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Shifting from Power-Over to Power-With When Working with Young People
“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…
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Repackaging Consequences Does Not Create Equitable Learning Communities
As the new executive director of Sound Discipline, I spend a lot of time studying everything I can about education equity, and social emotional learning. A few weeks ago, I read an article that I found disturbing: “How Novice and Expert Teachers Approach Classroom Management Differently.” Citing a 2021 study, the author asserts that it…
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The Problem with ‘Learning Loss’ Part 1: Outcomes vs. Experiences
“The learning loss narrative does not bring us together. It’s not the teacher’s fault; it’s not one school. It’s a systemic problem that goes back to before the pandemic.” – Regina Elmi, Co-founder of Supporting Partnerships in Education and Beyond As the country emerges from a global pandemic, we at Sound Discipline are paying…
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An Open Letter to Teachers and Educators
It has been a rough year. The pandemic threw students, even those who had lived stable lives pre-COVID, into lives of uncertainty, including financial and housing insecurity. Those who were already living challenging circumstances faced even more hardships. The constant drum beat of racial injustice added another layer of stress for both teachers and students.…
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The Journey to Understanding Trauma and Resilience
“The question we should be asking is not what’s wrong with that child, but what happened to that child?” – Oprah Winfrey “The more healthy relationships a child has, the more likely they will be to recover from trauma and thrive. Relationships are the agents of change and the most powerful therapy is human love.”…
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The COVID One-Year Mark: Let’s not go back
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…
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Black History and Belonging in School
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. …
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Belonging Through a Culture of Dignity
“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. Sound…
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Sound Discipline Data Teams: Addressing Disproportionality in Discipline
Sound Discipline school data teams are representatives from the school community who share leadership and meet regularly to review disciplinary referral data with a trauma informed, solution focused lens. As day-to-day situations come up, the data helps place those incidents in a broader context, revealing patterns and pointing to deeper systemic issues — processes, policies,…
Sound Discipline is now BELONG Partners!
