Building Culture and Climate Department of Social and Emotional Learning Summer 2012

Integration Culture and Climate Explicit Instruction SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING How does your school and your classroom feel to all the members of the learning community? Integration Culture and Climate How are you intentionally teaching the knowledge and skills of SEL? How do you intentionally address SEL through other academic areas and instructional strategies? Explicit Instruction Third leg culture and climate - - - whether in the SEL initiative or not, culture and climate remains an area in which focus never ends. Every meeting you have – every interaction you have - builds or detracts from the positive culture of your campus. Elementary counselors have been using “Have you filled a bucket today?” with students for years

What can I do now? Work on climate and culture Building community Student voice Focus on areas of effective SEL and instruction Engagement strategies Student talk vs teacher talk Reflecting on skills in group/cooperative learning

Getting to know you Teacher Preference Inventory I prefer to receive praise: In public In private Other:___________ I prefer to receive constructive feedback: In person email phone message Other:_____________________________________. If you want to motivate me, try __________________________________________________________. I feel valued when ____________________________________________________________________. I feel devalued when__________________________________________________________________. My productivity would improve if ________________________________________________________. Traits I value in a supervisor are ________________________________________________________. Something important to know about me is _______________________________________________.

Meeting and Greeting One of the most effective ways to build community in your staff is to change the way they sit in your meetings. How do most people choose to sit? At your table, think of three other ways that you could have people sit. For example, by month of birth. (wait 2 minutes) Share out – encourage people to say, “we had that” when agree with one shared. – Chart and type to send later

Building Strong Teams Use note cards with points for community building for movie activity – pair people, give card and markers

More ideas Mix it up lunch Experts and learners Lessons in art, music, P.E. Write a social contract or social compact together Share an org chart with everyone Have clear expectations for communication Allow people to solve their problems Consistently focus on what is best for students