5 Scientific Ways To Build Cultures of Kindness for Better Learning & Behaviour

5 Scientific Ways To Build Cultures of

Kindness for Better Learning & Behaviour

Lynne Kenney, PsyD @drlynnekenney lynnekenney.com

Today’s Landscape• Discuss what’s happening in classroom

management today?• Explore simple activities to enhance

competence, confidence, communication and collaboration in classrooms by teaching social-emotional literacy.  

• Apply current research to practical strategies that work quickly and effectively in elementary classrooms.

Behavioral Disruptions on The Rise

68 percent of elementary teachers, 64 percent of middle school teachers, and 53 percent of high school report an increase is disruptive behavior in school. (Primary Sources: America’s Teachers on the Teaching Profession Gates Foundation, 2014)

Approximately 50% of instructional time is spent dealing with inappropriate classroom behaviors (Simpson & Allday, 2008). These behavioral issues affect the entire classroom; students are distracted from learning, and teachers spend more time on discipline and less time on instruction.

Teacher Attrition

• Within the first five years of teaching, on average, 40-50% of all teachers will leave the profession (Joiner & Edwards, 2008; Simon & Johnson, 2013).

• Teachers are leaving at twice the rate of nurses and five times the rate of lawyer’s (Waddell, 2010).

• Job dissatisfaction is primarily due to student discipline problems, poor salary and lack of administrative support.

Economic Costs

• Lack of teacher retention drains resources, costs the school districts money, reduces teacher quality, and widens the achievement gap (Shields, 2009). Schools lose more than $7 billion annually due to teacher attrition (Shields,

2009).

The SEL Research Guides Us: What matters most

Teacher attitudes + behavior have a significant effect on a student’s perception of his/her school experience (Howard, 2002). Empathy & Kindness - Two critical teacher-student characteristics are empathy and warmth (Roorda, Kooman, Spilt, & Oort, 2001).   Engagement - Teacher-student involvement Influences the quality of students’ behavioral and emotional engagement in the classroom (Davis, 2003). Belonging - Children want to belong, feel a part of a bigger purpose and feel valued (Beck & Malley, 2003). Social-Emotional Competency - SEL skills lead to economic and social success (Deming, 2016; Weinberger, 2013).

What is SELElias et al. (1997) defined SEL as the process of acquiring core competencies to recognize and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, appreciate the perspectives of others, establish and maintain positive relationships, make responsible decisions, and handle interpersonal situations constructively.

How does SEL make a difference

“Being taught social-emotional learning skills in school has had a dramatic impact on students’ lives, and there is national data to prove it. A recent meta-analysis of 213 school based studies involving over 270,000 students (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011) found that, compared to controls, SEL participants demonstrated significantly improved social-emotional skills, attitudes, behavior, and academic performance that reflected an 11-percentile-point gain in achievement.” R. Keeth Matheny in CASEL, 2016

Core Classroom Social Competencies

Activity #1: It all BEGINS with How You Show Up (Young, 2016)

According to Hamre and Pianta (2011) “...the quality of teacher-child relationships is a stronger predictor of behavioral than of academic outcomes” (p. 634).

Relationships characterized by high levels of support and low levels of conflict obtain high scores on measures of academics and of behavioral adjustment (Wu, Hughes, & Kwok, 2010).

My Mindful Intention ....

This year I will ....

Activity #2: Be a Whole Molecule (Arimany, 2015)

• When students feel that their teachers value and care for them as individuals, they are more willing to comply with teacher expectations (Boynton & Boynton, 2005).

• Solid relationships begin with self-compassion and self-care.

Lay a Clear Foundation of Classroom Culture

Your culture is the foundation of how you live, learn and behave in class.  Culture is the landscape in which learning takes place in your classroom. When you collaborate with the students to define the culture of your classroom, they are empowered by the social engagement and feel greater ownership in the learning experience. 

Activity #3: Begin with the Cognitive Conversation about Culture + Kindness

Cognitive Conversations Improve Self-Awareness

Having Cognitive Conversations with children improves their self -awareness and knowledge of the existence of and application of skills that might have previously gone unknown, unseen or out of awareness. Awareness is power, when we know more, we can do better.

Who, What, When, Where, How

Activity #4: Classroom Culture Agreement

Activity #5: Classroom Mission Statement

Activity #6: How we CAN do it!Provide a Place for

the Children to

FISH

With Clear Cultures of Kindness We CAN

• Improve teacher retention + reduce stress

• Support empowered + skillful teachers• Improve job satisfaction• Develop better managed classrooms• Raise better behaved students• Create lifelong social skills for students• Ensure better academic outcomes for

children• Develop lifelong adaptive skills and

economic success for students

Activity #7: When Trauma, Grief, or Poverty Exist

Seek To Understand Before You Intervene

8 Simple Actions That Create Meaningful Changes

1. Bring your best most nurtured self to school each morning2. Define Your Culture3. Have a plan - Know where you are aiming and how you will get there4. Apply cultural structure, routines + rituals consistently5. Be mindfully present with intention6. Stay engaged7. Allow students to mentor and teach8. While teaching new skills, notice the good