Blog - Page 2 of 24 - Sound Discipline

15Mar 2021 by Mary Power

The COVID One-Year Mark: Let’s not go back

Brain Science, Connection and love, In the News, Point of View, Resilience

We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate, and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.

— Sonya Renee Taylor

On March 5 of last year, Sound Discipline’s leadership team met to make a COVID contingency plan. A 2-week school closure had just been announced. We drew all over a whiteboard, planning for three scenarios; 1) …

09Mar 2021 by Mary Power

Teacher Panel Shares Experience Transitioning to Hybrid and In-Person Learning

Inspiring Stories, Online Learning, Teachers

“Nothing is going to be perfect, and that’s o.k.”

When Sound Discipline convened a group of educators to discuss the transition to in-person learning, this is how Christine Mooney, the Principal of Redwood Elementary School, opened our discussion. Redwood Elementary is in Grants Pass, Oregon. They started the 20-21 school year with grades K-3 in hybrid learning and grades 4-5 in distance learning. At the end of November, they moved to all distance learning. On February 1, 2021, they moved back to a hybrid model with all grades.

A group of their staff met with us on February 11 to …

12Feb 2021 by Mary Power

Black History and Belonging in School

Point of View, Racial Justice

When we say, “what if every child knew they belonged?”, what exactly do we mean?

Recently, I explored this question over Zoom with Dr. DeLeon Gray, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Education Equity at North Carolina State University and a leading researcher on the intersection of race, belonging, and motivation in school.

I learned about Dr. Gray’s work from Education Trust Research Associate Nancy Duchesneau. When Nancy and I talked about Sound Discipline’s investigation into belonging, she said, “Well then, you have to talk with DeLeon Gray. He is pretty much the leading voice on belonging.”

To learn …

12Feb 2021 by Mary Power

Dimmitt Middle School Core Values: Equity and Community

Inspiring Stories, Uncategorized

The article about Redwood Elementary staff sharing their experience shifting to in-person and hybrid learning is here.

Dimmitt Middle School has been a partner of Sound Discipline for over five years, and we are excited to feature them this month as our Sound Discipline Inspiring Story. In a recent Education Week article, Arianna Prothero stated that school leadership’s most critical job “is creating a school environment where students feel safe, supported, engaged, and accepted.” Dimmitt Middle School has consistently prioritized creating this healthy school environment, and it shines through the entire school community daily.

Dimmitt is hosting …

13Jan 2021 by Mary Power

Sound Discipline Collaborates with Casey Family Programs

Inspiring Stories

In November and December we had the privilege to partner with Casey Family Programs to support their incredible work with schools and families working with foster youth. They work tirelessly to create a better future for our communities focusing on safe children, strong families and supportive communities.

Over one hundred family support workers, social workers, caregivers and supervisors joined us for a series of three online workshops. We collaborated to help them take their deep knowledge of trauma-responsive practices into the practical realities of the daily lives of the families and schools that they work with.

These deeply committed leaders …

12Jan 2021 by Mary Power

Who is Sound Discipline’s New Leader?

Point of View

On December 3rd, Sound Discipline hired Andrea John-Smith to serve as our new Executive Director. Andrea succeeds our Founding Executive Director, Dr. Jody McVittie. In January of 2020, to facilitate Jody’s transition to the full-time role of Director of Strategic Partnerships, the Board brought Andrea on as our Transition ED. Not long after, COVID hit. Andrea went above and beyond her transition scope to help navigate and respond to rapid change. When it came time to resume our ED search in August, Andrea became a candidate for the permanent ED role. Following a rigorous and inclusive selection process, the Board’s …

11Dec 2020 by Pase Garrett

Washington State Racial Disparities in Discipline

In the News, Racial Justice

How is Washington State doing in its effort to reduce racial disparities in discipline? According to a recent report by The Education Trust, we have a long way to go. In her November 22 feature for EdLab, Seattle Times reporter Joy Resmovits details the report’s findings, with school suspension data at the top of the page:

(Click on the chart to open a full-size version)

As the chart illustrates, in spite of Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s (OSPI) updated rules governing exclusionary discipline, racial discipline disparities persist. Why?

Sound Discipline Board Member, Megan …

10Dec 2020 by Pase Garrett

Strengthening Student Skills for Classroom Connection

Inspiring Stories

We are inspired this month by a team of 6 educators, counselors, and school psychologists who are collaborating with Sound Discipline to create social emotional learning lessons for small groups. This project is funded by a Renton Early Learning Support Grant through the Center for Community Education Results (CCER).

Stacy Lappin, Director of Program at Sound Discipline, Jody McVittie, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Sound Discipline, Khristian Palmer, 2nd Grade Teacher, Sartori Elementary School, Julietta Skoog, School Psychologist, Kayla Root, Kindergarten Teacher, Sartori Elementary School, Rebekah Appleton, Counselor, Highlands Elementary School, Meg Herlofsky, School Psychologist, Lakeridge and Campbell Hill Elementary Schools,…

02Dec 2020 by Pase Garrett

Designing Our Own Learning Team

Inspiring Stories

Evergreen High School and Dimmitt Middle School Students and Educators

**The Designing Our Own Learning Team**

This August Sound Discipline hosted our second annual “Designing Our Own Learning” (DOOL) intensive summer program. For two weeks, diverse students and teachers from Evergreen High School and Dimmitt Middle School joined together online with Sound Discipline facilitators to build authentic community, develop youth leadership and advocate for anti-racist practices within schools.

Within the DOOL community, we split into 3 “solidarity groups”, smaller intergenerational and intersectional teams whose purpose was to explore and embody anti-racist practices, while also developing projects that could …

09Nov 2020 by Allison Carney

Belonging Through a Culture of Dignity

Connection and love, Featured, Feelings and emotions, Point of View

“Inclusion is not an intellectual thing. It has to be visceral. Words like diversity, equity, inclusion have no meaning at all unless we make it personal, unless we connect these themes to our life story and operationalize them in the actions of our daily lives.” – Jonathan Joseph, Sound Discipline Board of Directors.

In July, Sound Discipline Board Members Jonathan Joseph and Debbie Symonds worked together to design an equity curriculum for the Sound Discipline Board around a year-long study of the book Belonging Through a Culture of Dignity: The Keys to Successful Equity Implementation by Floyd Cobb and John …