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Free Journaling a Poem with Your Emotions
In the SEL & Leadership Pilot program, students journal every morning at the beginning of the session. Usually students are provided with a prompt to journal. From time to time, students will do free journaling. The free journaling is an exercise for students to fully release their thoughts and feelings, a way to express themselves.
One of our students wrote a beautiful poem during their free journaling time, fully captured her current emotions. It's such a beautiful poem and we would love to share it with you.
2 Weeks ago I confessed
my love 2 weeks ago. I am
still calm
still not moving on
still trying 2 find myself
In a world where all is lost
still loving
above all
his love hasn't come
But my love still stands strong
Because
This is my
LOVE
IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR...
It's that time of the year ... to show your support to our students! If you want them to achieve more next year, please show your support through areteeducation.org/GIVING ????????????
Building a Strengths Garden
We do not always remember to appreciate the special people in our lives. Last week, in our SEL & Leadership Club, we invited our students to think about one special person and pay attention to the strengths they share with or have positive impacts on them.
As a group, students build a strengths garden to show their appreciation to the special people and let them how amazing they are!
Unpacking the CASEL Framework in SEL & Leadership Pilot Program
The NYC DOE Supportive Environment Framework for Great Schools shares a common vision of fostering students’ social and emotional development to create more equitable learning environments and outcomes. Our SEL & Leadership Pilot Program is closely aligned with CASEL’s integrated framework. This blog post unpacks how the pilot program’s curriculum framework and activities respond to each competency in the CASEL’s framework.
The CASEL framework has five competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.
1. Self-awareness
Activities we used to develop this competency in students this Fall:
- Emotions Check-in/Check-out (Level 2, Level 3)
- 8 Basic Emotions
- Emotion Vocabulary Builder (Cards for Emotional Check In Games)
- Bio Dots
- Emotional Iceberg (Facilitator Instruction, Activity Instruction, Activity Handout)
- Moon Face Box of Emotion Cards
- Emo Heads Up (Facilitator Instruction, Activity Instruction, Activity Handout)
- Emo Monster (Activity Instruction, EmoMonster Cards, Feeling Words Handout)
- Journaling
- Past, Present, Future (Draw EmotIcons to present past, present and future)
- Emotionometer (Emotionometer Activity Instruction, Emotionometer Handout, Feeling Words Handout)
- Match the Message (Activity Instruction, Activity Handout)
- The SEL Playlist
- StrengthsExplorer posters - students identify 2-3 strengths they have
- Talent Cards & Strengths
- Talent Cards, Strengths & 2 Truths, 1 Lie
2. Self-management
Activities we have used to develop this competency in students this Fall:
- Coping Skills for Kids Card Set
- Pinterest Board Arts Project
- Rhythm (4/8) Breathing (Practice log: document your practices everyday)
- TLS Protocol (10 mins)
- TLS 15 min Practice
- Short TSL Practice
- Sit in circle – Discuss triggers/ stressors/ frustrations
- Journaling
- Stress Web
- Stress Ball (Station Instruction, Stress Ball Activity Handout, Materials: Balloons, lentils/uncooked beans, scissors, sandwich baggie)
- Body Movement
- Progressive Muscle Relaxation
- Deep Breathing Trace
- Mindful Movement and Pose of the Week
- Bio Dots
3. Responsible Decision-making
Activities we used to develop this competency in students this Fall:
- Circles of Belonging
- I Felt _____ When… (Facilitator Instruction, Activity Instruction, Activity Handout)
- Emotion Discovery - Feeling Face Cards
- Past, Present, Future (Draw EmotIcons to present past, present and future)
- Journaling
- Think, Feel, Act Cards
- Brain Talent Cards
4. Relationship Skills
Activities we used to develop this competency in students this Fall:
- Emotion Vocabulary Builder (Cards for Emotional Check In Games)
- Lava Flow Challenge
- Emo Heads Up (Facilitator Instruction, Activity Instruction, Activity Handout)
- Ping Pong Pipeline
- The SEL Hopscotch Game
5. Social Awareness
Activities we have used to develop this competency in students:
- Emotion Discovery - Feeling Face Cards
- Rap Session
- Brain Talent Cards
- UnMASK Arts Project
As shown, we have built in more activities in the first three competencies (Self-Awareness, Self-Management and Responsible Decision-Making) so far because "Know Yourself As a Leader" and "Choose Yourself To Be a Leader" are two core themes of our curriculum in this Fall. By knowing yourself better, you understand your emotional patterns and strengths. You are aware of the insights given by your emotions and strengths and you learn how to make wise choices based on them.
We will be designing more activities aligned with the last two competencies in the Spring as we dive deeper into "Choose Yourself To Be a Leader" and march into our last but not least theme - "Give Yourself As a Leader". Stay tuned for new updates from our upcoming blog posts or follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
SEL & Leadership Club HAPPY Music List
MS 223 students from the SEL & Leadership Club created a music play list based on different emotions. We would like to share their HAPPY music play list with you below:
- High Hopes by Panic at the Disco
- Hall of Fame by The Script feat. Will.i.am
- Kronos Dance by Primitivio
- Happy by Pharrell Williams
- Baby Shark by Pinkfong
- A Million Dreams by Ziv Zaifman, Hugh Jackman, and Michelle Williams
- La Vaca by Mala Fe
- Cliche by MXMTOON
- Happier by Marshmello & Bastille
- Lost in Japan by Shawn Mendes
- We Found Love by Rihanna
- Mine (clean version) by Bazzi
- Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys
2. Hall of Fame by The Script feat. Will.i.am
6. A Million Dreams by Ziv Zaifman, Hugh Jackman, and Michelle Williams
Finding Your Talents
Research shows that when people identify their talents and develop those talents into strengths, they can optimize their potential and find their path to live a thriving and engaged life. Recognizing strengths is also a key element of achieving "Self-Awareness," one of the core competencies in the CASEL Framework. Our Social Emotional Learning and Leadership Pilot Program chose the Brain Talent Cards from 6 Seconds to help MS 223 students find their talents and strengths
So how does the brain combine logic and emotion to process information and create effective action? It is simply a formula of brain/heart(mind) + body(actions) working together. By using the Brain Talent Cards, we help students identify, understand their talents and strengths and encourage them to leverage their unique capabilities.
There are three color sets of cards in the Brain Talent Cards: Blue cards are about FOCUS – getting rational and emotional data. Red cards are about DECISIONS – assessing options by careful evaluation and making innovative decisions. Green Cards are about DRIVE – moving forward, both for practical action and for long-term motivation. Students learn their brain talents through playing the cards.
By learning more about their brain preferences and talents, students can improve planning, effectiveness, and problem-solving at school and home. The talent cards can be further combined with the Brain Profile Inventory. In the coming weeks, we will dive deeper together with students into this topic and help them increase their self-awareness and further understand and utilize their strengths.
Learn more about other SEL & Leadership Curriculum pilot activities focused on developing Self-Awareness in middle school students: SEL & Leadership Program Binder Excerpt Self Awareness.
De-stress through Stress Balls
We often feel tired at the end of a long day. Sometimes all we want to do is to go home and relax at the end of the day. This is simply because we forgot to relax during the day! So what about relax at the BEGINNING of the day and get well prepared for the rest of the day? MS 223 students de-stress their day by making stress balls before the school starts in their Social Emotional Learning and Leadership Club!
By making the stress balls, we squeeze the stress out of our body! Bye-bye stress, we are all ready to learn through the day!
HS 223 Book Club
The 223 high school book club was founded by high school students for high school students. This club creates a community around positive academic hobbies such as reading books.
Often books are looked down on in this technological savvy era but growing up we discovered that books have so much to offer and would like to share this knowledge with other high school students looking to expand their interests. We are kicking this year off with "Dread Nation" By Justina Ireland, a woman of color, who creates a unique perspective on the hardships faced during the civil war era. The book naturally deals with topics of racism, sexism and the apocalypse as the book is about a young woman of color fighting the undead in order to protect the richer whiter nobles of society, and her realization to the injustices occurring to people that look like her.
Book club takes place every Thursday after school and it's always a welcoming environment for anyone who would like to join. Books will always hold a special place in our hearts and we hope that it holds a special place in yours.
Written by Chanel DLS & Leslie R (HS 223 Senior Class)
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