She said it really opened up so much for him.
45:11This one story.
45:12And but it was really
45:14not so much the Blizzard.
45:16Or the history that gripped Hector,
45:18although of course that was
45:20all a carry along effect.
45:22He was just he connected somehow.
45:24This boy from the South Bronx
45:27connected in his heart to a boy
45:29from history who lived in 1888.
45:31And the adversity that the experience
45:34of Walter nearly being frozen to death
45:37and hidden under drifts of snow.
45:39It spoke to him.
45:40And so this teacher said to me,
45:43you know it's too bad.
45:45There are books like this,
45:47you know.
45:47Maybe you know their books where
45:49they put kids in the middle of
45:51history and have them experiencing
45:53these really difficult things
45:54that maybe you should write one.
45:56So I had been thinking about that myself,
45:59'cause I had definitely noticed
46:00that whenever I wrote about history
46:02with the child at the centerpiece,
46:04these are the stories that really engaged
46:06kids made these stories relevant.
46:08Enable them to feel connected.
46:10So I went home and you know,
46:12you know very quickly thereafter I
46:14wrote the proposal for my series.
46:16I survived. It's actually that.
46:18I've been doing this now for 10 years.
46:20I'm I'm on the 20th book.
46:22I would like they're impossible to write.
46:25I could really keep bore you to
46:27tears by telling you the torturous
46:29process of writing them.
46:30Each one is historical fiction
46:32story where I take an iconic event,
46:34do tons and tons of research.
46:36I travel.
46:37I've traveled to almost everywhere
46:39that I've written about.
46:40I really want to kind of walk
46:42in the walk
46:43in the footsteps of my fictional characters,
46:46learn everything I can bring these.
46:48Bring these stories to light for my readers,
46:52and. It's been, you know,
46:55despite all the hard work the books
46:58have been unbelievably gratifying
47:00to me because they have enabled me
47:02to connect to so many teachers and
47:05kids all around the country and the
47:08experience of being the author of a
47:11disaster series means that I often get.
47:14I get a lot of Mail from teachers and kids,
47:18and many of them right to me from disaster
47:21areas of disaster inviting me too.
47:24They really want to share their stories.
47:26They want to.
47:27They want me to share their
47:29stories with others.
47:30I think there's something kind of
47:32healing about that knowing that
47:33people you know are aware of what
47:35you're what you're going through,
47:37they want to share their lessons of
47:39how they rebuilt their communities.
47:41So these are.
47:42You can imagine that these kinds of
47:44experiences for me are the most powerful,
47:46and I'll just quickly share with
47:48you a recent experience that,
47:50to me brings to light so much of what,
47:52not, and Linda have been talking about.
47:55And what is so powerful for me about?
47:57Store had the power of story,
47:59so it was in the member of 2018.
48:02I got an email from this woman here,
48:05Holly Fisher.
48:06She was writing to me that's her husband.
48:09Josh is a firefighter.
48:11They live in paradise,
48:12CA so I don't know if you remember.
48:15But in November of 2018,
48:17their entire town, 28,000 people,
48:1919,000 buildings, just you know the
48:21whole town basically burned down.
48:23She was writing to me four days
48:26after the town was destroyed.
48:28And the fire.
48:29The camp wildfire, as it was called,
48:31was still smoldering and she said,
48:33and I can still hear her words,
48:35and you know?
48:37She said, You know,
48:38she described what happened and she said,
48:40you know,
48:41I really think you need to come here I.
48:44I think you there are a lot of kids
48:46who want to share their stories
48:48and I think it would be so helpful
48:50if they could tell them to you.
48:52So it took me a few months, but I went.
48:55I brought three of My 4 kids and my
48:57and my husband and we went to paradise
48:59and Holly and Josh took us around
49:01this truly apocalyptic landscape.
49:03It was April and the town had a toxic.
49:05You know it was the air was still very toxic,
49:08nobody was there.
49:09Everyone you know,
49:10no one really knew was going to happen,
49:11but this town.
49:14I talked to many many kids.
49:16I visited kids in their temporary
49:19schools and I already saw in April
49:22how these teachers educators.
49:24And parents were trying to reframe
49:26the devastation of the fire.
49:28And it was just a fascinating thing to see.
49:31Many of them instinctively,
49:32these principles and the
49:33Superintendent of Paradise,
49:34and they were trying to help kids understand,
49:37you know, OK,
49:38this happened to us.
49:39But look what look what,
49:40look where we are now.
49:42Look at how many people around
49:44the country have rallied to help
49:46us and look at how we quickly
49:48created these temporary schools and
49:49look how well you are all doing.
49:52And look at how you're helping each other.
49:54It was so inspiring to see.
49:56I ended up going back another in this summer.
49:59They were, you know that now.
50:00Paradise was no longer desolate.
50:02There were the sounds of saws and Hammers,
50:05and it was a deeply,
50:06deeply affecting experience.
50:07So I wrote a story about it for
50:10the magazines and the story of
50:11the Fishers and another family.
50:13The weddings and a bus driver
50:15named captain who went rescued 28
50:17children on a harrowing 6 hour.
50:19Honestly to get out of the city
50:21as it was burning.
50:22So I wrote the story and as we
50:24often do at the end we gave kids
50:27an assignment arriving assignment.
50:29We ask them to pick someone from
50:31the story and.
50:32Write a letter to them explaining
50:34what you learned.
50:35We got 5000 letters from readers
50:37from children all around the country.
50:40We box many of them up and send
50:42them to the fissures in the weddings
50:45and Kevin so you can imagine the
50:47effect that these letters had
50:49on on the people from Paradise.
50:52Knowing that so many children
50:54from around the country understood
50:55what they were going through and
50:58we're learning from them,
50:59but was even more remarkable to me.
51:02Was what I heard from.
51:04Educators,
51:04which was the impact that these the
51:07story of reading at the experience
51:09of reading about the Fishers and the
51:12weddings and Kevin had on those kids.
51:14They were inspired by them.
51:16They were especially many fragile
51:18kids struggling readers,
51:19much like Hector in the South Bronx.
51:22The there was something about these story.
51:25The story of this town in these people
51:27that was empowering in Sunway watching,
51:30modeling,
51:30seeing these models of people
51:32who are able to go through.
51:35These devastating events and slowly
51:37figure out ways to move forward
51:39and that really is the theme.
51:41All of my books are different.
51:43In fact, I just finished my wildfire.
51:45I did write it.
51:47I survived story about this,
51:49but seeing the that's really the unifying,
51:52I would say theme of all of my work on.
51:56Whether it's in the I survived
51:58series or in magazine articles,
51:59that right is to find ways to show kids
52:02to model these stories of resilience.
52:04So we have them in,
52:06you know,
52:07in so many so many of our stories
52:09in the magazines,
52:11whether it's a girl named
52:12Natalia living in Malawi,
52:14who has to walk 2 miles to get water,
52:17and then the transformative impact
52:18of getting a well in her community.
52:21This is a great story just to
52:23quickly share because again,
52:24you know we love driving it and
52:26then hearing these are we heard
52:28from kids around the country
52:30how much they loved Natalia they
52:32love this story they they raised
52:34kids from our readers raids.
52:35Ended up putting together
52:36fundraisers and wanting to help
52:38other other villages get wells.
52:39They raised 10s of thousands
52:41of dollars for charity water,
52:43which is the organization
52:44that put the well in Italian.
52:46One group they wanted to know what's it
52:48like to have to go 2 miles with gallons
52:51of water on your head so they did it?
52:54They they they spent an afternoon
52:56walking two miles around their
52:58track just to be so they could
53:01empathize further with Natalia.
53:02So you know,
53:03here's a classroom that raised
53:05money in so many of the kids.
53:08It's very moving so many of the
53:11teachers who reach out with stories
53:13about the impact of a story like
53:16this or a story like the paradise
53:18there they are often the teachers.
53:20Most often I would say from
53:23areas that are underserved.
53:25There's something very resident
53:27about these stories to a lot of our
53:30more of a lot of these children.
53:33So you know we're again constantly
53:35on the lookout for stories that
53:37model kids who are facing things,
53:39whether it's talent,
53:40who has a stutter and became an actor,
53:43or fabulous Marie living in Flint,
53:45where her whole city was blighted by
53:47poison water, what's her reaction?
53:49I'm going to fight.
53:50I'm going to become an activist.
53:52I'm going to write a book,
53:54you know, kids just love, love,
53:56love, love her.
53:57There's Jordan Reeves who was
53:59born without an arm an she
54:01learned how to make it pretty.
54:033D printed prosthetic for herself
54:04and she loves to talk about how
54:06this has become her superpower.
54:08Kids from history.
54:09There's so many kids from
54:10history again who we can.
54:12We can look at as models for this,
54:14so I'm just in a constant, you know,
54:16kind of a constant state of of inspiration.
54:18And now you know,
54:20a lot of teachers say to me,
54:22you know, how do we use these
54:23stories in our classrooms?
54:25You know,
54:25how do we make time for them?
54:27And many of them use them in
54:29their DLA blocks?
54:30They're using them to teach main idea
54:32and make and test prep and all of that.
54:35But they are also elevating them.
54:37They're turning the kids that their
54:40meaning that they are featured in
54:42these stories or books into kind of
54:45living people in their classroom.
54:47There,
54:47they're talking about them there,
54:49there,
54:50making sure that kids have an opportunity
54:52to share these stories with their families.
54:55These make fabulous discussion.
54:57Dinnertime discussion.
54:58We found that last spring
55:00when the shutdowns happened,
55:02we shared,
55:02so we just pushed out these
55:05stories more than ever before
55:07because we were hearing that.
55:09These were stories that
55:11were really becoming very,
55:12you know,
55:13just wonderful for the virtual classroom
55:15and then for kids to be engaging with
55:18their families about so the stories are,
55:21you know,
55:22they're wonderful teaching tools,
55:23but then they kind of.
55:25They take root in the classroom
55:28culture and provide wonderful
55:30to points of connection for kids
55:32between themselves with their teacher
55:35and and also with their families.
55:37The other thing I just wanted to say
55:40that was that's really interesting and
55:42I'm trying to frame now that Nate has
55:45given me a crash course in framing.
55:47I want to make sure I say this correctly,
55:50but I I'm just dazzled by all
55:52you teachers I was, you know,
55:54I spent hours and hours everyday in
55:56zoom classrooms over the spring and this
55:59summer I've been talking to teachers
56:01almost everyday and you guys are.
56:03You guys are kind of amazing.
56:05You are doing exactly,
56:06you know without training.
56:08Without resources,
56:08in many cases I am just witnessing the
56:11incredible ways that you are modeling.
56:14You know, you know, pulling,
56:15you're pulling your classrooms together,
56:17trying too many of them were using reef
56:20positive re framing in their classrooms,
56:22making SCL front and Center.
56:24I witnessed how many teachers were
56:27sitting with their kids and they
56:29wanted to find Silver Linings.
56:31You know, what's, you know?
56:32Let's let's find something good that's
56:35happening even during these lockdowns
56:37and no matter where I was and what what.
56:40Group of kids.
56:41I was hearing from pretty every
56:43kid had something to say.
56:44Oh my brother is playing with me now
56:47because he is no one else to play
56:49with or my mom is cooking now and
56:52it turns out she's becoming a much
56:54better cook and I can ride my bike and
56:57I don't have to worry about getting
56:59hit by a car 'cause there's nobody
57:01out and you just I saw how most of
57:04all teachers themselves were living
57:06breathing SCL lessons just by being
57:08present they teachers were frantic.
57:09They were failing with their technology.
57:11They were trying to figure out these
57:13ridiculous bitmoji classrooms.
57:14They were doing all sorts of things
57:16that were so out of their comfort zone,
57:19but they weren't giving up.
57:20They were just in there and in there.
57:23And what that to me talk about adapting.
57:25You're showing your kids how
57:27educators being willing to show
57:28their kids how they're struggling.
57:30Adapting to me was certainly inspiring to me,
57:32and I'm certain it was very inspiring
57:34for their kids and I just want to
57:37quickly finish by telling you something.
57:39I didn't tell you about the
57:41children's Blizzard.
57:42What I loved about that story is
57:44that this Blizzard hit in the
57:47middle during late morning while
57:48all the kids were in there.
57:50One room school houses.
57:52So the most remarkable survival
57:54stories are those of teachers who
57:56figured out a way with their kids to
57:59get through this this terrible event.
58:01They were burning furniture and books to
58:03stay warm after their roofs were there.
58:06One room school houses were blown off.
58:08One teacher Tide.
58:09All of her children together it with,
58:12uh?
58:12Broke and managed to get all 25
58:14kids including you know 5 year old
58:17kids safely to shelter was a 2 hour
58:19trudge so I think that when we
58:21talk about the power of stories the
58:23story of what you are all doing now
58:25is one that I'm certainly going to
58:27be telling for many many years I
58:29keep telling kids when they ask me.
58:32Everyones asked me are you going to write
58:34and I survived COVID-19 and I say no.
58:36You know what I don't think I'm going
58:39to do it. You should be doing it.
58:41You should be keeping track.
58:43Of what you're going through right now,
58:45and all the ways you're adapting and
58:46all the things you're learning and
58:48how your life is changing and how
58:50you're helping others because years
58:52from now writers are going to want to
58:54know what this time in history was,
58:56and your story is important,
58:58your story matters and you're going to help.
59:00You're going to help define what
59:02this was in history.
59:03So with that,
59:04thank you so much for spending
59:06a little time with me.
59:07I really wish we were all together in person,
59:10but it's wonderful to feel connected
59:12to you now.
59:13So I guess I'll give it back to Linda, right?
59:16Linda,
59:17if you
59:17want to facilitate the Little
59:20Q&A with Lauren and Nat,
59:22I can also shoot some questions
59:24your way that has come in
59:27from the audience as well.
59:29Let me just start with a question that
59:32someone wrote in her name is Susan Grace Ann.
59:36Susan is a survivor of abuse and
59:39trauma and really sorry to hear
59:42season. And she says that one of the
59:45greatest things about recovery is
59:46that there's a science to recovery
59:48and healing, and she was hoping
59:50Linda that you might come back on and speak
59:53a little bit about the science of recovery
59:56and healing. Yes, there is a thank
59:58you for that question, and there is.
01:00:01The science of recovery and repair,
01:00:04and we could certainly send
01:00:06you some references about that.
01:00:09A book in the last.
01:00:12I think it's the last three
01:00:15years with the main author,
01:00:19Doctor Steven Southwick Southwick.
01:00:20Is very much about this science
01:00:23of repair and recovery,
01:00:25so that would be 1 great source for
01:00:28you on but Fortunately there is such
01:00:31a such a science and I would say
01:00:34that it's lying to bit behind the
01:00:37science of adversity and damage.
01:00:38But it is a compelling question for us.
01:00:41All of us who work with children
01:00:44is how do we build in the capacity
01:00:48for repair and.
01:00:49And what we call scientifically plasticity.
01:00:52But I've really repairing systems
01:00:53and we now know that it happens
01:00:56across the lifespan and we know not
01:00:59surprising that some of the things
01:01:02that supported our healthy relationships,
01:01:04the ability to be apart of
01:01:06communities and groups altruism,
01:01:08and that is doing for others,
01:01:10is one of the one of the great factors
01:01:13in helping recovery and repair.
01:01:16But let it let us send you the
01:01:19reference for that.
01:01:21For that book for doctor South Lakes book.
01:01:24Thank you,
01:01:24Linda,
01:01:25and I'll just like to forward
01:01:27one other question from the
01:01:28audience. And then I hope you can have
01:01:31a brief conversation among yourself.
01:01:33But woman Lena Lena Leo.
01:01:35If I'm saying it right,
01:01:37Rd in that she works at a
01:01:39preschool and parents are coming
01:01:41to her and saying that they have
01:01:43their three and four year olds,
01:01:45asking them questions about Covid
01:01:47and then their intern coming to
01:01:49the preschool and saying.
01:01:51How do I address my child concern?
01:01:53So again, I think this
01:01:55is a question for Linda
01:01:57and that might have some framing ideas
01:01:59directed at three and four year olds.
01:02:01But can you, can you?
01:02:04Sorry, ideas on how we speak to that as well,
01:02:08so I think that there are some
01:02:10things coming out and we'd be glad
01:02:13to again send you some references.
01:02:15Too short books about how you talk about
01:02:17the virus, how you talk about Kovid.
01:02:21But I think the central message about
01:02:25Covid is. That you're there, do you,
01:02:28or whomever is asking the question
01:02:30are there to help the child help the
01:02:33child feel safe there altogether?
01:02:35You're learning annual.
01:02:36You're all learning together.
01:02:38You'll be right there for them.
01:02:40I think the consistency of
01:02:42presence is most important,
01:02:43but there are some actually pretty
01:02:45good resources now explaining the
01:02:47virus to to the younger children,
01:02:49and we can send you those references.
01:02:52Lauren or not, would you add?
01:02:55I know nothing about framing for
01:02:57three to four year olds, but.
01:03:01I guess I I mean, my recommendations.
01:03:03More generally would be that kind of
01:03:05balance recommendation around kind of
01:03:07some version of urgency and Efficacy,
01:03:09but I don't think it's productive
01:03:11to Underplay the weight and
01:03:13consequences of what's going on,
01:03:15but I think it is dangerous and
01:03:17irresponsible not to convey.
01:03:19A way out some signs connotation of
01:03:22solutions and a sense of agency that there
01:03:24are things that that individual people,
01:03:27an importantly kind of collectives
01:03:29of people can,
01:03:30should and must be doing in this
01:03:32time to to address what's going on.
01:03:35So I think you want to try to balance
01:03:38those those two and how you communicate.
01:03:41I mean, I think that's the that's
01:03:43probably both the honest and
01:03:45the the effective and efficient
01:03:47way of communicating.
01:03:49At the time there is scholastic
01:03:52has a very cool resource that is
01:03:55just just been released last week.
01:03:58It's on Instagram and it's
01:04:00called the social bookshelf,
01:04:02the bookshelf and it's organized
01:04:04by 68 different topics ranging
01:04:06from anxiety to racism too.
01:04:08You know, you name it.
01:04:11Everything in between.
01:04:12It's actually the topics were
01:04:15chosen based on a survey that was
01:04:18done of parents of including there.
01:04:20Parents, quite young children
01:04:22and what they've done is they've
01:04:24for every single issue they've
01:04:26provided a book excerpt and some of
01:04:28them are young are picture books,
01:04:30Peter Reynolds or some wonderful
01:04:32picture books all the way up to Harry
01:04:35Potter and then if you continue to
01:04:37swipe through there some questions
01:04:39that you can better kind of used
01:04:42for a conversation facilitation with
01:04:44your child and then at the end there
01:04:46are other recommended resources
01:04:48including other books and also free
01:04:50classroom magazine articles that.
01:04:52Are on these topics,
01:04:53so that's definitely something
01:04:54nice to check out.
01:04:57We can send that link to Karen,
01:04:59can we send that link as well?
01:05:03Yes, I'll put out link
01:05:05in the chat box for the
01:05:07social bookshelf, so thank you and I think
01:05:10that we probably
01:05:11ought to wrap up and
01:05:13give people a break before our next session
01:05:15when we come back at one which will be
01:05:19on reconsidering family engagement in
01:05:21the time of Kovid. And I know that
01:05:24they are using some of NASA's
01:05:26research on re framing in terms of
01:05:28how to present the concept of family
01:05:31engagement most effectively so.
01:05:32Thanks for your work and thank you
01:05:35all for your wonderful presentation.
01:05:38Thank you Karen. Thanks
01:05:41everybody. Say everyone.