Author: Emily-Rose Barry, Director of Product at Branching Minds
What a year it has been! In many ways, we started 2022 still shaking off the worn coat of COVID restrictions, re-claiming our educational spaces, and making sense of the past few years' experiences. Many words have already been expended lamenting all the ways we may have “fallen behind,” but to me, this year was an opportunity to experiment with new ways of thinking about the intersections of learning, technology, and student engagement. Human beings are nothing if not resilient, and the greatest sparks of creativity are born of necessity and confinement.
Many educators are aware of the importance of promoting students’ social-emotional skills and how this can be done through well-coordinated and implemented social-emotional learning (SEL) programs and practices. But whether or not these approaches are being implemented effectively and the level of impact they are having on student outcomes can be a bit more difficult to determine.
One of my favorite memories as an artistic and creative child was when the “art lady” came on Fridays to my 4th-grade class. She would introduce a project, and we got to pull out those crayons and paints we stored in our desks. We learned to do “stained glass” with tissue paper, draw pumpkins, and learn what to do when we made mistakes.
During the past couple of weeks, I have facilitated Branching Minds’ “Foundations of MTSS” for two elementary campuses. I asked one of the principals what I should write about in a blog dedicated to MTSS on an elementary campus. She pointed out that she wanted to hear more about the layers of support illustrated in the graphic below. “Okay”, I thought I could work on that.
Many districts and schools are now regularly collecting data assessing students’ social-emotional and behavioral skills. Data from assessments and screeners are typically used to identify students needing additional support. Other pieces of data, such as behavior monitoring or tracking, are commonly used to track the progress students are making toward their goals.
Don’t you hate being asked, “Are you paying attention?” For some reason, that question always sends me back to elementary school (when, in fact, I was paying attention). But the question also makes me wonder…what is “paying attention?” Is it engagement? Participation? Involvement? And how do these concepts relate to each other?
I remember the days when I was teaching a classroom full of 2nd graders, intending to ensure each student would experience success. Then reality set in…Johnny, Sue, and Ben could not read, Sara, Keon, Nhu, and Mike could not learn how to tell time to the half-hour, and Christian, Debora, and Aaron had some behavioral challenges.