Tagged With "Guarantees Meals for All Students"
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Learn4Life Teams “Get Lit”
At the recent “Get Lit – Words Ignite” Classic Slam poetry competition, Learn4Life (L4L) students throughout California demonstrated that they have the knowledge and eloquence to Shed Light and Motivate (SLAM) their communities to take action. Hailed as the world’s largest youth poetry slam, the event took place April 26-28 th in downtown Los Angeles and included seven L4L squads and 36 total teams. Get Lit – Words Ignite is an organization that uses poetry to “increase literary, empower...
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Learn4Life Trauma-Informed Journey
Please see attached for the trauma-informed journey presentation given by Craig Beswick for Learn4Life on 9/07/18.
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Making SEL More Relevant to Teens (edutopia.org)
Three social and emotional learning activities that are designed to address high school students’ need for status and respect. According to a 2018 survey , current and recent high school students don’t believe their schools have done enough to help them develop socially and emotionally, and most graduates don’t feel prepared for life after high school. Researcher David Yeager and his colleagues argue that it’s important to address teens’ need for status (“How do others treat me?”) and...
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Re: Helping Students Overcome Toxic Stress through Science-Based Teaching Practices (stresshealth.org)
Very cool! I had seen the videos (not watched them all, but found them, and was going to post.) So glad you posted first!
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Workplace Changes We’re Hoping to See in Our Next Normal (thriveglobal.com)
From a greater emphasis on mental health to a shift toward more compassion and empathy, here's what we're predicting will change about culture once we return to work. As we start to think about what our offices and businesses will look like once we begin the re-entry to work (our “next normal”), it’s becoming clear that we won’t return to business as usual, not after what we’ve been through and learned as a result of COVID-19. “The pandemic has made it all too clear that we cannot continue...
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Can the Lockdown Push Schools in a Positive Direction? (greatergood.berkeley.edu)
Here are five ways COVID-19 can change education for the better. The COVID-19 crisis has closed over 124,000 schools in America. Most will be closed until next fall, with many likely experiencing roving blackouts throughout the year. Since the rise of compulsory schooling in America a century ago, there has never been this level of school shutdown. Not during the Spanish Flu of 1918 or World War II, or after 9/11. Looking at the American education system in particular, the post–Civil War era...
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Communities on ACEs Connection, By Interest & Location
Interest Based: ACEs & African Americans ACEs and Nourishment ACEs Connection for Birth Workers ACEs Connection Resources Center ACEs in Early Childhood ACEs in Education ACEs in Foster Care ACEs in Higher Education ACEs in Maternal Health ACEs in Medical Schools ACEs in Nursing Science ACEs in Pediatrics ACEs in the Criminal Justice System ACEs in the Faith-Based Community ACEs in Youth Justice ACEs In Youth Services Balancing ACEs with HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences)...
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ACEs Connection launches Cooperative of Communities
The ACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities launches today. We want to continue to contribute to the ACEs movement for as long as it takes to create a worldwide healing-centered culture based on ACEs science. We want that to take hold in this world in the same way electricity has — we only notice it if it isn’t there.
First, a clarification: Nothing on ACEsConnection.com changes! Membership remains free! Everything our current 300+ communities use stays free, and remains free for new ones.
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Teachers Are Anxious and Overwhelmed. They Need SEL Now More Than Ever. (edsurge.com)
At the end of March, our team at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence , along with our colleagues at the Collaborative for Social Emotional and Academic Learning , known as CASEL, launched a survey to unpack the emotional lives of teachers during the COVID-19 crisis. In the span of just three days, over 5,000 U.S. teachers responded to the survey. We asked them to describe, in their own words, the three most frequent emotions they felt each day. The five most-mentioned feelings among...
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Trauma Resilient Educational Communities (TREC) Model
Learn4Life quickly realized that in order to reach students’ heads, we needed to reach their hearts. So, we designed the Trauma-Resilient Educational Communities (TREC ) Model which is based on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) science and protocols. TREC is an active approach to understanding trauma. We do more than explain the effects of trauma and encourage understanding amongst our teachers, counselors and staff. All our employees are trained and receive credentials in the foundations...
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Students speak out: California educators host first-ever statewide talk about institutional racism [sfchronicle.com]
By Brett Simpson, San Francisco Chronicle, June 18, 2020 On Wednesday afternoon, over 300 California educators, parents, and students tuned into Facebook Live to hear high school students speak honestly about their own experiences of racism, implicit bias, and trauma at school. The “ Student Support Circle: Institutional Racism and Implicit Bias ,” was co-hosted by the California Department of Education and the National Equity Project, and is the first among several initiatives state...
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California reaches milestone with ACEs initiatives pulsing in all 58 counties. Next: All CA cities.
Karen Clemmer, the Northwest community facilitator with ACEs Connection, was already deeply interested in the CDC/Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study when she and a colleague from the Child Parent Institute were invited to lunch by ACEs Connection founder and publisher Jane Stevens in 2012. But that lunch meeting changed everything. Karen Clemmer “Jane helped us see a bigger world,” says Clemmer. “She came with a much wider lens. She didn’t look only at Sonoma County, she...
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kNOw More! online human trafficking education for San Diego County schools.
kNOw MORE! , Point Loma Nazarene University's one-of-a-kind creative human trafficking awareness and prevention program for youth and families, is now available for distance learning! In this moment of pandemic, young people are spending significantly more time online, increasing their vulnerabilities to trafficking. Human trafficking education is more important now than ever. kNOw MORE! utilizes the same student-centered multimedia teaching style with dramas that have shifted to film, live...
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Re: kNOw More! online human trafficking education for San Diego County schools.
This is so awesome and much needed in all our schools.
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CDC Report Finds that 1 in 4 Young Adults Considered Suicide Due to Coronavirus Pandemic (people.com)
The coronavirus pandemic has taken a serious toll on the mental health struggles of Americans, particularly young adults. According to a recent survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, out of more than 5,000 respondents who were contacted in late June, 25.5 percent of adults between the ages of 18-24 reported having “seriously considered suicide” due to the pandemic. By comparison, 10.7 percent of all respondents reported having suicidal ideations. “Mental health...
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Partnership with HBCUs Helps At-risk Students Realize Their Dreams of Higher Education (learn4life.org)
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are known for helping students of color and opportunity youth access an affordable and quality higher education. Realizing that high SAT scores and GPAs aren’t necessarily indicators of student success in college, HBCUs instead focus on developing learners through personalized learning and support. Learn4Life and FLEX High serve at-risk students and share this approach to recover dropouts, and promote college access, readiness and...
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John Bukshtine: A Voice Within (learn4life.org)
When John’s mother was told by a respected university neurology specialist that her son was severely mentally retarded, she didn’t believe it for a minute. She knew her son was smart. A severe illness when he was a toddler left him silent, but she knew her son was not retarded. This determined mother sought a second opinion and found a doctor who was convinced that he was autistic and began the treatment he needed. John was not eager to try Learn4Life. He wanted to be in a traditional school...
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Webinar: Leveling up Google Classroom for Distance Learning (nea.org)
Don’t miss the next installment of our Mastering Distance Learning Webinar Series! Next up: Learn about how to maximize Google Classroom for remote teaching and learning purposes with embedded opportunities for social emotional learning, more complex assignments, interactive learning environments, tools for one-on-one student support, and opportunities to differentiate practice to fit your students' needs. September 28th from 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm PDT Register HERE.
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How Parents Can Support Children With Special Needs During Distance Learning (greatergood.berkeley.edu)
Parenting a child with additional learning, attention, social-emotional, or behavioral needs has never been easy—and it’s not exactly getting easier. Distance learning and hybrid learning have created a whole new layer of challenge for the approximately 7.1 million children who receive special education services in American schools. Here are the three most common challenges I have been seeing for children with special needs—and what parents can do when they see these challenges at home. “My...
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New Resource: Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic One-Pager (English & Spanish!)
English: The California Department of Public Health, Injury and Prevention Branch (CDPH/IVPB) and the California Department of Social Service, Office of Child Abuse Prevention’s (CDSS/OCAP) , Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative , ACEs Connection , and the Yolo County Children’s Alliance have co-created a newly developed resource, “Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic” in both English and Spanish. This material is intended for Californian families experiencing the severe...
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The Pandemic Is Raging. Here's How to Support Your Grieving Students [edweek.org]
By Brittany R. Collins, Education Week, November 12, 2020 Over the past few decades, trauma-informed teaching has gained ground in the United States, yet rarely is grief included in the conversation. In the midst of a global pandemic, with teachers and students confronting loss in and outside the classroom in new and myriad ways, it is more critical than ever to apply a grief-sensitive lens to our conversations about curricula and trauma in the school system. We are not the people we were a...
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School 'wellness centers' could be an answer to soaring mental health needs in California [edsource.org]
By Carolyn Jones, EdSource, December 9, 2020 Responding to a surge in student anxiety and depression — exacerbated by the pandemic — a state commission has called for California schools to move quickly to become “wellness centers” addressing mental and physical health needs among K-12 students and their families. Through agreements with nonprofits and government health agencies, schools would offer psychological services, basic medical care and other services to help families navigate trauma...
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Holiday Message from Doc Childre, HeartMath Institute's Founder (heartmath.org)
The holidays can magnify our care, kindness, and connection… yet they can also magnify energies of separation, like blame, chaos, and emotional instability. It’s helpful to make heart-firm commitments to add compassion, kindness, patience, and latitude as we interact with others and with ourselves. Practicing these heart qualities during the holiday period (or any time) can prevent much stress and lift our spirit for increased clarity, discernment, and intuitive guidance for our highest...
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Relationships with Caring Adults and Social and Emotional Strengths Are Related to High School Academic Achievement [childtrends.org]
By Vanessa Sacks, Rebecca M. Jones, and Hannah Rackers, et al., Child Trends, December 15, 2020 youthCONNECT is an integrated student supports initiative, developed by Venture Philanthropy Partners (VPP), that is being implemented in Prince George’s County, Maryland, in partnership with the Prince George’s County government and Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS). At Suitland High School, the youthCONNECT theory of change posits that providing college and career preparation...
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A resource for teachers during unprecedented times
Following Gov. Ige's furlough announcement for all state employees beginning in January 2021, I can't imagine how this must have impacted our public school educators Stress and anxiety have been experienced by all during COVID-19 and all educators (early education to higher learning) have not be spared. This is an excellent article that sheds some light on the anxiety that teachers are facing and some potential pragmatic strategies to help mitigate the effects of stress during these...
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'Every Kid is Motivated': Action-oriented Ideas to Revive Students' Curiosity (kqed.org)
If there’s one concern about distance learning that educators have during these times, it’s that students are having difficulty being motivated. A lack of motivation is perfectly understandable given the severity of the pandemic, the financial hardships and the shortcomings of video conferencing platforms. But that doesn’t necessarily mean teachers can’t prioritize motivation and curiosity, which were already suffering pre-pandemic because of the way schools often rely on tests and grades to...
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How Historically Responsive Literacy Can Make Learning More Relevant to Students (kqed.org)
Today’s education system resembles much of what you’d see in the early 1900s: rote memorization, a teacher speaking to dozens of pupils who must remain silent unless called upon, curriculum at scale. Coronavirus-related distance learning pushed that same operation online, and because of the severity of the crisis, educators and parents understandably yearn for getting back to normal. But for educator Gholdy Muhammad, normal hasn’t served all students well, especially in literacy education,...
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Rethinking Homework for This Year—and Beyond (edutopia.org)
Homework has long been the subject of intense debate, and there’s no easy answer with respect to its value. Teachers assign homework for any number of reasons: It’s traditional to do so, it makes students practice their skills and solidify learning, it offers the opportunity for formative assessment, and it creates good study habits and discipline. Then there’s the issue of pace. Throughout my career, I’ve assigned homework largely because there just isn’t enough time to get everything done...
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A Quiet And 'Unsettling' Pandemic Toll: Students Who've Fallen Off The Grid [NPR.org]
For American families and their children, school is more than just a building. It's a social life and a community, an athletic center and a place to get meals that aren't available at home. The pandemic has disrupted — and continues to disrupt — the lives of U.S. students in profound ways. Many kids haven't set foot in their schools since March, when most in-person schooling shut down across the country. Teachers are working tirelessly to educate their students online, but they are growing...
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Peace Begins With Me (mindful.org)
Adam Avin saw his peers hurting and wanted to help them. In this interview, the now-16-year-old talks about the innovative ways he shares mindfulness skills with other kids and teens, sowing seeds for a happier and more peaceful future. Mindful : In your TED talk you say that your grandfather introduced you to a mindful and positive approach to life. I’m curious, did he call that approach “mindfulness” or was that a word that you learned later? Adam : No, he didn’t actually use the word...
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Black Lives Matter 13 Guiding Principles (DC Area Educators for Social Justice)
1. Restorative Justice We are committed to collectively, lovingly and courageously working vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension all people. As we forge our path, we intentionally build and nurture a beloved community that is bonded together through a beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting. 2. Empathy We are committed to practicing empathy; we engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts. 3. Loving Engagement We...
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A People’s Curriculum for the Earth: Teaching Climate Change and the Environmental Crisis (zinnedproject.org)
A People’s Curriculum for the Earth is a collection of articles, role plays, simulations, stories, poems, and graphics to help breathe life into teaching about the environmental crisis. The book features some of the best articles from Rethinking Schools magazine alongside classroom-friendly readings on climate change, energy, water, food, and pollution — as well as on people who are working to make things better. At a time when it’s becoming increasingly obvious that life on Earth is at...
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Why Covid School Schedules Are Better For Some Students (forbes.com)
Prior to Covid, the majority of K-12 schools were running on schedules that didn’t serve students well. In the latter half of the 20th century, school start and end times were designed around bus schedules. To use the same fleet of buses for all students, schools in suburban areas created schedules with high school students as the first arrivals. Yet study after study shows that early school starts don’t work best for adolescent sleep needs. Data supports the fact that later start times...
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Dear Parents: A digital well-being resource from teens to parents (communityschools.caboces.org)
Together, we can do better. All students, school districts, families and communities have equitable access to rich resources to improve student learning, strengthen families and create healthier communities. School and community partnerships are empowered and connected in meaningful ways, problems are solved and resources are used effectively. To view the 12-page digital well-being resource from Community Schools, please click here.
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State Policies that Support Healthy Schools (childtrends.org)
California The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in partnership with ASCD, developed the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) framework to highlight the need for schools to address all aspects of children’s physical, mental, and social well-being to help them learn and thrive . In 2019, Child Trends, the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and EMT Associates, Inc. released the first comprehensive analysis of state statutes...
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Why We Need to Pay More Attention to the Youngest Children and Their Parents (kqed.org)
Throughout the coronavirus outbreak, nearly everyone connected to children has raised the alarm about pandemic learning loss . Parents, educators, physicians and politicians — they might disagree on solutions, but they’re all concerned about how the current educational upheaval will affect K-12 students. By contrast, little attention has been paid to the pandemic’s effects on even younger learners. “There aren’t a lot of people out there screaming ‘what about the infants?’” said Jack...
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Five Things We Get Wrong (D'OH) with SEL
SEL. Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). My lil’ ole school counselor heart should be beaming with joy. SEL is FINALLY receiving the limelight it has long deserved in education. Most everyone everywhere is proclaiming the importance of SEL! So why do I want to smack myself upside the head (Homer Simpson style – D’OH) most every time I read about, hear about, or see an SEL effort in a school. Because we keep getting it WRONG! So before I start in with all the ways in which we are screwing it up,...
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How Some Mistakes Can be Generative for Teachers and Students Alike (kqed.org)
With all of the papers, homework and tests that cross a teacher’s desk, you’d think that a healthy relationship to mistake-making would come easy, but it’s not that simple. Messing up does not come naturally for most people, especially teachers who are constantly under the scrutiny of students, guardians, colleagues and administrators. And because teachers are tasked with making an estimated 3,000 non-trivial decisions everyday , it makes sense that some of those decisions will end up being...
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Seeking Middle School and High School Youth Leaders!
We are looking for Middle School and High School student leaders for two new student-led initiatives with the 16 Strong Project. The time is now. Given the raging COVID-19 pandemic that has upended all of our lives, our youth are struggling. It is imperative that we engage and listen to students about their needs. We need to educate them on what it means to face adversity and more importantly, how we can overcome it and thrive despite that adversity. Arguably every single young person now...
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How to Help a Teen Out of a Homework Hole (nytimes.com)
Pandemic school is taking its toll on students, especially teens. A recent study , conducted by NBC News and Challenge Success, a nonprofit affiliated with the Stanford Graduate School of Education, found that 50 percent more kids in high school report feeling disengaged from school this year than last. In December, Education Week reported that schools were seeing “ dramatic increases in the number of failing or near-failing grades ” on report cards. A major symptom of school disengagement...
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Developing Human Capital: Moving from Extraction to Reciprocity in Our Organizational Relationships (nonprofitquarterly.org)
This ecological framework should give us pause as we consider notions of “human resource” and “human capital” in nonprofit organizations. In traditional business terms, a “resource” may be fully extractable, as Berry described, and “capital” may be under the full control of the corporation to expand its resource extraction as much as possible. These terms and their underlying belief systems, if left unchallenged, can lead us into dangerous waters if we are committed to the social sector...
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Preserving Education amid COVID: The Vital Role of Community Partnerships (nonprofitquarterly.org)
Nearly one year ago, schools across the country abruptly shut their physical doors due to COVID-19. In spite of heroic efforts on the part of teachers and administrators, the pivot to online learning was uneven and chaotic at best. The Pew Research Center estimates that only half of students have successfully engaged in distance learning while at home, with students from lower income families, in particular, losing ground. One report predicts the pandemic will cause the average student to...
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More Comprehensive State Guidance Can Support the Whole Child during COVID-19 (ChildTrends.org)
As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, students continue to face significant challenges to their mental and physical health . In an April 2020 survey from Active Minds, 60 percent of high school students reported that their mental health has worsened during the pandemic. Pandemic-related school closures have also caused many students to lose access to necessary school-based health services . Students with disabilities and special health care needs, who may heavily rely on services typically...
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Why Helping Grieving Students Heal Matters So Much (kqed.org)
The conflict between physical distancing and the human need for connection is one of the great challenges of the pandemic, according to Dr. Pamela Cantor, a child and adolescent psychiatrist. Cantor is the founder of Turnaround for Children, a nonprofit that translates developmental science into resources for educators . Stress caused by loss of a loved one or even the loss of daily routines can trigger a hormone called cortisol, Cantor explained. When stress is chronic, cortisol can do...
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We’ve changed our name to PACEs Connection!
We have some very exciting news! As of today, ACEs Connection is now PACEs Connection. PACEs stands for Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences.
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The Culture-Friendly School (ascd.org)
The message in this school is clear: Cultures are welcome and cultural differences are worth embracing. Our public charter school in Washington, D.C., has "international" in its name and cultural competence in its mission statement. But it's not just the classes in Chinese, French, and Spanish or trips to embassies that prepare students to take on the world. Instead, the journey to global readiness begins the first week of 6th grade—when students bring objects from home to share with...
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Opinion: Arts Education Is a Student Right, Especially During a Pandemic (calhealthreport.org)
Students across the country are grappling with difficult feelings, situations and events as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there are no easy solutions. A national study published in November found that over 80 percent of young adults reported a decline in mental health during the two months after the start of the pandemic. But arts education has the power to emotionally and academically rebuild students — and the world around us. At the start of this crisis, I saw people in need of a...
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New Resource: Strategies for Trauma-Informed School Communities
The California Essentials for Childhood Initiative is excited to share a newly developed attached, “Strategies for Trauma-Informed School Communities: Practices to Improve Resiliency in School-Aged Children and Address Adverse Childhood Experiences”. This new resource is intended to assist state and local public health programs, child-serving systems, non-profits, and philanthropic organizations in their efforts to educate about the need for trauma-informed school policies and practices that...
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Science Lessons That Tap Into Student Curiosity About COVID-19 (edutopia.org)
“Kids think and talk about the pandemic all of the time, so it’s important they get accurate information based in science,” says Barnes. “When they research [the pandemic] on their own and perform experiments, they have deeper levels of understanding and ownership over topics that otherwise just seem scary and unpleasant.” Though educators may be worried about inundating students with doom and gloom, weaving real-world context into lessons, especially during challenging times, can make...
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WATCH REPLAY: How We Can All Help Prevent School Shootings-Expert Teen Advocate, Community Leader, So California ACEs Connection Regional Facilitator-Dana Brown
Check out the replay of the wonderful interview DANA BROWN gave me on my transformational talk show, Mary Giuliani LIVE on 2-28-18 on how we can all help prevent school shootings through understanding and implementing ACEs science. I had such a heartfelt talk with Dana Brown, an Expert Youth and Teen Advocate, Community Leader, & Southern California Regional Community Facilitator with ACEs Connection.com. Dana and I discussed the core issues that underlie these horrific school shootings...