Overhauling Education: If Not Now, When?

I recently published this piece on how to revamp education. Hit the link below.

CoFoundersTown

For me, the key is not what content we should offer to students of all ages and stages. The key is not what tests we need to give to students of all ages and stages. The key is not what particular class sizes we need to have for students of all ages and stages.

Instead, it is about what values — goals and aims — education can and should provide/achieve for our students.

We have tended to be so siloed in education. We have tended to be so discipline-focused in education. We have been so unwilling to see education as a pipeline where many folks are educators and education is not just what happens in the classroom.

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We Don’t Recognize Mental Distress: That has to Change

SEEMINGLY UNRELATED ISSUES

A recent article in the New York Times observed that doctors often miss post-partum depression. This illness affects not only the new mother but also the infant to whom she just gave birth. And it can affect other members of the household. And, the illness is usually treatable. Think about that for a moment.

In Her Words: Managing Mental Health Lilli Carré

Then, I was watching NFL football and saw the gruesome ankle injury of Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys. And, I saw his tears and his teammates showing support. When you read about his personal road to the NFL, even if there is some hyperbole, you can’t help but think: Wow; this young man hasn’t had an easy journey….and now this. Physical injury yes but mental distress too.

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Why Don’t We Listen to COVID Guidance?

The Marblehead Incident(s)

I recently read an article about a party in Marblehead, MA attended by 20–30 young people. Apparently, no masks worn were worn. It seems there was no social distancing. There was, it appears, sharing of drinking cups (unclear what was in the cups). Now, this party occurred in a private home. (No word best as I can read as to where the homeowners/parents were.)

Apparently, most of the attending students scattered when the police arrived. That means that contact tracing is tough sledding since the names of party goers is not known. It seems that the students who were identified (because they were not fleeing) are not being subjected to any police action.

Continue reading “Why Don’t We Listen to COVID Guidance?”

The Positive Feeling Tree: An Idea for Now

These are difficult times. That is for sure. We know too that positive feelings are important and to think positively, we need three positives for every one negative.

That is why I created this Positive Feeling Tree. Each day, we take positive feelings from a jar filled with them (a gift from a friend) and we read them and put them on the tree.

Continue reading “The Positive Feeling Tree: An Idea for Now”

A Fun Strategy for Families/Friends During Holiday

Holidays are hard for many generally and now specifically. So, here’s something to try whether you are near or far, in person or remote: Tongue twisters!

Yes, really. They have a long educational history. They promote learning and enunciation. They build vocabulary. They showcase mistake making and trying again. They enable laughter among young and old. They are plain fun.

Try this downloadable right priced PDF — it can be ordered by several families and the tongue twisters tried (they are listed alphabetically). There are other word games in the book and one can also create one’s own tongue twister.

Continue reading “A Fun Strategy for Families/Friends During Holiday”

How to Help Students (and others) Process the Presidential Election and Its Aftermath

Approach

When we listen and watch what occurred during election night and in the days after, one has to wonder how to help children process what they are seeing and hearing.  Regardless of one’s political party, it seems to me that we are having a hard time making good on this message: we are the United States of America.

Here are a set of strategies that can work with COVID-19 protections in place to help children (and perhaps adults too) understand how we move forward, how we create unity, how we deal with social and racial disparities.  These are strategies for online, hybrid and in person learning.  Ask: how do we process and understand how we became divided and how we can become united.  In this context, I am deeply informed by the 1960’s and the ways in which our nation was ripped into pieces then.

One more point: the goal is not to be partisan. It is to allow students to process the election whether one is in a Red or Blue State or has Red or Blue family/friends.

Also: this has been written just after the victory for President Biden as declared. It is possible that other activities/exercises will arise in the next few days, weeks and months.

Classroom Strategies and Activities:

1.

Consider games that involve rules and rule-making and then changing the rules mid-stream or arbitrarily picking a winner or having too many rules.  Here’s an example.  Suppose that students each have separate piles of an item, ideally identical (paperclips; spaghetti; marbles; countable items).  Then say: Let’s play the paper clip game. Students will say: How do we play?  Collectively the students can make the rules without distinguishing between them.  Then, let students try to play but it is too confusing. So, one needs to prioritize among the rules. Assume a set of rules are adopted but as the game is played, the teacher keeps changing the rules mid-stream. Then assume students play by the rules but the teacher arbitrarily picks a winner, not the actual winner.  The point is we need rules, we need to play by them and we need to be fair.  We cannot change rules mid-stream or after the fact. Students can address how this worked and did not work and how we want it to work.

2.

There are a set of questions that can be asked about voting that will interest students and can be researched and debated. For those with large international students, one can conduct comparisons among nations.  Ask what percent of the population votes in US and other nations. Why is it higher/lower in different locations? Ask students at what age one should be allowed to vote.  Ask students who should be allowed to vote.  Ask students about why election day is a Tuesday. Is that optimal? Is it used by other nations?  How about early voting and its effects?  Many of these questions are not “political” and could work whether one is in a red or blue state.

3.

Ask students to think about how voter irregularity could occur.  What kind of scams could exist? How can we prevent those?  Students like to decode scams so it is worth identify some scams (whether in the US or elsewhere) and have student consider how the scams worked.  For example, look at this article.  Ask who is targeted? Why is it so so easy for scams to work? Read the article below to learn more.

4.

There are a myriad of children’s books on voting and voting rights.  It is worth reading one or more of them to children but one has to be careful to make sure the pitch and tone of the books is fair and steady and accurate, given the complexity of voting across the US – federal and state rules and regulations.  My choices here are not historical – on the history of voting and voter suppression.

Here are two suggestions about the importance of voting; these are intended for an elementary school audience, although V is for Voting can be adapted because it uses the alphabet to share Democratic processes.

  1.  Curious George Votes by H.A. Rey (2020); and
  2. V is for Vote by Kate Farrell (2020)

Little Blue and Little Yellow might have value too in terms of unity.

5.

It is worth getting an actual sample ballot for students to see; most folks don’t see an actual ballot until the first time they vote.  Share with students how to decode the ballot and how much one actually needs to know to be a thoughtful voter.  Note, too, the propositions that get voted upon at an election.  With the ballot in hand (before students vote), ask them how it could be simplified. Ask how well they can select among the candidates. Ask what information they would need to decide.  Let the students even do research and then indicate their voting preferences for one or two races based on what they learned.

6.

Allow students to have a place to express their feelings and thoughts anonymously – say chalking or post-its on a wall. Students need to be able to process and expressing feelings is one strong route toward that end. The point is not to be judgmental with respect to what is posted (assuming it is in the realm of decency).

7.

Consider how transparent and open we are about our support for different candidates. Ask students their views on whether people who are asked should or do share for whom they voted. Why might people be silent? Why might they share?  Would you (as a student or teacher) share. Why and why not?

8.

Have students do these two short writing exercises:  If you were elected President but the margin was very close, what would be the first three sentences you would say on television (and in writing) to the American people regarding your win?  If you were the loser in a tight presidential race, what would be the first three sentences you would say on television and in writing in your concession remarks.  Have students read their remarks to each other. Compare them to the actual remarks of incoming President Biden and outgoing President Trump.

9.

Transitions are hard for people in all situations and a presidential transition is not easy.  What four things would make a transition from one leader to another easier, better and smoother?  Do you think those four things will happen?  (Teachers can keep track over the coming months based on the students’ lists.)

Are the Debates Teachable Moments?

Let me start with the answer to the question posed in this title: Yes, debates can most assuredly be teachable moments and more importantly, there is real value in helping children process them effectively with quality educators in a school setting.

Let’s put politics aside (assuming that is even possible) and ask the question this way: What can our children learn from the debates related to the upcoming election?  What can they learn about themselves and their peers?

For me, these debates can be evaluated on several levels but whatever level one chooses, they seem to generate strong feelings and thoughts. 

Debate One

Children likely reacted to the argumentative style exhibited in the first debate and interruptions of each candidate as the other spoke. Add to this that the moderator, who had rules, could not get the debate under control, hard as he tried.  (He was like a teacher in an unruly classroom where the teacher has lost the ability to get the students to engage.)

For some children, the debate sounded like fighting, and that in and of itself may have been a trigger of memories of uncomfortable fights within their families and communities.  For children who struggle with rules and rule obedience, one wonders if the flaunting of rules messaged that rules don’t matter – at least for some people.   And, the debates messaged about personality and tone and style.  And, make no mistake about it: the most knowledgeable and well-educated teacher of substance may irritate children if he/she is disrespectful, dismissive, nasty and aggressive. 

Some watchers had to turn off that first debate or walk away. Others were left with nagging negative feelings.  Autonomic nervous system were and perhaps will are on high alert.  

Ask: Were any of these issues processed with children in schools? Were I a guessing person, the answer would be no – in part because schools are online or hybrid and changing up the curriculum might be difficult and hard to do in terms of getting the right non-political pitch and approach.  And, there is the issue of time and preparation.  

But there is an opening for students to process the events if they can get in touch with what the debate evoked in them.  Think about how feeling identification (both positive and negative) would be beneficial.  And The Feeling Alphabet Activity Set could have been used to help with that effort, adapted to be sure.

Debate Two

Yes, there were different parties: a woman and a man.  And, at least at first listen, the tone and style were different – but not that different.   And, there was less in terms of personal and family attacking.  But, make no mistake about it: this debate was also laced with nastiness.  And there was rule disobedience.  

Students could compare and contrast debate style within this second debate and between the first and second debates.  That would be a useful exercise.  And it begs for us to ask:  Who was easiest to listen to? Who shared the most substance (assuming its veracity)?  Who showed respect for others?

But, for an educational perspective, I cannot help but focus on the fly on the head of the VP’s white hair for two seconds.  Surely, that can make children and adults laugh. And, it fosters a wide range of funny thoughts:  Did the VP know it was there?  Could you feel a fly on your head?   Why would a fly stay in place for so long?  And, were you a conspiracy theorist, was the fly actually a tracking device or a hearing device or a device to get signals (like positive or negative beeps to answers given)?  Imagine children drawing and writing about the fly on the head – that would be a creative exercise.

For all students, finding the flies painted by well-known artists on their portrait paintings is an engaging activity with many opportunities to reflect on the “why” question.  Why did these artists paint flies and what meaning can be ascribed to them? The answers have modern analogues and might surprise you with their current relevance! Enjoy reading more about flies in famous paintings in the article below.

https://theconversation.com/amp/mike-pences-fly-from-renaissance-portraits-to-salvador-dali-artists-used-flies-to-make-a-point-about-appearances-147815

In Sum

Our children need us to help them process our complex and difficult world.  With school interruptions and now online, hybrid or in person learning which works in varying degrees with different students, we need to take affirmative steps to give students the tools to manage what they are seeing and hearing day in and day.   out.  We cannot assume that our not talking about what is occurring will make it go away.  Indeed, we do way better processing with children and at a time like this, processing feelings could not be more important.   Taking the time to turn the debates into teachable moments will help our children understand their feelings and then be more able to be ready, willing and able to learn.  At a time like this in our nation, turning any of the negative or difficult moment or events into teachable moments is a positive.   And, The Feeling Alphabet Activity Set, adapted to different settings, is one tool that can make these teachable moments possible.

Share your thoughts if you try this and we’d welcome including your suggestions so other educators can learn from you.  

A Very Disorienting Presidential Debate

By Ed K.S. Wang, M.S., Psy.D.

Even as a passive observer, the debate was extremely disorienting due to the lack of civility that I am not accustomed to in past presidential debates.  I was feeling irritated, restless, and felt my blood pressure was rising.  I was so stressed that the one behavior I could manage was “flight” from my distress.  I turned off the TV thirty minutes into the debate.

Thinking of my physical and emotional responses, I thought about the reason behind writing the Feeling Alphabet Activity Set with Karen Gross.  We trust the scientific explanation of stress and the benefit of stress management.  Paying attention to our feelings and naming them make us less likely to get caught up with negative feelings and thoughts.  This mindful action helped to alleviate some degree of distress in the stressful situation that I experienced. 

The Feeling Alphabet Activities Set is a pathway towards the practice of mindfulness.  Naming feelings is the first step into processing those feelings with associated thoughts and behaviors.  Sometimes it is hard to see the connection between feelings, thoughts and behavior because all three can happen so quickly like during the evening of the debate.  But after I turned the TV off, I had time to connect my feelings, thoughts and behavior to prevent my negative feelings took over. 

By paying attention and acknowledging my negative feelings of anger, shame and frustration as a result of the uncivil debate and my conviction that this is not what our country is, positive feelings and thoughts of hope, change and gratitude for what good there is about this country re-surfaced.  Such positive feelings, though miniscule, helped to counterbalance the negative ones.  Some peace of mind is so important during this stressful time in our country.

It’s events like this that remind me of why Karen and I wrote the Feeling Alphabet Activity Set (buy through this site).

ekwang@mgh.harvard.edu

ed.global.diversity@gmail.com

Edward K. Wang, a grandparent and psychologist, promotes the social and emotional well-being of children across the globe.  As the Director of Policy and Planning for the Division of Global Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, a former member of the National Advisory Council, Department of Health and Human Services and a public steward of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, he continues to call attention to the resiliency and hope, growth and healing of mental ill adults and children.

Trauma Tools As Schools Stagger Forward

In Japanese culture, there is a tradition that when things break, they are not discarded. They are repaired with gold and accompanied with the phrase: More Beautiful for Being Broken. Hold that thought.

School Reopening Confusion (to state it nicely)

There is deep confusion about schools reopening this fall. Some schools are doing totally online learning. Others are having in person learning. Still others are using a hybrid approach. All involved in education are experiencing anxiety of one sort or another. Teachers and professors are worried about their own health and that of their families. Parents are worried about the health of their children and how the working parents will manage complex school schedules. Some are worried about the quality of education that will be provided, particularly in the context of online learning. Students are worried too; they have not been in school for a while. There will be new rules if school is in person; they may not be up to speed academically; sports and play seem like they will be missing. Some kids realize that they simply cannot adapt to online learning and they will fall farther behind; they won’t attend or they won’t engage.

It’s quite the mess. And, we have not done sufficient professional development in anticipation of reopening — in whatever form it takes. We have been so focused on physical well being that psychological well being has taken a back seat, if it is in the car at all. And, while we can differ as to the definition of trauma in the educational context, perhaps we can agree that many students and teachers and parents are experiencing trauma now — with the pandemic and with the racial tensions and with the economic uncertainty and with no end in sight on which we can rely.

Add to all this that whatever planning has been done has often not been inclusive. It has involved some groups within the educational community and not others. Think about planning the return to school without active involvement of school nurses. Think about decisions made at the superintendent level, bypassing teachers and just informing them of this and that decision. Think about not engaging older students at the college level. Ponder the NCAA not taking any strong positions or creating any coordinating committee for collegiate sports. It is a problem with many tentacles. Some decisions are made by too few. Some are abdicating decision-making. We are losing our balance.

Solutions: Yes, They Exist

It is not too late to ponder giving teachers and parents more tools to help them cope with their own trauma and that of their students/children. These tools exist but the problem is that we have not shared these tools widely among teachers. To that end, here are some tools that I have created (one with Dr. Ed Wang), all of which will be available before the start of school (assuming restart is in September). They are offered here, not in order of importance or value or utility. They are offered as ways teachers and parents/caregivers can help students get ready learn, to engage. These are tools to help control the autonomic nervous system responses. These are tools that use our knowledge about trauma’s impact on our brains and our bodies. These are tools that can help us now.

1.

Consider purchasing this right-priced book: Tongue Twisters and Beyond: Words at Play. It can be preordered at www.northshire.com or on Amazon. Bulk sales available too from Northshire Books. The book is filled with tongue twisters and word games and spoonerisms. Students can read in shapes (yes really). And tongue twisters (which are actually brain twisters) allow us to laugh and make mistakes — adults and children alike. They open neural pathways; they enable distraction and at the same time, they involve learning. There are new words and efforts to enunciate and bring creativity into play.

2.

Consider downloading The Feeling Alphabet Activity Set (co-authored with Dr. Ed Wang). This allows students (and parents/teachers) to identify their negative and positive feelings. The point is that the start of addressing trauma is to name what one is occurring within oneself and recognize what one is feeling. There is no way to tame trauma (and feelings) if you can’t name it (them). This activity set also has a myriad of suggestions for play too — coloring in letters (or copying their design), charades, feeling word searches, feeling thought bubbles. It will be available on www.karengrosseducation.com at the end of August, and it too will be right priced to make it accessible to many.

3.

There are instructions for completing Trauma Responsive Tool Boxes, which can be filled with a myriad of different items that can be adapted to the age and stage of the user. Use of what’s in the toolbox is beneficial but so is just seeing the tool box and recognizing that others see what is occurring and have a name for it and own it and recognize it. Completed toolbox samples will also be available. These will be at www.karengrosseducation.com.

4.

Consider purchasing We See You/Te Vemos. This is a bilingual book (English and Spanish) that is printed on indestructible paper. Perfect for the pandemic — it can be cleaned off and wiped down. It can be read to and with younger children. It can be used with older children to learn a new language. It has suggestions in English and Spanish for games that are keyed into the book. Then, there are multi-racial characters and the theme is object constancy, something that is critical in this time of change and loss and separation. It is available at Amazon and www.northshire.com.

5.

For adults who want to learn more about trauma and trauma symptomology and strategies for its amelioration (it never disappears), there is my new adult book: Trauma Doesn’t Stop at the School Door: Strategies and Solutions for Educators PreK-College. It was released on June 22, 2020 by Teachers College Press and is available through them at www.tcpress.com/karen-gross or at Amazon. There is an ebook version too. The key to the book is that it grounds theory in practice and has concrete suggestions that can be replicated and scaled and adopted or adapted.

Consider these all a starter set of suggestions for things that can be used with and for students and adults to ease school re-entry. Consider them ways to alleviate trauma symptomology. Consider them as tools that are trauma responsive.

To return to the opening image and Kinsugi reference, I want to note that there are ways to address trauma and its symptoms. And while we never bounce back to where we were, we can bounce forward. The described tools give me hope — hope that we can navigate these troubled time and facilitate student academic and psychosocial success. Perhaps these tools can be items that message: more beautiful for being broken.

You’re Invited to a Virtual Book Launch Monday, June 22 at 5 pm EST

This is the official Virtual Launch of Karen Gross’ new book, Trauma Doesn’t Stop at the School Door: Strategies and Solutions for Educators PreK-College, released by TCPress on June 19, 2020.

Join us for a panel discussion and giveaways!

The Zoom launch will have a 30-minute panel discussion of this new book and its potential to facilitate student success. Event will be hosted by Brian Ellerbeck, the Acquisitions Editor at TC Press. Panelists will be Marie Cini, Allyson Hoffman and Gill Hunter, each extraordinary educators representing different segments of the academic pipeline from elementary school to adult education.

Three copies of Trauma Doesn’t Stop will be given to 3 attendees based on a random drawing and 10 takeaway gifts will be sent to the first 10 people signing into the Zoom book launch. The author will introduce the panel and will be available for informal chat time during the Zoom launch. We look forward to this launch on Zoom and to sharing this important new and timely book with you all.  See you on June 22nd (a Monday) at 5:00 EST.

Hosted by Teachers College Press and Karen Gross
(917) 363-4872

The book is available for pre-sale at Amazon.com and other locations. Official pub date is June 19, 2020:

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