Some of you with a keen eye have noticed my to-do list for creating anti-bias lessons. I began by calling them equity lessons but a colleague pointed out that students can't really control equity. Equity is systemic and beyond the reach of children. Semantics, maybe, but it hit home for me. I am working with a group of counselors in my district to create anti-bias lessons for counselors to use in Grades K-8. We are aligning each of the lessons to ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors and then using the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards for the learning objectives. I'm am writing about the scope and sequence of the lessons in my upcoming book and, when they are done, I will share some of the slide decks and lesson plans with you here. In the meantime, let's dive into the Social Justice Standards.

Teaching Tolerance released their Social Justice Standards in 2016 with four domains: identity, diversity, justice, and action. They have identified anchor standards for each of these domains but they also go a step further to identify grade level outcomes. The outcomes are divided into grade spans K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. If you follow the domains from grade level to grade level, you can see how the same idea progresses into deeper and more critical thinking skills. Let's look at an example:

Identity 3: Students will recognize that people’s multiple identities interact and create unique and complex individuals.

• K-2: I know that all my group identities are part of me—but that I am always ALL me. 
• 3-5: I know that all my group identities are part of who I am, but none of them fully describes me and this is true for other people too.
• 6-8: I know that overlapping identities combine to make me who I am and that none of my group identities on their own fully defines me or any other person. 
• 9-12: I know that all my group identities and the intersection of those identities create unique aspects of who I am and that this is true for other people too.

I highlighted some of the major differences in the outcomes. I love the progression of complexity, I can see how a child might learn and grow through the standards.

In designing our lessons, we tried to concentrate on identity and diversity first and then move into justice and action. We felt it was important for kids to understand who they are and who others are before thinking about how differences effect some people. School counselors do a pretty great job of helping students with identity and diversity. Some programs really focus on action but few, I think, focus on Justice. Let's look at a progression through the justice outcomes:

Justice 14: Students will recognize that power and privilege influence relationships on interpersonal, intergroup and institutional levels and consider how they have been affected by those dynamics.

• K-2: I know that life is easier for some people and harder for others and the reasons for that are not always fair.
• 3-5: I know that life is easier for some people and harder for others based on who they are and where they were born.
• 6-8: I know that all people (including myself ) have certain advantages and disadvantages in society based on who they are and where they were born.
• 9-12: I am aware of the advantages and disadvantages I have in society because of my membership in different identity groups, and I know how this has affected my life. 

Cue the record stopping and crickets. This is a whole new world for many. We don't talk about this stuff and it might bring up uncomfortable feelings for you. More importantly, what might parents say?!?! Take a deep breath, you got this. 

I encourage you to print out the Social Justice Standards. Circle the outcomes that you already use within your core curriculum. Next, choose a few outcomes that you would like to add in. Take your list to a teacher who is knowledgeable about the English/Language Arts and Social Studies curriculum. You will find there is a lot of overlap where you can work with core teachers to embed the Social Justice Standards. Teaching Tolerance also has a searchable learning plans site that aligns common core standards with the Social Justice Standards.

Choose one anti-bias standard or skill that you want to implement in the upcoming school year and make it happen! Tell me below how you are implementing anti-bias social emotional learning for your students.  

I am happy to share another author interview with you today! Mike Resh is an elementary school counselor from Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he works with primary aged students grades K-3.  He is also a brand new children’s book author, having his first book entitled “Dneirf” published by Mascot Books in November 2017.  Dneirf is the word friend spelled backwards and the story is about a boy named Otto who after having a difficult morning, goes to school and struggles with having positive interactions with his friends.  He learns that he's been doing things “backwards” also known as being a “Dneirf.”  With the help of his peers and school counselor, Otto is able to turn himself around and move in the right direction towards becoming a true friend to himself and others.  A cool twist to the book is that it includes palindromes (words that when spelled backwards create the same word when spelled forwards) and semordinlaps (words that when spelled backwards create a new word) throughout the text and hidden in the illustrations. So Fun!

• What motivated you to write dneirf?

After my first year as an elementary school counselor, I took time to reflect on how things went and lessons learned.  One thing stood out immediately to me, the amount of time spent educating and sorting through incidents reported as “Bullying.” The buzz of bullying in the media and community is great for bringing awareness to a problem but caused another problem in itself.  Parents and even kids used this word almost as an escape solution to fix problems or rather have them fixed by others (adults) at the fear of not handling a “bullying situation.”  This caused an even greater gap of kids being unable to think and act for themselves.  Much of my time was spent being a mediator between kids and helping them with self-awareness of their own actions.  You did “A” so “C” happened…what else could you have done so that “B” could have happened?  Dneirf grew out of the idea of escaping the labeling of “bullying” and focusing rather on behavior and behavioral change that is normal in social relationships. Dneirf makes the connection of cause/effect of friendships problems for young children.    

• How did Dneirf come about?

 As a school counselor I saw a need for a social skills book that covered normal social conflicts between friends that is a normal part of growing up and not always an act of bullying. I partnered with a parent of a former student in my school to do the awesome illustrations for the book and am happy to have it being release by my publisher Mascot Books this fall.

• What suggestions do you have for school counselors who want to use Dneirf in their school counseling programs?

 
Information about Dneirf can be found by visiting: www.mikeresh.com. There are also free printable handouts on the website that can be used in groups, classroom lessons, and individual counseling sessions. 
 
This story can be a support source for those reading it not only to those who have acted as a “Dneirf” but those who may have experienced the backwards behaviors of others.  When someone turns into a “Dneirf” it is like they are wearing their shoes backwards and trying to walk and have a normal day…it just is not going to work. 

Doctors prescribe/recommend exercise and healthy eating as preventative measures or precursors to good physical health.  School counselors and teachers can recommend this book and its ideas in the same way for good social and mental health development and maintenance. The prevention of bullying can occur with a primary focus and goal of creating caring and kind social relationship that are dictated by self-recognition of one’s own behaviors towards others.  BE A FRIEND, NOT A DNEIRF!

Thanks Mike! Dneirf is such a fun book. I love the idea of using the phrase "Being a Dneirf" as a way to redirect kids in a friendly manner that doesn't label them as unkind or a bully. We all have Dneirf days for sure. Make sure to check out Mike's site because he has a ton of lesson plans, printables, and other fun (Free!) goodies for you. To sweeten the deal, Mike has also generously offered to GIVEAWAY 4 copies of the book - 1 print copy and 3 digital copies. As always, all of my email subscribers are entered into any giveaway. To gain an **extra** entry, leave a comment on the post with your #1 friendship drama tip.  Giveaway will end Friday January, 26th and I'll announce the winners on Instagram stories. Winners will also receive an email. 

Do you teach a lot of classes? In my area, more and more elementary counselors are asked to increase the number of lessons that they teach in order to find coverage for planning time. While I love teaching classroom lessons, there are many reasons why being locked into a rotation is less than ideal. In reality, it happens. How can you create meaningful activities for students without taking time away from your other services for planning?

One of my colleagues, Jaime Bierwagen, created an awesome video sharing how she used centers​ in her counseling lessons so she could stop planning and start playing. I loved it so much, I asked her if I could share it here with you! 

If you aren't able to watch the video right now, let me recap some of the major points:

• Whole Group mini-lesson for 10-20 minutes and then transition to learning stations
• Create routines for entering the classroom and transitioning into mini-lesson
• Keep it simple with K-2 lessons and 3-5 lessons
• Create routines for transitioning into centers
• List the centers visually along with a maximum number of students per station
• Leave time for cleaning up and lining up
• Create stations tubs or baskets ready with all the materials you need
• Use a bell to stop the class and maximize teachable moments
• Create routines for behavior management - Jaime uses a three strikes model
• Keep station locations and titles the same, switch out a few items when a refresh is needed

When creating stations, think about skills or strategies of social emotional learning that kids might need. What activities might allow students to practice these skills? Some ideas: Problem solving station can have puzzles and combination locks. Mindful coloring or journaling station can have drawing, coloring, and journaling activities. Social skill play incorporates board games and counseling games like feelings go fish. Creation station allows students to create something from their imagination and problem solve when their plan doesn't always work out. 

When it fits well, you can create a mini-lesson station that incorporates the skills taught in the mini lesson. I could imagine reading a book about integrity and having the character ed booklet, integrity flowers, or character ed DIY posters as stations. This integrity series could last several weeks as kids get to experience many ways to understand integrity.

Check out the video to get some more ideas about planning mini-lessons! Jaime includes some great ideas for free ways to read books and incorporate technology into your lessons. 

So what about you? How many lessons do you teach? Do you use centers or learning stations? I would love to hear about what works (and doesn't work) for you! Get ready to be Productive. Organized. Effective.

I'm always looking for ideas that I can create ahead of time and grab in the moment. I want it to be quick but meaningful and ready for use. Enter Feelings Go Fish - print on cardstock, laminate, and get ready to use over and over.  You can even make this yourself! Just cut up two copies of multiple feelings pictures from google searches and you're good to go. If you're not so into DIY, you can purchase the cards seen here on TpT.

This can be a great ice breaker for a kid that needs some practice talking about their feelings. Each time you ask each other for a card - "Do you have a shocked friend?" - you are identifying the feeling on the card. You can also practice sharing a time that you have experienced that feeling each time you take a turn or make a pair. To help, I've created a poster that shows all the feelings on one page. Keep it posted in your room to reference each time you discuss feelings.

I think it's fun to practice tone of voice of body language to "go fish." When I need an angry card, I can use an angry tone of voice or make an angry face. The other student has to guess which feeling I am showing and the let me know if they have that card. Playing games in groups is a great way to practice turn taking, managing frustration, and communication. 

Do you teach a lot of classes? Many of the counselors in my area teach on the specialist rotation (weekly) so they need a lot of lessons. That's a lot to plan! One idea is to create stations that kids can visit multiple times over the course of a few weeks. Most kids know how to play Go Fish so this station would need very little explanation. Just make sure to laminate those cards! Use the cards again to play a memory game, flipping over two cards at a time to find pairs. 

What fun game hacks do you have? Please share in the comments, I would love to hear! I always love to be creative with items I have so I don't have to store too much. Gotta be - Productive. Organized. Effective.

School counselors and educators talk a lot about "developmentally appropriate" instruction. The ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors mention development 11 times in a 2 page document. Our NC Evaluation Standards state "applies theories and research about human development and student learning in counseling programs and services deisgned o enhance student success." But what does that actually mean?

I am happy to introduce Syrenna Kononovitch from Online Counseling Programs to share lesson planning tips using psychosocial developmental theories. Syrenna is the editor and co-creator of the School Counselor ToolKit - a free supportive resource on all things school counseling. I think you'll love her post because not only does she dive deeper into developmentally appropriate lesson planning but she includes lots of links to great resources! Welcome Syrenna :)

The theory of psychosocial development from infancy into adulthood proposed by Erik Erikson illustrates the psychosocial crisis of industry vs. inferiority in children from age five to twelve. During this development, children begin to learn to independently work and look to their teachers as role models. Friends become a larger influence in a child’s life as they may feel they need to win approval from others by demonstrating skills valued by peers.
 
When children are reinforced in their competencies, they begin to feel industrious in their initiatives and thus confident in their abilities to achieve goals. If restrictions are placed, they will begin to feel inferior and doubtful of their own abilities.
 
Maintaining a balance between the two is key and learning does require some failure. School counselors have surely seen both sides -  the formation of a grandiose personality and students who feel inferior.  School counselors can help to shape students' strengths, weaknesses, and behavior with counseling lesson plans on self-esteem, identity formation, and the development of social relationships.

The Missouri Department of Education provides school counselors with lesson plans specific to identity develop and increasing self-esteem for children in K-5 on identification of
 

• Variety of feelings
• Personal roles in school
• Personal character traits
• Traits needed to contribute to a classroom, school community, and what characteristics traits are needed to be a contributing member to the school community.
• Positive traits and areas for personal growth
• Responsibilities as a community member
• Personal characteristics to maintain a positive self-concept

Empowering students to continue to grow their own identity can be considered a staple to the school counseling profession. By integrating growth development and identity formation lessons into groups, individual sessions, and classroom guidance plans, students will be able to develop a positive sense of self.
 
Using growth mindset lesson plans like My Monster Has a Growth Mindset can guide students in discovering their strengths and resilience by promoting positive alternative behaviors. Character education also provides students with an insight to positive attributes that they can take with them long after school is over. Kids of Character Posters can be used to have students think about what each trait means to them and why it’s a positive attribute to have.
 
Character.org provides educators and school counselors with books to reference and suggested lesson plans on comparing character traits, determining what is negative and positive character, and illustrating their current positive attributes.

When developing positive interpersonal relationships with others, students in the psychosocial industry vs inferiority development stage often turn to their peers as a first source of acknowledgment and acceptance. Students may experience jealousy, conflict, and engage in negative behaviors to gain the trust of their peers. 
 
Lesson plans that involve the social acceptance of oneself and others promote caring and kindness that are essentially the foundation for a child’s moral development. The 101 Ways to Teach Social Skills workbook provides lesson plans for aspects of social development on communication, being a part of a group, expression, caring about self and others, problem solving, standing up for yourself, and managing conflict. Beginning on page 75, the authors aim to provide planning on teaching skills such as empathy, positive social communication, helpfulness, respect, and making friends. 

Through these three components, school counselors can provide their students with the support and tools they need to become confident learners, friends, and members of society and school.

Thanks for joining us today Syrenna! The best part? You, awesome readers, are already doing this work! Now you have the grad-school refresh to remind you the why behind the excellent work you do. What is your favorite resource or idea to support industry vs inferiority?