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:
Soul Justice/Soul Health
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
Embodied Equity
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The Present School ProjectTM
SoWashCo DEI staff
Our WHY
We believe that if we want to inspire and equip our students, school staff, and community partners 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 soul health and SEL competencies so to embody a Presence that engenders trust from those we are called to care for and serve.
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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The Present Schools ProjectTM Retention Specialist Training for DEI Staff is an experientially immersive experience, in that the participant is guided to both practice and integrate the core principles of teacher holistic bodymindsoul health while simultaneously learning how to mentor teachers in developing these core competencies through the innate stressors of the profession.
Becoming skilled in the personal development of SEL, Embodied Equity, and Soul Care Competencies allows for those who create and hold space for new teachers and teachers of color to experience the impact of one’s healthy presence or soul texture. In this training, educational professionals become relationship researchers who learn how to strategically stoke their presence through the art of soul justice (health relationship with the self) so as to embody social justice in the school setting by intentionally creating spaces of belonging, safety, respect, and unconditional positive regard for those in their care.
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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 FOCUS
Engage DEI caregivers 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, soul health and healing, and anti-racist practices to cultivate SOUL Justice (the inside work of embodied equity) and SOCIAL Justice (the outside embodiment equity-based dispositions).
Session COMPONENTS
Intellect & Awareness
Direct instruction on current, research-based foundational knowledge and data about SEL, soul health, burnout prevention, 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 handouts that outline detailed practices to integrate core concepts in one's personal and professional life
Training TOPICS
Restoration and Retention
Engaging and co-creating spaces of restoration and resonance in one's calling to serve in schools.
Relationship Research: Compassion and Truth Telling
Exploring the science of (self) compassion and the experiencing the soul the of 4 step C.A.R.E model for creating and holding space for the self and others to experience the healing (and helping) power of compassion. We will also explore how to create and maintain healthy energetic boundaries with your role and those in your care so to maintain your centeredness and energy in your calling.
Stress as the Catalyst to Cultivating Soul and Social Justice
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" and strategically create spaces of resonance with those in our circle of care.
The 5 Core Competencies of Embodied Equity
Exploring the core competencies and foundational practices to embodying social justice and defining one's "standard of soul and social justice" in education.
Session 1
Restoration and Retention
Our focus
Our practice
Step One
Your inner work of noticing and focusing on your energy is where your work as retention specialist begins. It is important to first understand how to restore you own energy before you hold space for another to express and restore theirs:
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GROUND your energy when you feel it has been tugged in many different directions all day long,
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GENERATE your energy through curiosity of what restored and drained your energy that day,
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SHARE your energy with others in ways that create resonance and the co-creation of hopeful and joyful energy.
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For the next several days before we reconnect again as a group, locate page 11 in the handouts, and place it someplace in clear view so you can look at it daily. Flow your attention from the bottom up.
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Every day-- ask yourself start to get in the habit of having a conversation with yourself that asks:
1. How have I GROUNDED my energy today?
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How have I connected with what I need?​
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How have I connected with what I want?
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How have I engaged in active relaxation today to ground any anxious or overwhelming energy ?
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How have I slowed down just a bit today to come into contact with my breath and how my body is feeling?
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​2. How have I GENERATED positive energy today?
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How have I responded to a stressful situation with perspective and awareness?
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How have I intentionally stoked positive energy today?
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Have I used my power of expansive perspective to find a higher purpose in a painful/difficult situation?
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​3. How have I SHARED my energy today?
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How have I responded to a situation in my work or personal life where I was able to asses what "we" or the situation needed, and I showed up with healthy energy to contribute?
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How has my investment in intentionally grounding and generating energy allowed me to show up in my work or personal life in a way that I feel good about the energy I am able to contribute?
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How has simply being present for a person a difficult situation with a calm and centered presence positively impacted what happened?
The Present Teacher Restoration Project
Supplemental practices
When it comes to becoming relationship experts in a relationship-base profession like yours, you are always in training.
Throughout our time together, we will offer up many "invitations" to practice. You are invited to engage these suggested practices in a way that is a right-fit for you. That means find the sweet spot of integrating (1) practice into your daily habits without overdoing it. We will offer a plethora of practices, and you do not need to do them all all at once to be effective.
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Play with 1 or 2 specific practices for a week at a time. Keep things simple! It is through the integration of 1 or 2 simple practices in your daily life that all the goodness will flow.
Know that a wonderful complement to our training is the Present Teacher Restoration Project.You have unlimited access to this (8) 30 minute module training through the end of June 2024. I will suggest particular modules that align with our session topics. These, again, are simply additional invitations to deepen the work.
The excellent new is that the training simply takes intentional attention and awareness. Every single day, you are already thinking, feeling, relating, creating energy, and engaging in relationships.
The primary difference with our work is you are now focusing on researching your patterns of thinking, feeling, relating, creating energy, and engaging in relationships SO TO better understand how to strategically restore yourself (protecting yourself from burnout and compassion fatigue) while you systematically become a professional relationship researcher whose is called to retain the souls who are called to serve in education.
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When you come to understand how your energy works, you will intuitively and strategically create spaces of resonance with those in your care in a way that allows you engage them in their energy restoration and revitalization.
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To complement our work and dispositional focal points (*see above or page 1 of the session handouts) for our fist session, please also engage the Present Teacher Restoration Project.
MODULE 1: Prioritizing Your Well-Being
The power of attention, attitude, and awareness
Session 2 & 3
Compassion & Truth Telling
Soul and Social Justice
Our focus
In session 2 and our upcoming session 3, we will continue to explore the role curiosity (vs. shock and judgment) and compassion play in helping to create and hold spaces of safety for those in your care to feel a sense of freedom in being truthful with their needs and desires.
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At our last session, we engaged in a circle discussion around the question:
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What does a practice of freedom look like in your role?
As a collective group, we listed the following characteristics:
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Safe space to tell the truth
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Regulated space
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Safe emotional support
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Voice
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Responsive to student needs
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Community support
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Building relationships
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Balance tough love ( warm demander)
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Engaging
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Comfortable
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Know the child for who they are
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Curious
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Open space for expression
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Freedom to express the self
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Calm vibes
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Concrete expectations
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Tell the truth of whole self
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In your role in education, you are powerful space creators and space holders. We will continue to practice at our next session on Tuesday, December 5, how to intentionally create and hold space for others so that they have the opportunity to experience the states of freedom listed above.
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Creating and holding space that flows with the feltness of freedom is not accidental-- it is intentional and possible to create as many times as we desire.
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Our Social Justice Infinite Well-Being Model is one way to intentionally create and engage spaces we create with Curiosity, Attentiveness, Reverence, and Empathy.
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Always remember that you have all the time in the world to practice and integrate everything we are exploring together. Practice picking up one element of the model below and be intentional with it as you are in a particular space. When we see each other on 12/5, we will discuss your experiences!
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To complement our work and dispositional focal points (*see above or page 1 of the session handouts) for our fist session, please also engage the Present Teacher Restoration Project.
MODULE 7: Teacher Restoration as Social Justice
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