Becca shares a situation that doesn't sit well with her because it seems like there are conditions for students to other one another. We tug at the complexity of following school iniatives that don't feel right when they play out in our classrooms.

Timeline

00:00 Celebrating Milestones in Kindergarten
02:57 The Impact of Extrinsic Motivation
06:03 Balancing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
09:00 Navigating Uncertainty in Teaching

Key Takeaways

Links Mentioned in This Episode

It's (almost) April Fool's Day, and we're talking about the ways brains can fool us and how we can write shared narratives to help students process hard things.

Timeline

00:00 April Fool's Day Memories
02:20 The Power of Self-Talk
06:23 Creating Shared Narratives
09:56 Overcoming Negative Self-Talk

Key Takeaways

Sometimes the behaviors we see in our classrooms are confusing and frustrating. An article in a local newspaper opened a conversation about understanding the way trauma changes the brain so punitive responses and blaming parents won't help position students to learn. We talk about looking at behavior through a lens of stress responses.

Timeline

00:00 Understanding Student Behavior and Trauma Responses
07:10 Recognizing Trauma Responses in the Classroom
14:52 Exploring Advanced Trauma Responses
19:46 The Importance of Support and Resources for Teachers

Links

The hippocampus helps process memory. When young children experience extreme stress, the hippocampus can be damaged. This shows up in our classrooms in unexpected ways. Ruth and Becca share a Behavior/Skills Tracker teachers can use to help document behaviors and the ways they've tried to position students to learn.

Timeline

00:00 The Power of Drafting and Collaboration
02:54 Understanding the Hippocampus and Trauma
06:01 The Impact of Trauma on Children’s Brains
09:02 Healing and Supporting Children with Trauma
11:50 Practical Tools for Educators: Behavior and Skills Tracker

Download the Brain Reference and Behavior/Skills Tracker: https://stickyhope.com/13-2/

There are many realities of teaching that are different than how we imagined our teaching lives would go. One thing we can do is to learn to befriend uncertainty. This is more than a kitschy phrase, and we share the neuroscience behind learning to embrace uncertainty.

Timeline

00:00 Dreams vs. Reality in Teaching
03:09 Befriending Uncertainty
05:47 Curiosity as a Tool for Learning
09:13 The Power of Reflection and Observation
11:46 Encouraging Curiosity in Students

Everyone has tough days, but how do we talk about those days with our students? An occupational therapist recommends a video to open conversations in Becca's kindergarten classroom.

Links mentioned in this episode:

We're coming back with part two of welcoming back because we want to talk about how to help the other kids welcome back a classmate who's been dysregulated and needed to take a break, or we had to clear the room with all of the other students. When this happens, how do we continue to build and strengthen our learning communities?

It's mid-year and we're thinking about ways to welcome students and adults into our learning communities. It's not just a beginning of the year act, but something that happens all year long. We talk about welcoming the student who is always late or welcoming back a student who has been sick or welcoming the student who brought a toy (again). We even welcome Gem the cat and her unexpected cameo appearance on the podcast. 

Humans must learn to care. It's not something we are born knowing how to do. Ruth and Becca talk about ways to nourish students to want to help others.

The things we read, view, and hear influence the ways we interact with the world. How can we be authentic and keep an open-mind to learning more in a world that constantly touts a confusing mix of information? Ruth and Becca discuss paying attention to the things we pay attention to in order to nourish healthy regulation in ourselves and others.