Month: November 2021

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Want Students to ‘Build a Better World?’ Try Culturally Responsive Social-Emotional Learning (Opinion)

(This is the final post in a two-part series. You can see Part One here.)

The new question-of-the-week is:

What are the best ways you are incorporating social-emotional learning in your classroom and what are you doing to ensure that it is culturally responsive?

In Part One, Tairen McCollister, Mike Kaechele, and Libby Woodfin shared their responses to the question.

Today, Jennifer Mitchell, Meg Riordan, Ph.D., Amber Chandler, and Bill Adair wrap up this series.

Don’t Use SEL to ‘Increase Compliance’

Jennifer Mitchell teaches English-learners in Dublin, Ohio. Connect with her on Twitter: @readwritetech or on her blog:

Any student or teacher can give countless examples of how our educational system has not only ignored but exacerbated and even directly contributed to mental-health issues for ourselves or our friends, colleagues, and students. Social-emotional learning can literally save lives.

But too often, SEL is sold to teachers as a system to manage students’ behavior and increase their compliance, rather than an essential classroom lifestyle infused with tools they can use to be happier, healthier, and fuller versions of themselves. We must ask ourselves: Do we want our students to tone down who they are to perpetuate the status quo or do we want them to embrace their unique selves and harness their power to build a better world? Do we want them to prioritize work over health and joy or do we want them to build the self- and situational awareness to recognize who they are, what they want, and how to respond to the obstacles they encounter?

Initially, I felt that SEL flowed naturally in my English classroom through literacy and discussions that affirm and explore identity, culture, and empathy. And while that is still a cornerstone of our work together, I realized that my students needed more. After seeing the destructive impact of mental illness, trauma, and racism in so many of my students’ lives, I dug passionately into a variety of SEL approaches. Now, a variety of essential strategies permeate our class culture, pushing us to slow down amidst the pervasive urgency that is so common in schools, to remember that honoring and connecting with each other is essential:

  • A calming box for students to access fidgets, visual timers, coloring/brain puzzle books, and a small binder of grounding exercises and mental-health tips
  • Frequent goal-setting and reflection, including WOOP-style goal-setting for which we brainstorm how to overcome obstacles that might prevent us from reaching our goals
  • Identifying and reflecting on self-talk and how it affects us
  • Tim Kight’s R-Factor system (E+R=O framework): can help students reflect on what they can and can’t control, the power of their thoughts and emotions, how their responses can influence the outcomes of situations, and how individual actions shape the larger culture of a community. (Caution: infused with grind culture! Supplement with discussions of the importance of rest and recovery to keep going in a healthy way.)
  • Marc Brackett’s RULER framework for identifying, articulating, and managing feelings with robust, specific vocabulary; very helpful to my ELs. (Caution: Its packaged curriculum and the Yale organization have decided to eschew cultural responsiveness in favor of an imagined ideal of neutrality, disregarding the systemic issues that impact so many students. As scholars such as Duane et. al (2021) point out, SEL practices (and school in general) can directly harm the students they purport to help, especially when they are not implemented in an environment of social justice that affirms students’ identities and lived experiences.)
  • Exploring the science of the brain and emotions (I was inspired by Zaretta Hammond’s Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain!), and how that affects us
  • Weekly restorative circles are a powerful space for community-building, processing and sharing emotions, and collective problem-solving.
  • Periodic Story Exchanges build empathy, connection, and perspective-taking
  • A daily organizer routine where we begin and end class by recognizing our feelings, pausing for gratitude, grounding ourselves in affirmations and shared goals, and reflecting on our learning
  • Weekly reflections; quick and powerful!
  • A student-led squad structure that has greatly increased the sense of belonging and community in our class.
  • Frequent opportunities for students to give me feedback

No matter which tools and opportunities educators provide, it’s essential that we constantly reflect and continue learning, just as we ask our students to do. We must listen to the brilliant educators of color who are sharing their expertise and their voices about how white supremacy impacts all aspects of education, particularly SEL work. We must constantly ask ourselves if what we are doing embraces or constrains our students’ identities, emotions, and experiences. Above all, we must listen to our students and make it undoubtedly clear to them that their voices matter, that we are their partners, and that we care enough to keep doing better.

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‘A Powerful Approach’

Meg Riordan, Ph.D., is the chief learning officer at The Possible Project, an out-of-school program that collaborates with youth to build entrepreneurial skills and mindsets and provides pathways to careers and long-term economic prosperity. She has been in the field of education for over 25 years as a middle and high school teacher, school coach, college professor, regional director of NYC Outward Bound Schools, and director of external research with EL Education:

Social-emotional learning is a difference-maker. Decades of research show benefits beyond increased academic performance, including: positive self-concept, improved capacity to manage stress, and greater economic mobility. But what does it look like to effectively incorporate social-emotional learning (SEL) into the classroom? And how does SEL work with culturally responsive teaching to support all learners?

First, let’s lay a shared foundation: The Collaborative for Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning (CASEL) defines SEL as the process through which people acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. Culturally responsive SEL must offer opportunities for students to reflect on identity, use relevant topics to foster social awareness, develop decisionmaking through authentic projects, build relationships, and explore society’s varied expectations for self-management—and how to navigate those.

Key to the definition above is that SEL is a process, meaning it must be ongoing and embedded throughout students’ learning experiences. Much like teacher professional learning that should be sustained to be effective, the same holds for SEL. It’s not a one-shot opening circle, occasional workshop, or SEL survey. Building culturally responsive SEL is a process—requiring deliberate design across grade levels and classrooms and inviting collaborative inquiry between youth, educators, and families. It means developing transparent competencies, creating lessons and instructional interactions that spark collaboration and reflection, and educators modeling competencies themselves.

To be implemented effectively, SEL relies on a blueprint at the district, school, and program level. With a blueprint and ongoing professional learning, educators can engage with students to reflect on growth and identify areas of continued opportunity.

Post-blueprint, what does it look like to incorporate SEL that gets to the heart of CASEL’s definition and ensures cultural responsiveness? Below are snapshots that illustrate culturally responsive SEL in action:

Build Relationships and Create Relevance

At The Possible Project (TPP), a youth entrepreneurship and work-based learning program with a mission to advance economic equity, relationships are foundational for SEL and culturally responsive teaching. Building relationships means creating learning experiences that provide opportunities to learn about each other and share our identities. For instance, a virtual learning “opening chat box question” might ask: “What is your favorite comfort food—why?” or “What are you listening to on repeat?” Beginning with inquiry about who we are engages learners, illustrating curiosity and care; it invites a feeling of being seen and valued to bring our whole selves (virtually or otherwise) into a brave and safe space.

But caring about who students are doesn’t stop after an opening question. Learning experiences ignite connections to foster authentic relationships. At TPP, we ground our approach in The Search Institute’s Developmental Relationships Framework, which identifies five elements that promote powerful relationships: Express Care, Challenge Growth, Provide Support, Share Power, and Expand Possibilities. Before students build their businesses individually or collaboratively, they reflect on their passions and interests, practice problem-finding, consider authentic needs, and propose solutions. Our learning process relies on students’ sharing imaginative ideas, showing empathy for others, being willing to take creative risks, and envisioning possibilities that don’t yet exist. Designing real projects that involve students as active drivers signals that we take them seriously, trust them as decisionmakers, and create opportunities to achieve goals and lead their learning. Beyond an opening activity, sustained relationships emerge by doing real work together—helping one another iterate on ideas and giving feedback as draft business plans develop. Rooting learning in topics relevant to students’ lives and identities, such as building their own businesses, creates spaces where culturally responsive SEL helps young people thrive.

Connect to Community and Manage Emotions

While relationships and relevance to students’ lives are essential, other important opportunities to practice culturally responsive SEL include expanding students’ networks and developing awareness of what it feels, looks, and sounds like to manage emotions. We know recognizing, expressing, and managing emotions can be a challenge; we also know that these skills help us interact with others in and out of classrooms and are paramount in the workplace. That’s why at TPP we design learning experiences that bridge our community to the classroom and engage students in reflection to develop awareness of their feelings and behaviors and the connection between the two. An illustration: to promote entrepreneurial mindsets and skills, students interview local entrepreneurs to learn what sparked their business idea, what challenges they’ve overcome, and what they’ve learned running a business. Research indicates that role models motivate us, give us someone to emulate, and teach us how to overcome obstacles. When students see an entrepreneur who looks like them or represents a shared background, they’re better equipped to imagine themselves in that role.

TPP students also connect to community as consultants to local businesses, charged with developing an approach for a social-media campaign or creating materials for an internal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion resource site. Community-based experiences offer higher stakes—though supported—-opportunities for students to express themselves in professional settings, listen to others, receive feedback, and manage emotions. Conversations about identity and code-switching in the workplace are particularly salient for students of color as research shows they are likely to experience a range of adversities in professional settings. Learning to effectively navigate spaces and manage varied emotions, while maintaining one’s identity, takes place through guided readings and discussion, skills practice, and written reflections. Connecting to community and bridging to workplaces ignites real-world SEL and culturally responsive experiences and offers applied opportunities to transfer skills.

SEL combined with culturally responsive teaching offers a powerful approach for learners to engage in experiences that provide opportunities to reflect on identity and develop skills that apply to career and life. This potent duo—implemented consistently across schools and programs—can equip young people with a strong compass to navigate and persist in shaping their futures.

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‘Google Form Questionnaires’

Amber Chandler is the author of The Flexible SEL Classroom and a contributor to many education blogs. She teaches 8th grade ELA in Hamburg, N.Y. Amber is the president of her union of 400 teachers. Follow her @MsAmberChandler and check out her website:

The best approach to social emotional learning in the classroom community is always to take a wide-lens view to make sure that the practices we are attempting to employ are actually beneficial for all students. Some of the beliefs underpinning SEL can lead to a belief that all success is self-determined, especially when we spend lots of time on the concept of self-management and themes like grit and determination. To be culturally responsive, we must also recognize that institutionalized racism, sexism, poverty, and the like prevent success, despite our students’ best efforts.

I take a constructivist approach to social and emotional learning in the classroom. Making meaning together is the only way that we can be assured that we are being culturally responsive. In all the classes I teach to future teachers, I ask the question, “What is the most important data?” and after listening to lots of important facts, I let everyone off the hook. The most important piece of data isn’t something that a standardized test can measure, but rather it is who are the people in front of us? Who are the people in the room? What matters to them? Where are their hearts? Where are their minds? Instead of competing with all their distractions, how can we help them with them?

As simplistic as it sounds, simply asking students to share about themselves is the quickest route to gain the information that will allow you to be culturally responsive. Each fall I send a Google Form questionnaire to students that asks them to classify themselves in a variety of ways (shy or outgoing, talkative or quiet, orderly or disorganized, laid back or stressed). The questionnaire also asks, “What do I need to know to be a good teacher for you?” and “Is there anything I need to know that will help me understand you?” I have started to include the following question as well: “Are there any social issues that are especially important to you? If so, why?” These data points are the most important every year, and students enjoy the attention that I am giving them by letting them know that I care about who is in the room more than I do about the curriculum. Of course the curriculum is important, and armed with these crucial details about my students, I can choose to deliver it in a variety of ways that are best for those particular kiddos.

I also give them the link to share with an adult who knows them well—-I don’t qualify who the adult must be. I’ve gotten results back from former teachers, aunts, coaches, grandparents, and, of course, parents. Taken together, I can get a pretty good picture of the students in my room and I can avoid common pitfalls. For example, one year I learned that I had a student who had lost his brother over the summer. Thankfully, I was able to change what I was planning to teach—My Brother Sam is Dead—to still cover the required information but to also respect the individuals in the room.

As simplistic as these surveys are, they have proved to be one of the best ways to meet the social and emotional needs of students while being culturally responsive to their needs. Students learn quickly that you are constructing the class with them, and they are then more likely to fully participate in their own learning.

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A View From Canada

Bill Adair is an educational consultant and practicing high school teacher. He also instructs postgrad classes at Douglas College in Canada specializing in the socioemotional/motivational component of physical literacy. He is the author of “The Emotionally Connected Classroom: Wellness and the Learning Experience” (Corwin Press):

As Canadians, we are currently experiencing a particularly shameful exposure of our past. Throughout much of Canadian history, Indigenous children were forcibly ripped from their families and placed in residential schools designed for the specific purpose of cultural genocide of First Nations peoples. The “lie” of assimilation for the greater good has resulted in profound intergenerational trauma. Much work has been done in the name of reconciliation, but the recent discovery of 215 children in a mass grave at one of these schools has retraumatized Indigenous communities and resulted in painful self-reflection for all Canadians. From the pained heart of survivors, the message is clear. “The education system was the cause of the trauma; it must be the beginning for healing”.

First Peoples Principles of Learning

Promoting First Peoples Principles of Learning is one positive step the government has taken. Indigenous learning is grounded in connection to the well-being of the self, community, and land. It is reflective, experiential, embedded in reciprocally rewarding relationships, and requires the exploration of one’s personal identity. For Indigenous students, this instills a sense of cultural pride in a traditionally marginalized community.

For those pursuing the most progressive SEL practices, Indigenous learning principles serve as a practical action plan. The principles transcend cultural boundaries because they are grounded in the universal human need for connectedness. First Peoples Principles of Learning can be used as a foundational piece to help all children pursue a more connected path to self-awareness while bringing us all closer together. For our small part, our physical education department has embraced and celebrated the concepts that parallel our best practice.

For a brief summary: First Peoples Principles of Learning.

Pinetree Secondary Physical Education – Connection Intentions

Physical education, and in fact all learning, is a highly charged emotional experience where children may experience profoundly different outcomes. It is easy is for student attention to drift toward performance expectations that fall short or social interactions buried in emotional pain. However, when we wrap daily curricular objectives in cooperation, purposeful objectives, playful mindsets, self-reflection or healthy perspectives of challenge, the socioemotional brain responds accordingly, and learning feels amazing. Where our emotional attention goes, our destiny will follow. In a world where children struggle to cope with anxiety, one would hope pursuing the tools to own their emotional experience would be the most important lesson at school.

An authentic connection playbook that guides thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in a healthier intentional manner becomes a valuable tool. Intentional lesson design and assessment are two ways we elevate the importance of healthy emotions and connections. If is worth teaching, it is worth assessing. If it is worth doing, it is worth owning the outcome.

In our physical education classrooms:

· We teach the simple neuroscience and attachment-theory recipe. “What you put in is what you get out.” Even young children can grasp and own this.

o Happy in, Happy out …

o Challenge and support in … Resiliency out

o Anger, shame, fear, isolation in … Anxiety out

· Daily assessable intentions help students guide their attention toward authentic experiences and emotions. A few examples of “emotionally rewarding” intentions might be

Today I will:

o Be a great peer coach

o Be an amazing cheerleader

o Be passionately playful and fun

o Value challenge, discomfort, and best effort

o Value yourself, value others

o Embrace nature

· Assessments are guided but always self reflective. If we want children to own their emotional experience, the process includes learning to assess in authentic ways.

o If a healthy emotional experience is the most important objective, we allow it to be the most important assessment.

o We never assess skill or performance as a primary objective. Only the commitment and feelings associated with the daily connection intention.

o We target intentions that nurture the capacity of children to freely share and graciously accept healthy emotional energy

· We frequently reference First Peoples Principles of Learning as an inspiration for our learning process.

Talking about SEL objectives is just talk. The human brain is designed to respond to actual emotional experiences. Daily connection intentions support authentic attachment and arm students with their own connection-intention playbook for health, learning, and life.

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Thanks to Jennifer, Meg, Amber, and Bill for contributing their thoughts.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected]. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo.

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It’s titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.

Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email (The RSS feed for this blog, and for all Ed Week articles, has been changed by the new redesign—new ones are not yet available). And if you missed any of the highlights from the first 10 years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below.

I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column.

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Many Working Parents Are Burned Out. Two UVA Clinicians Have Advice.

It’s a sound that can make a parent’s chest clench with anxiety: a new cough coming from a toddler’s room in the middle of the night. One small cough can portend another round of COVID testing, and days, possibly weeks, spent at home helping the child recover from whatever virus it turns out to be. Routines once again disrupted, work distractions constant, anxieties compounded after nearly two years of living this way.

In a report published in August by the American Staffing Association, 62{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} of U.S. adults with children polled said their additional child care and virtual schooling responsibilities during the pandemic hurt their ability to get ahead at work. And although lockdowns are mostly a thing of the past, schools and day care centers have much more stringent rules than pre-pandemic times; many do not allow children to attend if they are displaying any symptom of illness. As common ailments such as rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, and ear infections have spread among children this summer and fall, parents find themselves back where they were in 2020 – trying to balance work and parenting, with no clear end in sight.

“Working parents have been so overtaxed with work, child care/home-schooling and a lack of social support these past two years that they have been sacrificing their own self-care,” said Claudia Allen, director of the Family Stress Clinic and director of behavioral science in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Virginia.

These stressors can lead to parental burnout – an “overwhelming exhaustion related to one’s parental role, an emotional distancing from one’s children, and a sense of parental ineffectiveness,” according to Belgian researchers Moïra Mikolajczak and Isabelle Roskam, who first identified the syndrome in the 1980s – well before the pandemic. Research published last month by U.K. children’s charity Action for Children found that more than 80{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} of parents there are struggling with at least one symptom of burnout due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

So what can parents do to help themselves through this difficult time? UVA Today reached out to Allen, as well as pediatrician Dr. Heather Quillian, an associate professor in UVA’s Department of Pediatrics, for answers.

Q. What are some signs/symptoms of burnout you’ve seen among working parents during the pandemic?

Allen: For many working parents, routines were completely disrupted and any free time for themselves that they did have (already scarce) was lost. Time for exercise, seeing friends, personal development, date night, etc., went right out the window. Downstream effects are negative on physical and mental health, for sure, and on marital/partner relationships. 

One of the stresses of the pandemic for parents has been the pressure to create a whole new life for your kids. Some families with resources and a knack were able to do this, and they provided farm school, trips, etc. for their kids. And all of this was on Instagram, of course. The average parent not only was not able to do this, but also felt that they should. There was a lot of social comparison of how families handled the pandemic, and this left many parents feeling inadequate, even like bad parents. 

Q. Are small children getting more illnesses from child care settings this year, or getting any illnesses that usually don’t show up normally in their age group?

Quillian: It may seem like kids in child care settings are getting more illnesses this year, and I do think that’s true compared to last year, but on the whole I think that the number is fairly typical in terms of what we saw pre-COVID. I think it just seems worse because last year there were relatively fewer illnesses in this age group. 

I wouldn’t say that the kids are getting unusual illnesses. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) did come early this year – we saw cases over the summer which is unusual – but RSV itself is a common player during the typical cold and flu season.

  

In general pediatricians do not think there are harmful long-term effects for young children to get these viral infections, and in fact getting viral infections builds immunity over time, and possibly even creates some crossover protection when new infections arise. That is one reason the flu vaccine can be beneficial over the years, even when in an individual year the vaccine is not a good match for what is circulating. 

Q. How can parents who need to send their children to day care help them stay healthy?

Quillian: For kids who are in child care settings, the best ways to stay healthy are to encourage good handwashing practices and, if kids are old enough, mask wearing. It is important to remember though that masks will help prevent illnesses that spread through sneezing and coughing – like COVID-19 – but they don’t help as much with illnesses spread via fomites. Fomites are objects or materials which are likely to carry infection, such as clothes, utensils and furniture. Viruses that have more spread this way, say like the virus that causes hand-foot-and-mouth disease, will not necessarily be lessened by mask-wearing – perhaps only to the extent that masks keep kids from putting their fingers in their mouths. 

Q. What are some tips you can suggest to parents suffering from burnout, in terms of coping with stress and improving their mental health?

Quillian: We as pediatricians certainly understand the burden that these repeated viral infections place on parents, especially working parents who are struggling with the demands of their jobs and have a difficult time finding a contingency plan when their child is ill. These past almost two years have been really tough logistically for many families.

I do think things will get better; we will hopefully, by early to mid-2022, have a COVID-19 vaccine available for kids under 5. While this vaccine will not prevent the other viruses kids get, I do think it will eventually help reduce the burden of getting children tested for COVID-19 – which will make us all happy, especially the kids!

Pediatricians do understand that testing is a big burden on families, but as long as COVID is still at high transmission in the community, and cases are predominantly in the unvaccinated (with young children making up a larger portion than previously), it is still necessary to test children for COVID with each illness unless there is a very clear explanation for symptoms. And the upside is – it is working! There hasn’t been widespread COVID in our local child care centers – so the diligence is paying off. We are almost there; it’s just not time to take our foot off the gas quite yet.

Allen: One of the ways that the hard work of parenting is typically balanced is by the FUN of it. Some families have been able to capture fun during the pandemic if they had the ability to take a road trip, decamp to the countryside, or create some kind of well-supported home school. But for many families, the pandemic meant the end of neighborhood socializing, chatting with other parents at the bus stop, taking kids to a basketball game, even dinners with grandparents. Those fairly small but regular and sometimes fun interactions with other families are what help keep parents of young kids SANE. Many parents totally or largely lost this during the pandemic. While it is coming back slowly, we are certainly not there yet, and some damage has been done by this isolation.  

My tips: Reclaim your self-care as soon as you reasonably can! Go back to the gym, see your friends, etc. It’s not selfish; it’s important.  

If you are partnered, prioritize that relationship. Restart date night, get a sitter, go away for a day or two. Both you and your children need that relationship to be as healthy as possible. 

Q. A great number of women have left the workforce during the pandemic; many more are considering it. What are your thoughts about this massive shift, and any advice for women going through it?

Allen: Regarding women leaving the workforce, I certainly get it. For many families, that may make temporary or permanent sense. But a caution: If you are considering leaving your job that you otherwise reasonably like and/or need, be careful not to be the only family member who is absorbing the extra child care. Even if your partner makes more than you, there are costs to leaving the workforce. You lose income; you lose experience; you lose social interaction. Make sure to consider both partners cutting back, for example, instead of one person entirely leaving their job. Or consider changing your job to something more flexible rather than leaving entirely. Or consider moving closer to family who could help with child care, or joining forces with another family. For women, having some work outside the home can be a buffer when things at home are hard. 

Q. Are there policy changes you would suggest to help improve life for working families in this country?

Allen: Policy wise, we certainly need a national parental leave policy that can be used not only at birth, but when a child is ill, or when their school closes, etc. And universal child care before kindergarten has been shown to benefit children, families and employers. Finally, wages for child care workers need to come up considerably, as these workers are crucial to both our economy and our children’s development. 

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Teen who endured tragedy finds success through online education

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

One of the great lessons from the pandemic is that education must include flexibility. While some students struggled during a year of mostly crisis virtual instruction, most flourished with intentional online learning. Utah Online School is leading the way in online education and has been for years.

With more than 15 years of experience in a flexible learning environment and serving more than 10,000 students each year, UOS has time-tested methods for accommodating the needs of students.

UOS emphasizes student success by tailoring learning to student needs with the support of certified teachers, adult mentors, and counselors. Best of all, UOS is an accredited public school, free to Utah students.

How UOS helped one student

At 15, Kelly has experienced a lifetime’s worth of trauma, including multiple moves, her parent’s divorce and eventually the tragic death of her father days before the start of her freshman year in a new school.

A few months later, COVID hit and effectively ended her schooling for many months.

Kelly moved to Utah to live with her grandparents. She was short on some credits needed, so during the summer, she enrolled in and completed two classes through UOS. Best of all, they were courses she couldn’t take at her boundary school because demand exceeded capacity.

“The Utah Online School experience was great,” said her grandfather. “The courses were thorough and the process was smooth. There was no pressure, so Kelly was able to work at her own pace. Anytime there was a question or concern, the teachers and staff at UOS responded the same day.”

Now a junior, Kelly is able to make up some of her missing credits at her boundary school, and she also plans to take additional summer courses at UOS.

Focused on needs and flexibility for students and families

Even with the current school year underway, students have options of taking courses from UOS while still attending their local school. No matter the situation, UOS can support the needs of students through their expansive course offerings and supportive learning environment.

Early high school credit available for 6-8th grade students

Many students are eager and able to get a head start on their high school credits. This allows flexibility in their future high school schedule or early graduation for students interested in this option.

Teen who endured tragedy finds success through online education
Photo: oushad Thekkayil/Shutterstock.com

Grade replacement

Utah Online provides students the opportunity to retake a course to replace a grade on their transcript.

Credit recovery

Utah Online helps students recover failed credit needed for graduation. Students may sign up for credit recovery during the school year or summer.

Expansive course offerings

At many schools, popular elective courses are often restricted to seniors or are filled by random selection because demand far exceeds available slots. That’s not a problem at UOS. In fact, UOS offers far more courses than many boundary schools.

In addition to traditional subjects like reading, art, history and math, UOS has courses like computer science, programming, coding, world languages (20-plus), music (guitar, ukulele, music theory and more), wildlife and marine biology, honors courses and ACT prep.

Do you have a student who will be old enough to drive? UOS offers drivers education that includes the curriculum and simulator requirements. Students can also earn physical education credit for participating in any physical activity they are involved in, privately or through club sports. Students receiving private music instruction can earn high school credit through the Independent Studio Study course, which can be taken repeatedly as long as they are in music or voice lessons with an instructor.

You can see the vast list of course offerings at the UOS website and the list of available subjects is constantly growing.

A record of success

Utah Online School serves more than 10,000 students each year with more than 150 teachers, counselors and staff. In 15-plus years, the cumulative total of students served has exceeded 110,000. Those numbers continue to rise as parents seek ways to provide their children with the best available education.

Over that time UOS has achieved a course completion rate exceeding 90{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} and a graduation rate of 99{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}.

Teachers and staff at Utah Online School are highly qualified, licensed and certified. They are also passionate about helping students. “I am able to customize and individualize content for students’ specific needs in a way that was not possible previously. And as someone who went into education because I truly love teaching high school kids and love this age group in general, this has been a dream job!” says teacher Kellie Richins.

Madison Belnap, another teacher at Utah Online School says, “Teaching for Utah Online High School is a privilege. I love the opportunity to teach students from all over the state, with diverse backgrounds and varying circumstances. Connecting with these different students is so expanding for me as their lives add a level of abundance to my experience as an educator.”

Whether your student is seeking part-time, full-time or concurrent enrollment, Utah Online School has the experience and expertise to help them find educational success.

More stories you may be interested in

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Code Ninjas Debuts in Lake Nona, Will Teach Kids to Code in a Cool New Way

LAKE NONA, Fla., Nov. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Code Ninjas, one of the fastest-growing kids coding franchises, is opening their newest location at 10743 Narcoossee Rd. on Nov. 29. Code Ninjas will serve the local area by offering computer coding courses for kids. The courses will allow kids to problem-solve while they build video games and collaborate with other children their age. This new learning center will establish an environment where children can learn about technology while having fun.

The Lake Nona location is owned and operated by local entrepreneurs Brock and Elissa Horton. With a background in digital animation and game production, Brock developed a passion for coding. Elissa spent over three years as an elementary teaching assistant working in special education and found it to be one of the most rewarding professions. When Brock approached her about opening their own coding franchise for kids, she was all-in.

“Coding is an invaluable language for kids to learn and Code Ninjas allows for them to hone their abilities in an interactive and social environment,” says Brock. “We provide kids with knowledge they can take with them for years to come. This is truly one of the most rewarding opportunities you can have as a business owner.”

Brock recently lost his father and decided he would use his inheritance to create something meaningful. He decided that opening a Code Ninjas learning center was a great way to honor his dad; providing educational opportunities for a new generation of kids.

Lake Nona children (ages 5-14) can look forward to the new Code Ninjas center where they can learn how to code in a fun, safe, and social environment. At Code Ninjas, gaming is celebrated, and STEM is cool. Everything about their centers – or Dojos – are built around fun, which keeps kids coming back. The center also provides the results that parents are looking for, as their children gain coding and problem-solving skills they’ll need in the evolving job market.

“At Code Ninjas, kids develop problem-solving and social skills, and they build confidence in an encouraging environment,” says Elissa. “Code Ninjas combines screen time and social interaction in a way that is productive and beneficial for kids. And once they level-up through all of the belts, they get to proudly take home their very own video game.”

Code Ninjas offers a robust, game-based curriculum made up of nine belts, just like martial arts. The courses are self-paced, but not self-taught; kids get immediate help and encouragement from Code Senseis (teachers) and fellow students as they advance from white to black belt. The program keeps kids motivated with little wins along the way, and “Belt-Up” celebrations where they receive color-coded wristbands to mark their graduation to the next level. By the time a child finishes the program, they will publish their own app, available to the public in an app store.

Code Ninjas also offers a variety of opportunities for children to get involved, including a flexible weeknight drop-in program, camps and Parents Night Out events on weekends.

For more information about the Lake Nona Code Ninjas location, please visit www.codeninjas.com/lake-nona-fl or call 407-203-3006.

About Code Ninjas
Founded in 2016, Code Ninjas® is the world’s largest and fastest-growing kids coding franchise. In hundreds of Code Ninjas centers, kids ages 7-14 have fun building video games while gaining life-changing skills in coding, robotics, and problem solving. Kids have fun, parents see results®. For more information, visit www.codeninjas.com.

Media Contact: Allie Bertrand, Fishman PR, [email protected] or 847-945-1300

SOURCE Code Ninjas

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Laguna Blanca honors physical education teacher Andra Wilson

COURTESY PHOTOS
Andra Wilson, a health and physical education teacher at Laguna Blanca School, has received the 2021 Faculty Excellence Award. Andra Wilson is known for her dedication to keeping students healthy through her physical education classes.

Andra Wilson has received Laguna Blanca’s 2021 Faculty Excellence Award.

Ms. Wilson has taught physical education, health, wellness and personal development since 2006 at the school, which has campuses in Hope Ranch in Santa Barbara and Montecito. 

She also has served as assistant athletic director, P.E. coach at Camp Cito day camp and coordinator of the Middle School Advisory Program for several years.

Mostly recently, Ms. Wilson became Laguna’s Challenge Success coordinator.

“Andra infuses energy and excitement into every role she has on campus,” Laguna Blanca staff said in a news release. “Her love for health and wellness extends not only to Laguna students but to the faculty and staff as well. She was instrumental to bringing bi-weekly on-campus workouts to campus for Laguna employees through Reveal Fitness.”

During the pandemic, Ms. Wilson helped students before they were allowed back on campus. She presented 20 one-minute virtual fitness challenges that kept students and faculty healthy during the pandemic. “It was the perfect example of her athleticism and the joy she brings to teaching,” Laguna Blanca staff noted.

“This year alone, Andra stepped into a multitude of challenges and added COVID responsibilities to her plate in order to best serve her students,” said Melissa Alkire, head of the Upper School. “This was evidenced in the Middle and Upper athletic training program that she began when all other schools in the county were neither in-person nor able to maintain in-person afternoon activities for their school.

“Andra’s work across every single grade at Hope Ranch ensured that our students were finding balance and joy after their early days of remote school,” Ms. Alkire said in the news release. “When sports began, Andra supported Director of Athletics Jason Donnelly fully as he worked to unpack the COVID guidance, which was evolving each week. She was his teammate and demonstrated her strong character in this role.”

In addition, Ms. Wilson partnered with Pacific Pride Foundation to hold inclusive conversations about relationships and gender identity.

“I wish we could have an entire faculty full of Andras,” colleague Tara Broucqsault said. “She has thrived at each level at Laguna. Her pure heart inspires all those fortunate enough to call her teacher and a trusted colleague.”

Ms. Wilson grew up in Malvern, Pa., and earned a bachelor’s in health and physical education at West Chester University in West Chester, Pa. She began her career as a collegiate-certified athletic trainer before completing her Pennsylvania teacher certification in 2003.

Then she worked as a health and physical education teacher in Pennsylvania’s Central Bucks School District before moving in 2006 to Santa Barbara and teaching at Laguna Blanca School.

email: [email protected]

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Sixth graders will remain in Kent elementary schools for now

Any changes to Kent School District boundaries and moving sixth graders to middle schools from elementary schools won’t happen until at least the 2023-2024 school year.

District staff recommended waiting to make a decision, and the Kent School Board agreed.

“We want to be certain you guys are comfortable moving this direction of sixth grade in middle school, clear feeder patterns and to balance out elementary enrollments is where we want to be going,” said Randy Heath, district interim chief of school operations and academic support, during a November presentation to the board.

Heath said staff knows the planning work and making decisions will take time.

“The more we looked at it and to do it in a purposeful way with the community engaged in the work, 2023-2024 would be an appropriate time,” Heath said at the Nov. 10 board meeting.

That plan worked for the five-member board.

“I appreciate the time extension,” Director Joe Bento said. “It was going to be for next school year, so I thank you for that.”

Board members emphasized they want to be sure to involve community residents in the decisions about where to draw school boundaries, feeder patterns and whether sixth graders should be moved to middle schools.

“The last time we had these conversations my concern was equity among the voices heard,” Director Denise Daniels said. “We had pretty vocal parents that knew who to talk to. I’m not sure there was the opportunity for other neighborhoods that also were impacted. …We need all input, not just certain groups of parents. We need to hear from a multitude of neighborhoods.”

The district said in a statement that it will be convening subcommittees comprised of community members, parents, staff and administrators to conduct additional analysis and help create effective implementation plans. An application process will be identified for those interested in becoming a subcommittee member and a timeline established to move this work forward. The subcommittees will provide regular updates to the school board throughout this school year on the progress of its objectives.

The board in February approved boundary changes for certain schools to feed students into the new River Ridge Elementary that opened in August on the West Hill in the city of SeaTac.

But the board decided earlier this year against voting on other changes recommended by MGT Consulting Group that would move sixth grade into middle schools, reopen the former Kent Phoenix Academy (previously Sequoia Middle School) as a new middle school, aligning school feeder patterns and adjusting school boundaries to help balance enrollment districtwide.

Heath told the board a number of reasons support moving sixth graders to middle school.

“It’s the most appropriate placement of sixth graders academically and socially,” Heath said.

He said state guideline standards favor dividing students into the sixth through eighth grades. He said it gives students a chance to have three years of lab science to better prepare them and that most elementary schools do no have labs. It also gives students increased opportunities for academic acceleration and electives.

“Instead of math at the sixth grade level they can take a higher math level,” Heath said. “They have more electives at middle schools, which could be band or choir.”

The clear feeder patterns are an effort to keep more students together through elementary, middle and high school. Right now, 80{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} of students at one middle school might go to the same high school but another 20{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} are sent elsewhere.

“Students and families want to travel with peers to new schools,” Heath said.

The change in elementary school boundaries would help reduce overcrowding at certain schools and curtail the use of portables.

“We won’t make every school 450 students but we can keep within capacity of the school and allow us to make decisions on needs of students in programs and not where we have physical space,” Heath said.

The district plans to hold meetings in neighborhoods that would be impacted by any changes.

Despite pushing out changes to the 2023-2024 school year, Heath said it’s still going to be important to hit deadlines.

“We will come back to the board and share recommendations by fall of 2022,” he said. “We will need decisions by September or October of next year to implement changes for the following school year.”

Questions

People with questions for the Kent School District about the boundary changes can email [email protected].

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