Title

Transforming High Risk Classrooms

Location

Navarro

Focused Area

Improving School Climate for Youth-At-Risk

Relevance to Focused Area

This session will explore three ways to aid in developing a positive school climate for High Risk Youth. The three areas are growth mindset, positive relationships in the classroom, and building psychological resilience. Participants will leave with easy to use structures and activities that can be used immediately

Primary Strand

Social & Emotional Skills

Relevance to Primary Strand

One of the keys to success in working with high risk youth is helping them to begin to develop resiliency both socially and emotionally. Providing support where they can move beyond the victim role into that of social and emotional health. The session will focus on tools for teachers to use with their students.

Brief Program Description

Do you want to transform your classroom with ready to use structures that support growth mindset, peer relationships, and psychological resilience? We will look at four ways to support mindset, and a dozen ways to build resiliency. Greatest thing is that you will leave ready to go the next school day.

Summary

There are definite correlations between certain risk factors and a student’s likelihood of succeeding academically. While it is evident that this is true, a student’s true potential should not be judged on these factors. In this workshop, we will examine structures, activities, and procedures to begin taking a proactive approach rather than a passive or reactive one with these students. It is evident that different students even within the same categories may have different innate abilities, support systems, family units, and personal characteristics that can enable them to be more resilient and successful. Thus, we will not target individual characteristics, but rather tools to help differentiate within these factors. We will examine some overall characteristics such as:

  • History of Academic Failure
  • Older age comparison with classmates
  • Emotional and Behavioral problems
  • Frequent interaction with low achieving peers
  • Lack of Psychological attachment to school
  • Increasing disinterest with school

Further we will look at promoting growth mindset and positive peer relationships. Lastly we will explore psychological resilience within the following factors:

o Resilience is highly correlated to peer support and group cohesion.

o Resilience is overcoming a stressful situation with competent functioning

o Three approaches to stressful events

  • An eruption of anger (Victim Role)
  • Implode with overwhelming negative emotion and become unable to react (Victim Role)
  • Simply become upset about the event (Resilience)

o Positive emotion and Resilience

  • Strong relationship between positive emotions and resilience
  • Promotes flexibility in thinking and problem solving
  • Promotes recovery from stressful experiences
  • Counteracts the physiological effects of negative emotion
  • Facilitates adaptive coping
  • Builds social resources
  • Increases personal well being

Evidence

These structures are researched based through Dr. Spencer Kagan as well as Kagan Professional Development. The majority of the research for this presentation is in two of his books: Cooperative Learning, and Brain Friendly Teaching

Format

Individual Presentation

Biographical Sketch

Jeff Dane has been in both private and public education for over 30 years. His career has led him to work and teach people of all ages from birth through adults. Prior to public school, Jeff was a fulltime children’s minister, and counselor. In public school, he taught at varied socioeconomic settings, as well as working in a Title One school. Jeff and his family were called at this time to be Foster Parents for the state of Texas, where they provided care for over 160 children.

As an International Certified Trainer for Kagan for the past 12 years, Jeff’s passion is for children’s brains and breaking cycles.

Start Date

10-27-2017 3:30 PM

End Date

10-27-2017 4:45 PM

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Oct 27th, 3:30 PM Oct 27th, 4:45 PM

Transforming High Risk Classrooms

Navarro

Do you want to transform your classroom with ready to use structures that support growth mindset, peer relationships, and psychological resilience? We will look at four ways to support mindset, and a dozen ways to build resiliency. Greatest thing is that you will leave ready to go the next school day.