Online Learning Archives - Sound Discipline

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 …

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 …

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 …

20Aug 2021 by Mary Power

The Problem with ‘Learning Loss’ Part II: My Conversation with Jessica Calabrese-Granger, Chief of School Improvement in Renton, Washington

In the News, Online Learning, Teachers

“Discipline is an outcome; engagement is an opportunity.” -Jessica Calabrese-Granger

In my last post at the close of the 2020/21 school year, I shared my conversation about ‘learning loss’ with Regina Elmi of the organization Supporting Partnerships in Education and Beyond (SPEB). We discussed that while much of the collective conversation in education was on the topic of ‘learning loss’, there have been unexpected gifts of distance learning – time with family, the chance for kids to focus and go deeper on a passion, closer sibling relationships, and authentic bonds between classroom teachers, and students and families. Regina’s experience reinforced …

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 …

Tips for Teaching Online

Here are some ideas that have been proven to make a positive difference for teachers and students doing online learning.

Brain breaks and self-regulation breaks – For both adults and children, research finds that taking breaks every 20 or 30 minutes rejuvenates working memory and calms our nervous systems. Embed regular self-regulation activities to get students to stand up, stretch and move, into the flow of your online days. 5-minute brain breaks can be led by students, allowing them to feel both more engaged and more of an integral part of the classroom community.Here are a few brain-break and self-regulation …