Inspiring Stories Archives - Sound Discipline

16Sep 2021 by Mary Power

Gathering Student Input Helps Create New & Effective Solutions

Feelings and emotions, Inspiring Stories, Teachers

Redwood Elementary in Grants Pass, Oregon is one of the schools in our District Partnerships pilot program. Last school year, the school’s data team collected data about student behaviors that were most challenging to the staff. One of the challenging behaviors was defiance.

Initially the team started thinking about it from the teachers’ perspective, wondering what other tools could be used to deal with student behavior that appeared defiant. Before they implemented any tools, they decided to gather some information from students. Teachers talked to students individually and had class discussions. What they learned surprised them. As students shared, a …

23Aug 2021 by Mary Power

Third Annual “Designing Our Own Learning” Summer Intensive

Inspiring Stories

DOOL 2021 students, educators and Sound Discipline staff.

This summer Sound Discipline hosted our third annual “Designing Our Own Learning” (DOOL) intensive summer program. For a look back at the first two years of the program, check out Facilitator Alan Wong’s post on the College Spark Foundation’s blog.

For two weeks in August, 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 equitable practices within schools.

Built on a strong foundation of community and trust building, the DOOL 2021 …

10Jun 2021 by Mary Power

Lakeridge Elementary Engages in Culturally Relevant SEL Content Schoolwide/ K-5th grade

Inspiring Stories

This month we are featuring some important work being done by two educators at Lakeridge Elementary School in the Renton School District. Jenna Middleton, SEL coach, and Angela Varela, counselor, began with a few questions – What could it look like for our students to receive culturally relevant and responsive lessons? How could we incorporate opportunities for reflection after these lessons every month?

These two educators have dedicated this school year to crafting supplemental resources and additional content for Lakeridge students— based on the social emotional learning standards. Using a different topic each month, classroom teachers are given a set …

13May 2021 by Mary Power

A Creative SEL Screener Tool for Remote and In-person Learning

Inspiring Stories, Teachers

Remote learning has many challenges, one of the biggest being a lack of connection. Without the ability to read body language, see faces, and spot someone in a hallway, how can educators connect with their students to see how their doing?

After the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) mandated the adoption of a SEL screener, a tool that allows teachers to assess students’ social emotional health and skills, Talbot Hill Elementary, in the Renton School District, knew it had to come up with a solution that worked remotely. So, they came up with a creative solution.…

14Apr 2021 by Mary Power

Lowell Elementary’s Educational Enhancement Site

Inspiring Stories, Teachers

When the pandemic hit last year and school buildings were shut down, the staff at Lowell Elementary in Seattle quickly saw the disproportionate impact remote learning was having on many of their students of color and those without stable housing. While some students in their school had the technology and support from their caregivers to transition to remote learning, many could not.

Lowell Elementary staff responded to this inequity by creating an Educational Enhancement Site, a physical space where students get free access to in-person adult support, tutoring, meals, recreation, and reliable internet. At the same time, students …

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

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 …

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 …