In the News Archives - Sound Discipline

30Sep 2022 by Mary Power

Changing the World, A Classroom at a Time

In the News, Point of View, Racial Justice, School Partners

We’ve been head down, all of us, chipping away at the tough stuff in front of us for the last few years. At Sound Discipline’s board retreat last week, we stepped back and took a look around at the world that is the context for all of our work in schools:

The pandemic
Division and suspicion of “the other”
Climate impacts like wildfires, storms, and floods
Racism
Gun violence

All of this big stuff is overwhelming and bigger than any one of us. But every day, when students show up in classrooms, the moments matter. Subtle changes make profound differences. …

In the News

“Is Gentle Parenting just a Fad?”

ParentMap interviews professional parent educator and Sound Discipline Facilitator Jen Giomi, and Jen explains that brain science supports the importance of focusing on relationships with children.

“We are fortunate in this generation to have a much better understanding of how the brain grows and works than generations before us had. Human brains develop most successfully when they perceive they are safe, they are in relationships with other caring brains, and they feel like they matter in some way. Children, with their young growing brains, learn how to do everything through imitation first. …

19Aug 2022 by Mary Power

Centered in Belonging: In-Person & Online Professional Development for Teachers

In the News, Inspiring Stories, Online Learning, School Partners, Teachers

Sound Discipline launched our hybrid professional development program for educators in August, with a pretty cool piece of tech that enables a great hybrid experience – we call it Rooty Hooty.

Our ‘Rooty Hooty’ webcam

What is Rooty Hooty?

Rooty got its name from the first workshop where it was used — Rooted Relationships: Growing Equitable Classroom Communities. It’s a Meeting Owl, aka a fancy web cam made by Owl Labs. With a swivel-head, 360-degree camera and microphone, participants can see, hear, and engage easily with one another, even in group discussion.

Making community and connection …

14Jun 2022 by Mary Power

Graduation – Sound Discipline’s Identity and Values

In the News, Resilience, School Partners, Teachers

What is the story of the 2021/2022 school year? Heads nod when I sum it up this way – this was a year like no other. The return to in-person learning as the pandemic raged on meant doing the best we could under constant stress, strain, and uncertainty. Teachers and administrators worked harder than ever. Community partners showed up in creative and responsive ways. Families leaned in to support their school communities.

Our students showed the effects of isolation and disconnection. The situation revealed what we’ve said through the years, but perhaps never really gotten to feel quite …

20Apr 2022 by Mary Power

Rooted Relationships

In the News, Online Learning, Teachers

At Sound Discipline, we are in a conversation about values, and about how to go deeper and be braver, how to show up with a vision that is big and powerful enough to meet this moment and accelerate change.

Externally, we convened five We Belong & Matter Community Conversations, culminating in our “Disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline” event. Hundreds of people from within and beyond education, and from around the world, showed up to connect, learn, and draw strength from a shared reimagining of a future grounded in our shared humanity.

Internally, Sound Discipline is a year into …

07Mar 2022 by Mary Power

An Interview with Tonya Wilson

In the News, Race and Equity, Racial Justice

Directly impacted by the prison system, today Tonya Wilson is the Reentry Outreach Coordinator of Freedom Project, and a board member of the Freedom Education Project of Puget Sound (FEPPS) at the University of Puget Sound. A Tacoma native, Tonya is a TEDx speaker and appeared in the documentary “Since I’ve Been Down.”

“It would be easy for someone to have looked at my mom’s life and to look at all effort expended on her behalf as wasted resources.”

– Tonya Wilson, from her 2015 TEDx Talk Cracked Sidewalks

On March 15, 2022, from 12-2pm PST, Sound Discipline is …

18Jan 2022 by Mary Power

Dr. Jody McVittie Reflects on a New Phase

In the News

January 2022; We are on the threshold of a new year, and I am also on the threshold of a new phase of life. Beginning in February, I am shifting from my role as Director of Strategic Partnerships to a transitional role as part-time Strategic Advisor. For the next 6-9 months, I’ll focus on a few specific projects: evaluation, curriculum development, and capacity building. As I move toward full retirement, I’m looking forward to spending more time with my grandchildren, playing with some art projects, and exploring a small collective climate project that has interested me for a time.

This …

18Jan 2022 by Mary Power

The Power of Shared Purpose

In the News

Every day, we live in the tension between immediate practicality and purpose. Sometimes scary obstacles, challenges, distractions, and habits of mind obscure or induce amnesia about our deep purpose. What’s worse, the more aware of purpose we are, sometimes the more agonizing it is to struggle between our defaults and a response that connects with our purpose! (Or am I the only one?).

Do I need this kid to grow up loving learning, or just to get their homework done, brush their teeth, and get to bed so I can rest?
Do I need my student to experience belonging, or

…

13Dec 2021 by Mary Power

Taming the Brain’s Negativity Bias with Gratitude

Brain Science, In the News, Trauma

Schools — places chartered to support young people to reach their full human potential — can instead be places where adults get stuck in negativity bias — perfectionism, hurt, fear, cynicism. It’s our body’s default response to stay safe. Our brains are wired to notice danger, threats, and problems. Because of this, we sometimes simply do not see the strengths, beauty, and potential in one another.

Let’s start by talking about strengths

One educator we began working with several years ago was struggling to see the good in her students. In the beginning, she believed Sound Discipline approaches were nonsense. …

17Nov 2021 by Mary Power

Shifting from Power-Over to Power-With When Working with Young People

In the News, Point of View, Teachers, Uncategorized

“If I could wave a magic wand, my students would understand how thrilling it can be to take control of their learning. My co-workers would understand how much more of an enriching experience it is for both us and the humans who are our students to buy in to their learning.”

- - - Sara Wozniak-Randall, 7th grade Pacific Northwest History, Dimmitt Middle School

Sound Discipline’s work is about power. Our work invites adults who work with youth to shift from practices based in control and compliance to practices based in shared power. The principles of shared power are basic to …