Our focus for classroom guidance is on mindfulness and our brain. We have practiced deep breathing and tied this to helping calm our brain when our emotions are high. When our minds are full of what is happening that that moment we can control our actions and feelings. We have talked about finding our "still quite place".My favorite times are spent in the classroom teaching and learning with your children!

"Mindful awareness helps students with self regulation, optimism, and planning and organizational skills," says Maria Hersey, Ph.D., the U.S. director of education and training at The Hawn Foundation, which trains educators to teach its science-based mindfulness curriculum, MindUP. "A lot of the research shows that mindful awareness—and understanding its pieces—helps students with cognitive and academic growth. It helps them follow through and prioritize."

What is Wylie Way?

The Wylie Way is a movement in our schools that is research based and designed to set our students on the path to achievement in every area of their lives. It is built on the foundations of:

• Relationships: Building strong relationships with students is vital to their achievement. We share a collective goal in Wylie that every student will have a meaningful relationship with at least one adult. The Wylie Way works because this is our highest priority.
• Strengths & Interests: We firmly believe that if we can help our students identify and grow strongly in their strengths and interests, we can set their feet on the path to achievement. We all have innate gifts and talents; we want our students to explore what theirs are and allow them to grow as confident individuals.
• Plan & Purpose: Many of us were not given the opportunity to really think through what we wanted for our future while we were in school. In Wylie, we want to help our students develop their future plan and purpose. Our goal is to connect what our students are good at and interested in with possible careers by providing classes in those fields.
• Core Ethical Values: The heart of the Wylie Way lies in our values. With the support of the community, we have identified the core values we want to instill in our students. Not only do we want our students to be high performers, we also want them to be good people and do good things. We intentionally have designated days to understand, care about, and act on the focused value of the 9 weeks.

If we can make each of those foundations compelling and meaningful in the lives of our students, they will be equipped with what is necessary to increase their hope, well-being, and engagement. Being solid in those foundations is necessary to close the achievement gap and have success in life. The Wylie Way is more than character education, it is Achievement Education!

A School Counselor Can Help Students.....

Do better in school
Enjoy good relationships
Develop good feelings about schoolwork, family and society.
Build positive self-images
Help children understand themselves and others.
Help prevent problems from developing.
Help provide crisis interventions for school and families.
Help provide Career Education activities.
Help refer families who need special help.
Help give Parent Workshops.
Listen to problems confidentially.
Counsel with students individually and in groups

Provide classroom guidance lessons

Work with administrators, teachers and families to help students get the most out of school