For Educators

We provide professional development and self-care strategies via adult Brain Breaks, trainings and webinars. We also offer ongoing support for our partner districts and organizations. Continuing ed unit opportunities available.

For Students

We provide a range of free classroom resources that include learner Brain Breaks, health & wellness curricula,  and Virtual PE. Our mission is to promote social, emotional, and academic development for all learners.

Celebrating Practitioner-Scholarship, Part 1: Fighting the Good Fight – Narratives of the African American Principalship

Join Dr. Isaac C. Carrier and Dr. Aaron J. Griffen, the authors of Fighting the Good Fight: Narratives of the African American Principalship, for a webinar celebrating Practitioner-Scholarship. They will be joined by special guests, including Principal Kennard Branch of DC Public Schools’ Garfield Prep, as we launch a new Practitioner-Scholarship series. These incredible school principals and Practitioner-Scholars will explore the book’s major themes: the journey of the principalship, adverse African American experiences, social justice and equity, and success of the principalship.

Lead From Where You Are

“I’m just…” It’s a phrase we hear all the time. I’m just a teacher, I’m just an assistant principal, I’m just a tech director, I’m just a custodian. Identifying leadership traits in yourself changes your mindset when thinking about leading those around you. It’s our job to find those traits, focus our efforts on growth opportunities, and foster an environment where everyone has a chance to lead. This fast-paced and engaging guest session with superintendent and author Dr. Joe Sanfelippo will help you identify your own leadership traits and implement practical ways to increase your capacity to find them in others.

Compassion & Adult SEL

How can administrators, along with faculty and staff, show compassion not only for our students, but for ourselves and each other? We know that administrators need and deserve support. We’re teaming up with Katie Barr and Tristan Love of Project Wayfinder’s new nonprofit, which provides high touch, high quality support to school communities in hard-to-reach areas of our country.

In this session, participants will:
-Learn about the research behind the benefits of self-compassion.
-Experience activities they can use to create a safe environment for educators to practice joy and compassion.
-Explore systems of support for educator social and emotional well-being.

 

Five-Day Leadership Institute: Integrating Culturally Responsive & Affirming Social-Emotional Leadership

Description: Join award-winning NYC school principal Dawn Brooks DeCosta, Ed.D. as she leads you through Culturally Responsible & Affirming Social-Emotional Leadership (CRASEL). This institute is appropriate for all leaders who are seeking to go beyond the definitional work of “trauma-informed” and “cultural-relevance”. In this 12-hour course over 5 days, participants will engage in the following units of study:

Day 1: Self Awareness, Self-Care and a Racial Reflection
Day 2: Using Research-Based Practices in CRSE and SEL
Day 3: Cultivating a CRASEL Team & Creating a Vision for Racial Equity 
Day 4: Social Justice and a Mindful School Culture
Day 5: Multidimensional Principal Performance Rubric & The Standards for Leadership Practice Crosswalk

Integrating Social, Emotional and Academic Success: A Comprehensive Approach Led by Dr. Victor Carrion, Stanford University

Are you planning for the full return to school and looking for ways to integrate a comprehensive approach to your SST (Student Success Team) process? Join the expert team from Stanford University who will share research, case study, and practical strategies for a plan that fits your school systems from Tier I, II, & III. Participants will learn how mindfulness, stress reduction, Cue Centered Therapy, and B2L aligns with school-based MTSS models.

Building Belonging: A Series with Project Wayfinder

Feeling that we belong is foundational to living with purpose. Brandy Arnold will present 3 lessons from Project Wayfinder’s year-long Belonging curricula, which guide students to build meaningful, compassionate relationships with themselves, other people, and the wider world. The Belonging curriculum is suitable for 7th-10th graders.

Lessons are designed to support quick and easy implementation:
-Suitable to be taught as one-off lessons or as a yearlong program
-Each lesson is backed by evidence-based research and social science
-Extensive classroom tools to build a positive and safe classroom culture

#TeacherTuesday – Book Club with Dr. Tish Jennings

#TeacherTuesday Book Club with Dr. Tish Jennings

Join Dr. Jennings for this three-day series, as she takes us through her new book Teacher Burnout Turnaround Strategies for Empowered Educators. All sessions will be closed-captioned.

January 12 – Part I – Addressing Teacher Stress and Burnout 
January 19 – Part II – Preparing for Transformative Change 
January 26 – Part III – Empowering Teachers

MindUP: Building Bridges and Healthy Minds

This webinar will address the critical importance of our mental health, especially with the recent challenges of the global pandemic and racial injustices that have caused trauma amongst us all. Through a lens of equity, we will explore various ways to build bridges across differences, while also building and fostering healthy minds.

Self-Care & Stress Management for First Responders During COVID-19

The mental health experts at Stanford University share this two-part series to support mental and physical health.
Watch Module 1 — Before watching, please take this anonymous questionnaire to help with stress reduction research. We are grateful for your participation and hopeful that this research will benefit trauma prevention.
Watch Module 2 — After watching, please fill out one more questionnaire for our research.

Rebuilding Community: Navigating the New Normal

Dr. Mark Greenberg, Dorothy Morelli, Denine Parks-Goolsby, and Dr. Joseph Gerics

As educators, our lives have been forever changed. We have all experienced trauma in some form. As schools begin to make plans for reopening, it is imperative that we address the effect of this pandemic experience not only for our students, but also for the adults who work with them. This webinar will discuss ideas about how schools can begin to rebuild a sense of community including exploring adult social and emotional needs, collaborating on strategies to build caring connections with our students and colleagues.

Planning for the Return: Building Student Agency

Join our two award-winning mindful educators who have successfully implemented mindfulness and well-being into their school programs. Meet the educators who continually build student agency though their creativity and dedication.  Learn how they have created virtual SEL sessions & mentored the team of NuYu!

Heart, Mind & Body Series: Providing Equitable Access for Student Support via Tele-Services

(ASL Interpreter / Side by Side screen available for all participants) * Join a panel of Student Support Services experts: Chandrai Jackson-Saunders, NASP School Psychologist of the Year 2020; Joseph Batiano, RI School Counselor of the Year 2018; & Rachel Webb, School Social Worker Sacramento City USD; facilitated by Chi Kim.  These incredible educators will engage in an important discussion regarding student support services and providing equitable access via tele-service. Learn some of their thoughtful techniques used to provide student support services during this time of physical distancing. They will also share some of the roses and thorns that virtual school has posed as well as share what they foresee as critical needs as schools plan to re-open in the fall.

Heart, Mind & Body Series: Learners & Leaders

In this special session highlighting Mental Health Awareness Month, meet an incredible group of CA & NJ high school student leaders who are focused on supporting mental health through service to others. Our panelists are students from Kearny High School in San Diego, CA, & NuYu Club leaders from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, NJ. These leaders are focusing on mindfulness & wellness strategies to promote the importance of mental health.

Heart, Mind & Body: Conversation and Live Meditation with the Women of Headspace

Chi Kim welcomes Alice Nathoo & Evelyn Lewis for a conversation & live meditation.

Meet Alice Nathoo & Evelyn (Eve) Lewis, the incredible women of Headspace! Alice leads Headspace Brand Experiences and Social Impact, which through the Headspace for Education program offers free access to all K-12 teachers across the US, UK, Australia and Canada. Eve is the Content Director within Headspace for Work, creating new content, inspiring strategy and teaching members about the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. In 2019, Eve became the female voice behind the guided meditations. She is also a Brand Ambassador for Headspace and is a trained mindfulness meditation teacher.

Heart, Mind & Body: Saving Superman – Focusing on Educator Self-Care

Panelists Dr. Victor Carrion, Teri Lawler, Kennard Branch moderated by Chi Kim
Saving Superman – The Importance of Educator Self Care, Now More Than Ever. This session was selected by SXSW EDU on the SEL Track. Since the conference was canceled, we wanted to the bring this panel to you. Join panelists: Dr. Victor Carrion, Stanford Medicine, Teri Lawler, Delaware Department of Education, and Kennard Branch Principal of Garfield Prep Academy in DC Public Schools as they discuss how developing an evidence based integrated model of educator self care is critical for the care of our nation’s 55+ million learners. Hear from state and district leaders who are making this a priority.

Heart, Mind & Body: Principal Perspective – Leading in a Time of Physical Distancing

Dawn began her service of teaching 25 years ago and has worked as a teacher for the NYC DOE teaching in Harlem, NYC for 16 years and has served as Principal of Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School (TMALS) for the past 9 years. Dawn Brooks-DeCosta, EdD will share how to incorporate culturally responsive pedagogy to maintain positive school culture during remote learning with an emphasis on the well-being of her staff, scholars and families through Ruler, Brain Breaks and Self-Care programs.

Heart, Mind & Body: The Impact of Stress & Ways to Build Resilience

Join us for a live webinar with Goldie Hawn. She is an Academy Award winning actress, producer, director, best-selling author and true children’s advocate. She is also the Founder of The Goldie Hawn Foundation. Working with leading neuroscientists, educators, psychologists and researchers, the Foundation developed MindUP ™ an evidence-based curriculum and teaching model for grades K-12 that provide tools to help children self-regulate and understand their own emotions, moods and behaviors; reduce stress and anxiety; sharpen concentration; increase empathy; and improve academic performance.