Youth Connections Charter School

Creating a Sense of CommunityConstructing Brain-Based Curriculum

December 2012

Overview• September: Introduction to Classroom

Management and Curriculum Building

• October: Class. Management: Creating a Container for LearningCurriculum: Brain Compatible Curriculum – Concepts & Topics

• Dec. 7: Class. Management: Prevention: Creating CommunityCurriculum: Identifying Desired Results

Overview• Jan. 18: Class. Management: Intervention

Curriculum: Learning Styles and Experiential Lessons

• Feb. 15: Class. Management: Invention Curriculum: Instructional Tools, Strategies, & Assessments

• March 8: Reflections, Sharing, and Feedback

Ground Rules

• Be Here and Present• Participate• Make it work for you• Please let me know…

Best Class Ever: Facilitator

• Allow for movement• Variety of instruction• Have breaks: 2 short

breaks – 7 minutes• Useful content (ask for

feedback)• Use of media to

enhance learning, music, art…

• Use PowerPoint sparingly

Best Class Ever: Everybody

• Positivity• Be considerate of each

other (e.g. smelly perfumes)

• Be open• Participate• Be present – body and

mind• Only volunteer yourself

• Choices• Watch our sense of

humor

Review

Brain Research

• Most learning occurs in the Cerebrum (frontal lobe)

• If we feel under threat, we cannot learn – our brains won’t let us

• Emotions and learning are intricately tied together

• Absence of threat is essential for real learning to occur

• Our brain looks for patterns

National Center on Response to Intervention: http://www.rti4success.org

PII

• Prevention is anything we do to prevent conflict in our programs or to prepare for it before it happens.

• Intervention is responding when conflicts do happen.

• Invention is creating something new and constructive out of the situation.

PREVENTION

INTERVENTION

INVENTION

PBIS Continuum and PII Approach*

* Positive Behavior

Interventions & Supports and Prevention,

Intervention , Invention

INVENTION

INTERVENTION

PREVENTION

What does the data show?

Reacting

Acting without thinking

Responding

Thinking before we act

The Container Concept

Creating Conditions for Community

1. Times/situations in your life when you have experienced a sense of community.

2. What were the qualities of that experience?

3. Definition of “sense of community”

From Group to Community“In genuine community there are no sides. It is not always easy but by the time they reach community the members have learned how to give up cliques and factions. They have learned how to listen to each other and how not to reject each other. Sometimes consensus in community is reached with miraculous rapidity. But at other times it is arrived at only after lengthy struggle. Just because it is a safe place does not mean community is a place without conflict. It is, however, a place where conflict can be resolved without physical or emotional bloodshed and with wisdom as well as grace. A community is a group that can fight gracefully.”

M. Scott Peck M.D.The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace

Thomas Sergiovanni states that “the need for community is universal. A sense of belonging, of continuity, of being connected to others and to ideas and values that make our lives meaningful and significant -- these needs are shared by all of us.”

“The people in one’s life are like the pillars on one’s porch you see life through. And sometimes they hold you up. And sometimes they lean on you, and sometimes it’s just enough to know they’re standing by.”

Anonymous

Community is consciousness of connection, combining and comprising: Courtesy, communication, collaboration, cooperation, consideration, caring, compassion, curiosity, commonalities, common goals, confidence, creativity, courage, challenge, camaraderie, and conceivably chocolate.

CTC Group, 2004

Conditions for Community to Develop• IntentionalityInvitational EducationTime

• Safe and Trusting EnvironmentSafe EnvironmentRelational Trust

• Balancing “Me” and “We”Empowerment (Me)Social Commitment (We)

Conditions for Community to Develop• PositivityNurturing the PositivePositivity Ratio

• OwnershipFocus (goal setting)3 R’s: Routines, Rituals, Responsibilities

• Others?

IntentionalityInvitational Education – a Container Framework

Making time for relationships

Invitational Education

www.invitationaleducation.net

INVITATIONAL EDUCATION

INTENTIONALLY UNINTENTIONALLY

INVITING INTENTIONALLY INVITING

UNINTENTIONALLY INVITING

DISINVITING INTENTIONALLY DISINVITING

UNINTENTIONALLY DISINVITING

Invitationaleducation.net

Positivity

Reflections on the 10

• Joy• Gratitude• Serenity• Interest• Hope

• Pride• Amusement• Inspiration• Awe• Love

From: Fredrickson, B. (2009) Positivity: Groundbreaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity, and Thrive. New York, NY: Crown Archetype.

Positivity

Individuals1. Broadens our minds

and our hearts

2. Transforms us for the better

3. Fuels Resilience

Groups/Teams1. Asking questions and

focusing outward (open to new ideas)

2. Connectivity and attunement of the team. More responsive to one another

3. Bouncing back from adversity rather than getting stuck in self-absorbed advocacy

Positivity Ratio

The Tipping PointFlourishing = 3 to 1

“… only when positivity ratios are higher than 3 to 1 is positivity in sufficient supply to seed human flourishing.” (Fredrickson, 2009)

Positivityration.com

Constructing Brain Based Curriculum

The Experiential Learning Model

Concepts and Topics

• Enduring Understandings – a description of the concepts

• Essential Questions - the bridge connecting concepts and topics

Application

Alone or in pairs:

Using a curriculum map, choose a unit to create or amend. • Identify concepts & topics for the unit• Create enduring understandings: 1-2

overarching and 1-2 unit (see hand out)• Create 3-5 essential questions for the chosen

unit

“Education – true education is not a process of pouring in from without, but of calling forth what is within. It’s not a process of memorization or socialization or instillation, it’s a process of nurturing, of allowing, of evoking. It’s a process of bringing forth the person one is meant to be.”

~ Jeff White