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School Social Work NOW!
Supporting Innovative Practice,
Effective Leadership, and Applied Research
Vol 6, Issue 5
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Bullying and cyberbullying continue to plague schools, from elementary grades through high school and into higher education. It is our responsibility as school social workers to stay informed and to promote a bullying prevention culture. PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center offers many ideas that are both fun and informative and help to impress on students and others the harm that can be done when individuals of any age engage in bullying. Visit the PACER website and look at the resources and activities designed for elementary, middle, and high school. They are free or low cost and will help improve the climate in your school.
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Mix It Up At Lunch Day encourages students to identify, question and cross social boundaries with a goal of reducing prejudice and racism. This year, MIUAL Day occurs on October 27th. Learn more, start planning, and get ideas that can be easily and practically implemented.
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...Theodore Roosevelt's adage rings true: "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." We have known for a long time that developing positive relationships in the classroom, incorporating student engagement strategies, and an emphasis on social-emotional learning can positively impact students' academic success. But before we jump into proactive strategies that help build a stronger, more compassionate relationship between educator and student, it's important for us to understand the underlying factors that contribute to students "acting out." More here.
This is a transcript of an interview with Joel Rustucccia, EdD, with Massachusetts Advocates for Children. In it he talks about how trauma is not an event in itself but, rather, how an individual responds to the event. Traumatized students are overwhelmed, their sense of emotional and/or physical safety shattered, and their ability to cope undermined. Traumatized students are impacted in their brain systems that control language, memory, and sequential memory. Children become reactive and can have great difficulty with typical learning tasks as a result. Access transcript.
...The CCSS requires students to engage more deeply with complex text than most have dealt with in past schooling. But the task of "reading" also has additional challenges in that vocabulary must be clearly understood, not simply inferred from context, and the role and voice of the author and his or her perspective, and purpose in writing must be considered.
There will be more opportunities to write in reflective journals that include opinions and feelings about what one has read and discussed. Imagine how limited those reflections will be when students' emotion vocabulary is highly constrained. Make no mistake about it: Vocabulary is important in every content area. Vocabulary does not simply represent the definitions of words. Vocabulary refers to the labeling of constructs, and often complex constructs, that are needed to understand an increasingly multi-layered reality. Full article.
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...My research team and I did an extensive study of how inexperienced professionals perform relative to their experienced counterparts. We found that people in "rookie mode" - new to something important and hard - are surprisingly strong performers in terms of both innovation and speed. Why is this? Because they listen, seek guidance, experiment, and eagerly receive feedback.
Unfortunately, our research also showed that this rookie advantage doesn't hold true with new managers. Most are ineffective, if not disastrous, in their first six months in the role. They tend to make two big mistakes. Learn the mistakes.
How did they do it?
We often find ourselves asking this question when we observe or hear about leaders accomplishing extraordinary results in business. Studying great achievements and the associated mindsets can be one of the most fascinating aspects of global business - it is how we learn and get inspired to do great things ourselves. But it's not always obvious how great leaders do what they do to succeed, and how we might replicate this success. In fact, many of these leaders can look like they have a unique genius that is unattainable to the rest of us. Or is it? Find out.
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...From the view-point of social-cognitive theorists...people react to life experiences as they perceive them to be; regardless of whether their perceptions are objectively accurate or not... Consequently, the perception that students have of their school environment is argued to have an impact on their behaviour within the school setting. School climate has indeed been found to be linked to a wide range of important school outcomes such as academic achievement, learning motivation...and school avoidance. A significant connection has also been found with self-esteem, depressive symptoms and challenging behaviour. Behavioural problems with links to school climate include aggression, school delinquency, and bullying. Following a review of anti-bullying intervention programmes, Parada (2000, p. 15) claimed that "interventions which changed the social milieu of schools are the most appropriate when dealing with school bullying."
Many researchers are convinced that the climate of a school has a direct impact on the attitudes and behaviour of students, including the prevalence of bullying. Complete study.
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The Community-Partnered School Behavioral Health Modules
~ Free Training Series and CEUs Offered ~
www.mdbehavioralhealth.com
Signs of Suicide Program & Gatekeeper Training Module 1.5 CEUs. Free.
from Teachers College Press. A hard copy will be mailed to you. Free.
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Recommended Read for October
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The New Bullying -- How Social Media, Social
Exclusion, Laws and Suicide Have Changed
Our Definition of Bullying, and What to Do
By MSU School of Journalism
Amazon: This book is primarily concerned with the issue of how bullying has changed from about 1997 to 2012. The authors' thesis was that bullying has changed considerably, but that some adults are not aware of the change. This book is intended to document that change. Among the changes that were examined are the rise of cyberbullying, social exclusion as a form of bullying, new laws about school bullying, computer crimes and threats and a growing willingness on the part of the public to talk about bullying and its perceived connection to suicide and violence, especially in schools.
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| Professional Development Opportunities |
~ updated -- check new state listings ~
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Survey Participation Request
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School Mental Health Professional Survey
School Mental Health Professionals (e.g. school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, school nurses and others) are invited to take an anonymous survey about inter-professional collaboration between school mental health clinicians and pediatric primary care providers. Participation involves answering questions about your current practices, comfort in collaborating with pediatric primary care providers, training needs, and beliefs about inter-professional collaboration. If you participate in this study you will have the option of providing your email address to be entered into a raffle for one of two $50 gift cards.
The survey should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. By completing the survey, you are indicating your consent to participate in our study. Please contact Prerna Arora, Ph.D. with questions. Access survey. |
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...Data on bullying incidence was taken from the 2013 YRBSS and included 59,472 9th-12th-grade students from public and private schools.
The researchers found that US states that adhered to at least one antibullying policy recommended by the DOE had a 24% lower rate of reported bullying and a 20% lower rate of reported cyberbullying, compared with states that did not adhere to such policies. What is more, the team identified three specific DOE-recommended policies - statement of scope, description of prohibited behaviors, and requirements for school districts to develop and implement local policies - that were consistently associated with lower rates of reported bullying and cyberbullying. Learn more.
...While some researchers found teachers are the most important school-related factor, outside factors - including individual and family characteristics - may have four to eight times the impact as teachers do on student achievement, according to a Rand Corp. report.
Kellie Irwin, who has been a school social worker in Woodland Hills for more than 30 years, said, "A lot of my job is trying to get the kids to a place they can learn...You can't expect a child to score well on the Keystone Exams or the algebra test or whatever subject you want if they are hungry, they don't have proper clothing or they don't know where they're going to sleep that night." Read more.
When Grace Enick, now 25, was in a Christian elementary school, no one noticed her behavior after she was raped in second grade. "All I wanted was for someone to ask me what was wrong," she said.
No one did. In recent years, educators have become more aware that some students are carrying emotional baggage that can interfere with their ability to learn. They may be dealing with trauma from exposure to street violence, domestic violence, drug addiction, sexual abuse, poverty and homelessness, or grief over a parent's death or illness or unsettled feelings over their parents' divorce.
While some of the traumas are more prevalent in poor, urban communities, neither wealth nor suburbia provides a shield. Continue.
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School Social Work Positions
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Continued - listed by state abbreviation
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Death and grief will affect the lives of almost all children at some point, often leading to struggles with academic performance, social relationships, and behavior. The death of a loved one is immensely challenging for anyone, but children and teens can find it particularly difficult. Scholastic.com, through the generosity of the New York Life Foundation, hosted a live, interactive webcast on the subject of Children and Grief. Using actual scenarios from children and parents, childhood grief expert, pediatrician, and author Dr. David Schonfeld, MD, and Chris Park, president of the New York Life Foundation, talked about misconceptions, and imparted valuable advice on how educators and all other caring adults can best support grieving children-whether it's right after the loss or years later. Download webcast.
Archived by SAMHSA & KSOC-TV
One Hour in Duration
This archived wepisode describes SAMHSA's definition of trauma, the long-term effects of unaddressed trauma, and ways communities can work together to minimize the impact of trauma. View webisode.
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SchoolGrants
SchoolGrants was created in 1999 as a way to share grant information with PK-12 educators. Grant writing can be intimidating to those who are new at it. SchoolGrants helps ease those fears by providing online tips to those who need them. Finding suitable grant opportunities requires a great deal of time and research - SchoolGrants reduces the effort by listing a variety of opportunities available to public and private nonprofit elementary and secondary schools and districts across the United States. Sample grants are available as well as the opportunity to sign up for a listserv and newsletter. More info.
4th Quarter Deadline: December 31, 2015
Grants of up to $500 are available for "innovative programs, events, or projects" from the Meemic Foundation for Michigan, Wisconsin or Illinois. Apply online using their easy application that takes less than 30 minutes to complete. These grants are open to any employee of a K-12 public or private school. Universities and colleges may also apply. Fill-in-the-blank application.
Grants are accepted year round, but the fourth quarter cycle ends December 31st. Grants are up to $500. Recipients will be notified by February 15th.
The foundation says it supports "basically anything that supports teachers and enhances the student's educational experience" - from field trips to books to behavior modification programs; science, music, or art equipment to professional development.
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