Ridgeview Review
Week of November 30
Teaching Peace in Elementary School ~ from The New York Times, Nov. 14, 2015
FOR years, there has been a steady stream of headlines about the soaring mental health needs of college students and their struggles with anxiety and lack of resilience.
Now, a growing number of educators are trying to bolster emotional competency not on college campuses, but where they believe it will have the greatest impact: in elementary schools.
In many communities, elementary teachers, guidance counselors and administrators are embracing what is known as social and emotional learning, or S.E.L., a process through which people become more aware of their feelings and learn to relate more peacefully to others.
Feeling left out? Angry at your mom? Embarrassed to speak out loud during class? Proponents of S.E.L. say these feelings aren’t insignificant issues to be ignored in favor of the three R’s. Unless emotions are properly dealt with, they believe, children won’t be able to reach their full academic potential.
“It’s not just about how you feel, but how are you going to solve a problem, whether it’s an academic problem or a peer problem or a relationship problem with a parent,” said Mark T. Greenberg, a professor of human development and psychology at Pennsylvania State University.
Echoing the concept of “emotional intelligence,” popularized in the 1990s by Daniel Goleman’s best-selling book of the same name, he added, “The ability to get along with others is really the glue of healthy human development.”
Today’s schoolchildren confront not only the inherent difficulty of growing up, but also an increasingly fraught testing environment, a lower tolerance for physical acting out and the pervasive threat of violence. (President Obama last year characterized school shootings as “becoming the norm.”) Poverty and income inequality, too, create onerous emotional conditions for many children.
“The neural pathways in the brain that deal with stress are the same ones that are used for learning,” said Marc Brackett, director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, a research and teaching center. “Schools are realizing that they have to help kids understand their feelings and manage them effectively.” He added, “We, as a country, want our kids to achieve more academically, but we can’t do this if our kids aren’t emotionally healthy.”
The case for Class Meetings
At P.S. 130 in Brooklyn, where most students qualify for free lunch, a class of third graders recently sat in a circle and brainstormed, for the second day in a row, about steps they could take to prevent an aggressive boy in another class from causing problems during lunch and recess: A 9-year-old girl said she “felt scared” when the boy chased and grabbed her; Leo, an 8-year-old with neon orange sneakers, described, with agitation, how the boy sat down, uninvited, at his table and caused so much commotion that it drew sanctions from a cafeteria aide.
“How does he really bother you?” a girl in a pink sweatshirt asked, seeking clarification, as she’d been taught.
“Because,” Leo responded, his voice swelling with indignation, “it took 10 minutes from recess!”
To advance the science and practice of S.E.L., researchers at Yale established the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning in 1994; under the leadership of Roger P. Weissberg, it moved to the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1996.
Drawing on decades of research, the group set forth what it described as the five goals of S.E.L. for students:
•Self-awareness: The ability to reflect on one’s own feelings and thoughts.
•Self-management (or self-control): The ability to control one’s own thoughts and behavior.
•Social awareness: The ability to empathize with others, recognize social cues and adapt to various situations.
•Relationship skills: The ability to communicate, make friends, manage disagreements, recognize peer pressure and cooperate.
•Responsible decision making: The ability to make healthy choices about one’s own behavior while weighing consequences for others.
Click below to read the full article:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/11/15/sunday-review/teaching-peace-in-elementary-school.html?_r=0
Keller ISD Film Festival
The festival is an opportunity for students to develop their visual literacy and expand their educational experience in Keller ISD by fostering the creativity, artistic, communication and technical skills required for producing a movie. Students have seven entry categories to choose from including: Story, Comedy, Music Video, Documentary, PSA Plus, and Animation.
Students have the chance to be honored at an Awards Ceremony on April 5, 2016, at the Alliance Cinemark XD Movie Theater. Students can win trophies, certificates, prizes, and more!
For more information on the Film Fest, including details on how to submit your entries, visit www.KellerISD.net/Film!
Keller ISD and Sodexo Back the Blue
If your class has time to make thank you signs, please hang them in the cafeteria to show our support of our law enforcement. Police officers who choose to come have breakfast/lunch with our students during this week are welcome to sit at the tables with students (not the visitors table) so they can interact with all students.
CHAMPS Tip of the Week
Pick a CHAMPS letter/category to focus on for the day. Have students vote for the student that modeled that expectation the best that day. Keep it a mystery and tell your class you have chosen one then let them know what it was at the end of the day and then have students elect the model student. Don’t forget to give them a rattler Reward for a job well done!
CHAMPS Reminder – Please upload your Rattler Rewards totals for the 2nd 6 weeks to the Rattler Rewards Google Doc! If you need help ask a PBIS team member.
Fire Marshall Visit
Please remove ALL curtains and drapes in your classrooms. The pictures below are examples of what is not allowed.
Other things that were noted to be out of compliance were:
- the use of extension cords
- more than 50% of a wall space covered with paper/posters/etc
- items hanging from the ceiling
- items on top of shelving that comes within 18 inches of the ceiling
I will be walking the building on Monday, December 14 to check that all classroom areas are in compliance. Please take care of these matters before the 14th.
Schedule for December 18
8:15 - Teachers send sack lunch count to cafeteria
8:30 - 9:15 - Rockin' Rattler Holiday program in the cafeteria10:10 - 10:30 - Classes pick up sack lunches from cafeteria
10:30 - 11:00 - Lunch in classrooms; room parent allowed to come to rooms to set up
11:00 - 12:00 - Class parties
12:00 - Early Release (we will have sign out sheets in classrooms)
12:30 - PTA providing lunch to staff
1:00 - 3:30 - RES Staff community service at Holiday House
Coming in January!
Next week at RES....
Monday
District PBIS Team campus visit
Jacque off campus
Tuesday
PTA Executive Board Meeting; 8:30 - teacher's lounge
Wednesday
3rd grade off campus with Becky for district data talks
Jacque off campus AM
Fire drill; 10:00 AM
Thursday
Heather Varon to meet with grade levels in large conference room
* All teachers need to bring 3-4 current writing samples from their classroom
GLC Meeting; 3:30 - large conference room
Friday
Jacque and Sara off campus PM
Ridgeview Elementary School
Email: becky.wilder@kellerisd.net
Website: http://campus.kellerisd.net/schools/res-129/Pages/default.aspx
Location: 1601 Marshall Ridge Parkway, Keller, TX, United States
Phone: (817) 744-6600
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RidgeviewElementaryKISD
Twitter: @RidgeviewKISD