RootCraft

Discoveries
Teri Hickey -Art
Barb Kudley -Library
Donna Janoso -Music
Gretchen Jessel -Physical education

March 4, 2024
Music
Art Craddock MAPLe Team
Physical
Library
education
Inside Out: The Power of Relationships
By meeting students' social and emotional needs, schools can spark motivation and
engagement. Educators at the River School in Napa, California, believe that attending to
students' social-emotional needs are an important part of motivating students to learn.

The River School focuses on the whole child by creating opportunities for students to build
relationships with adults in the building and by encouraging students to take on leadership Article link
roles.

Through listening circles, students get to talk about things that are important to them, and
teachers are better able to understand students' emotional states. Each year, 8th graders
are asked to take on a leadership role within the school so that they can become their best
selves. Students have mentored 6th and 7th graders, served on advisory panels, and
developed new programs. One student, seeing that the custodian needed help, organized
a group of peers to act as his crew. Students had to apply to join, and they saw being on the
crew as privilege. The school's more active boys were especially motivated to get their
grades up and their behavior in line so they could join.

Other student-led initiatives include a peer mediation group and a "Be the Change" group
that plans donation drives and other activities to reach out to others. Thanks to these
efforts, students learn leadership skills and develop a sense of belonging that motivates
them to contribute to improving the school culture.
Specification 1: Honoring Identity Through Relationships
What can we do as a team build relationship POWER with our students?

In our classrooms, the students

As a teacher we are
know:
creating a place where They matter

students have a sense They have a personal connection

with the lesson
of belonging and a
They feel safe with their peers to take
sense of self. educational risks

They are able to make mistakes and

make choice
Supporting Students' Intersecting Identities
By recognizing layers of privilege and oppression, schools
can become more affirming.

Intersectionality describes how the overlap of an

individual's identities impacts the way he or she moves—and
is regarded—in the world.
Link to full article can be found here.
We know that students face unique challenges based on
aspects of their identities, such as race, gender, sexual
orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, immigration
status, and ability. But it is critical that educators see
students' intersectional identities, particularly where
marginalized identities converge (race with ability, sexual
orientation with immigration status, faith with family
structure, and so on).

In this article, HRC Foundation's Johanna Eager describes

how educators can use intersectionality as a lens to serve
and support all students. Part of a theme issue on "What
Teens Need from Schools."
 Specification 1: Honoring Identity Through Relationships
What can we do as a team to support students INTERSECTING IDENTITIES?

❖ Be mindful of the ❖ Create a safe space that allows each

design of the physical students to take risk that are supported
by peers and learning facilitator
and social learning
❖ Go (think) beyond stereotypes and
environment generalizations
❖ Learn about each ❖ Find out what makes each student
student unique
❖ Celebrate through ❖ Provide space to allow student
expressions through drawing, singing,
sharing
reading, playing, writing, and movement

Specification 1: Honoring
Identity Through
Relationships
What can we do as a team to support
students INTERSECTING IDENTITIES?
8 Ways to Help Students
Build a Cultural Identity
8. Come to Know and Respect
1. Bond with Someone Who
Knows the Culture. ...
2. Learn a Traditional Game
and Share It. ...
3. Cook Traditional Foods. ...
4. Do a Traditional Dance. ...
5. Study Oral Traditions and
Learn to Tell the Stories. ...
6. Read the Works of Early
Authors. ...
7. Learn the Traditional
Language
Your Family
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/8-ways-students-build-cultural-150500230.html
 Disengagement Problems Disguised as
Discipline Problems
The pulse of a school is felt in its What does disengagement look like with
routines—the bells that mark time in our 1st and 2nd grade students?
predictable, 45-minute increments, the ● Behavior
thrumming beat of students' footsteps and ○ Avoiding lesson
hum of their chatter as they transition from ○ Sitting under desk
one class to another—the steady sounds that ○ Refusal to join class
are as natural to those who inhabit school ○ Becoming the focal point of
buildings as breathing. class
● Trips to Nurse
All too often included in the acoustics of a ● Expressing why they can not
regular school day is the cacophony of participate before class starts
disengagement. The disengaged raise their (random reasons that seem to not
voices, march out of the classrooms, wander make sense on the surface)
the hallways; and when they do, they are ● Expressing negative feelings and
disproportionately represented by our most thoughts about self
vulnerable students; our black and Latino
girls and boys.
Link to full article
 Specification 1: Honoring Identity Through Relationships
What can we do as a team to address disengagement disguised as discipline?

Making Connections and Addressing Disengagement

● Daily Hello and Goodbye

● Personal quick conversations
● 10 second gauge to see how students are doing
● Model learning
● Share stories and experiences
● Humor
● Before/After school events (Donut Days, Sports, Dairy
Queen)
● Investigate with team if disengagement is isolated to one
class or across all MAPLe classes.
● Understand cultural barriers as a source of
disengagement
● Learn new behavioral strategies (MyWay)
● Delve into PBIS at local, state and national levels
● Develop team plan for challenging classes
How to Build Relationships as a Specials Teacher.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS AS A SPECIALS TEACHER
Hurdles
Time
Tight Class Schedule
Large Number of Students
Multiple Management Considerations
Dealing with Multiple (Dis)-Abilities
Understanding and addressing the physical, mental, emotional challenges
of 400+ students
False narrative that Specials should always be FUN vs. challenging WORK
 Specification 1: Honoring Identity Through Relationships
What can we do as a team to address management of our students and continue to build relationships?

Classroom Management Is Students'

Responsibility, Too
Classroom management is an important issue for educators.
There are many standard approaches to this challenge, often focused on what teachers can do.

But as two education experts who focus on practical applications of psychology and brain science, we argue that
when students are explicitly taught how to better manage themselves, teachers experience fewer
classroom-management problems.

While working as a school psychologist earlier in her career, Donna conducted more than 1,000 diagnostic
assessments and found that teachers most often reported that students couldn't listen well and had short
attention spans. As we taught strategies for improving teaching and learning to some 160,000 educators over the
past couple decades, we noticed how important it is for students to be taught specific strategies for improving
listening and selective attention.

Link to full article: Classroom Management Is

Students' Responsibility, Too
 Specification 1: Honoring Identity Through Relationships
What can we do as a team to address the multiple management consideration
of our students and continue to build relationships?

Teach Students to Actively Listen The H.E.A.R. Strategy

A strategy called H.E.A.R. offers
concrete steps to focus on and
improve listening—and emphasizes
why and how developing this skill is
so important.
1. Halt: Stop whatever else you are doing, end your
internal dialogue on other thoughts, and free your
mind to pay attention to the person speaking.
2. Engage: Focus on the speaker. We suggest a
physical component, such as turning your head
slightly so that your right ear is toward the
speaker as a reminder to engage only in listening.
3. Anticipate: By looking forward to what the
speaker has to say, you are acknowledging that
you will likely learn something new and
interesting, which will enhance your attention.
4. Replay: Think about what the speaker is saying.
Analyze and paraphrase it in your mind or in
discussion with the speaker and other classmates.
Replaying the information will aid in
understanding and remembering what you have
learned (Wilson & Conyers, 2016, pp.
80¬–81).
 Specification 1: Honoring Identity Through Relationships
-The importance of learning student names.
While mispronouncing a
student’s name may seem minor,
it can have a significant impact on
how they see themselves and
their cultural background,
causing feelings of anxiety,
invisibility, shame, resentment
and humiliation, all of which can
lead to social and educational
disengagement. Kohli
My Name, My Identity documented these findings in a
2012 article she co-authored with
UCLA professor Daniel Solórzano
Copy of My Name My Identity titled “Teachers, please learn our
Educator Toolkit Final - Published names!”
2021
https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/52183/teachers
Additional Resources
Additional Articles on Building Relationships for
Specialist Teachers
Building relationships in Specials classrooms (MIssouri Educators)

Building Relationships: The Struggle of an Elementary Specialist

How to Build Relationships as a Music Teacher

7 Tips to Build Relationships With Your Physical Education Students

Librarians Building Better Relationships

6 Secrets You Need to Know About Your Generation Alpha Students

 Building Relationships for Specialist Teachers
* Responsive Classroom Books

80 Morning Meeting Ideas Grades K-2- Book by Susan Lattanzi Roser

80 Morning Meeting Ideas Grades 3-6 - Book by Carol Davis

Responsive Classroom for Music, Art, P.E, and Other Special Areas
Understanding Trauma & Building Relationships
9 Ways to Promote Equity in the Classroom
https://teachergoals.com/ways-to-promote-equity-in-t
he-classroom/?inf_contact_key=f8cf6988b0f87b883e
9b55efce91dac9

How to Bring Social Justice-Trauma Informed

Teaching, and SEL into the Art Room (How to create
a safe classroom)
How to Bring Social Justice, Trauma-Informed
Teaching, and SEL Into the Art Room - The Art of
Education University
 Thank You
For viewing Honoring Identity Through Relationships
The Craddock MAPLe Team