Newsletter editor:

Carolyn Lieberg 

CEI Tribute to Dr. Angelou 

The Center for Educational Improvement, like millions around the world, has been inspired by the life and leadership of Dr. Maya Angelou.  

The organization mourns her passing, even as it continues to celebrate her life and amazing artistry.  

One of the world's truly great heroes, Dr. Angelou gave us a glimpse into her soul and her heart. In so doing, she not only healed her own wounds, but also provided solace to others facing fear, poverty, anguish, and pain.  

Thank you, Dr. Angelou.  

May your memory continue to spur compassion and courage in us all, particularly as we seek to equip students with the intellectual, personal, emotional, and social skills needed  

for success in school and throughout their lives.

The panel will include:

• NAESP Mentor Trainers: Drs. Kathleen Sciarappa (NH) and Nancy Phenis-Bourke (IN): Principal Mentoring
• Mark Wiess, co-founder, with Peter Yarrow, of Operation Respect See CEI blog entry. 
• Dr. Michele Rivers Murphy (CEI Research Associate) on the Power to Choose  
• Heather Smith, Principal, Lilja Elementary School in Natick, MA, on Implications of Neuroscience for the Classroom
• Drs. Melissa Patschke, PA and Kathleen Sciarappa on Virtual Principal Simulations (a program with the University of Pennsylvania)
• Dr. Christine Mason, CEO and founder of CEI will lead a discussion on "developing deep communities of compassion" and CEI's research plans for 2014-2015. We need your advice re: priorities and alternatives for our research. 

Attendees will receive the following: * The new 12-page CEI Heart Centered Approach Rubric, which includes recommendations for implementing Heart Centered Learning Communities with neuroscience programs (and particularly, C8 Sciences' Activate program).*An early release of CEI's  Heart Beaming activities for schools.

Mark your calendars: Gaylord Opryland, room Delta Island C,  10:15 am- 11:45am. Email cmason@edimprovement.org to RSVP and be assured a seat.

Note: This invitation-only seminar follows the special anti-bullying presentation by Peter Yarrow (of the folk singing trio Peter, Paul, and Mary), which will be held from 8-10 a.m. CEI has been collaborating with Peter and Mark Weiss for the past two years to develop a research initiative around Heart Centered Education, combining Peter's work with CEI's approach.

Pre-K & Common Core: Teaching Children to Translate Feelings into Words 

Why Is Pre-K Education Important?

-          All children are capable of learning, achieving, and making developmental progress.

-          Children develop at different rates and each child is unique in his/her own development, growth, and acquisition of skills.

-          Children are active learners. Intentional planning of purposeful play promotes rich learning experiences that invite participation, involve multiple contexts, and engage the sense that help children explore their environment; early learning and development are multi-dimensional.

-          Children learn in the context of interactions and relationships with family members, caregivers, teachers, and other children in their environment and community.

-          Family is a significant contributor to children's lifelong learning and development.

In New York City schools, Common Core State Standards will be fully adopted in the upcoming 2014-2015 school year. Specifically defined as a resource, guide, and framework-but not as a checklist, assessment tool, or curriculum-these standards reach from pre-kindergarten students up through graduating seniors in high school. The primary purpose of pre-kindergarten standards is to ensure that all children, including children with disabilities, students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), and English Language Learners (ELLs), have rich and varied early learning experiences that prepare them for success in school and lay the foundation for college and career readiness.

How Can Teachers Support SEL Learning?

The New York State Pre-K Foundation for the Common Core segments its guidelines into five distinct domains of development (see the 15-page PDF for details), with Social and Emotional Development being defined as the "emotional competence and ability to form positive relationships that give meaning to children's experiences in the home, school, and larger community.

            In the context of the classroom, the guidelines extend the attributes of Social and Emotional Development with examples for teachers to use during their observations. Social and Emotional Skills are expected to be incorporated into lesson plans.

1. Self-Concept and Self-Awareness--the student recognizes himself/herself as a unique individual having his/her own abilities, characteristics, feelings, and interests

Example: Luis demonstrates knowledge of his/her uniqueness by choosing activities he likes.

2. Self-Regulation--the student regulates his/her responses to needs, feelings, and events

Example: Jasmine expresses her frustration about not having enough time to finish her painting in a way that is appropriate to the situation.

3. Relationships with Others -- the student demonstrates and continues to develop positive relationships with significant adults; develops positive relationships with their peers; and demonstrates pro-social problem solving skills in social interactions

Example: Xavier offers to help his classmate when she seems distressed.

4. Accountability--the student understands and follows routines and rules

Example: Angie, with the help of her teacher, understands that breaking rules has consequences.

5. Adaptability--the student adapts to change with minimal trouble or concern

Example: Justin transitions smoothly between Reading Circle and Math, even though it's not the way it usually happens.

How Can Parents Support SEL Learning?

The NYC Department of Education also provides a breakdown of ways parents can support successful social and emotional behaviors and actions at home:

• Encourage your children to make choices for themselves.
• Establish and follow a predictable, daily routine.
• Respond with inquisitiveness and specific praise when your child shows pride in an accomplishment.
  • Identify and name feelings with your child so he/she can practice using words to identify emotions. Help your child recognize and name his/her own feelings and identify feelings in other people.
  • Teach your child strategies to calm down when he/she is angry or upset.

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2004). Children's Emotional Development Is Built into the Architecture of Their Brains: Working Paper No. 2. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu

Heart Centered Common Core Book List

by Melanie Holland 

From Kathleen Odean, a past chair of the prestigious Newbery Award Committee, comes recommendations for how to link award-winning non-fiction literature to the Common Core State Standards. Her website  provides middle and high school educators with over 70 Young Adult books with an always engaging and impressive topic range.

Not surprisingly, many of these books can be tied back to CEI's Heart Centered Education philosophy and the 5 Cs: Compassion, Courage, Confidence, Consciousness, and Community. Here are three examples of books tied to the Common Core offered by Odean, and our own Heart Centered take.

Compassion

His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg: Courage, Rescue, and Mystery During World War II by Louise Borden

Summary: As a Swedish diplomat in Hungary during World War II, Raoul Wallenberg saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews with documents that he and his staff printed. The book speaks about his student days at University of Michigan and then his career as an international businessman. Many aspects of his life, such as his facility with languages and his business experience with Germans, worked to make him remarkably effective in his dangerous mission. His determination to do something meaningful was key as well, making it all the more heartbreaking that he disappeared when the Russians entered Hungary and his life ended in a Russian prison.

Odean's Recommendation: Use Reading Standard #5: Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and/or larger portions of the text relate to each other and the whole. Biographies in verse are unusual.  Have students analyze why the author used verse, what it added, and its overall effect on the story.

Our Addition: This book shows how compassion-empathy for the pain and struggle of others-can lead to compassionate action. Discuss with students how the structure of the biography increases their ability to understand and relate to Raoul Wallenberg's compassion. Allow students to create a Pro/Con List for his actions to better illustrate all the challenges he faced.

Courage

Marching For Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don't You Grow Weary

Summary: "The first time Joanne Blackmon was arrested, she was just ten years old," opens this powerful tribute to young people who participated in the Civil Rights movement. Blackmon was arrested when she accompanied her grandmother who, as an African-American, was trying to register to vote in Selma, Alabama, in 1963.  From this gripping incident, Partridge takes readers to 1965, when Martin Luther King, Jr., came to Selma to further the cause. The book documents the role of children and teenagers in protest marches, where they were attacked by dogs, tear gas, clubs, and even cattle prods. 

Odean's Recommendation: Use Reading Standard #2: Determine central ideas or themes and analyze their development; summarize key supporting details and ideas.  One key theme throughout this moving book is the role of music, including spirituals and protest songs, to keep up the spirits of the young people involved.  Have students find specific evidence of this theme to see how Partridge develops it.

Our Addition: The courage of youth in the Civil Rights Movement is not frequently highlighted. This book offers a chance for young people to see how people their own age have exhibited courage. Students can brainstorm ways, including using appropriate songs, that encourage them to be courageous or act courageously in their own lives.

Confidence

Bully For You, Teddy Roosevelt!

Summary: "What did Theodore Roosevelt want to do? Everything. And all at once if possible.  Plunging headlong into life, he refused to waste a single minute. Among other things, he studied birds, shot lions, roped steer, fought a war, wrote books, and discovered the source of a mystery river in South America."  So opens this lively biography of a man who became President of the United States. Quotes, anecdotes, and vivid prose make this an exceptionally readable biography of one of our more unusual Presidents. 

Odean's recommendation: Use Reading Standard #6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.  Clearly Fritz finds Roosevelt an interesting subject. Have students consider whether she is biased in his favor or against him, or is even-handed in her treatment. Ask them to point to specifics in the text.

Our Addition: We usually think of bullying as an undesirable trait. In fact, many of CEI's Heart Centered programs focus on the reduction and elimination of bullying. However, this novel uses the term "bully" to refer to Teddy Roosevelt's inherent confidence in himself, which allowed him to "bully" away his fears and insecurities to be successful in a wide variety of roles and occupations during his lifetime. We recommend incorporating confidence into the lesson by asking students to write one-page biographies where they can expand into the future on all the things they were confident enough to do.

Coming soon to CEI's Blog two more books, one for Consciousness and one for Community.

Kathleen Odean was a public and school librarian for 17 years and has previously served as chairperson for the Newbery Award Committee. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Rhode Island, an instructor in Mansfield University's online School Libraries and Information Technologies program, and has been a Seminar Presenter across the U.S. since 2000.

Compassion: Are You Doing Your Share?

These past five years I have focused my energy on the 5 Cs: Compassion, Courage, Consciousness, Confidence, and Community. The CEI staff and I write about them; I discuss them with new interns and research associates, who often contribute much time and energy to CEI because they, like me, passionately believe that the 5Cs will open doors to better lives for many. We believe we must start with schools and children. We must work on behalf of the next generation by starting while children are young to help them develop courage, compassion, and the other 5Cs.

I have found for myself that this focus has brought a new consciousness or awareness. It is almost as if I am seeing through a new lens. I am certain that I am kinder and more considerate because of my focus.  I also have experienced a greater feeling of courage -- a feeling that I need to speak for those who may not be heard; to consider those who may be marginalized; to work to right the wrongs, whether it be locally or globally.

The word "share" is an interesting word -- am I doing my share?  I feel as if I can't put a lid on my share -- that there is no ceiling to what I can and should do. Compassion should be part of the "all" of my life.

At CEI we are interested in your experiences, your views, your transformations. We believe leaders can build communities that make a difference in the lives of many. Claim your power -- it cannot be business as usual. The stakes are too high.