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Posts by Paul Costello1

Essential Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies for Managing Stress in the Classroom (and Virtual Classrooms) By The Editorial Team

November 16, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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What is trauma?

Sad Boy Looking Outside While Holding Glass Window

According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), child trauma is when a child witnesses or is involved in an event and, as a result, feels intensely threatened. A traumatic event or situation exceeds an individual’s ability to cope. Several types of psychological or physical trauma can lead to extreme distress. Sources of trauma can include (but are not limited to) bullying, natural disasters, and sexual abuse. The National Survey of Children’s Health states that 35 million children in the United States have experienced one or more types of childhood trauma.

One way to consider trauma is as a continuum in frequency and severity, from a single event to multiple events occurring over and over again. The three types of traumas are acute, chronic, and complex.  Acute trauma occurs as an isolated event, such as a severe accident, medical procedure, or being a victim of a crime.  Chronic trauma is when stressful or threatening events are experienced repeatedly, such as domestic violence. Complex trauma results from multiple and ongoing traumatic events such as abuse or neglect, living with alcoholism or substance abuse, and suffering from financial, food, and/or housing instability.

Impacts of trauma

Trauma has both short and long-term effects on a child’s brain and body. Reactions to acute trauma may include shaking, crying, or being easily startled. It may be easier to see and understand a child’s response to an acute traumatic event because it happens immediately, and one can grasp the reason why the child is distressed.

Chronic and complex trauma can be more challenging to detect in the classroom. A child may appear to be reacting to the situation at hand, but in reality they’ve been triggered by something else. Trauma can affect the body and brain in the following ways:

  • Body development: Trauma can lead to living in a near-constant state of extreme stress or fear. This heightened stress response means the child or adolescent can seemingly overreact emotionally, behaviorally, and/or physically to something that another child may not consider stressful. Children who have been traumatized may also over-respond to stimuli and be extremely sensitive to light and sounds.
  • Brain development: Trauma often leads to difficulties with language, communication, and processing new information. Reasoning skills are often delayed because of trauma as well.
  • Emotions: Emotional struggles are common with a trauma history. Children or teens may have difficulties expressing and managing their emotions, quickly exploding and struggling to calm down once upset.
  • Behavior: Trauma affects the ability to develop healthy attachments and relationships. Distrust, manipulation, argumentative behavior, and impulsivity can be common in youth who have been traumatized.

The trauma-informed approach

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reports that approximately one in every four children will experience a traumatic event before the age of 16. This means each classroom could have multiple children struggling to deal with various traumas. To create a trauma-sensitive school, where every classroom is safe, healthy, engaging, and challenging for each student, educators must incorporate a trauma-informed approach. This involves first learning about trauma and how it affects children’s behaviors, learning, and relationships. Then educators set about intentionally creating an atmosphere that supports each student, demonstrates empathy, and teaches resilience.

What is being trauma-informed?

First and foremost, being trauma-informed means that one has a level of understanding about trauma and its impacts on an individual’s brain, body, emotions, and behavior. It is a commitment to learning more about trauma and viewing the individual as a person and not their behavior. Without being trauma-informed, a teacher may misinterpret a child or teen’s behavior in the classroom. Being trauma-informed recognizes that the undesirable behaviors are attempts to soothe emotional dysregulation, and this is often done unconsciously on the part of the trauma-impacted individual. It shifts the question from “What is wrong with this child?” to “What has happened to this child?”

Having a trauma-informed lens

A trauma-informed lens is a perspective of how the instructor views the child and the classroom. With a trauma-informed perspective, a teacher can consider alternatives as to why a student might be acting in a certain way, and the teacher can respond in a way that will not cause additional trauma to the child.

Guiding principles of trauma-informed care

SAMHSA released a report containing the six guiding principles of trauma-informed care. Both in-person and virtual classrooms can apply these guiding principles. These principles include:

  1. Safety: Throughout the school and in each classroom, all people (administration, staff, and students) need to feel physically and psychologically safe.
  2. Trustworthiness and transparency: Decisions are made and implemented with the primary goal of building and maintaining trust between administration, staff, students, and their families.
  3. Peer support and mutual self-help: An atmosphere of support is key to building trust and empowerment and in establishing safety.
  4. Collaboration and mutuality: Everyone—administration, staff, and teachers—has an essential role in developing a trauma-sensitive school. This responsibility is not just for those in therapeutic positions; instead, everyone must do the work to create a trauma-informed workplace.
  5. Empowerment, voice, and choice – everyone in the school strives to empower others and recognizes that each student is unique, and both require and deserve an individualized approach. For example, when emotionally dysregulated, a student may be asked what they need to feel better. Providing the student an opportunity to use their voice and select what they want or need empowers the child or teen to recognize what they need, express those needs, and feel calm and heard when those needs are met.
  6. Cultural, historical, and gender issues – Ignoring stereotypes and biases and ensuring that both teaching and other interactions with students and staff are culturally sensitive and responsive is a crucial part of trauma-informed schools.

One must note that these elements of trauma-informed care are not merely a one-time task to be checked off of a list. Instead, a true trauma-informed approach is a series of ongoing, deliberate interactions that put the child as an individual at the forefront and not the exhibited behavior.

Trauma-informed best practices in the classroom

Studies have shown that classrooms can implement several best practices to maximize the support that students need. These evidence-based trauma interventions include:

Recognize the signs of trauma

Signs of trauma in the classroom may include a child having difficulty focusing, struggling with creating and maintaining friendships, being overly tired, and/or having poor self-regulation. Students with excessive absences, changes in their school performance, and withdrawing from activities or others may also be signs that a child has been affected by trauma.

Provide consistency and structure

Daily schedules should be structured and contain elements of academics, entertainment or play, and physical exercise or movement.  Also, weaving in aspects of self-regulation skill building such as breathing exercises, mindfulness and journaling can be quite helpful so that students can learn to develop these skills and implement them on their own as needed. Consistency is key to helping a child feel secure.

Providing an overview each day of the schedule and lessons for the day can also reduce anxiety for those children and teens who may become easily distracted, wondering or fearing what might come next. This quick and straightforward task may help return a bit of control to the child as they can mentally prepare for the day.

These tips also apply to virtual classrooms. Consistency and structure can also be provided by setting expectations and goals together as a class, define responsibilities, and regularly checking in with virtual students to see how they are faring.

Utilize social-emotional learning

Social-emotional learning, also called SEL, is the process through which students develop skills in critical areas. These areas include self-awareness, self-control, social awareness, interpersonal skills such as feeling and demonstrating empathy for others, effective listening and communication, and making responsible decisions. SEL skills are critical for student success in school, life, and future work.

Educators can teach these skills in various ways, including modeling behavior, using specially designed SEL curriculum materials, and in their classroom management practices. In addition to specific counseling activities to teach social-emotional learning, these skills can often be introduced in the midst of everyday learning:

  • When reading a story to the class, discuss how characters might think or feel.
  • Assigning responsibilities and tasks to each student builds a sense of self-worth.
  • Starting the day with an affirmation can set the tone for a positive learning environment as it encourages positive self-talk and promotes a growth mindset.
  • Teaching mindfulness activities such as breathing can be done in conjunction with “brain breaks” in between lessons.
  • Journal exercises help students identify and express their feelings or opinions, and group discussions can promote healthy and respectful disagreements.
  • Social-Emotional Learning Circles help promote community discussions and respectful, reflective listening.

Use restorative practices over zero-tolerance policies

Trauma-informed programs realize that zero-tolerance policies are ineffective and harmful. Zero-tolerance policies focus on the offense and are rooted in punishment. The child or teen is punished for committing an infraction with detention, suspension, or expulsion. It removes the student from the classroom environment but does not consider the student as an individual and what might have led to the misbehavior.  Zero-tolerance policies disproportionately affect students of color, perpetuate the school-to-prison pipeline, and do not provide the support or services the struggling student needs to achieve.

Rather than a single technique or tactic, restorative justice is a paradigm shift in how schools consider discipline and how students who break the rules are perceived and addressed.  The goal is to create a new disciplinary system that is highly supportive while also being highly controlled. This system is rooted in respect, healing, empathy, and accountability. Restorative practices seek to do just that – restore relationships and environments. Instead of focusing on punishing the offending student, the focus shifts to repairing relationships between the offending student and the victim or repairing physical damage that may have occurred.

Restorative practices use support systems, including talking circles and peer juries, to create an environment where the student can hear how their actions affected the other party, and the offending student can respond. This approach humanizes both parties and encourages keeping the misbehaving student in the fold rather than excluding them from the school community. It also allows the student to be involved in finding a way to make amends instead of having a punishment doled out upon them. Restorative practices rebuild a traumatized student’s relationships with authority figures, reform their belief in fairness, and build their capacity for conducting themselves with integrity.

Research shows that school-wide use of restorative practices has long-term, positive impacts on student behavior, attendance, and achievement. Drop-out and truancy rates decline, and students report being happier while in school. Utilizing this trauma-informed positive behavior support can create an entirely different school environment, especially for students affected by trauma.

Implement a trauma-informed pedagogy

Trauma-informed pedagogy is the practice that keeps trauma and how it affects learners at the forefront when designing and implementing teaching strategies.  For instance, during this time of uncertainty and social isolation with the COVID 19 pandemic, educators can recognize that these stressors may compound upon existing trauma and lead to students having a more challenging time completing even basic tasks, being motivated, and engaging with other students.

A trauma-informed pedagogy also provides content warnings before discussing potentially triggering topics. The educator also prepares themselves in advance on how to respond if a student is triggered. It allows students to opt-out of participating in these discussions and reassures students that they can opt-out without any penalties.  Trauma-informed pedagogy also describes and teaches grounding techniques for students who may feel overwhelmed.  These types of practices help to create a safe and supportive learning environment for all students.

Teacher self-care while being trauma-informed

In order to create a supportive, trauma-informed classroom, it is imperative that instructors not only identify and deal with their own trauma but also regularly engage in self-care. Self-care techniques can vary based on the educator’s preferences, but examples include exercise, traveling, reading, meditation, yoga, seeing a therapist, and participating in creative or artistic pursuits, such as dancing or painting.

Secondary traumatic stress

Failure to prioritize self-care can lead to burnout or secondary traumatic stress. This is significant stress that develops as a result of caring for others with a history of trauma. Hearing about various traumas each day can weigh on an educator, resulting in both physical and mental difficulties that can severely interfere with one’s life.

Warning signs of secondary traumatic stress include:

  • Difficulties sleeping/having nightmares
  • Excessive fatigue
  • Physical aches and pains
  • Lack of motivation and/or decreased productivity
  • Difficulties concentrating
  • Isolation – avoiding people or activities that once brought joy
  • Feelings of anxiety, hopelessness, or anger

Secondary traumatic stress is not a permanent condition. Prioritizing self-care, talking to supportive family, friends, and professionals, and finding healthy outlets to relieve the stress can all help. In time, these difficulties can resolve, allowing for a clear and healthy mindset ready to support and encourage hurting students.

Professional development and training

Training is necessary in order to develop a trauma-informed classroom. Professional development training is a perfect opportunity to learn about trauma and examine ways to build a supportive environment and trauma-informed communication skills.

Trauma-informed professional development and training topics

Trauma-informed training for teachers can include a variety of topics surrounding trauma, including:

  • The different types of trauma
  • How trauma affects a child’s development
  • Ways trauma can manifest in student’s actions in the classroom
  • How to and how not to respond to undesirable behaviors
  • Developing a trauma-sensitive classroom
  • Developing a trauma-informed lens and teaching pedagogy
  • School-wide techniques and programs that can be implemented to be responsive to both student and staff stress and trauma

For those who want to become even more well-versed in recognizing and managing trauma-based challenging behaviors in the classroom, options exist for both post-graduate certificates and even a degree in trauma-informed teaching. Spending time learning as much as possible about trauma and how to best support traumatized children in the classroom can have positive and lasting results on both students and the educator.

https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/trauma-informed-teaching-tips/

Resources

Building a Trauma-Informed, Compassionate Classroom: Strategies & Activities to Reduce Challenging Behavior, Improve Learning Outcomes, and Increase Student Engagement by Jennifer Bashant

Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom – by Kristin Souers and Pete Hall

Hacking School Discipline: 9 Ways to Create a Culture of Empathy and Responsibility using Restorative Justice – by Nathan Maynard and Brad Weinstein

Berry, M. (2018). Restoring American education: An end to zero-tolerance policies through restorative justice. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/cap_thes_all/315

Byer, L. (2016). Restorative practices in the school setting: A systematic review. Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/msw_papers/564

SAMSHSA. (2014). SAMSHA’s concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach. Retrieved from https://youth.gov/feature-article/samhsas-concept-trauma-and-guidance-trauma-informed-approach

King memorial idea was born in Silver Spring

November 11, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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By Michael E. RuaneAugust 25, 2011

MLK Memorial Dedication Souvenir Journal by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity - Issuu

Brother Hatchel doesn’t see so well anymore. And he has a prosthetic leg. So brothers Navy and Klugh guide him along the outdoor railing of the historic school where their fraternity chapter meets.

Using two canes, Hatchel, 74, who is wearing his black-and-gold Alpha Phi Alpha ball cap, maneuvers down the walkway, with Navy, 76, and Klugh, 74, guiding him: Turn right, careful, watch your step.

The three Silver Spring men have been “brothers” most of their lives — members of the same elite black fraternity as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. And as they anticipated the dedication of the $120 million King memorial , they were proud to point out that the idea was born in a modest brick rambler on East-West Highway.

Thursday night, officials announced that because of Hurricane Irene, the dedication of the memorial will take place not on Sunday as expected, but in September or October.

In 1984, members of the local Alpha chapter — Iota Upsilon Lambda — hatched the plan for what has become the granite memorial at the Tidal Basin.

There, over coffee in the dining room of an Alpha member and American diplomat named George H. Sealey Jr., a half-dozen chapter members asked the question: Why not a memorial to King on the Mall?

Now, 27 years later, as the idea bears fruit, only two of the original six are alive. Many of the chapter brothers of that generation — men who grew up with segregation and who guided the fledgling project — are elderly and frail.

But this month, sitting at a table in their meeting hall, Robert Hatchel, a retired school principal, Harold Navy, a retired architect, and Andrew Klugh, a retired government mathematician, recalled how the plan began and the early obstacles it faced.

Navy is one of the two living original planners, according to the three men and the fraternity. The other is Eddie L. Madison Jr., a former government and communications executive, who lives in Eugene, Ore.

The others, in addition to Sealey, were Alfred C. Bailey, Oscar Little and John Harvey.

The gathering place was Sealey’s dining room.

“We used to meet like twice a month,” Navy said. “We would all come in after dinner, and we would have coffee. . . . We started, and every month we would make some progress. It was like a stepping ladder.”

“We had never had a black honored on the Mall,” he said. “Here was Martin Luther King, in our generation. We thought this was a man that was a quality individual that had given his life to try to have betterment of the races.”

In addition, King had been a member of Alpha Phi Alpha. “That was another motivational step for us,” Navy said. “It was a brother that we want to see honored.”

Alpha Phi Alpha is the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans. It was founded at Cornell in 1906 and is open to qualified applicants long after they have left college. It was Alpha Phi Alpha that created the foundation that went on to build the memorial.

Navy and Klugh were Alphas when they attended the 1963 March on Washington and had heard King deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Navy was one of the spectators who climbed a tree along the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool to get a better view. “I had never seen such a crowd in my life before,” he recalled.

Klugh said: “I came back from that march so pumped up and so proud to be an American that particular day. It was amazing.”

Sealey, who died in 2004 at age 82, was a World War II veteran, a member of the Peace Corps and the Foreign Service, and a man of ideas.

“George came up with the idea” for the memorial, Klugh said. “He started talking to people, and as it began to mushroom he brought other people in, like brother Navy here and others, to be a part of that group.”

Later in 1984, the chapter brought the idea to an Alpha convention in Cleveland.

“The membership didn’t support it initially,” said the fraternity’s current general president, Herman “Skip” Mason Jr. “Because it was a really ambitious project.”

But after gaining broader support, the fraternity embraced it. “Then it began to take a life of it’s own,” he said.

And always behind it stood the brothers of Iota Upsilon Lambda.

The chapter was formed in 1970 and it won the chapter-of-the-year award seven times in a row. “We had a lot of independent thinkers,” Navy said. “We were taught as young brothers, ‘There’s nothing you can’t do.’ ”

Still, some of the men had doubts about the memorial. “I didn’t know what would happen,” Hatchel said.

Navy said he never doubted, but also never expected a memorial so huge it’s “a shocker.”

“Here is a man we honored, and we started years ago trying to make it happen,” he said. “I did not ever think we would have something so grandiose with such a permanent location,” and not far from where he watched the King speech from a tree almost 50 years ago.

All three men have visited the memorial. Hatchel has felt the rough surface, and chief architect Ed Jackson Jr., also an Alpha, described the memorial for him.

“It’s kind of like, ‘Pinch me,’ ” Hatchel said. “I don’t feel like it’s really true, but it is.”

Opinion: For a model of how to teach on the subject of American racism, turn to Frederick Douglass

November 11, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Frederick Douglass's 'amazing job' started with his first book - The Washington PostBy Michael Gerson
Columnist Washington Post 
November 8, 2021 at 2:39 p.m. EST

Among other things, the birth of America was one of history’s greatest acts of hypocrisy. A nation dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal” was at the time also a prison for hundreds of thousands. Randomly place a pin on the country’s historical timeline and you are likely to hit some crisis related to this founding defect.

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In the early days of the republic, it was not uncommon to ask if the American form of government was worth saving. Abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison and a young Frederick Douglass regarded the U.S. Constitution as a pro-slavery document. The Constitution, “dripping as it is with human blood,” Garrison proclaimed, was the most “heaven-daring arrangement ever made by men for the continuance and protection of a system of the most atrocious villainy ever exhibited on earth.”

Clearly, critical race theory was not required to raise questions about the systemic nature of American racism. Garrison condemned any participation in the constitutional system, including voting, as a compromise with evil. Some Black leaders of the time found the American experiment so fundamentally corrupt that they advocated Black separatism and the return of Black people to Africa.

Uncomfortable conversations about racism are an inbuilt feature of American life. And they have resulted in certain categories of modern thought.

First, there are those who believe that, through the cataclysm of the Civil War and the triumph of the civil rights movement, the United States has largely fixed its structural defects. The 14th Amendment, 15th Amendment, Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, in this view, now provide a relatively level playing field for human accomplishment. Racism has become a matter of individual citizens holding prejudicial views. Therefore, the purpose of historical education is to inculcate colorblindness.

Second, there are those who believe that racism has been baked into American society for hundreds of years and will not be easily removed. The cumulative results of bias, in this view, can be seen in American institutions — housing, justice, lending, policing, education, wealth accumulation — that put many minorities at severe disadvantage from the moment of their birth. Therefore, fighting racism requires a positive effort to expose and undo systemic racism. This is not merely a matter of cultivating certain attitudes; it dictates positive actions against injustice.

Third, there are those — mainly in academia but not limited to it — who believe that American democracy and liberal individualism more broadly remain a cover or excuse for racial and economic exploitation. This is not only a critique of American institutions but also of American ideology. A free, equal, democratic society, in this view, is not an ideal that the White majority fails to meet; it is a myth used by the powerful to maintain power. And only the application of greater power to overthrow the existing order is an adequate response.

The first view — which seems to be held by many conservative parents — strikes me as badly inadequate. Colorblindness is an important commitment for individuals. It is not a sufficient tool for understanding the legacy of racism. I should have been taught as a child (but was not) that my monochrome suburban life was not a natural or neutral condition. It was constructed by generations of laws and rules that surrounded me with working institutions and segregated the community in which I lived.

The problem comes when the second and third views get conflated in practice. There are fringe forms of anti-racism that engage in a kind of power game. The purpose is to cultivate guilt and encourage ritual self-denunciation leading to self-disempowerment — a goal that should override every liberal norm, premise and institution.

I don’t see much evidence that this mode of education is widespread in American public schools. But it would be a troubling development. This is not only because it would offend some White parents. It would make genuine historical education about our country’s racial past, and genuine efforts to address ongoing injustices, more difficult.

Some of the most important questions related to racism were present from the start: Could the deep defects of this country be addressed by the more determined application of American ideals? Or were those ideals merely excuses for exploitation and bigotry?

The older Douglass answered differently than his younger self. He eventually broke with Garrison over the nature of the Constitution. “Interpreted as it ought to be interpreted,” Douglass said, “the Constitution is a glorious liberty document.” His fight for an anti-slavery Constitution and his embrace of political abolitionism shaped his century.

Douglass remains the model for dealing with racism — in his righteous anger at systemic corruption in the American experiment, and in his belief in the redeeming power of American ideals and institutions. A sound education will cultivate both.

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November 3, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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PLAY AND LEARN: THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY FOR SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN

November 3, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Developing Childhood Friendships

As children grow older, play remains important for learning and development. Read how to encourage play for children.

Play is often defined as children’s work. It is through play that children organize and make sense of the world. Play also helps children work through tensions in their lives. Play brings out children’s creativity and so much more.

Think of the importance of play in your own life. As a child, you probably engaged in active play like riding bikes, climbing trees, or jumping rope. You probably also engaged in quieter play like drawing pictures, playing board games, and constructing elaborate structures. You learned much from these experiences, including building your strength and imagination, taking turns, and following rules. Many of us can appreciate the value of play for children under five, but it might still be a stretch to appreciate play for school-agers. And yet, play continues to be important in the lives of children as they enter school. As a matter of fact, play continues to be important even for adults.

WHY IS PLAY IMPORTANT?

Lev Vygosky is one of the foremost child development theorists. Vygotsky believed that play was critical for children’s development. Jean Piaget, another key theorist in children’s development, sees play as building vocabulary, concentration, flexibility, and empathy, among other qualities. Stuart Brown, yet another theorist, describes properties of play. According to Brown, true play is apparently purposeless, voluntary, and free from time constraints. Note that he says “apparently purposeless,” with “apparently” being the key word. Many of us are goal-focused and outcome-driven and might have trouble justifying an activity that is apparently purposeless. Yet we all need unstructured play time, and school-agers are no exception. We also know that while play may look purposeless, it helps children in so many ways. Consider these examples of children learning through play:

  • Sylvie had a recent visit to the hospital. When she comes home, her dad finds that she loves to play hospital, where she is the doctor and one of her friends or parents is the patient. Sylvie is using dramatic play to work through the stress of being hospitalized.
  • Michel is into building. Whether it is connecting blocks or straws and clay, Michel builds elaborate structures. He is learning about engineering as he makes his structures. Sometimes his friend, Manuel, helps during their playdates. When that happens, they both also learn cooperation and collaboration.
  • Dominique loves to play in the dirt. She digs, makes mud pies, crafts structures, and gets really dirty. Dominique’s creativity is developing as she forms structures with mud.

LEARNING THROUGH PLAY

So how do we encourage play for school-age children?


Make sure children are not over-scheduled. Leave time for open-ended, unstructured play.

Engage in play with your child when you can. Be willing to participate in pretend play; dress up, act silly, and be creative.

Follow your child’s lead. Take direction from your child and strive to follow what she wants to do, not necessarily what you want to do.

Respect when children want to play on their own. Sometimes children at play want to be on their own and sometimes they want to play with others. As children play and learn, be sure to look in occasionally to see if their preferences have changed and they are now looking for a playmate.

Provide “loose parts.” Loose parts are exactly what they sound like: they are typically lots of small pieces that can be played with in open-ended ways. Often, but not always, they are natural items. They tend to spur children’s creativity because there is no one right way to play with them. Here are just a few examples of loose parts:

  • A basket of small smooth pebbles of different colors
  • A small container of fabric scraps of different colors and textures
  • Small blocks, spools, or balls collected in a basket
  • A collection of shells, corks, wood pieces, or nuts in the shell

The importance of play doesn’t diminish as preschoolers become school-age children. Remember that play is how children learn and offer plenty of chances for schoolagers to play.

MORE ON PLAY:

Written by: Bright Horizons Education TeamMay 15, 2021

Teacher reading to a toddler boy and girl

23 Reasons for Teachers to Apply Improv in the Classroom

November 3, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Improv! written out on a teacher's desk in a classroom.

Every year, school systems adopt new educational interventions and initiatives. This can be overwhelming to educators, as it puts a strain on time, resources and emotions. A no- cost, high impact intervention that is easy to integrate into classroom practice and curriculum is improv.

Yes, improv, the comedic art form made of short games where player create a scene, story or situation spontaneously. This is an amazing and transformative educational tool.

If you want to create a trauma responsive classroom, help all your student break through their resistance to writing, create an inclusive classroom community based on trust, respect and that embraces diversity, apply improv. What’s amazing is that improv offers those benefits and more, simultaneously and by playing even the most basic improv games.

What Is Improv?

Before we get into our list of 23 reasons, let me define improv.  The kind of activities I’m talking about here are called “short-form comedic improv.” They only require a small space and a couple of minutes; can be integrated with curricular content so there is no time off task; and engage the entire class simultaneously.

Although recognized for their ability to create comedic ideas or situations, improv is not about being funny and it is important to note that the laughter produced is shared and joyful and never at the expense of others.

Improv produces educational benefits because of improv’s specific rules and structures. These short (1-3 minute) games are similar to improvisational theater games and role-playing activities, but they differ in that they explicitly framed by the rule of “Yes, and.”

How Does Improv Work?

When people enjoy a improv as a comedic art, they are focusing on the spontaneity of the performance. Although spontaneous, improv games, are more structured than you realize.

It is the structure provided by the rule of “Yes, and….” and other structures that creates the spontaneity which sometimes results in comedic moments.  The “Yes, and…” rule requires that each player unconditionally and without judgement accept the offer given by all other players and add to it.  The act of “Yes, and- ing” is not teaching people to agree with everything in real life but is instead an exercise in listening completely to each other and then explore others’ offers and its possibilities.

Benefits of Improv for Schools and Teachers

In the following list, I’ve grouped the 23 benefits of improv into three broad categories: benefits for schools and teachers, benefits for the learner, and emotional intelligence benefits.

When people think about improvisation (improv, for short), they generally think about the benefits for the individual—benefits like improved self-confidence, creativity, and collaborative skills.  And certainly, those benefits are real (see the next two sections).

But people often fail to think about the broader benefits that the regular use of improv can have for the classrooms in which it’s used and for the entire school.  So, let’s start with the big picture.

Here are eight ways that the regular use of improv can benefit schools, classrooms, and teachers.  Improv…

1. Supports the Democratic Values of the Education System

Schools are society’s number one enculturation tool.  As such, schools across the country seek to create cultures that honor democratic values.  What teaching approach could be more democratic than one (like improv) that engages all students simultaneously and honors each individual’s contribution?  Imagine the impact school-wide if every teacher in the school used improv regularly in their classrooms!

2. Acknowledges and Supports Diversity

In a society as diverse as ours, it’s especially important that teachers use teaching approaches that honor and promote student diversity—and improv does just that.  The structure built into all improv games allows students to lend their own unique ideas and perspectives to shape the performance.  Learning to open up and give of one’s self while simultaneously learning to accept the ideas of others who differ from us develops the kind of open-minded mindset that teachers seek to develop in their students.

3. Builds Classroom Community

Educators have been talking about the importance of building classroom communities for a long time.  We know that, if you get the community right from the beginning of the school year, everything else (both academic and non-academic) goes much more smoothly.  One teaching approach that goes hand-in-hand with building strong classroom communities is collaborative learning.  Educators understand that collaboration helps students learn how to work together for the good of the group.  Improv does not only offer practice collaborating but develops the skills necessary for student to engage in successful collaboration.

Unlike cooperative learning, where students can sometimes hide behind the efforts of others, in collaborative improv they co-create as equals. They learn they are responsible and accountable to each other at all times. Students learn how to take turns stepping up to speak (taking the attention) and stepping back (giving the attention) to let others have their say. Communication, attunement, empathy, trust, respect and more are all practiced. Improv rapidly transforms the classroom into a supportive community of learners.

4. Creates a Trauma Responsive Environment

Thanks to recent trauma informed trainings, teachers understand that behaviors detrimental to academic success may be manifestations of trauma. Unfortunately, knowledge alone does not equip teachers with classroom practices to create an environment helpful to students suffering from trauma. Improv, with its ability to create a sense of safety and belonging, develop mindfulness and co-regulation, develop empathy and resilience, decrease anxiety and depression and more, creates a trauma responsive environment.  It helps students get into a better mental state in which to learn. As teachers, we seldom know which students are suffering from past or ongoing trauma. We don’t know what kind of trauma or how it is affecting them. The practice of improv creates an trauma responsive environment for all students.

5. Increases Intrinsic Motivation

Educators often bemoan the lack of intrinsic motivation in their students, complaining that students have to be forced, threatened, or bribed to engage and learn.  Not so.  Today’s students are just as likely to fully engage with their learning as students from the past.  The keys to such engagement are relevant curriculum and engaging instructional approaches.

Improv offers an instructional approach that builds intrinsic motivation—as long as the curricular content being processed during the particular improv game is relevant.  Using William Glasser’s (1988) framework from his book, Choice Theory in the Classroom,  as a lens, improv provides for all five of the key motivating factors all humans share: (1) improv satisfies students’ survival needs by structuring the activities in such a way that threat is reduced and trust in others and confidence in one’s self is increased; (2) it satisfies students’ needs for autonomy by allowing for self-expression, choice, and creativity; (3) it satisfies their needs for belonging by providing opportunities to collaborate with others, which, over time, builds community; (4) it satisfies their needs for power/competence because of it simple guiding frameworks within each game and because students draw upon their own experience and knowledge; and (5) while not every improv experience may feel enjoyable, the supportive playfulness and laughter, satisfies students’ needs for fun.  Thus improv, if used regularly, can be a powerful tool for building intrinsic motivation in all of the school’s students.

6. Supports Discovery Learning

Most classrooms, most of the time, could be described as “top down.”  The teacher makes the majority of the decisions—what to study, how long to spend on it, how the material is presented, how learning is to be assessed, etc.  And much of that is as it should be.  But this fact only makes the rare opportunities for students to learn inductively and discover meaning that much more important.  And improv provides just that.  While the general parameters and content of an improv game may be set beforehand, there’s no telling what students will discover about the content and themselves as they play the game.  When students regularly get to be in charge of the direction of their learning (even if it is just for a couple of minutes at a time), their attitudes toward learning are often more positive.

 7. Is Easily Integrated into the Curriculum

As I already noted, improv games are short (:30-3 minutes each), they require only a small space, and they engage the entire class simultaneously.  Sure, it takes a little longer to introduce a new game to a class the first time, but you only have to do that once with each game structure.  After that, you can just announce, “We’re going to be playing ‘Yes, And—Shared Memory’” (or whatever the game is you’ll be playing) and the students know the structure.  Today, when many of the suggested activities in the curriculum require long stretches of time or the use of some technology that has to be booted up before one can use it, activities that teachers can implement in am instant are appreciated.

8. Makes Teachers Better Listeners

Oftentimes, we teachers think we have all the answers.  After all, we’re putting together the curriculum, the unit plans, and the lesson plans.  We know what we want the students to learn and we know how we want to get them from point A (not knowing the material) to point B (knowing the material).  The danger is that, when we figure all of this out in advance, we can fall into the trap of telling all the time, which can shut down our willingness to listen.  Students have their own background knowledge, they have their own learning needs, and they have their own stories to share.  Using improv regularly forces us to hear what our students create in the moment, and this can be a surprising experience.  We can often learn more about our students in a two-minute improv game than we can in a whole unit of instruction delivered the traditional way.

9. Gives Teachers a New Vocabulary for Classroom Management

Traditional classroom management language tends to have a lot of “No’s” and “Don’ts” in it.  Classrooms structured on “rules and consequences” (even when these are developed jointly between teacher and students) thus can sometimes come across as oppressive environments.  Classrooms that use improv regularly, however, offer teachers another set of terms to address classroom behavior—a vocabulary that’s focused more on building the kinds of classroom communities we say we want.

Two side-coachings of improv are the skills of “giving attention” and “taking attention.” Student are empowered as they learn they have the power to give and take attention. This may seem obvious to the teacher, but often the class feels powerless as the teacher struggles and often fails to manage students who disrupt. Those who want to learn are often frustrated with what they perceive as the teacher’s lack of ability to control the class.  With the practice of improv, students quickly realize the power they have. They are now empowered and see their role and responsibility in creating an enjoyable and effective learning environment.

Benefits of Improv for the Learner

Here’s a list of ways improv can help students learn more, improve academic skills, and become more confident as learners.  Improv…

10. Fosters Creativity

Education says it values creativity, but does it?  How open-ended are most assignments?  In school, students spend a lot of time trying to find the right answer, self-correct, and edit their work, but how often do they get to truly use their creativity?  The initial stage of any creative act requires one to generate ideas without judging.  Only once a solid set of “raw material” has been generated in such a fashion can revising and editing work profitably.  The “Yes, and” structure of all improv games gives students practice in idea generation without editing, which develops the proper mindset they will need to create in all areas of their lives.

11. Deepens Learning

The wide variety of improv games give teachers a great deal of flexibility for retrieving information and transferring this learning to new situations.  For example, the whole category of expert games (such as Hot Seat, Flip and Flop, and Expert Interview) require one or more students to act as an expert while other players challenge them or bombard them with questions or opinions they must answer or respond.  This makes for an engaging (and challenging) review of material.

12. Makes Learning Concrete

Another way improv can improve learning is by making abstract (and thus difficult to learn) ideas, concepts, or processes more concrete.  Any process or sequence, or anything that has individual components can be made concrete and taught through games (such as Yes, and, Describe It Another Way, or some of the Story games.) Such games can also be used to assess whether students really understood the initial teaching or not.

13. Builds Writing Fluency

Many students struggle with writing.  Improv can be a powerful tool for getting over an occasional writer’s block or a chronic reluctance to write.  Teachers often do not know if a student’s reluctance is due to a literacy deficit or a social-emotional issue. Improv addresses both simultaneously. Students develop social-emotional skills that can impact writing. At the same time, a scaffolded use of the games helps students transition rapidly from collaborative speech to individual writing, an essential and often developmental progression (DeMichele, 2015). More information about this approach can be found in my book Improv ‘n Ink: Overcoming, “I Don’t Know What to Write!”

14. Allows Different Students to Shine

Some students will respond positively to improv games and surprise you with their quick wit and natural performance skills—and the students who do so are very often students who don’t shine at most other academic tasks.  Teachers new to improv are always shocked by this phenomenon.  The great thing about this is that these students who are finally given a way of interacting with school content that matches their personalities and learning styles often blossom right before your eyes, gaining confidence and feeling pride in themselves that they’ve never experienced before.

Emotional Intelligence Benefits of Improv     

Teachers often choose to add improv games to their classroom repertoire because of one or more of the academic benefits listed in the previous section.  But the benefits don’t end there.  Improv also confers a whole host of social-emotional benefits on students, as well, and it could be argued that these benefits are even greater than the academic benefits.

Here are a few of the powerful emotional intelligence benefits you can expect.  Improv…

15. Teaches Students to Collaborate

You can’t play an improv game by yourself.  Every game structure requires input from each participant, and from the audience, as well.  It’s truly a collaborative event where responsibility is shared, and everyone is accountable to each other.  So much of education is done individually that students don’t get enough practice at learning how to work effectively with others.  A good description of most improv games would be: “working together with others to produce a creative product or solution in a short period of time.”  That would also be an accurate description of the work environment in most businesses today, which is why business leaders consistently name collaborative skills among the most prized attributes for new employees.

16. Helps Students to Learn Resilience

The development resiliency is so important to the success of our students not only in the classroom, but in life. Currently, our culture attempts to protect students from feeling the failure for fear their self-esteem may be irreparably damaged. How can they learn and practice reliance if they are never given the opportunity to fail? Improv is the answer for this. Because improv is intrinsically motivating, as described in benefit number 4, even when students “fail,” they jump right back up to participate again. They practice resilience.

Failure in improv may be when a student freezes or denies “Yes, and.” Because they still feel a sense of belonging, autonomy, security, competence, and fun, they don’t quit, but jump up to participate again. And what is really cool is they are not failing in secret. They are failing in front of their peers. They learn they can survive failure. They learn to be resilient.

17. Helps Students to Develop Mindfulness

Mindfulness is being adopted in classroom practices—and for good reason.  Studies have shown that mindfulness practice (focusing on the present moment through some type of focusing mechanism, such as one’s breath, a sound, or an object such as a candle flame) develops the ability to tune out distractions and focus on the needs of the moment, which is a skill very useful in all areas of life.

Improv games support the development of mindfulness skills as they require players to stay in the moment, listen to the offer of the player preceding them, and say “Yes, and” to that offer in some way.  The moment a player loses focus on the present moment and lets his mind wander, he loses the thread of the game and consequently receives immediate feedback as the energy or flow of the game stops.  Every time a student plays an improv game, he develops the skills necessary to achieve focus in any area of his life.

18. Helps Students Become More Comfortable with Public Speaking

Everyone knows that public speaking is one of the biggest fears for many people.  Getting up in front of a class of one’s peers can be scary indeed, especially for those students who are naturally shy, who feel like they don’t have great vocabularies, or who are second language learners.  Improv provides a safe structure within which to build confidence in speaking before a group.  Since no single student is ever “on stage” for very long in any improv game, they get practice in short doses and in an engaging, non-judgmental, and often fun environment.

19. Makes Students Better Listeners

As described in the section about mindfulness above, to perform well in an improv game, a player must stay in the moment, listen to the player who precedes them, and then say “Yes, and” to that offering.  The listening skills developed by regularly playing improv games are highly valuable in life outside of school as well, as listening intently so that the person speaking feels truly heard is a powerful way to build positive relationships.

20. Builds Trust

Many students have trust issues.  Home environments, abuse, bullying…the list of situations that could lead to a lack of trust is long.  And it’s often hard for these students to open up and become a part of a classroom community because of these issues.  The regular use of improv can help these students learn that not all people are out to hurt them.  The unconditional acceptance created by the frame of “Yes, and…” nurtures a trust in one’s self, as well as a growing trust in others.

21. Builds Empathy

I’ve already talked about how improv improves listening skills.  But it goes way beyond that.  To truly listen to another player, you have to not only be tuned in to what he’s saying, but also be tuned in to his body language and emotions.  This attunement is the first step toward developing empathy.  Add to this the overarching rule of improv (“Yes, and”) where all players unconditionally accept what the previous player offers (again, verbally and emotionally), and you can see how regularly playing improv games can develop empathy.  And in today’s often contentious environment (politically, socially, culturally, you name it), there’s probably no skill more needed than empathy.

22. Teaches Students Self-Regulation

Some students have trouble with impulse control.  They think of something they want, and they immediately act on it—whether that action is to the detriment of others in the environment or not.  Obviously, this often gets them in trouble.

Improv games provide a structure in which such students learn that, for the game to proceed successfully, they must inhibit their needs to be the center of attention or to say whatever they want to say whenever they want to say it.  Regular practice listening and accepting the offers of others, relinquishing control so to add to those offers and appropriately giving attention until it’s their turn to contribute, can be helpful in building impulse control.

23. Helps Students with Oppositional Mindsets

Students who tend to be oppositional often receive more benefit from improv than anyone.  This is because these students’ natural reaction to just about any situation is to disagree, argue, or rebel.  The primary rule of “Yes, and,” on the other hand, requires that they agree with whatever the preceding player says and then add on to it.  Learning to listen, accept and explore an idea is a fantastic practice for these students.

Why Wouldn’t You Use Improv?

There you have it.  Twenty-three reasons why improv is a powerful tool for supporting the goals of schools and teachers, for developing academic skills, and for developing positive social-emotional habits.

So, the only question remaining is, “Why wouldn’t you use improv?”  Improv provides so much value, is so easy to learn and use, and it’s flexible enough to be used from kindergarten to college, in any content area, that it doesn’t really make sense not to use it!

Learn More!

As a classroom teacher, I understand the concern of having the time to integrate yet another instructional approach. Improv, however, is so easy to integrate into daily classroom practice and the benefits to learning are immediate and sustainable.

I wrote the book One Rule Improv: The Fast, Easy, No Fear Approach to Teaching, Learning and Applying Improv (2019) and started my website with the express intention of making the teaching and regular use of improv as simple as possible.  Improv is based on a very simple process and once this is understood and practiced all the benefits come quickly. You can do this!

______________________________________________________________________________

Mary DeMichele

Mary DeMichele is a coach, consultant, author and improviser with over 25 years of experience in educational, clinical and professional settings. She is the author of One Rule Improv: The Fast, Easy, No Fear Approach to Teaching, Learning and Applying Improv and Improv ’n Ink: Overcoming “I Don’t Know What to Write! Mary holds a Master’s degree from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. For more information visit OneRuleImprov.com.

Teachers protest staffing shortages in Maryland school system

October 29, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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By Donna St. George October 27, 2021 at 6:18 p.m. EDT

Montgomery County teachers and support workers are protesting staff shortages in Maryland’s largest school system, saying they are exhausted and stressed out less than two months into the school year.

Leaders of two employee unions led a rally outside school system headquarters Tuesday evening, supported by a long line of members driving cars in a procession with headlights on and horns blaring.

Car windows were taped with signs referring to “skeleton crews” in schools and teachers “drowning” in the workload. Teacher working conditions are student learning conditions, other signs said.

Amid the staffing shortages, educators say they are being tapped to cover other classes during their lunch and planning periods. They say they get less support from principals, who are tasked with public health duties related to the continuing pandemic.Advertisement

And nearly half of requests for substitute teachers in Montgomery County go unfilled, according to the school system data — which educators describe as a major problem.

“We are being set up for failure, and our students are being set up for failure,” said Jennifer Martin, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, the 14,000-member teachers union. “The demands are unreasonable.”

Martin said school system leaders failed to plan for the realities of the school year, and workers are at a breaking point. She called for greater collaboration between school system leaders and employee unions.

Teachers can get $15 for covering another educator’s class during what should be their planning period, Martin said, but she described the money as “not a professional salary” and said educators still are left with their usual responsibilities.Advertisement

“What we really need is time to do our jobs,” she said.

Pia Morrison, president of Local 500 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents almost 9,000 school system support staff, pointed to fallout for her members too: Bus drivers are doing extra runs because of staff shortages, she said, and other employees are “literally trying to do the work of an additional person.”

No bus driver? Schools are paying parents to drive their own kids as economic disruptions hit classrooms.

“The staff are being asked to do more work,” in a system that is down hundreds of people, she said.

School system officials in Montgomery County acknowledge staffing shortages — a problem that is widespread in the region and the nation.

The system, with more than 200 schools and about 24,600 employees, has vacancies for 325 teachers, about 105 paraeducators, nearly 100 other support staff and about 120 bus drivers, according to recent school system data.

Montgomery County schools spokesman Christopher Cram agreed that the system has more jobs than people willing to fill them.

“People are doing more work and stepping up to ensure administratively schools have what they need and students are getting the content they need but there is anxiety over increased workloads,” he said.

Still, he said, the system’s human resources department is working to recruit new personnel. The system continues to “actively and strategically” recruit highly effective teachers, he said, and is working with local colleges and universities to hire December graduates.

Bus driver shortages, he said, are being addressed by using supervisors and trainers to drive routes. But he said some drivers still need to make more than one trip to cover all of the system’s routes.

Union leaders say the school system could do more — especially since it has received an influx of federal funding to help ensure students get back on track with their learning.Advertisement

That money is being used to support schools, including counselors and mental health professionals, Cram said. “But you still have to find people to fill those positions,” he said.

Kember Kane, a kindergarten teacher, said that educators are trying to make the best of a bad situation but the demands are overwhelming and not sustainable.

“You can’t ask someone on life support to run a marathon,” she said.

Union leaders are calling on the school system to restore planning time and comply with requirements to give educators a lunch break.

Teachers union votes no-confidence in reopening plan in Feb. 2021

Cram said there is “no doubt that teachers are giving 100 percent and more,” but those who are not getting lunch periods or planning periods should “collaborate with their building leadership to ensure they are maintained.”

Chelsea Van Tassell, a middle school English teacher, said the school board has yet to acknowledge the gravity of the problem.

Students need high-quality classes and support, but teachers are becoming stretched worryingly thin, she said. “It’s pretty serious,” she said, “and it’s not going away.”

Before Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on a bus. She’s still on probation.

October 28, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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By Michele L. Norris Columnist October 26, 2021 at 3:05 p.m. EDT

Claudette Colvin was 15 years old when she was arrested in Montgomery, Ala., and placed on indefinite probation, after refusing to vacate her seat on a bus so a young White woman could sit down.

This was March 1955 — nine months before Rosa Parks was arrested for violating Alabama’s racial segregation laws after refusing to give up her seat to a White man, an act that sparked the year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott. Parks, who died in 2005, went on to become an icon, widely celebrated as the “mother of the civil rights movement.”

What about Colvin? Though she was one of four female plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the Supreme Court case that overturned Montgomery’s bus segregation laws, her role in challenging the Jim Crow system has been largely overshadowed. What’s worse, Colvin, who is now 82, was never taken off probation.

That needs to change — and perhaps now it will. Today, Colvin goes back to Montgomery to petition for her record to be cleared. She is also, in a carefully detailed 30-point affidavit, addressing something else: the fact that her story was largely expunged because civil rights leaders didn’t see her as an appropriate symbol for the movement.

Colvin got pregnant not long after her arrest. And she was defiant. She was also charged with a felony for assaulting a police officer who said she had kicked and scratched him.

I interviewed Colvin in March 2020, and offstage she told me she believed there was another reason her story was shunted aside. “Rosa Parks had the right background and the right skin color,” she said. Colvin, whose skin is a beautiful shade of chocolate, said the bias still stings, but she let go of anger a long time ago. “We were all seeking one thing,” she said. “Justice.”

Now the gray-haired Colvin seeks delayed justice, addressing the Juvenile Court for Montgomery County. She’ll be accompanied by the 90-year-old Fred Gray, the civil rights lawyer who represented her back in 1956.

For a woman silenced so many decades ago, it is fitting to let her tell her own story now. She does so in the following excerpts from her affidavit, beginning with the day she got out of school early and walked downtown to catch a bus home.

“When the bus arrived, I paid my fare and I sat near the front of the colored section. I did not violate the segregation law.”

“But a young White woman got on the bus and there were no seats left in the section designated for White people. The driver told my friends and I that we would all have to clear out of our row so the White woman could sit. All four of us were going to have to stand up so she would have the whole row to herself. …”

“My three seatmates got up, but I felt glued to the seat. People think it was just about a seat on a bus but it was about so much more than that. It was about my constitutional rights. It was about history. It was about injustices that I personally witnessed every day.”

Colvin explains that she feared for her life.

“I was dragged off the bus, handcuffed and taken to the jail. I remember the sound of the key turning in the lock. I remember there was no mattress on the cot, but I curled up and tried to sleep. …”

“I sat in jail and thought about heaven and hell. …”

“Eventually, I was sentenced to probation pending good behavior. I cried when that happened.”

Colvin did behave well and tried to move on, earning a GED. Life in Alabama was hard, though, because Black and White residents shunned her as a troublemaker.

“I was afraid to work as a domestic servant because you never knew who might be in the Klan. … So I worked at restaurants. And over and over again, I was fired from those jobs after my bosses found out that I was ‘that girl’ who had sat on the bus.”

Around age 20, Colvin was a single mother with two sons. She says she left Montgomery because she couldn’t find a job.

“I moved to the Bronx and found a community of Jamaican women. We worked as domestics, but we unionized with 1199. I’m proud of that.”

Summers, she returned to Alabama to visit family.

“I know they were terrified every time I came home because I was on probation from the court. … Every time [they] saw a police car in the neighborhood, they thought the police were there to get me.”

Colvin lived in New York for decades.

“Things were better and safer for me there. People did not know me for what I did. …”

“I am an old woman now. Having my records expunged will mean something to my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And it will mean something for other Black children.”

Clearing Colvin’s record — in a moment when so many people are trying to expunge the teaching of America’s troubling racial history — will also mean something significant for the city of Montgomery, the state of Alabama and the entire United States of America.

Opinion by Michele Norris  is a columnist and consultant for Post Opinions and founding director of The Race Card Project.  

Nation’s youths swamped with severe mental health crises, a group of experts says

October 26, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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By Erin Blakemore October 23, 2021 at 7:30 a.m. EDT

Overdoses and emotional difficulties. Crushing loneliness and stress. Grief and depression. The pandemic has accelerated mental health crises among children.

The problem has ballooned to emergency proportions because of a shortage of child psychiatrists, a growing wave of suicidality and the ongoing stress over covid-19, a group of experts say. U.S. coronavirus cases tracker and map

In a declaration of a national state of emergency in child mental health, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association point to a litany of challenges faced by children in the United States.

Emergency department visits for mental health have increased dramatically, they say, and children and families face “enormous adversity and disruption.”

And this month, UNICEF issued a report estimating that 13 percent of adolescents ages 10 to 19 live with a diagnosed mental disorder. The agency called for commitment and action from governments and societies around the world to protect child mental health.

The American groups provided a similar message, calling for more federal funding for children with mental health challenges, better school-based mental health care, and community-based support for kids and parents.

They point to structural racism as a particular challenge to youth mental health.

In 2020, mental health crises were particularly acute. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, they increased 24 percent for 5- to 11-year-olds and 31 percent for 12- to 17-year-olds. Suspected suicide attempts increased as much as 50 percent for teenage girls during February and March of this year compared to the same period in 2019. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for adolescents in the United States, and it has been rising for the past decade.

“We are caring for young people with soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness, and suicidality that will have lasting impacts on them, their families, and their communities,” the groups wrote. “We must identify strategies to meet these challenges.”

If you are in crisis, call the toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255), available 24 hours and seven days a week.

Jump Start Storytelling

October 26, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Story Circles | Roadside Theater, Art in a Democracy

Seth is a motivational speaker and keynote speaker. He uses storytelling and communication exercises to help build strong business communities and ignite positive organizational change.

Article reprinted as published in the Spring 2006 Journal for Quality & Participation.

In 1996, five people in a large, multinational organization of 15,000 had a radical idea for refocusing the core business. As a first step they brought together the 60 people they considered critical to their mission’s success. The goal of the event: The group of five would become the de facto owners of the change initiative, garnering the support of everyone in attendance. The biggest obstacle: Many of the 60 had competing, even hostile, agendas—securing their unified support was daunting. After everyone had filed in, the emotional tension in the room was palpable.

Just after stating the topic at hand, each person was asked to tell the story of how he/she came to be in the room. Any kind of story would do, as long as it was true. People could play it safe and describe how they got up that morning and made it from their house to the Metro to work, or they could put some of their cards on the table, drawing the connection between their careers and the meeting’s importance.

Within minutes there was a dramatic change in the atmosphere of the room. It became rambunctious and fun-filled as people took successive trips down memory lane. Others chimed in to add their two cents. By the time the exercise was over, just 30 minutes later, the tone of the room was transformed, from tension, quiet, and unease to enthusiasm, laughter, and collaboration. The hard work was done.

Next, each person was asked to describe his/her ideal future for the organization. The details of these future-stories were captured on flipcharts. At the meeting’s conclusion, the group of five had established itself as the shepherds of the fledgling initiative.

Storytelling launched that meeting and continued to play a fundamental role in the change initiative. The effort made rapid progress in the next two years— from an unfunded idea to a worldwide program with $60 million in annual allocation. The program manager of the small group was so enamored with the capacity for story to spark change that he wrote a book about it. I was a member of that team of five that used storytelling to work its magic. Engendering collaboration throughout the organization continued to play a pivotal role for the success of our initiative. Storytelling was used again and again— across disciplines, across organizational boundaries, and among people from many different cultures.

This global change initiative was the first of three where I applied my storytelling skills to generate high performance collaboration among professionals at the World Bank. In subsequent years I have used these techniques while working with organizations that include the Peace Corps, National Institute on Aging, the Fulbright Association, Center for Association Leadership, and many others. I have fine-tuned the technique with the help of facilitators around the world who have put it to use. I call it JumpStart Storytelling.

Imagine a two-day think tank of business professionals coming together to address critical issues. The first session is the toughest because everyone brings their competing views to the table and kicks off the event with a prove-it-to-me attitude that says, “Show me what you can do for me.” That’s the kind of event that I have been asked to lead over and over again. Each time I have seen Jumpstart Storytelling propel the retreat into a high-performance collaboration event, drawing everyone together and highlighting the diversity of perspectives without pushing for consensus.

This process lifts the collective spirit and maximizes the impact of people’s time together. It quickly engages participants in the business at hand and accelerates productive work. Although designed for groups of 10-100, it has been customized for as few as three and as many as 2,500. It takes 45-60 minutes regardless of the number of people, creating an esprit de corps that sets the stage for high-performance collaboration.

JumpStart Storytelling is based on my work at the World Bank where it was field tested on multicultural gatherings more than 100 times. It also draws on techniques I learned while studying under a fellowship at the Center for Narrative Studies, and working as a “visionary” for the Center for Association Leadership to increase the effectiveness of professional meetings and conventions.

The purposes of JumpStart Storytelling are as follows:

  • Efficiently engage every participant in the business objectives.
  • Accelerate collaboration without compromising diverse perspectives.
  • Effectively introduce each person to 10-15 other participants.
  • Improve learning through high quality idea exchange.

Here’s how to run a session of JumpStart Storytelling:

1.) Place people in groups of six to eight participants and ask them to think of a story drawn from their own experience that has to do with the primary business objectives of the meeting. For example, at a recent meeting of CEOs facing the prospects of competing with China, I asked them to tell a story about a time in their lives when they faced a daunting challenge that changed the way they see the world. Participants tell their stories to the other members at the table—in just 90 seconds. They only have time to relay the essence of their experience. I encourage them to give enough background to explain why the challenge was daunting, how they met it, and how their worldview changed. In other words, without saying as much, I encourage them to tell the arc of their personal story.

Keep time, letting them know when each person has 30 seconds left, and then call for the next person after 90 seconds. “However,” I tell the participants, “while it may be my job to get the whole room through the process in nine minutes (for tables of six), it’s not your job. So, if your story is a little long, go with it. If your story is over in less time, move on to the next person.” I encourage each group to selfmanage its time so the participants get the spirit that they are in charge of their experience. This is an important element, setting the stage for the ownership that effective collaboration requires.

When the first round of stories is done, ask the participants to look around the table, bring to mind the story that most impacted them, and remember the teller.

2.) Then, get everyone up out of his/her chair and find a new table with mostly new faces; it’s time for the second round. People are to tell the same story they told in the first round. In U.S. audiences I typically hear groans at this point because we seem to be uncomfortable with repeating ourselves. I make light of the situation, explaining that in other cultures people enjoy telling their stories over and over; it’s a way of life. I ask people to notice what changes and what stays the same when they tell their stories a second time and to notice how interesting it is that the words may be different, but the story is the same. I use the same process as in the first round, moving people through their stories in 90-second intervals.

3.) Now the real fun begins. Ask everyone in the room to recall the story that most impacted them—either because they found it moving or because the information it contained was so relevant to today’s gathering. Then, the participants are to get out of their seats and find the person who told that story. When they find the storyteller, they are to put their hand on the person’s shoulder and keep it there. What happens next is remarkable—a live demonstration of social networking that I call “clusters and chains.”

The room appears to go into chaos as people search for others and move around the room with trailing chains and clusters of people attached to them. In short order, no matter what the number of participants, this process sorts itself out. The room is literally a configuration of clusters and chains, with those tellers who made the most impact having the most hands on their shoulders.

4.) I ask for those with the most hands on their shoulders to come to the front of the room and tell their stories to the plenary group. The participants, not the conveners or the facilitator, selected these stories. So, the information embedded in these stories was prioritized as having the most impact by the participants. We spend some time together unpacking these stories and discovering why they were chosen.

The magic of JumpStart Storytelling occurs when participants tell and listen to each other’s stories, engaging the hearts and minds of their colleagues. It is a great way to begin a business gathering, involving everyone in the room. Ideas cross-pollinate, and rapport increases. The entire meeting comes to life in a way that naturally and predictably focuses the audience’s collective enthusiasm on the business at hand through the participants’ personal stories.

Storytelling is part of human experience. When people share their stories, listeners naturally focus their attention, engaging in the teller’s experience. The deliberate and effective use of storytelling establishes links between participants and sets the stage for high performance.

To create an atmosphere of collaboration, it is necessary to shift away from a “broadcast” mode in which one person speaks while everyone else listens. By activating a “beehive” in which everyone is sharing, the conversation moves off the podium and out onto the floor. This form of storytelling has the effect of filling the room with relevant activity and enthusiasm.

Social networking is one of the primary reasons people attend professional gatherings. Many transactions take place in the hallways; valuable news is exchanged, services and jobs are brokered, new members are integrated within existing communities or not. The capacity for each person to build and develop relationships during the meeting increases as they are informally introduced to others and invited to share their stories in the context of business. This sharing is personal and face-to-face, providing a rich interaction, which significantly increases the capacity of the group for social networking.

High quality collaboration relies on multiple, conflicting points of view coming together in a collective intelligence that honors the contribution of each perspective. Building community is often mistakenly thought of as creating an environment where everybody likes each other. People perform effectively without mutual admiration. Yet, it is critical to establish an atmosphere of collective aspiration built upon respect and the capacity for each person to contribute to the group’s objectives. Storytelling brings together differing points of view in the spirit of collaboration.

JUMPSTART STORYTELLINGTM TEMPLATE

Introduction 5 minutes

1st Story Table: 10 – 20 minutes

  1. Each person notes their aspirations for the event — Facilitator provides example.
  2. Each person recalls experience that anchors their aspiration — Facilitator provides example.
  3. Small groups – Each person shares story in 90-120 seconds.

2nd Story Table: 5 – 15 minutes

  1. New small groups are formed – all new faces.
  2. Storytelling repeated. Same story, different listeners

Clusters & Chains: 5 minutes

  1. Each person recalls the story that most captured their attention.
  2. Everyone stands up, finds the teller, and puts their hand on his or her shoulder.
  3. Those with most hands on their shoulders (i.e., the most people have selected them) are asked to share their stories with the plenary – they are the group storytellers.

Plenary Storytelling: 10 minutes

  1. The group storytellers tell their stories. Each story is followed by 20 seconds of silence, rather than applause. Audience encouraged to quietly notice how the story engages them.
  2. Each story is given a name that conveys some aspect of its essence, and the names are written and posted where everyone can see them.

Concluding Remarks 5 minutes

References

  • Steve Denning, The Springboard: How Storytelling Sparks Change in Knowledge-Era Organizations, Butterworth Heinemann, 2000.
  • The Center for Narrative Studies, run by Paul Costello, is a research and training institution recognized for its innovative peace and reconciliation effort, “The Washington-Ireland Program,” www.StoryWise.com
  • Building Beehives: A Handbook for Creating Communities that Generate Returns, Seth Kahan, 2004 available in the store.