Inspiring Stories Archives - Page 2 of 3

16Feb 2022 by Mary Power

Lakeridge Elementary’s Journey

Inspiring Stories, Problem Solving, Race and Equity, Racial Justice, Teachers

What is it like to transform a school into a place where all young people feel they belong, they matter, and they can grow as learners?

Lakeridge Elementary, in the Renton School District, has been on just such a journey. In the spring of 2020, while navigating remote learning during school closures, the skilled Lakeridge data team, supported by Sound Discipline facilitators, decided to focus data collection on identifying patterns of racial disproportionality in discipline and identifying ways to develop a truly inclusive school community.

Analyzing Data and Looking for Patterns

A typical data team is made up of members …

Celebrating Black History Month with Hani Nur

Hani Nur, Reading Interventionist and Principal Intern, Thorndyke Elementary School, Tukwila School District

What is your current role(s)?

At Thorndyke Elementary in the Tukwila School District, I currently have two roles:

As a Reading Interventionist, I support the entire school in Tier 2 interventions. I work to support the below grade level readers. I am also a Principal Intern, supporting the school with similar to what an Assistant Principal would do, such as behavior, expectations, data-informed practices. As an intern, I shadow and learn from our Principal through practical application and thought-provoking conversations.

I have not seen enough people …

Celebrating Black History Month with Ebony Pattenaude

Ebony Pattenaude, Director of Renton Innovation Zone Partnerships and Early Learning, Renton School District

What is your role?

I serve as the Director of Renton Innovation Zone Partnerships and Early Learning. The Renton Innovation Zone Partnership (RIZP) is four elementary Schools in the Skyway, West Hill, and Highland Sunset neighborhoods of Renton. This is my 4th year in this role and prior to that I was doing family and community engagement coordination for the Renton Innovation Zone schools as well.

What brought you to your current work?

Pretty much my whole career has been around education and workforce development and …

Celebrating Black History Month with Damithia Nieves

Damithia Nieves (she/they), Founder of Thrive Yoga and The Mindful Mentors Project

What is your current role?

I am the Founder of Thrive Yoga, which will be changing to Thrive Centered. Sound Discipline has been a supporting partner for a program I created called The Mindful Mentors Project in the Tukwila School District. This is a somatic-based SEL program for local high school students who undergo an 8-week reciprocal-learning based training. The training teaches foundations of trauma informed care, contemplative embodiment practices, mindfulness, foundations of Ruler Social Emotional Curriculum, social emotional learning, storytelling and more. They then co-facilitate, with an …

Celebrating Black History Month

To celebrate Black History Month each year, we feature interviews with local Black leaders in education, equity, and social emotional learning.

Our Sound Discipline colleagues shared with us how they came to their current work and their personal inspirations.

Sylvia Hadnot, Facilitator & Social Media Coordinator

Teague Parker, Facilitator

Brook Afework, Program Operations Coordinator

Roshaé Lowe, Facilitator

We have the privilege of working alongside local Black leaders in the areas of social emotional learning and education. We thank them for helping us lift up the importance of SEL in education, and for sharing the …

Celebrating Black History Month with Anthony Ase

Anthony Ase, Secondary STEM Facilitator, Renton School District & Sound Discipline Board of Directors

What is your role in your school district?

I am a Secondary STEM Facilitator for the Renton School District. Essentially, I spent a lot of time in my own classroom getting things together for some years, and now I get to help other teachers set up their classrooms to achieve their goals.

My really big push this year is to help teachers to act as a facilitator – trying to facilitate conversation with students instead of conversation at students. I love being in the classroom …

13Dec 2021 by Mary Power

Specialists Find Special Time with Students

Connection, Inspiring Stories, Relationships, School Partners, Teachers

Auburn Elementary School Librarian Chris Williams.

Imagine you’re a librarian at an elementary school. You have the unique opportunity of getting to interact with EVERY student in your school community and hopefully instill in them a lifelong love of reading. Cool, right? Here’s the catch: unlike a classroom educator, your time with students is limited and spread out. So, how do you develop those deeper relationships that support students to engage in learning?

The challenge of not enough time

The Specialist staff at Terminal Park Elementary in Auburn, Washington were feeling this struggle of not having enough time to …

12Oct 2021 by Mary Power

Lunch time! How Bryn Mawr Elementary Creates Community in the Lunchroom

Connection, Inspiring Stories, Learning in a Pandemic, Online Learning, Routines, Teachers

We all have distant memories of a loud, chaotic lunchroom, where students often had their heads down for being too loud and left lunch a bit dysregulated and less ready to learn. At Bryn Mawr Elementary, the staff has creatively addressed one of the key sources of stress for all schools this year – how to manage the lunchroom in the wake of a pandemic.

Lunch time at Bryn Mawr Elementary

Hopes for the lunchroom

They wanted to create opportunities for students to learn and be part of community throughout the day, and that included lunch time. The classified …

16Sep 2021 by Mary Power

Gathering Student Input and Learning About Feelings

Feelings and emotions, Inspiring Stories, Teachers

Redwood Elementary in Grants Pass, Oregon is one of the schools in our District Partnerships 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 data team started thinking about it from the teachers’ perspective, wondering what other tools could be used to deal with defiant student behavior. Before the educators implemented any tools, they decided to gather information from students. Teachers talked to students individually and had class discussions. What they learned surprised them! As students shared, a pattern emerged: …

23Aug 2021 by Mary Power

Third Annual “Designing Our Own Learning” Summer Intensive

Designing Our Own Learning, Inspiring Stories

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.

DOOL 2021 students, educators and Sound Discipline staff.

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