Educator Trainings & Professional Development

This session is designed to help educators flourish. The training explores the reciprocity of self-care and introduces the neuroscience of stress and its effects on the body and nervous system. Participants will engage in breathing techniques, mindful movement, and guided relaxation strategies in the form of Brain Breaks. The exercises promote educator well-being and develop the foundational social and emotional learning competencies of self-awareness and self-management.

Participants identify how simple strategies can impact the ability to manage stress, organize/focus, and identify emotions. As educators support their own well-being with the Brain Breaks, they also empower themselves to implement these strategies in the classroom with learners.

This interactive session combines the Neuroscience of Stress & Reciprocity of Care and Brain Breaks Implementation sessions. It is designed to both help educators flourish and support the well-being of learners. The session examines the reciprocity of self-care, along with the neuroscience of stress and its effects on the body and nervous system. Participants discover “Breathe, Move, Rest” Brain Breaks as 1) tools for promoting educator wellbeing and 2) strategies to use in the classroom with learners.

This interactive session focuses on how to effectively deliver Brain Breaks to learners. Pure Edge Brain Breaks are simple breathing, mindful movement, and guided rest exercises that support learner well-being. The exercises are one-to-five minutes in length, embedded in the SEL 3 signature practices, meet National PE standards, and can be shared with students in person or online. Participants in this session experience Brain Breaks, practice teaching Brain Breaks, and create a plan for implementation with learners.

During this interactive session, participants engage in breathing, movement, and relaxation techniques that will enable them to teach short movement sequences to students. The movement sequences build strength, flexibility, coordination, and balance, and meet national PE standards. Attendees learn how to teach these sequences in a way that develops learners’ self-awareness. The training also addresses how to use the Pure Edge video library to support instruction. Modifications for varying levels of physical ability are discussed. The half-day training ensures familiarity with one movement sequence; the full-day training ensures competence teaching two movement sequences.

During this full-day interactive session, participants will learn to implement the Pure Power Mini Unit, “A Peek Inside the Amazing Brain” in their classrooms. The Pure Power Mini-Unit is an eight-lesson curriculum which teaches neuroscience, social-emotional skills, and mindfulness techniques. Every lesson also includes a mindful movement sequence. 

Participants will become familiar with teaching mindful movement, including how to use the video library in their classroom. They will also become familiar with the content and techniques in the curriculum. Time is allotted for planning out and presenting lessons to the group.

The Culture of Care training prepares educators to deliver breathing, mindful movement, and relaxation exercises in the classroom, and to train colleagues to do the same. With a little practice, the exercises are simple for educators to learn and share. Participants in the training will learn and be able to communicate how this approach promotes socio-emotional learning (SEL) in the classroom. 

The training is delivered in three full-day sessions. Each session includes a self-care practice for participants, as well as time for Q & A and practical implementation strategies. The sessions are highly interactive and participants will practice teaching the exercises with colleagues. Participants will become familiar with the Pure Edge online resource library to support establishing a Culture of Care at their school site. 

• DAY ONE: The Why

This session explores the effect of stress on the field of education, and the importance of self-care for educators. The session also examines how breathing exercises and mindful movement improve the body’s stress response by discussing breath’s effect on the brain and the nervous system. Participants will experience a self-care practice designed to alleviate the effects of stress on the mind and body, and they will learn to implement Pure Edge’s Brain Breaks program. Participants will also practice teaching mindful movement sequences from the Pure Power Curriculum. 

• DAY TWO: SEL & Culture of Care 

The second session takes participants more deeply into SEL and how mindfulness supports SEL by improving the stress response and promoting self-awareness in the classroom. 

Participants will refine their teaching skills by practicing delivering Brain Breaks and mindful movement in small groups. The Pure Power Mini Unit and mindful games for the classroom are also included in this session. 

• DAY THREE: Train-the-Trainer

The final session builds on days one and two and ensures that educators are prepared to build a Culture of Care in their classrooms and at their school sites. In addition to refining their mindfulness knowledge and teaching technique, participants will develop short- and long-term implementation goals for their classrooms and schools. Topics addressed include classroom implementation strategies and how to train colleagues.

The Culture of Care training prepares educators to deliver breathing, mindful movement, and relaxation exercises in the classroom, and to train colleagues to do the same. With a little practice, the exercises are simple for educators to learn and share. Participants in the training will learn and be able to communicate how this approach promotes socio-emotional learning (SEL) in the classroom. 

The training is delivered in two full-day sessions. Each session includes a self-care practice for participants, as well as time for Q & A and practical implementation strategies. The sessions are highly interactive and participants will practice teaching the exercises with colleagues. Participants will become familiar with the Pure Edge online resource library to support establishing a Culture of Care at their school site. 

• DAY ONE: The Why

This session explores the effect of stress on the field of education, and the importance of self-care for educators. The session also examines how breathing exercises and mindful movement improve the body’s stress response by discussing breath’s effect on the brain and the nervous system. Participants will experience a self-care practice designed to alleviate the effects of stress on the mind and body, and they will learn to implement Pure Edge’s Brain Breaks program. Participants will also practice teaching mindful movement sequences from the Pure Power Curriculum. 

• DAY TWO: SEL & Culture of Care

The second session builds on day one and ensures educators are prepared to build a Culture of Care in their classrooms and at their schools. The session takes participants more deeply into SEL and how mindfulness supports SEL by improving the stress response and promoting self-awareness in the classroom. Participants will refine their technique delivering Brain Breaks and teaching mindful movement and develop short- and long-term implementation goals for their classrooms and schools. Pure Edge can tailor sessions to provide strategies to support a specific role in the school district.

Pure Edge can tailor sessions to provide strategies to support a specific role in the school district. This option is perfect for support staff who are working outside of the classroom. Audiences include school counselors and psychologists, maintenance, food services, student support services, administration, etc.

The Start with the Heart curriculum invites learners to examine what they need to support their own well-being. Learners will explore the body’s stress response, the role of the brain and nervous system, neuroplasticity, brain anatomy, self-regulation, developing a growth mindset to support resiliency, reflecting on habits, and how their own well-being exists in relationship with the well-being of the communities to which they belong. The curriculum includes simple, research-based exercises that build learners’ ability to manage stress. The skills support SEL competencies, with special emphasis on selfawareness and self-management. The curriculum is designed with ease of delivery as a top priority and is available for learners from PreK through 12. The session will model how each lesson can be delivered in about 30 minutes or broken up and weaved into the course of a school-day to help learners reset and improve focus.

The Pure Power curriculum is a scalable solution that maintains and improves the social and emotional lives of youth, thereby improving their capacity to learn as well as improving their physical and psychological health and well-being. Pure Power is aligned with social emotional learning standards of the National Health Education Standards, and SHAPE National PE Standards. This interactive professional development opportunity focuses on how to effectively deliver the curriculum to learners.

Facilitated as a professional learning community (PLC) or multi-session professional development opportunity, this workshop is an experiential and relational approach to stress management that emphasizes educator well-being. Participants embark on a practical exploration of stress management that applies a positive psychology lens and provides tools to query individual awareness, perception, and thoughts by identifying, shifting, and applying strategies that influence behavioral outcomes.

Participants in the Educator Self-Care and SEL series experience self-care strategies with intentional alignment to the CASEL 5 core competencies as they explore one competency in each session. The breakdown of sessions is as follows:

Session 1: Educator Self-Care & Self-Awareness
Session 2: Educator Self-Care & Self-Management
Session 3: Educator Self-Care & Social Awareness
Session 4: Educator Self-Care & Relationship Skills
Session 5: Educator Self-Care & Responsible Decision Making

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), inclusive of all 5 competencies, has been shown to positively enhance school climate, teacher retention, and student achievement. This series empowers participants with the research, strategies, and the tools needed to begin immediately applying SEL tools in their school community.