Welcome toLearning about Learning:

Building Alliances

Please sign in and fill out a nametag with your name, the names of your children, and the ages of your children.

Icebreaker

>Learn your partner’s name and the names and ages of their children.

>Come up with 2 examples of an alliance.

Alliance: people working together for the good of something they have in common

Some Preliminary Questions

>What are the Learning about Learning Workshops?

>What is my role in the workshop?

>What is your role in the workshop?

>What is the Parking Lot?

What are Learning about Learning Workshops?

> Developed by All Kinds of Minds, a nonprofit organization co-founded by Dr. Mel Levine and Charles Schwab

> Facilitated by educators who have attended the Schools Attuned Program, a program that prepares educators to meet the learning needs of all students in their classroom

> Additional topics include mastering the challenge of homework, paying attention, getting organized for learning, and learning and self-esteem

What is my role in the workshop?

>Facilitator = encourage and guide conversation among you

>Facilitator provide expertise on neurodevelopmental variation

What is your role in the workshop?

>Listen

>Discuss

>Collaborate

What is the Parking Lot?

>A temporary place for unanswered questions

Workshop Goals

> Recognize of the value of building an alliance between parents and caregivers, teachers, and children

> Identify characteristics of effective communication

> Learn strategies for conducting effective conversations to support building alliances and student learning

> Plan a conversation about student learning

Communication

A process by which individuals exchange information through a

common system of symbols, signs, or behaviors

A process by which individuals exchange information through a

common system of symbols, signs, or behaviors

Process: a series of actions bringing

about a result

A process by which individuals exchange information through a

common system of symbols, signs, or behaviors

Exchange: to give and receive equally

A process by which individuals exchange information through a

common system of symbols, signs, or behaviors

Information: a collection of facts

A process by which individuals exchange information through a

common system of symbols, signs, or behaviors

Common: belonging to or shared by two or more

Ineffective

Effective

Words – what we say

Tone – how we say something; voice inflection

Body Language – the way our bodies communicate what we’re thinking and feeling

Effective Communication Activity(5 minutes)

1. Work as a table team.

2. Determine how you might advise Paula’s mom and teacher to be more effective communicators.

3. Write responses in the column labeled “Effective.”

Who am I?(3 minutes)

1. Highlight terms you consider personal strengths.

2. Using a different color, highlight terms you consider personal weaknesses.

Highlight as many or as few as you’d like.

“We acknowledge one another as equals. Conversation is an opportunity to meet together as peers, not as roles. What makes us equal is that we’re human beings. A second thing that makes us equal is that we need each other. Whatever we know, it is not sufficient. We can’t see enough of the whole. We can’t figure it out alone. Somebody sees something the rest of us might need.”

-Margaret WheatleyTurning to One Another: Simple conversations to restore hope to the future

Communication Plan

Step 1: Consider the characteristics of the

communicators.

Step 2: Identify strengths and affinities.

Step 3: Identify challenges.

Step 4: Identify strategies for success.

Step 5: Communicate optimism.

Step 6: Identify strategies to check for

understanding.

Which is the SEE statement?

1. Paula’s brother likes when the other team cheers for him.

2. Paula’s brother smiles when the other team cheers for him.

Which is the SEE statement?

1. Paula smiles and says she cannot wait to get to school each morning.

2. Paula likes school.

Activity Instructions

1. Choose a partner

2. Re-read Angela’s case study on page 7

3. Identify Angela’s strengths, affinities, and challenges