What's Joy Got To Do With It?

It May just be that time of year again; that time when warm temperatures are almost a norm, flowers are in full bloom and summer seems within grasp. The month of May also ushers in a few unique celebrations and occurrences. May’s full moon, also known as the flower moon, will reach its peak the night of May 15th and into the wee hours of the morning on the 16th and will coincide with a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse will be visible from Virginia Beach without the aid of a telescope if you look toward the Southern sky. While the Moon will appear less bright than usual, it will not be completely dark. Another fact that May be worth noting is that in any given year, no month ever begins on the same day of the week as May does, nor does any other month-end on the same day of the week as May does. May is the traditional month for honoring the great work that teachers do all year long and the month we celebrate Memorial Day as a way to honor and remember those who gave their lives for our country’s freedoms.

Undeniably, May is a busy time in schools as we enter the final marking period of the year and engage in SOL testing, among many other things. The fully-packed calendar of a school year’s end can feel formidable, but Jane Cofie, Responsive Classroom Program Developer, reminds educators how important it is to make the decision to include time to pause so that we can be fully present in the moments, thoughts and emotions that come with this closing time in the school years and maintain the balance that allows us to be at our best. As we pause and find this balance for ourselves, we are better able to support students and encourage them to reflect on their successes and accomplishments during a time that often feels just as busy and often overwhelming to them. May the fourth be with you as you embark on this milestone month; take time to enjoy the celebrations and occurrences that bring you balance and joy!

In this issue:

• Three Key Messages About SEL

• Decisions, Decisions, Decisions (and Strategies to Help Students Make Responsible Ones)

• The Vroom-Yetton Decision Model for Making Decisions

• Thalia Elementary’s Digital Breakout

• Professional Learning Opportunities

• Action for Happiness May Well-Being Calendar

In VBCPS, we have three core beliefs, or key messages about SEL:

• Key Message #1: Social-emotional learning helps people develop the essential skills they need to succeed in school and life.

• Key Message #2: Social-emotional learning is focused on creating a safe and inclusive learning environment for all students.

• Key Message #3: Social-emotional learning is about the well-being of young people and adults.

Each of these messages is further supported in the VBCPS SEL Message Maps. We will continue to highlight these key messages in each edition of the Joy Newsletter by providing strategies and showcasing work around the division that aligns with one of the five key SEL competencies: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision-Making, which are outlined in the VBCPS SEL Framework. In addition to the resources shared in this newsletter, school staff, central support teams, and PLCs interested in learning more about integrating SEL into their work can find professional learning support within the VBCPS SEL Learning Action Guide.

The SEL competency focus for May is Responsible Decision-Making. VBCPS defines this as, “Making caring, constructive and responsible decisions about personal behavior and social interactions based on ethical standards, social norms and safety concerns.” The aligned skills for this competency are:

• Gather, analyze and evaluate information and ideas

• Raise vital questions

• Develop positive solutions to problems, challenges, or unmet needs

• Seek or offer support and help when needed

• Balance different aspects of life (academic, physical and emotional) to achieve well-being

American author Wilfred Peterson, known for his decades-long career as a writer for This Week and Science of the Mind magazine said, “Decision is the spark that ignites action. Until a decision is made, nothing happens.... Decision is the courageous facing of issues, knowing that if they are not faced, problems will remain forever unanswered” illustrating the immense value of responsible decision-making.

It has been estimated that on average, adults make 35,000 decisions a day, underscoring the need to help students be more independent, responsible, and confident in recognizing and making responsible choices. It gives them a sense of control over their lives, reducing anxiety and promoting resilience. The action of responsible decision-making is dependent on skills in critical thinking, open-mindedness, logic and problem-solving. Responsible decision-making often employs empathy also, considering the needs of and impact on others as we seek out the best solutions. Peyton Curley, Elementary educator and author of the Growth Mindset Workbook for Kids shares, “Choices and decisions come in all shapes and sizes. Some are small, like what color shirt to wear or type of cereal to eat. Some are big, like where to go to college or what job offer to accept. And then there are all the ones in between. Students are making decisions in the classroom all day long! Some choices are easy. You can clearly see the consequences (good and bad) and know exactly what to do. Many choices are not easy to make for various reasons. Emotions can steer the decision instead of logical reasoning. Maybe we feel deeply one choice would make us happy, but we know logically it wouldn’t be healthy. Sometimes both options presented aren’t desirable. Sometimes the choices or options aren’t exactly clear. There might be big risks. Decisions might cause a big change with unknown results. Facing big decisions can lead to stress, so it’s important to have skills to tackle them. Drawing upon social-emotional skills helps us to do this.”

Stanford Children’s Health reminds us that since the prefrontal cortex responsible for decision-making is not fully developed until age 25, young people rely on their amygdala, known as the brain’s emotional processor. This means that our students’ choices are often highly influenced by emotions with much less consideration for long term-consequences. During this vital pre-cortex development time, There are many ways to help students practice and reinforce skills inherent in responsible decision-making skills. In the classroom, fostering curiosity, open-mindedness, mutual respect for others, personal and social impact and responsibility, critical thinking and reflection all support students in strengthening decision-making skills. Jorge Valenzuela of Edutopia emphasizes the importance of helping young learners begin to think about how to frame decision-making as a process that involves examining choices and exploring various alternatives and their likely consequences in order to internalize the decision-making process and develop a mindset and tools for good decision-making. Strategies like Multiple Solutions, Would You Rather and ICED, ICED Baby can help students frame decision-making by looking at fictional or historical decision-making scenarios.

As students begin to internalize decision-making and apply the process personally, Decision Trees are a great way to make the decision-making process visual. A decision tree is a flowchart-like graphic that enables students to visually process possible solutions and their consequences for each possible solution. Decisions trees also help students see where they may not have all of the information needed to make a well-informed decision. This strategy helps to take what can be an abstract process and make it more concrete for students.A decision tree is a flowchart-like graphic that enables students to visually process possible solutions and their consequences for each possible solution. Decision trees also help students see where they may not have all of the information needed to make a well-informed decision. This strategy helps to make what can be an abstract process and make it more concrete for students. Responsible decision-making can also be reinforced through reflection. Giving students the opportunity to analyze and reflect on the decisions of fictional or historical figures and on their own decisions can support self and social awareness, strengthen relationship skills and increase self-management.

Check out ready-to-use activities and videos on responsible decision-making like the one above located in the SEL Stockpile.

If you give any of these strategies a try or to show off your SEL work, post a picture on Twitter, tag @PGIVBCPS, and use #VBSEL & #Responsible Decision-Making to be featured in this newsletter.

The second key message in the VBCPS SEL Framework focuses on creating inclusive environments. Responsible Decision-Making, one of VBCPS’s core SEL competencies, is critical for leaders in fostering an inclusive work environment for staff. In Harvard Business Review’s The Seasoned Executive’s Decision-Making Style article, authors Kenneth Brousseau, Michael Driver, Gary Hourihan, and Rikard Larsson state that at any moment of the day, leaders are “engaged in some aspect of decision-making: exchanging information, reviewing data, coming up with ideas, evaluating alternatives, implementing directives, and following up.”

With so many decisions needing to be made in a single day, it is important for leaders to have systems in place to support the decision-making process. In the article The Vroom-Yetton Decision Model: Deciding How to Decide, the Mind Tools authors define The Vroom-Yetton Model as a tool to “identify the best decision-making approach and leadership style to take, based on the current situation.” This model encourages leaders to first consider the following factors: decision quality, team commitment, and time constraints. Leaders then use the seven questions in the decision model diagram below to determine the best of the five decision-making processes listed at the bottom of the diagram for the current situation.

To practice responsible decision-making as a leader, try using the Vroom-Yetton Decision Model.

Learn more about the Vroom Yetton Model for making decisions by reading “The Vroom-Yetton Decision Model: Deciding How to Decide” HERE, originally from Mindtools.

If you give any of these strategies a try, post a picture on Twitter, tag @PGIVBCPS, and use #VBSEL & #ResponsibleDecisionMaking to be featured in this newsletter.

The third key message in the VBCPS SEL Message Maps focuses on the well-being of students. Responsible Decision-Making is a critical skill in support of the well-being of students. One classroom experience that supports practicing making responsible decisions are digital breakouts. In Christine Danhoff’s EdSurge article “Using Digital Escape Rooms to Make Learning Fun,” responsible decision making is at play because students “think outside of the box, critically analyze the puzzles, and come up with ideas and solutions without their teacher instructing them where to look or what to read.“

This month we are excited to spotlight Alexandra Shea, 3rd grade teacher at Thalia Elementary School. Shea shared that “The Spring Break-Digital Break out was our classroom’s strategy to find balance between schoolwork and fun as the spring break jitters had us all full of excitement. The students worked in their table groups of three to read and solve the different puzzles collaboratively. Each student had an assigned responsibility to the collective effort, working either as the note-taker or the presenter. Students were directed to utilize their accountable talk stems such as "I think... because..." or "I don't agree... because...". As students are still refining their social norms from our unique learning experiences over the last two years, we have been intentional about utilizing these talking scaffolds throughout the school year. This is particularly important for challenging and collaborative tasks such as this digital breakout. Hints were available for student support as they unscrambled multi-syllabic words during their breakout event. This provided differentiated instruction and offered support when needed. The students were engaged detectives scouring images and reading directions in order to solve the puzzles to earn more clues. This structure enabled students to hone their analysis skills with the provided information while also reinforcing responsible, collaborative decision-making with their peers. All students had an active voice as everyone was expected to agree with the response before submitting an answer. Challenges were an opportunity for relationship building and growth mindset reinforcement as the students were expected to provide positive feedback to each other if their answer wasn't correct. Then, the students were able to reinforce their disposition toward flexible thinking and resilience by collaborating on their next steps to arrive at the correct answer and “Break Free” of our digital adventure.”

See the original Twitter post by clicking HERE.

Show off your SEL work by posting a picture on Twitter. Tag @PGIVBCPS and use #VBSEL & #RelationshipSkills to be featured in this newsletter.

Action for Happiness encourages us to “find ways to get moving and stay active and healthy.” Join us in following this month’s daily actions to boost well-being.

Click HERE to learn more and download the calendar.

As you follow along with the calendar, tag @PGIVBCPS and use #VBSEL & #VBHasJoy.