One of my favorite self-reflection activities is the Rose, Bud, and Thorn. In this activity, students are asked to reflect upon an event and identify a:
- Rose: A highlight, small "win" or recognize growth
- Bud: A new idea that emerged from the experience or a hope that they have
- Thorn: A challenge or difficulty that was encountered
I would like to encourage you to pause for a moment and reflect on your teaching experiences during the last year. I bet it is really easy to identify those thorns, right? What about those roses and buds? Are you proud of the resiliency and perseverance of your students? Did you learn new ways to teach? Did you realize even more acutely how much you treasure seeing your students every single day?
As I reflected on my "roses," I felt an immense sense of gratitude for the people who continue to support me and allow me to better support my students and teachers. As I reflected on my "buds," I have been really glad to see more emphasis on student well-being and mental health. In addition, I have LOVED seeing more schools exploring ways to increase their teachers' well-being, as well. Over the next series of posts, I will explore different ways to increase student and faculty well-being and engagement.
Many schools in the US have a Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) focus or goal. For example, in my district our SEL goal is to integrate social-emotional learning with academics to enable students to become confident, resilient, passionate collaborators, and engaged citizens. According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL),
SEL is the process through which all young people and adults 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. (CASEL, n.d.)
1. Building self-awareness: Understanding how one's emotions, thoughts, values and experiences can influence behavior.
2. Self-management: Ability to regulate one's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
3. Social awareness: Ability to take on the perspective of others.
4. Relationship skills: Ability to connect with others and positive conflict-resolution skills.
5. Responsible decision-making: Making positive choices and accepting the outcome of choices.
There is a robust body of research regarding the effectiveness of SEL regarding improved student behavior, reduced levels of depression and anxiety, improvements in academic performance, and an increase in overall well-being. I think every single one of us wants these things for our students! A few years ago I took Dr. Seligman's Coursera course called "Positive Psychology: Martin E. P. Seligman’s Visionary Science". I highly recommend it if you are interested in the research regarding well-being or the field of positive psychology. You can even audit it for free! He asked a question at the beginning of the course that changed the way that I view education.
"Using two words or fewer, what do you most want in life? What do you most want for your children?"
He followed up with this question, "using two words or fewer, what do schools teach?" (Seligman, n.d.). In my opinion, if those two sets of words don't match we have a problem and that problem is much bigger than just me and my individual classroom. A potential solution lies in the field of positive education and school-wide SEL. According to CASEL, school-wide SEL is "a systematic approach to infusing social and emotional learning into every part of the students' educational experience - across all classrooms, during all parts of the school day and out-of-school time, and in partnership with families and communities" (The CASEL Guide to Schoolwide Essentials). It is taught explicitly, implicitly, and across the curriculum. It is embedded into the very essence of the school culture.
As an AP Psychology teacher, I have the ability to embed SEL into my classroom because in many cases it is also my curriculum. For example, the following station rotation can be used as part of a unit of intelligence or it can be a standalone lesson on a growth mindset. As you may recall, I like to make sure that my station rotations include a balance of teacher-led, online and offline activities. The best thing about this station-rotation is that you can tailor it to the needs of your students and the amount of time that you have to teach it. Each station is designed to take approximately 20 minutes to complete.
1. Discussion Questions: The following questions can be discussed individually or as a group. I always like to give my students a little bit of "think time" and I encourage them to write their responses before we discuss them. Here are some suggested prompts.
2. Assessment: Ask the students to sort scenarios based on the type of mindset being represented. Here are some example scenarios or the students can write their own!
3. Hexagonal Thinking: In this activity, the students demonstrate their understanding of how concepts relate to each other. There is no one correct answer. Instead, as a group, students organize their hexagons based on their rationale. Some concepts or terms that might be appropriate for your class are intelligence, growth mindset, fixed mindset, neuroplasticity, grit, perseverance, challenge, determination, neuron, failure and Carol Dweck. This is also a great opportunity to rehearse terms from previous units. Not familiar with hexagonal thinking? This post will help!
Off-line Stations:
1. Free-Response: In this activity, A"Puzzling" Experiment, students will practice their free-response writing skills and learn more about the research conducted by Dr. Carol Dweck. I prefer to have my students read and complete the assignment individually and then meet as a group for the last ten minutes to share their answers.
2. Student Inventory: Ask the students to complete a mindset inventory and reflect on their findings.
3. One-Pager: Ask the students to create a one-pager comparing a growth versus fixed mindset. This resource provides students with a nice overview of Dweck's theory. I used this post by the Cult of Pedagogy as inspiration for this assignment. It also has some great one-pager templates.
Online Station:
1. Flipped Video: If you haven't covered the content yet this is a great place to do it! I recommend that you make your own video because it makes it more personal for the students. However, if you aren't there yet you can use instructional videos from sources such as YouTube, Khan Academy or the College Board.
2. "Power of Yet": Dr. Dweck shares her research in this ten minute video. Want to take it a step further?? Ask your students to complete a "Rose, Bud, and Thorn" exit slip about what they learned after watching this.
It's hard for me to say that the pandemic had a "rose." It is just plain awful. However, it has provided educators with the opportunity to innovate solutions and re-evaluate our priorities. As a teacher and parent I have emerged with a renewed sense of purpose regarding student well-being. Well-being matters. It can no longer be an afterthought or be assigned to one division or group within a school. There has to be a systematic approach to teaching our students the skills necessary to flourish today and in the future.
Next Post: Faculty Well-Being Matters, Too!
Last Post: Let's Talk About Motivation
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment