What if I told you that a 5 second interaction with a child can boost the morale of your students and help that child be more successful in your program? What if those 5 seconds were as easy as giving a friendly greeting to every child as they walked through the door to your program?… Read more »
Category: SEL
Head to Heart #4
The summer sun is shining in Vermont and, in this issue of Head to Heart, I want to highlight an afterschool program that shines in its commitment to SEL, teamwork, and fun. Here is Jane Youngbaer, a champion of Vermont’s Destination Imagination program.. Did you know that Vermont has a program that gives kids of… Read more »
Head to Heart #3
With warmer weather on the way, some youth may be engaging in riskier behaviors with their peers. As many of us know, afterschool and summer programs are a great strategy to support upstream, primary prevention for substance use and support youth in navigating tricky social situations. When I saw this article in Education Week, I… Read more »
Head to Heart #2
I came across this article and this article in Education Week and thought about them for a while—so much of what I hear from program staff is they are seeing really high levels of behavioral needs from multiple students, all at the same time. This article affirms what many of us had suspected for a… Read more »
Head to Heart #1
Acknowledging & Validating Quick Training (adapted from The Flourish Lab curriculum) When children are experiencing large feelings, one of the most supportive and effective strategies to help them return to baseline is to acknowledge and validate their emotions. Acknowledgement includes “naming the feeling” and sounds like … What are you feeling? It seems that you… Read more »
Promoting Physical and Emotional Well-being for Youth
After a long year of online classes and Zoom meetings, young people in Vermont are ready for the summer filled with fun. And we, as youth workers and third space program providers, cannot afford to miss out on this opportunity to have a meaningful impact on our youths’ lives. Just like adults, youth lost control… Read more »
“You’ve Got This”: Notes from the Social Emotional Roundtable Field Call
The weekly conversations between programs continued this week and focused on a reopening challenge that will impact virtually everyone on some level: maintaining awareness around our social and emotional health. There are some more general themes and then some specific resources that I’ll highlight here. The themes came from Sara Forward, LICSW of the Vermont… Read more »
Managing Fears and Anxiety around Coronavirus
As information about the novel coronavirus unfolds, there can be a wide range of thoughts, feelings, and reactions. Remember to recognize that everyone is having different responses and that over the next few days or weeks you may experience periods of: Difficulty concentrating and sleeping Anxiety, worry, panic Anger … Read more »
Assertiveness in Boys vs. Girls and Implications for Youth Voice
Recent data from afterschool programs in Vermont show that elementary school boys are more likely than elementary school girls to have high levels of assertiveness by a significant margin. We explore what this means for empowering young people in Vermont.
New SEL video
We’re thrilled to share our new social emotional learning (SEL) video produced by Mondo Mediaworks. This video highlights our SEL leadership and training initiative, also known as the Youth Resiliency Project, that is funded by the Northfield Savings Bank Foundation and launched in Fall 2018. This project is focused on supporting afterschool and out-of-school time… Read more »
