Heading 1NDMTSS Conference
Description
Teachers have always needed to know and practice protective strategies in their social emotional first aid kits to manage the daily stressors of working on the front lines of a human-service oriented profession. That need has never been greater given the massive increase in uncertainty and unpredictability in the teaching profession and in one's personal life due to COVID.
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In short, teaching is emotional labor-- the effort required to manage and metabolize strong emotions like anger, shame, guilt, anxiety, and overwhelm, as well as generate and stoke positive emotions like joy, hope, and compassion.
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Stress significantly diminishes a teacher's capacity to regulate their negative emotions and cultivate positive emotions. Ironically, teachers who leave the profession often cite their inability to cope with their own emotional reactions to loss of control, unpredictability, and lack of purpose in their teaching as the primary reason for burnout.
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There are many, many strategies and practices rooted in cognitive and affective neuroscience and social and behavioral sciences that teachers can learn, practice, and integrate into their personal and professional lives as teachers to metabolize stress, manage negative energy, protect themselves from the burnout cycle, and find joy in teaching the whole year through!
Learning Objectives
In this session, teachers will:
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Explore the core elements of the teacher burnout cycle and learn how to protect one's self from the 2 paths to burning out,
The Present School ProjectTM
is an innovative professional development training designed to engage school staff, educators, and administrators in expanding their knowledge and embodiment of the foundational elements of holistic school wellness:
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
Embodied Equity
Soul Justice
Social Justice
The Present Schools ProjectTM
Our WHY
We believe that if we want to both teach and equip our students with the necessary skills, practices, and habits of mind of SEL, well-being, and anti-racist ways of being in the world that
inspire them to live their life with joy and dignity,
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we must first be well, become skilled in our own SEL competencies, and embody a Presence that engenders trust from our students.
We believe that the work of social justice starts on the inside-- we call this inner practice SOUL JUSTICE. If we aspire to be in relationship to our students and those in our school community from a place of authenticity, respect, and unconditional positive regard, we must first cultivate a relationship with our own selves that honors, respects, and witnesses our inner diversity, truth, and spirit.
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If we want to create classroom conditions that honor students' identities and lived experiences and prioritize their agency and personal power in their learning and self-exploration, we must also explore our own relationship to our diverse identities, lived-experiences, and sense of power and agency.
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"This training finds its way into improving our relationships with everyone we encounter on our mission to teach. Self-love as the cornerstone of racial justice seems simple, cutting edge, and essential all at once."
Elementary School Teacher
Our HOW
We engage our core training topics in an integrated and innovative way--
we intentionally LEVERAGE the inherent stressors of the profession as the practice arena
for our SEL, Well-Being, and Embodied Equity development.
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Just like the lotus flower draws all its nutrients to bloom from the muck in the pond, we can learn practical, yet powerful, strategies and practices that allow us to metabolize stress in a way that not only dramatically diminishes burnout, but burns stress as fuel to burn in to our calling and capacity to be of service to our students with our whole selves.
Stress can be an invaluable catalyst for growth and change!
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Through our training, school personnel not only learn about the core features and competencies of SEL, well-being in a human-centered profession, and how to exude a presence of compassion, reverence, and respect for all students, they experience how to trans-form experiences of stress, personal triggers, and uncertainty into their greatest opportunity to actualize the key features of being well in our work and our personal lives.
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Our FOCUS
Engage school personnel with strategies, practices, and experiences rooted in neuroscience, social and emotional learning (SEL), trauma-responsive care, and mindfulness to actualize their individual core competencies of SEL: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making
Engage school personnel in experiencing and practicing the 4 elements of the Infinite Well-Being CycleTM to cultivate the 5 elements of Embodied Equity: perspective taking, integrity, self-awareness, truth telling, and unconditional positive regard
Explore the intersection between social and emotional learning (SEL), well-being, healing, and anti-racist practices to cultivate SOUL Justice (the inside work of embodied equity) and SOCIAL Justice (the outside embodiment equity-based dispositions).
Our curriculum draws upon the following research-based practices that support educators and school personnel in developing and practicing mental and emotional resilience:
Mindfulness
SEL
Trauma-Responsive Classrooms
Healing-Centered Design
Restorative Practice
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6-8 hours
Training LENGTH Options include​
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(2) 3-4 hour sessions
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(3) 2.5 hour sessions
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Training FORMAT ​
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In-Person
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School personnel earn up to 6-8
"clock hours"
of professional learning engagement
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This 6-8 hour, in-person, training is $10,500
(up to 125 staff)
Thank you very much for your incredible workshop today. My staff were engaged, inspired, and felt a sense of healing and restoration.
This training has helped change the mindset of my staff from surviving to striving. My school experienced significant trauma last year as two staff members died from COVID-19. Jennifer and Nuhu created a space for my staff to heal, care, and restore their love for teaching.
I recommend that every school in Minnesota take advantage of this excellent professional development for educators.
Elementary and Middle School Principal
Testimonial
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Session COMPONENTS
Intellect & Awareness
Direct instruction on current, research-based foundational knowledge and data about SEL, Educator/School Personnel Well-Being, and Anti-Racist Practices
Mental Health
Mindful mental health meditation practices that calm a busy mind, cultivate non-judgment, and expand perspective taking
Body Wellness
Gentle mindful moment practices that strengthen the parasympathetic nervous system's relaxation response
Integration
Put Into Practice training handbook that outlines detailed practices to integrate core concepts in one's personal and professional life
Training TOPICS
Prioritizing Soul Justice: Exploring how the relationship to the self based on compassion and self-awareness is a cornerstone of social justice. Experiencing how the 5 core elements of Social and Emotional Learning are essential elements of "soul justice" and how embodying these 5 competences creates the necessary foundational conditions for embodying equity through social justice practices.
Stoking Social Awareness and Embodied Equity Through Stress: Leveraging stress as a catalyst to cultivating soul and social awareness to intentionally create opportunities to be "in-tune" with the self while we "attune" with our students, peers, and administration from a place of unconditional positive regard.
Compassion and Truth Telling: Exploring the science of (self) compassion, and how compassion and unconditional positive regard are essential dispositions of embodied equity that can be learned and cultivated through the stress of the profession.
The 5 Core Competencies of Embodied Equity: Exploring the core competencies and foundational practices to embodying social justice and defining one's "standard of justice" in education.
Your Trainers
Nuhu Sims
Equity Director
Brooklyn Center Community Schools
Jen Clifden
Founder & Director
Present Teacher Training
Present Well-Being LLC
