August 23, 2021 • 42 mins
This week, I spoke with Adra Young, founder of Ardannyl. Adra is an educator, speaker and author focusing on building connections through creativity. She has over 24 years of educational experience and is passionate about creating space for students. We speak about her experiences and strategies for building connections with students and strategies for implementing in the classroom.
You can find out more about Adra's work at @Ardannyl on Twitter.
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Episode Transcript
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Heather Woods (00:00):
Hello and welcome. You're listening to the
SEL in action podcast podcastwhere we discuss social and
emotional learning ineducational and professional
settings. I'm your host HeatherWoods. And today we're speaking
with Adra Young educator,speaker and author, and owner of
(00:21):
Ardynnal, where they believethat putting youngsters on track
through encouragement andguidance, so they provide social
skills training and bullyingprevention training for both
students and teachers. So thankyou so much for being here. I'm
so excited to speak with you.
Feel free to add anything to theintroduction.
Adra Young (00:43):
There you did just right. I mean, that was a great
introduction made me feel good.
Heather Woods (00:50):
Oh, good.
Adra Young (00:52):
Sending SEL love to Canada because I am in the
United States. Yes. So thankyou, thank you for the
opportunity to share with ourCanadian community nation.
Heather Woods (01:09):
Thank you so much for, you know, reaching out and
speaking with me today, I'mreally excited to speak with
you. You have so much experienceover 24 years worth of
educational experience andworking directly with social
emotional learning. So tell me alittle bit about how kind of you
(01:30):
got into, you know, your ownlearning of social emotional
learning and seeing the need forit in our schools?
Adra Young (01:40):
Well, I started teaching, I'm just gonna have to
tell people yes, I started in1995, that eager beaver,
Heather, going in with that Kateready to save a kid. And that
those academic goals accomplishand achieve and in my world, it
was just going to be a happy,happy thing. In addition to I
(02:02):
had some amazing professors at ahistorical black institution,
university, Central StateUniversity, who I felt prepared
me for that. Well, they say thebest experience is hands on. And
yes, I did that student teachingcomponent, but nothing compared
(02:22):
to me actually. Starting with myclassroom, no more college.
Maybe a mentor from time totime, but this is it. And yeah,
make it work. And as I noticed,as the years went by, I began to
see all my this is something Iwanted to do as a kid, okay, I
(02:45):
had those teddy bears. I hadthose dolls in that chalkboard,
and I was spelling words, andthose math problems. This is
something that I really wantedto do, only to find out into the
game. Uh, after doing severalyears, I'm like, I my staff
morale is not, which should be,I'm not feeling it. I think I
(03:10):
may want to go into anotherprofession. And I'm going to be
just transparent. I really didnot like the children that that
were placed in front of medaily. And that was something
that I love children. Okay.
Something that I always wantedto do. I'm the eldest. So I, in
my heart of heart, I felt that Ihad that nurturing component in
place. So what I started to seetogether was the following,
(03:35):
taunting, cursing, physicalassaults. Ongoing is why I began
to feel helpless about well, howdo I deal with this? Because to
me, suspension, and thedetention weren't getting it. It
was almost like with a detentionfactor, they want it to go and
(03:58):
I'm like, are they having aparty in the detention? What is
going on? But the tension issupposed to teach a lesson was
to be uncomfortable so that youcan grow from the situation so
that if you don't do it again,most likely, you won't do it as
often? And why the detention notworking? suspension, okay,
(04:20):
they're coming back the repeatedoffenses, but the root of the
source has not been addressed ortackle. Mm hmm. And so that's
when I got into reflecting as aneducator. And this is something
that all of us can do. I did notinvent this, but I went home
because I had that classifiedpaper. Okay, looking for jobs.
(04:43):
But I did some reflection.
Heather, can I said to myself,What can I do? I'm at my wit's
end. So I took a categoricalrisk. And so I took a data of
the kids that I was servicing,who had exhibited the worst
(05:06):
behaviors, and the mostdetention, the multiple times,
but detention, and I invitedthat bunch to come and have
lunch with me. Heather, to mysurprise, the response I thought
I would get was, oh, Lady kick arock. No, it's how much time
now, to my surprise, Heather,they were like, Well, what do we
(05:29):
have to lose? Okay. And so we'llget back to that, because that's
the creative perspective that Iwant to address. But then I
began with me saying, I want toeat together. You know, come on
with me. And let's see what'sgoing on? And they said, Yes.
Heather Woods (05:52):
Yes, amazing.
Yeah. And it's, you know, itseems so complex when you're in
that moment, and you'reoverwhelmed. And it's just that
small gesture of you want to eatlunch together. Like it's such a
simple step, but it has such animpact, right, and to really
formed those connections. Withyour students, it goes such a
(06:15):
long, long way. So yeah, that'sthank you for so much for
sharing that.
Adra Young (06:23):
So we'll get back to that. But I know Yes. addressed
bullying. Yeah.
Heather Woods (06:29):
Well, you mentioned kind of these, like
aggressive behaviors andeverything. And so what are you
finding? Like, are the skillsthat are really helping students
to kind of, you know, thinkthrough bullying? Or, you know,
teachers in preventing bullying?
What, what are you finding it?
And what are some of thestrategies maybe that you're
(06:52):
sharing with folks.
Adra Young (06:54):
So I'm just gonna say these few words, knowledge
is power. And these are somethings all of us can identify.
As I mentioned, prior to thisinterview, beginning Heather
school is about to start hereand some areas in the United
States, I'm in Indiana, so I'min the Midwest. And so where I'm
(07:18):
based now, the kids come back toschool, actually, August 10,
which is really right around thecorner, per se. Mm hmm. What we
want to look for are the sizeand indicators of a bully kid.
And all that takes is justsimply paying close attention.
(07:42):
In particular, to the kid thatseems totally emotional lis,
empty state, no expression, notresponding or reacting, just
there. Those are the children inmy opinion, that we really need
to take a close look at simplybecause if they're emotionless,
(08:08):
and expression, expressionless,those are the babies that we
unfortunately read about whoeither made attempts to take
themselves out, or they'veactually done so. And so we need
to be on the lookout for thosetoo quiet kids, and not assume
(08:29):
that they're just good children,or quiet children, though, why
is this kid not socializing? Whyare that wise? What is this
blank stare about? What's goingon with them? And so I just want
to get into the signs andindicators real quick. heathered
again, it's probably we probablyall have been doing it but just
(08:54):
we need to take a deeper look atit and observe it more. Hmm,
what I want to adjust addressExcuse me, is that kid that we
see the 360 in that behavior.
Kid love school. This kid wasthe he never met a stranger.
This kid was the life of theclassroom, and all of us that
(09:17):
this child is redrawing. Theacademics may have taken the
decline. school is not that safehaven fun, sacred space anymore.
No Kid made more to be addressedor observed more because that is
(09:41):
one of the sides of AB bullykid. A kid used to be on top of
their game academically,socially, who no longer wants to
be a part of that or has justshut down Hmm, let's talk about
another type of kid Heather.
(10:05):
That's the kid that they'refine. Come Friday, but Sunday
night that everything hurts.
They're sick. Okay, yeah. Frommy nose to my eyelash, any kind
of ailment. They're sick.
Studies show that children whoare bully don't have the courage
always to admit to theirparents. Boy. So what would they
(10:29):
do? Heather, they'll fake anillness. Hopefully that illness
comes on Sunday. Okay, go oneMonday. And they don't want to
deal with that. Mm hmm. Okay.
And so again, we've talked aboutif the grades were good, and
they no longer want to beinvolved in school activities,
(10:53):
or if they just, you know, the360 factor, the student that
plays ill. student that totallyshuts down, who used to love to
be involved with their communityand do things, but they no
longer want to be around people.
(11:15):
Mm hmm. So those are just threeindicators there, for sure,
which you could identify withkids. But in particular, for
those rookie educators, andthose teachers coming in, be on
the lookout for that too quietkid who you may actually not pay
(11:38):
attention to who can kind of getlost in the theme of things when
you're teaching?
Heather Woods (11:44):
Yeah, yeah, we've often talked to teacher like
candidates here. And just whenwe were talking about, you know,
how do we identify bullying, itcomes back to the relationship,
right? And really being attunedto those behavior changes, those
social changes, those littlethings that start to go off. And
(12:05):
so, you know, I've recommendedpeople, you know, start a
journal at the end of the dayand be like, something just
seemed off. So then you're kindof triggered to, okay, I need to
pay attention to Little Johnnyor, you know, Kim, or whoever.
So yeah, it's so like, importantto really have that just
(12:31):
explicit attention that you'rekind of paying attention to
those social dynamics that arehappening. Thank you so much for
sharing that.
Adra Young (12:38):
Absolutely.
Heather Woods (12:39):
And so brings us to the the meat of it all. How
do you build those connections?
Adra Young (12:47):
Well, I'm gonna tell you how I built that one
connection that I left you in acliffhanger moment for perfect.
It started off as us comingtogether, and classroom eating
together. Other I didn't sayanything, I just kind of sat
(13:09):
back and roll with the flow. Thefirst day, not so much action,
everyone staring. But they beganto make the connection, as you
just mentioned, for some reason,and I guess it was just all
aligning. They knew thecommonality, or the connection
(13:32):
was that they had track recordsof not so good behavior, and
knew that. And so let's get intoas it progressed, we came up
with our own in house rules. Inother words, what goes on at
(13:53):
lunch bunch stays and much,much. It will not attack and
judge other people's situations.
We will learn to listen from anempathetic standpoint, and I
hope the overall goal is tobecome a little family unit.
Hmm. by surprise, Heather. I'mthinking maybe they won't want
(14:19):
to come back. They were like,hey, Miss young or miss Robbins
at one point. What's up withlunch bunch? Are we gonna have
it? We bring in our lunch. Arewe coming? And I'm like, yeah,
we're coming.
Heather Woods (14:36):
If you're here for it, we're doing it.
Adra Young (14:38):
Okay. And so the safe space was the fact that
what goes on in here, space inhere. But let's talk about the
reality of when they begin toreveal some of the things that
were taking place with them.
Which result they responded andreacted the way that they did,
Heather Some things were justout of my educational licensure
(15:01):
and league. And so was certainthings hit that point. For job
purposes. I did have to invitethe behavior specialists, social
worker, Counselor, or whateveryou may call it, depending on
where you're from. thosesituations were revealed amongst
(15:24):
us. And that trust was built inthat courage hit, the kid had
the courage to rebuild it, andI'm like, oh, man, yeah, we've
kind of sorted out to get thissituation over to other powers.
so that it can be documented. Wedon't want to get in trouble.
I'm not I am a social skillsprovider. But I'm not a behavior
(15:47):
specialist. And so we had someof those situations where we did
have to, because the kidindicated that it was really
unappropriate. And we got themthe help that they need it. But
for the most part, Heather, it'sgreat, because kids just started
reflecting on really how itreally had a lot to do with
(16:12):
them. So there were things goingon at home, too much
responsibility. Not enoughsleep, all those factors came
into play. But students admittedto it like, Look, I was tired.
The kids said one thing to meand I let them have it verbally.
(16:33):
I've got one kid. And he wasactually his situation and we'll
get to that was wrote in my veryfirst book called The everyday
living of children and teens,monologues, student X. Student x
came to school Monday, a simplejoke was made to him. And he
(16:56):
knocked the kid straight to theground. I'm like, Ah, oh, is the
opportunity to talk he wassuspended. Okay. But when we got
him back, and I'm like, why,baby What? Why? His father
promised him Friday, that he wascoming. They were going in here
(17:21):
cuz together as parents aren'ttogether that then show Friday
that promised the show Saturday.
This young man could not removehimself from the window and
hopes that he was going to pullup. He didn't show Saturday. He
(17:42):
didn't show Sunday. So thisyoung person, well, all of that
hurt school on Monday. Okay. Andso it didn't take much more. He
was already at his breakingpoint for him to do something
inappropriate. And so we beganto talk about both kinds of
(18:07):
things. Yes, you were hurt. Andwe listened. Yes. You did get
into a fight. Yes, maybe thatjoke was not the most sensitive
joke. However, you knocked himout. Could we had solved this
problem in another kind of way.
And we begin to have those talksnow. Let's get into the creative
(18:31):
part. They actually began towrite their ordeals down.
Heather Woods (18:40):
Oh, fantastic.
Adra Young (18:41):
Women acted out.
drama.
Heather Woods (18:44):
Yeah.
Adra Young (18:45):
So that's where the creativity came in. Heather,
that student that waited for histhat show, along with the other
students. They wrote out theirordeals and turned them to act a
skits and for those who are notaware of drama a little bit, we
(19:07):
call those skits that peopleaudition with monologues. These
kids wrote their situations, andthey acted it out in front of
lunch bunch. And everyone fromlunch bunch listened and gave
constructive criticism. And thenthe students wrote down self
(19:29):
reflection. And it when I say itbecame the biggest thing since
sliced bread kids who didn'texhibit behavior issues. Heather
wanted to become a part oflunch. Make sure it did. Did it
(19:50):
resolve everything? Absolutelynot. That those kids get
continue to get in trouble. Surethey did. Did we see a decrease
every day. Your issues don't doto this. Yes. Then go suspension
reduce. Yes. Did verbalaltercations reduced? Yes. And
(20:11):
so a very successful thing. Ilook forward to implementing it
this year, coming back fromCOVID. And so I'm pretty sure
again, Heather, I didn't inventthe wheel. But just simply, do
you want to eat lunch, and justletting things go with the flow.
(20:34):
And then two, we started writingthese things. And I'm like, I
have to write a book on this.
And so I that was my first realnonfiction book, based upon the
real lives of kids that had comein contact with to make a long
story short, those kids, theysaved me from leaving teaching.
I'm like, wow, just doing thiswith you guys. I had fallen back
(21:01):
in love with the one thing Ilove as a six year old, you're
talking to the teddy bears andthe dog? Yeah.
Heather Woods (21:12):
Yeah, that's, it's so amazing. Just that
simple invitation built such acommunity, right? where the
students felt safe. But you alsofelt that community in that
connection, and it was for thebetterment of you, as you said,
like they saved you, and yourpassion for teaching. You know,
(21:37):
and I think that's one thingthat we often forget, when we
talk about social emotionallearning, it's to the students,
but there's this bi directionalconnection and learning and
everything that goes along withit between us and the students.
And, you know, the other adultsand whoever you might have
(21:58):
involved, and I think, you know,it, the fact that you're able to
bring others supports in asneeded, I think, really speaks
to, you know, I think that's oneof the things that worries
people about building this typeof community, right is, what if
something comes up that I can'tdeal with those out of my
(22:21):
wheelhouse out of my expertise?
So I think that you said itreally well, you said that we
built that trust. And then wewere able to bring these people
in to make sure the students hadthe supports that they need.
Adra Young (22:37):
Absolutely do so vital. But then we can also talk
about, like I said, a lot of usif you're been teaching, a lot
of us are implementing socialemotional learning, and we don't
even know it, Heather, exactly,terminology. And so without even
(22:59):
identifying the competenciesthat we utilize here in the
state of Indiana, what thisbridge created, the connection,
connection is a component or acompetency of social emotional
learning that, you know, thestudents want it to redirect
(23:21):
their thinking, so they getbetter. The regulation, the self
check on the emotions, have thecourage to say, hey, yeah, I did
this. We have the courage toreceive constructive criticism
from the same peers who connectwith you. Their behavior is not
(23:44):
the best thing either. Now,critical thinking, you know, and
the Big C collaboration, Oh, mygoodness. All these things that
make up with SEL is about what'staking place. Yeah, you just
have to take out the checkoffsheet. Understand the term. like
(24:07):
okay, that is connection. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Hey, thatis connection. Yeah. Once you
understand what it means, andyou begin to build any creative
thing, it may not be drama, itcould be art, it could be
singing, some hands on STEM tiedinto creativity, whatever it is,
(24:27):
if you understand the meaning ofthe competencies, and you go
edit consistently, you can't gowrong.
Heather Woods (24:37):
Yeah, yeah. And I think the whole creative process
really empowers the students,really, I mean, it provides them
a voice that maybe they haven'tfelt like they've had, like, you
know, student x, who, you know,is just sitting waiting for his
dad. Suddenly he has a voice toshare his experience and his
(24:58):
feelings about it. In that safespace, that's it's truly
empowering and remarkable. Andyeah, I think, you know, sharing
these stories, because as yousaid, so many educators are
doing these types of things, wejust haven't slapt the title on
it. And it's a question thatI've kind of grappled with
(25:20):
lately about whether it needssuch a title. But, um, I think,
you know, we are doing thesethings in our, in our
classrooms, and it's, you know,
Adra Young (25:34):
just yeah, and here's another thing, don't take
another job, take piece bypiece. If you're in a great
level chair category, when andif you all plan together, or
maybe the great level chair as awhole was not ready for it
(25:56):
suggest that everybody in thatgroup, let's work on for five
minutes, before we get intoanything else today. What
connection means, before youstart your lesson, make that do
now, you know, because teachersfeel so overwhelmed, and we are
overworked. And we are stressed.
And we need to do selfregulation, SEL for ourselves.
(26:21):
Okay, relations, so that we'renot at our breaking point. And
so start small, hey, what if weworked on this just one
component for a month? andmastered that? Yeah, we can talk
about what's working with it andwhat's not working with it, you
(26:42):
know, let's not make it to thepoint where it has to be a total
additional lesson plan. Yes. Oranother work of put another hour
added on to your day doing it.
You know, say that, you know,the best way to eat an elephant
is one bite at a time. That'show you do it. And I believe if
(27:04):
you do it, it's such way youretain it better that way,
instead of overwhelming yourthing about everything about
social emotional learning, andnot touching it again, let's do
a piece. Now let's move on tothat critical thinking piece.
Yeah, what lessons andactivities five minutes in to do
(27:26):
now or activity can work. Let metell you that I also forgot to
tell you that our mindset withthe lunch nunch Heather we just
did a minute of meditation saidis a competency of social
emotional learning. Now we knowin this digital age with Gen Z
(27:48):
children, okay? Generation Xlady here, I'm not even a
millennial generation X. I am ababy boomer, we know that Gen Z
children are the children perse, are tech savvy. The
attention is not there and isprobably declined even more. So
(28:09):
due to COVID. What we would dois a minute go to you to get you
a song. Without Words with nolyrics. Let it play one minute,
60 seconds, close your eyes. Andwhen you're young people or your
babies or young adults arecoming in on 10. break them
(28:34):
down. All right, I can see like,what if I would have thought to
do meditation with kid x duringthat time? I didn't. I'm not
gonna say that I didn't knowbetter, but I didn't have the
research on it. And so but thedifference is now I can do it
(28:54):
with these kids. Now. You'recoming in here? What upset about
whatever happened at home orwhatever happened in school or
what a kid said to you or theteacher? You're not agreeing
with what the teacher wants youto do, per se. Let's get our
minds right. That's not I wantedoff and I have become place.
(29:15):
Take deep breaths. It works. Itworks. Yeah. I've even had kids
tell me Hey, we do a meditationfirst. Team. Yeah, regular. What
I love about big kids is if youcontinue to demonstrate it to
them, you can sit back and watchthose young sharp people do it.
(29:37):
Now I'm like, Yeah, I can sitback. And I can be the
facilitator. Yeah, like learningand growing with among
yourselves as it relates tosocial emotional learning. Yeah.
Heather Woods (29:50):
And it's like said we don't know what the
students are bringing to theclassroom, right. So it just
takes that moment to, you know,have a moment And breathe and
get get into the learningmindset to, you know, be able to
do your best that day or, youknow, be able to put that what
(30:11):
you might be feeling aside todive in with your friends and,
you know, get into the excitingmess of learning, I think when
students are coming in with somuch weighing on them, it's
really hard for them to getexcited to be in that place and
learn with their friends andcolleagues. So thank you for
(30:36):
sharing the kind of taking thatlittle moment to reset a little
bit at the start of the day.
It's something I keep hearing,and I think we're onto something
here.
Adra Young (30:49):
And maybe, if not the music, just a minute of
quiet, close your eyes. Here'ssomething else, I had an aha
moment presenting for the socialemotional learning symposium
last week with the state ofIndiana. Some people have either
run from meditation because theythink it's a form of religion.
(31:11):
So with and I had an aha moment,one of the directors was like,
hey, some people think it's areligion thing. And I'm like,
I'm so glad that you said that,because we want everyone to know
that. No, it's not a religiousthing. But it can be okay.
Practicing Buddhism, we're notpracticing anything we're
(31:35):
practicing and focusing on ahealthy state of mind. That is
never, you know, it per se. I'mpretty sure everyone in all
religions, no matter what it is,you want to help the state of
mind regardless. And so asindividuals to know, if you use
(31:55):
meditation, please know that ifschools are using it, it is not
to implement a specific type ofreligion.
Heather Woods (32:02):
Mm hmm. Yeah, I know, up here we have the public
system and then the Catholicsystem. And they're funded
separately. And so I've spokenwith many teachers in the
Catholic system, and thatthey'll do prayerful moments as
kind of that resetting momentwhere they just have a moment to
(32:23):
themselves and kind of cleartheir heads and, you know, speak
to God or whomever they mightwant to. But yeah, they often
say like, that's how we'veadapted the mindful meditation
moment to kind of a Catholicsystem. So it's been quite
(32:46):
interesting to see how peopleare accepting it. Yeah,
embracing it. And you know what?
adapting it?
Adra Young (32:56):
Yeah, we know what the public sector, we have to
kind of leave. And I'm so gladyou brought that up. That's good
to know, you know, and thepublic sector, you know, that
you have to kind of leavereligion out of it. With the
private institutions, you know,the religion aspect is very much
(33:18):
so embrace, because that's whatis built upon. So I'm speaking
from the public schoolperspective, because that's the
only setting I've taught. Youknow, yeah. What you didn't know
(33:39):
whether your kid is CatholicBaptists, Muslim, Israelite,
Jewish. Meditation is not aboutwe're not doing it to practice
any various type of is a calmingmechanism.
Heather Woods (34:04):
Yeah, and I think, as you said, like, it's a
healthy mind, right? It's justbeing able to quiet the mind and
reconnect with yourself. I thinkthat, you know, especially
talking about, you know, the GenZ, or whatever we're at now. I'm
(34:27):
one of the older millennials, soit's hard to keep track. But,
you know, they don't have thatability necessarily to quiet
their mind. I know, I've spokento adults in my graduate
courses, who say like, they'reprobably 10-15 years younger
than I am but saying they don'tknow how to just quiet their
(34:52):
mind and be in that moment.
They're like, what do you meanyou use you just stand in a line
that was like, yeah, go to thebank and stand in a line. That's
What we do, you know, and youjust take a moment to check in
with yourself or notice what'saround you, it's those little
moments right of just connectingto yourself and the world around
you has so much of a positiveimpact on your mental well
(35:13):
being.
Adra Young (35:18):
I've mentioned the blog, an empty teacher cannot
pour into a thirsty student,myself, and Professor instructor
cannot pour until a thirstystudent. You have to be mentally
(35:39):
stable so that you can give yourstudents via preschool,
elementary, intermediate middleschool, high school, and yes,
higher learning, you know, whatyou're currently doing? your
very best, you know, and that'swhy those self regulation checks
(35:59):
for educators are so important,you know, you want to make sure
your, your mental health isokay. You know, sometimes it's
okay to say, hey, I need to do acheck with me, because I'm just
a little off. So yeah, eventhough we're talking about
bullying and socio emotionallearning as it relates to our
(36:22):
kids, we got to remember, wealso want the healthy teachers,
perfect service providers tohave a good frame, my frame of
mind so that they can importantto our students. So that yeah,
that we've got productivecitizens to society, whatever
(36:43):
they choose to do. Yeah.
Heather Woods (36:45):
And I think that is so important. And I
appreciate that you brought thatup, just we need to have healthy
supported teachers. And theyneed to have these skills. And I
tell my students all the timethat okay, yes, because I teach
one course, that's, you know,broadly social emotional
(37:06):
learning, but then the other oneis adult specific. And they keep
wanting to do projects for theirstudents as like, but you need
to make sure that you'reconfident in your own skills,
because that's the biggest thingthat we're finding is teacher
saying, I support socialemotional learning. But I don't
(37:27):
feel like my skills are up topar. So how am I supposed to
model it? So be honest, I'm gladyou know.
Adra Young (37:36):
I last year, COVID hit and it hit hard. I just
don't have research. And so thecons of COVID hidden is that
from a social perspective, whenpeople it was very limited or
none, for the pro of it was thateverybody had to get on board
(37:59):
with virtual online learningtutorials activities I took for
myself, not the kids or anyoneelse. a free course and I'm
pretty sure, Heather, they havethem there. It was called The
Science of Happiness to our areyou doing as the educator and
(38:22):
let me tell you, wonderful,free. It was you could pace it,
you didn't have a specific timethat it had to be done. When I
say it made me look at somethings. I was like, Wow, I
didn't even think about it likethat. Or, you know, just studies
(38:46):
show that teachers aren'tgetting enough sleep. It's best
that when you go to sleep, thateverything is sound. lis and
some of us go to sleep with ourcell phones under our pillows.
On the music's on, lights are onand so I don't you know, that's
(39:11):
just an example of, you know,healthy you need that sleep that
good. That can have you readyfor the following day and your
job. But yeah, yeah.
Heather Woods (39:25):
No, I think that, you know, you've touched on so
many things. And, you know,we've almost come full circle
because he started speakingabout how, you know, your
teaching almost led to burnoutand then that kind of, you know,
created this space where, youknow, you were seeing your
(39:45):
students in a different lightand we brought that community
together. And I think, you know,providing future candidates
providing teachers with, youknow, this knowledge of, you
know, finding these creativeways to connect with students
finding ways to engage agents,social emotional learning for
(40:07):
teachers and students, you know,can have such a huge impact on,
you know, perhaps delaying thatburnout, or helping, you know,
provide support, so that theythey aren't burning out, and
that sort of thing. So I thinkit really kind of brings us full
circle, and, you know, theimpact and importance of
(40:29):
connection and community,particularly, like, as you were
saying, like, work with yourhead teachers work with your
department teachers, you know,finding little ways to kind of
implement it. So I reallyappreciate that. Certainly. And,
you know, the impact that thelunch group has had is just
(40:51):
fantastic. I really look forwardto hearing more about that. You
know, you continue it once,after COVID. I think that, you
know, students are probablystart for that connection right
now. So it'll be really great tosee, you know, once things start
up in a month or so for y'alldown there, it'll be really,
(41:13):
really great. So I appreciatethat. Any kind of final thoughts
on social emotional learning, orbuilding creative connections?
Adra Young (41:22):
No, I just want to say I really appreciate the
opportunity. If you would needme to come back at another data
time to provide information tosome of your forthcoming
perspective educators, I wouldlove to do that. Fantastic with
this. The greatest exercise inthe world is to bend down, stick
(41:48):
your hand out and pull someoneelse up soundly. And I thank you
so much, Heather, for having meon today.
Heather Woods (41:57):
Thank you so much a Adra, I so appreciate you
taking the time today. And youknow, working around our
different time zones, andeverything. So I appreciate it.
So so much. Thank you. It's beenan absolute pleasure. And to
everyone listening. Thank you somuch for joining us today. Feel
(42:19):
free to reach out to Adra, ormyself. her contact information
for Twitter will be in the shownotes. And feel free to leave us
your comments on what we talkedabout today about building
community building connectionwith our students and the huge
impact that it can have for thewellbeing of our students and
(42:43):
ourselves as educators. Thankyou so much, and we look forward
to talking to you again on SELin Action. Have a great day. Bye
Hello and welcome. You're listening to the
SEL in action podcast podcastwhere we discuss social and
emotional learning ineducational and professional
settings. I'm your host HeatherWoods. And today we're speaking
with Adra Young educator,speaker and author, and owner of
(00:21):
Ardynnal, where they believethat putting youngsters on track
through encouragement andguidance, so they provide social
skills training and bullyingprevention training for both
students and teachers. So thankyou so much for being here. I'm
so excited to speak with you.
Feel free to add anything to theintroduction.
Adra Young (00:43):
There you did just right. I mean, that was a great
introduction made me feel good.
Heather Woods (00:50):
Oh, good.
Adra Young (00:52):
Sending SEL love to Canada because I am in the
United States. Yes. So thankyou, thank you for the
opportunity to share with ourCanadian community nation.
Heather Woods (01:09):
Thank you so much for, you know, reaching out and
speaking with me today, I'mreally excited to speak with
you. You have so much experienceover 24 years worth of
educational experience andworking directly with social
emotional learning. So tell me alittle bit about how kind of you
(01:30):
got into, you know, your ownlearning of social emotional
learning and seeing the need forit in our schools?
Adra Young (01:40):
Well, I started teaching, I'm just gonna have to
tell people yes, I started in1995, that eager beaver,
Heather, going in with that Kateready to save a kid. And that
those academic goals accomplishand achieve and in my world, it
was just going to be a happy,happy thing. In addition to I
(02:02):
had some amazing professors at ahistorical black institution,
university, Central StateUniversity, who I felt prepared
me for that. Well, they say thebest experience is hands on. And
yes, I did that student teachingcomponent, but nothing compared
(02:22):
to me actually. Starting with myclassroom, no more college.
Maybe a mentor from time totime, but this is it. And yeah,
make it work. And as I noticed,as the years went by, I began to
see all my this is something Iwanted to do as a kid, okay, I
(02:45):
had those teddy bears. I hadthose dolls in that chalkboard,
and I was spelling words, andthose math problems. This is
something that I really wantedto do, only to find out into the
game. Uh, after doing severalyears, I'm like, I my staff
morale is not, which should be,I'm not feeling it. I think I
(03:10):
may want to go into anotherprofession. And I'm going to be
just transparent. I really didnot like the children that that
were placed in front of medaily. And that was something
that I love children. Okay.
Something that I always wantedto do. I'm the eldest. So I, in
my heart of heart, I felt that Ihad that nurturing component in
place. So what I started to seetogether was the following,
(03:35):
taunting, cursing, physicalassaults. Ongoing is why I began
to feel helpless about well, howdo I deal with this? Because to
me, suspension, and thedetention weren't getting it. It
was almost like with a detentionfactor, they want it to go and
(03:58):
I'm like, are they having aparty in the detention? What is
going on? But the tension issupposed to teach a lesson was
to be uncomfortable so that youcan grow from the situation so
that if you don't do it again,most likely, you won't do it as
often? And why the detention notworking? suspension, okay,
(04:20):
they're coming back the repeatedoffenses, but the root of the
source has not been addressed ortackle. Mm hmm. And so that's
when I got into reflecting as aneducator. And this is something
that all of us can do. I did notinvent this, but I went home
because I had that classifiedpaper. Okay, looking for jobs.
(04:43):
But I did some reflection.
Heather, can I said to myself,What can I do? I'm at my wit's
end. So I took a categoricalrisk. And so I took a data of
the kids that I was servicing,who had exhibited the worst
(05:06):
behaviors, and the mostdetention, the multiple times,
but detention, and I invitedthat bunch to come and have
lunch with me. Heather, to mysurprise, the response I thought
I would get was, oh, Lady kick arock. No, it's how much time
now, to my surprise, Heather,they were like, Well, what do we
(05:29):
have to lose? Okay. And so we'llget back to that, because that's
the creative perspective that Iwant to address. But then I
began with me saying, I want toeat together. You know, come on
with me. And let's see what'sgoing on? And they said, Yes.
Heather Woods (05:52):
Yes, amazing.
Yeah. And it's, you know, itseems so complex when you're in
that moment, and you'reoverwhelmed. And it's just that
small gesture of you want to eatlunch together. Like it's such a
simple step, but it has such animpact, right, and to really
formed those connections. Withyour students, it goes such a
(06:15):
long, long way. So yeah, that'sthank you for so much for
sharing that.
Adra Young (06:23):
So we'll get back to that. But I know Yes. addressed
bullying. Yeah.
Heather Woods (06:29):
Well, you mentioned kind of these, like
aggressive behaviors andeverything. And so what are you
finding? Like, are the skillsthat are really helping students
to kind of, you know, thinkthrough bullying? Or, you know,
teachers in preventing bullying?
What, what are you finding it?
And what are some of thestrategies maybe that you're
(06:52):
sharing with folks.
Adra Young (06:54):
So I'm just gonna say these few words, knowledge
is power. And these are somethings all of us can identify.
As I mentioned, prior to thisinterview, beginning Heather
school is about to start hereand some areas in the United
States, I'm in Indiana, so I'min the Midwest. And so where I'm
(07:18):
based now, the kids come back toschool, actually, August 10,
which is really right around thecorner, per se. Mm hmm. What we
want to look for are the sizeand indicators of a bully kid.
And all that takes is justsimply paying close attention.
(07:42):
In particular, to the kid thatseems totally emotional lis,
empty state, no expression, notresponding or reacting, just
there. Those are the children inmy opinion, that we really need
to take a close look at simplybecause if they're emotionless,
(08:08):
and expression, expressionless,those are the babies that we
unfortunately read about whoeither made attempts to take
themselves out, or they'veactually done so. And so we need
to be on the lookout for thosetoo quiet kids, and not assume
(08:29):
that they're just good children,or quiet children, though, why
is this kid not socializing? Whyare that wise? What is this
blank stare about? What's goingon with them? And so I just want
to get into the signs andindicators real quick. heathered
again, it's probably we probablyall have been doing it but just
(08:54):
we need to take a deeper look atit and observe it more. Hmm,
what I want to adjust addressExcuse me, is that kid that we
see the 360 in that behavior.
Kid love school. This kid wasthe he never met a stranger.
This kid was the life of theclassroom, and all of us that
(09:17):
this child is redrawing. Theacademics may have taken the
decline. school is not that safehaven fun, sacred space anymore.
No Kid made more to be addressedor observed more because that is
(09:41):
one of the sides of AB bullykid. A kid used to be on top of
their game academically,socially, who no longer wants to
be a part of that or has justshut down Hmm, let's talk about
another type of kid Heather.
(10:05):
That's the kid that they'refine. Come Friday, but Sunday
night that everything hurts.
They're sick. Okay, yeah. Frommy nose to my eyelash, any kind
of ailment. They're sick.
Studies show that children whoare bully don't have the courage
always to admit to theirparents. Boy. So what would they
(10:29):
do? Heather, they'll fake anillness. Hopefully that illness
comes on Sunday. Okay, go oneMonday. And they don't want to
deal with that. Mm hmm. Okay.
And so again, we've talked aboutif the grades were good, and
they no longer want to beinvolved in school activities,
(10:53):
or if they just, you know, the360 factor, the student that
plays ill. student that totallyshuts down, who used to love to
be involved with their communityand do things, but they no
longer want to be around people.
(11:15):
Mm hmm. So those are just threeindicators there, for sure,
which you could identify withkids. But in particular, for
those rookie educators, andthose teachers coming in, be on
the lookout for that too quietkid who you may actually not pay
(11:38):
attention to who can kind of getlost in the theme of things when
you're teaching?
Heather Woods (11:44):
Yeah, yeah, we've often talked to teacher like
candidates here. And just whenwe were talking about, you know,
how do we identify bullying, itcomes back to the relationship,
right? And really being attunedto those behavior changes, those
social changes, those littlethings that start to go off. And
(12:05):
so, you know, I've recommendedpeople, you know, start a
journal at the end of the dayand be like, something just
seemed off. So then you're kindof triggered to, okay, I need to
pay attention to Little Johnnyor, you know, Kim, or whoever.
So yeah, it's so like, importantto really have that just
(12:31):
explicit attention that you'rekind of paying attention to
those social dynamics that arehappening. Thank you so much for
sharing that.
Adra Young (12:38):
Absolutely.
Heather Woods (12:39):
And so brings us to the the meat of it all. How
do you build those connections?
Adra Young (12:47):
Well, I'm gonna tell you how I built that one
connection that I left you in acliffhanger moment for perfect.
It started off as us comingtogether, and classroom eating
together. Other I didn't sayanything, I just kind of sat
(13:09):
back and roll with the flow. Thefirst day, not so much action,
everyone staring. But they beganto make the connection, as you
just mentioned, for some reason,and I guess it was just all
aligning. They knew thecommonality, or the connection
(13:32):
was that they had track recordsof not so good behavior, and
knew that. And so let's get intoas it progressed, we came up
with our own in house rules. Inother words, what goes on at
(13:53):
lunch bunch stays and much,much. It will not attack and
judge other people's situations.
We will learn to listen from anempathetic standpoint, and I
hope the overall goal is tobecome a little family unit.
Hmm. by surprise, Heather. I'mthinking maybe they won't want
(14:19):
to come back. They were like,hey, Miss young or miss Robbins
at one point. What's up withlunch bunch? Are we gonna have
it? We bring in our lunch. Arewe coming? And I'm like, yeah,
we're coming.
Heather Woods (14:36):
If you're here for it, we're doing it.
Adra Young (14:38):
Okay. And so the safe space was the fact that
what goes on in here, space inhere. But let's talk about the
reality of when they begin toreveal some of the things that
were taking place with them.
Which result they responded andreacted the way that they did,
Heather Some things were justout of my educational licensure
(15:01):
and league. And so was certainthings hit that point. For job
purposes. I did have to invitethe behavior specialists, social
worker, Counselor, or whateveryou may call it, depending on
where you're from. thosesituations were revealed amongst
(15:24):
us. And that trust was built inthat courage hit, the kid had
the courage to rebuild it, andI'm like, oh, man, yeah, we've
kind of sorted out to get thissituation over to other powers.
so that it can be documented. Wedon't want to get in trouble.
I'm not I am a social skillsprovider. But I'm not a behavior
(15:47):
specialist. And so we had someof those situations where we did
have to, because the kidindicated that it was really
unappropriate. And we got themthe help that they need it. But
for the most part, Heather, it'sgreat, because kids just started
reflecting on really how itreally had a lot to do with
(16:12):
them. So there were things goingon at home, too much
responsibility. Not enoughsleep, all those factors came
into play. But students admittedto it like, Look, I was tired.
The kids said one thing to meand I let them have it verbally.
(16:33):
I've got one kid. And he wasactually his situation and we'll
get to that was wrote in my veryfirst book called The everyday
living of children and teens,monologues, student X. Student x
came to school Monday, a simplejoke was made to him. And he
(16:56):
knocked the kid straight to theground. I'm like, Ah, oh, is the
opportunity to talk he wassuspended. Okay. But when we got
him back, and I'm like, why,baby What? Why? His father
promised him Friday, that he wascoming. They were going in here
(17:21):
cuz together as parents aren'ttogether that then show Friday
that promised the show Saturday.
This young man could not removehimself from the window and
hopes that he was going to pullup. He didn't show Saturday. He
(17:42):
didn't show Sunday. So thisyoung person, well, all of that
hurt school on Monday. Okay. Andso it didn't take much more. He
was already at his breakingpoint for him to do something
inappropriate. And so we beganto talk about both kinds of
(18:07):
things. Yes, you were hurt. Andwe listened. Yes. You did get
into a fight. Yes, maybe thatjoke was not the most sensitive
joke. However, you knocked himout. Could we had solved this
problem in another kind of way.
And we begin to have those talksnow. Let's get into the creative
(18:31):
part. They actually began towrite their ordeals down.
Heather Woods (18:40):
Oh, fantastic.
Adra Young (18:41):
Women acted out.
drama.
Heather Woods (18:44):
Yeah.
Adra Young (18:45):
So that's where the creativity came in. Heather,
that student that waited for histhat show, along with the other
students. They wrote out theirordeals and turned them to act a
skits and for those who are notaware of drama a little bit, we
(19:07):
call those skits that peopleaudition with monologues. These
kids wrote their situations, andthey acted it out in front of
lunch bunch. And everyone fromlunch bunch listened and gave
constructive criticism. And thenthe students wrote down self
(19:29):
reflection. And it when I say itbecame the biggest thing since
sliced bread kids who didn'texhibit behavior issues. Heather
wanted to become a part oflunch. Make sure it did. Did it
(19:50):
resolve everything? Absolutelynot. That those kids get
continue to get in trouble. Surethey did. Did we see a decrease
every day. Your issues don't doto this. Yes. Then go suspension
reduce. Yes. Did verbalaltercations reduced? Yes. And
(20:11):
so a very successful thing. Ilook forward to implementing it
this year, coming back fromCOVID. And so I'm pretty sure
again, Heather, I didn't inventthe wheel. But just simply, do
you want to eat lunch, and justletting things go with the flow.
(20:34):
And then two, we started writingthese things. And I'm like, I
have to write a book on this.
And so I that was my first realnonfiction book, based upon the
real lives of kids that had comein contact with to make a long
story short, those kids, theysaved me from leaving teaching.
I'm like, wow, just doing thiswith you guys. I had fallen back
(21:01):
in love with the one thing Ilove as a six year old, you're
talking to the teddy bears andthe dog? Yeah.
Heather Woods (21:12):
Yeah, that's, it's so amazing. Just that
simple invitation built such acommunity, right? where the
students felt safe. But you alsofelt that community in that
connection, and it was for thebetterment of you, as you said,
like they saved you, and yourpassion for teaching. You know,
(21:37):
and I think that's one thingthat we often forget, when we
talk about social emotionallearning, it's to the students,
but there's this bi directionalconnection and learning and
everything that goes along withit between us and the students.
And, you know, the other adultsand whoever you might have
(21:58):
involved, and I think, you know,it, the fact that you're able to
bring others supports in asneeded, I think, really speaks
to, you know, I think that's oneof the things that worries
people about building this typeof community, right is, what if
something comes up that I can'tdeal with those out of my
(22:21):
wheelhouse out of my expertise?
So I think that you said itreally well, you said that we
built that trust. And then wewere able to bring these people
in to make sure the students hadthe supports that they need.
Adra Young (22:37):
Absolutely do so vital. But then we can also talk
about, like I said, a lot of usif you're been teaching, a lot
of us are implementing socialemotional learning, and we don't
even know it, Heather, exactly,terminology. And so without even
(22:59):
identifying the competenciesthat we utilize here in the
state of Indiana, what thisbridge created, the connection,
connection is a component or acompetency of social emotional
learning that, you know, thestudents want it to redirect
(23:21):
their thinking, so they getbetter. The regulation, the self
check on the emotions, have thecourage to say, hey, yeah, I did
this. We have the courage toreceive constructive criticism
from the same peers who connectwith you. Their behavior is not
(23:44):
the best thing either. Now,critical thinking, you know, and
the Big C collaboration, Oh, mygoodness. All these things that
make up with SEL is about what'staking place. Yeah, you just
have to take out the checkoffsheet. Understand the term. like
(24:07):
okay, that is connection. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Hey, thatis connection. Yeah. Once you
understand what it means, andyou begin to build any creative
thing, it may not be drama, itcould be art, it could be
singing, some hands on STEM tiedinto creativity, whatever it is,
(24:27):
if you understand the meaning ofthe competencies, and you go
edit consistently, you can't gowrong.
Heather Woods (24:37):
Yeah, yeah. And I think the whole creative process
really empowers the students,really, I mean, it provides them
a voice that maybe they haven'tfelt like they've had, like, you
know, student x, who, you know,is just sitting waiting for his
dad. Suddenly he has a voice toshare his experience and his
(24:58):
feelings about it. In that safespace, that's it's truly
empowering and remarkable. Andyeah, I think, you know, sharing
these stories, because as yousaid, so many educators are
doing these types of things, wejust haven't slapt the title on
it. And it's a question thatI've kind of grappled with
(25:20):
lately about whether it needssuch a title. But, um, I think,
you know, we are doing thesethings in our, in our
classrooms, and it's, you know,
Adra Young (25:34):
just yeah, and here's another thing, don't take
another job, take piece bypiece. If you're in a great
level chair category, when andif you all plan together, or
maybe the great level chair as awhole was not ready for it
(25:56):
suggest that everybody in thatgroup, let's work on for five
minutes, before we get intoanything else today. What
connection means, before youstart your lesson, make that do
now, you know, because teachersfeel so overwhelmed, and we are
overworked. And we are stressed.
And we need to do selfregulation, SEL for ourselves.
(26:21):
Okay, relations, so that we'renot at our breaking point. And
so start small, hey, what if weworked on this just one
component for a month? andmastered that? Yeah, we can talk
about what's working with it andwhat's not working with it, you
(26:42):
know, let's not make it to thepoint where it has to be a total
additional lesson plan. Yes. Oranother work of put another hour
added on to your day doing it.
You know, say that, you know,the best way to eat an elephant
is one bite at a time. That'show you do it. And I believe if
(27:04):
you do it, it's such way youretain it better that way,
instead of overwhelming yourthing about everything about
social emotional learning, andnot touching it again, let's do
a piece. Now let's move on tothat critical thinking piece.
Yeah, what lessons andactivities five minutes in to do
(27:26):
now or activity can work. Let metell you that I also forgot to
tell you that our mindset withthe lunch nunch Heather we just
did a minute of meditation saidis a competency of social
emotional learning. Now we knowin this digital age with Gen Z
(27:48):
children, okay? Generation Xlady here, I'm not even a
millennial generation X. I am ababy boomer, we know that Gen Z
children are the children perse, are tech savvy. The
attention is not there and isprobably declined even more. So
(28:09):
due to COVID. What we would dois a minute go to you to get you
a song. Without Words with nolyrics. Let it play one minute,
60 seconds, close your eyes. Andwhen you're young people or your
babies or young adults arecoming in on 10. break them
(28:34):
down. All right, I can see like,what if I would have thought to
do meditation with kid x duringthat time? I didn't. I'm not
gonna say that I didn't knowbetter, but I didn't have the
research on it. And so but thedifference is now I can do it
(28:54):
with these kids. Now. You'recoming in here? What upset about
whatever happened at home orwhatever happened in school or
what a kid said to you or theteacher? You're not agreeing
with what the teacher wants youto do, per se. Let's get our
minds right. That's not I wantedoff and I have become place.
(29:15):
Take deep breaths. It works. Itworks. Yeah. I've even had kids
tell me Hey, we do a meditationfirst. Team. Yeah, regular. What
I love about big kids is if youcontinue to demonstrate it to
them, you can sit back and watchthose young sharp people do it.
(29:37):
Now I'm like, Yeah, I can sitback. And I can be the
facilitator. Yeah, like learningand growing with among
yourselves as it relates tosocial emotional learning. Yeah.
Heather Woods (29:50):
And it's like said we don't know what the
students are bringing to theclassroom, right. So it just
takes that moment to, you know,have a moment And breathe and
get get into the learningmindset to, you know, be able to
do your best that day or, youknow, be able to put that what
(30:11):
you might be feeling aside todive in with your friends and,
you know, get into the excitingmess of learning, I think when
students are coming in with somuch weighing on them, it's
really hard for them to getexcited to be in that place and
learn with their friends andcolleagues. So thank you for
(30:36):
sharing the kind of taking thatlittle moment to reset a little
bit at the start of the day.
It's something I keep hearing,and I think we're onto something
here.
Adra Young (30:49):
And maybe, if not the music, just a minute of
quiet, close your eyes. Here'ssomething else, I had an aha
moment presenting for the socialemotional learning symposium
last week with the state ofIndiana. Some people have either
run from meditation because theythink it's a form of religion.
(31:11):
So with and I had an aha moment,one of the directors was like,
hey, some people think it's areligion thing. And I'm like,
I'm so glad that you said that,because we want everyone to know
that. No, it's not a religiousthing. But it can be okay.
Practicing Buddhism, we're notpracticing anything we're
(31:35):
practicing and focusing on ahealthy state of mind. That is
never, you know, it per se. I'mpretty sure everyone in all
religions, no matter what it is,you want to help the state of
mind regardless. And so asindividuals to know, if you use
(31:55):
meditation, please know that ifschools are using it, it is not
to implement a specific type ofreligion.
Heather Woods (32:02):
Mm hmm. Yeah, I know, up here we have the public
system and then the Catholicsystem. And they're funded
separately. And so I've spokenwith many teachers in the
Catholic system, and thatthey'll do prayerful moments as
kind of that resetting momentwhere they just have a moment to
(32:23):
themselves and kind of cleartheir heads and, you know, speak
to God or whomever they mightwant to. But yeah, they often
say like, that's how we'veadapted the mindful meditation
moment to kind of a Catholicsystem. So it's been quite
(32:46):
interesting to see how peopleare accepting it. Yeah,
embracing it. And you know what?
adapting it?
Adra Young (32:56):
Yeah, we know what the public sector, we have to
kind of leave. And I'm so gladyou brought that up. That's good
to know, you know, and thepublic sector, you know, that
you have to kind of leavereligion out of it. With the
private institutions, you know,the religion aspect is very much
(33:18):
so embrace, because that's whatis built upon. So I'm speaking
from the public schoolperspective, because that's the
only setting I've taught. Youknow, yeah. What you didn't know
(33:39):
whether your kid is CatholicBaptists, Muslim, Israelite,
Jewish. Meditation is not aboutwe're not doing it to practice
any various type of is a calmingmechanism.
Heather Woods (34:04):
Yeah, and I think, as you said, like, it's a
healthy mind, right? It's justbeing able to quiet the mind and
reconnect with yourself. I thinkthat, you know, especially
talking about, you know, the GenZ, or whatever we're at now. I'm
(34:27):
one of the older millennials, soit's hard to keep track. But,
you know, they don't have thatability necessarily to quiet
their mind. I know, I've spokento adults in my graduate
courses, who say like, they'reprobably 10-15 years younger
than I am but saying they don'tknow how to just quiet their
(34:52):
mind and be in that moment.
They're like, what do you meanyou use you just stand in a line
that was like, yeah, go to thebank and stand in a line. That's
What we do, you know, and youjust take a moment to check in
with yourself or notice what'saround you, it's those little
moments right of just connectingto yourself and the world around
you has so much of a positiveimpact on your mental well
(35:13):
being.
Adra Young (35:18):
I've mentioned the blog, an empty teacher cannot
pour into a thirsty student,myself, and Professor instructor
cannot pour until a thirstystudent. You have to be mentally
(35:39):
stable so that you can give yourstudents via preschool,
elementary, intermediate middleschool, high school, and yes,
higher learning, you know, whatyou're currently doing? your
very best, you know, and that'swhy those self regulation checks
(35:59):
for educators are so important,you know, you want to make sure
your, your mental health isokay. You know, sometimes it's
okay to say, hey, I need to do acheck with me, because I'm just
a little off. So yeah, eventhough we're talking about
bullying and socio emotionallearning as it relates to our
(36:22):
kids, we got to remember, wealso want the healthy teachers,
perfect service providers tohave a good frame, my frame of
mind so that they can importantto our students. So that yeah,
that we've got productivecitizens to society, whatever
(36:43):
they choose to do. Yeah.
Heather Woods (36:45):
And I think that is so important. And I
appreciate that you brought thatup, just we need to have healthy
supported teachers. And theyneed to have these skills. And I
tell my students all the timethat okay, yes, because I teach
one course, that's, you know,broadly social emotional
(37:06):
learning, but then the other oneis adult specific. And they keep
wanting to do projects for theirstudents as like, but you need
to make sure that you'reconfident in your own skills,
because that's the biggest thingthat we're finding is teacher
saying, I support socialemotional learning. But I don't
(37:27):
feel like my skills are up topar. So how am I supposed to
model it? So be honest, I'm gladyou know.
Adra Young (37:36):
I last year, COVID hit and it hit hard. I just
don't have research. And so thecons of COVID hidden is that
from a social perspective, whenpeople it was very limited or
none, for the pro of it was thateverybody had to get on board
(37:59):
with virtual online learningtutorials activities I took for
myself, not the kids or anyoneelse. a free course and I'm
pretty sure, Heather, they havethem there. It was called The
Science of Happiness to our areyou doing as the educator and
(38:22):
let me tell you, wonderful,free. It was you could pace it,
you didn't have a specific timethat it had to be done. When I
say it made me look at somethings. I was like, Wow, I
didn't even think about it likethat. Or, you know, just studies
(38:46):
show that teachers aren'tgetting enough sleep. It's best
that when you go to sleep, thateverything is sound. lis and
some of us go to sleep with ourcell phones under our pillows.
On the music's on, lights are onand so I don't you know, that's
(39:11):
just an example of, you know,healthy you need that sleep that
good. That can have you readyfor the following day and your
job. But yeah, yeah.
Heather Woods (39:25):
No, I think that, you know, you've touched on so
many things. And, you know,we've almost come full circle
because he started speakingabout how, you know, your
teaching almost led to burnoutand then that kind of, you know,
created this space where, youknow, you were seeing your
(39:45):
students in a different lightand we brought that community
together. And I think, you know,providing future candidates
providing teachers with, youknow, this knowledge of, you
know, finding these creativeways to connect with students
finding ways to engage agents,social emotional learning for
(40:07):
teachers and students, you know,can have such a huge impact on,
you know, perhaps delaying thatburnout, or helping, you know,
provide support, so that theythey aren't burning out, and
that sort of thing. So I thinkit really kind of brings us full
circle, and, you know, theimpact and importance of
(40:29):
connection and community,particularly, like, as you were
saying, like, work with yourhead teachers work with your
department teachers, you know,finding little ways to kind of
implement it. So I reallyappreciate that. Certainly. And,
you know, the impact that thelunch group has had is just
(40:51):
fantastic. I really look forwardto hearing more about that. You
know, you continue it once,after COVID. I think that, you
know, students are probablystart for that connection right
now. So it'll be really great tosee, you know, once things start
up in a month or so for y'alldown there, it'll be really,
(41:13):
really great. So I appreciatethat. Any kind of final thoughts
on social emotional learning, orbuilding creative connections?
Adra Young (41:22):
No, I just want to say I really appreciate the
opportunity. If you would needme to come back at another data
time to provide information tosome of your forthcoming
perspective educators, I wouldlove to do that. Fantastic with
this. The greatest exercise inthe world is to bend down, stick
(41:48):
your hand out and pull someoneelse up soundly. And I thank you
so much, Heather, for having meon today.
Heather Woods (41:57):
Thank you so much a Adra, I so appreciate you
taking the time today. And youknow, working around our
different time zones, andeverything. So I appreciate it.
So so much. Thank you. It's beenan absolute pleasure. And to
everyone listening. Thank you somuch for joining us today. Feel
(42:19):
free to reach out to Adra, ormyself. her contact information
for Twitter will be in the shownotes. And feel free to leave us
your comments on what we talkedabout today about building
community building connectionwith our students and the huge
impact that it can have for thewellbeing of our students and
(42:43):
ourselves as educators. Thankyou so much, and we look forward
to talking to you again on SELin Action. Have a great day. Bye
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