Building a Culture of Caring in Your Classroom

By Karen LeVasseur, LCSW, owner and therapist at Calm4Kids Therapy Center, LLC

Building Character

Having worked as an elementary school teacher for many years I know the importance of building character in your classroom. I learned over the years that time spent on character education, in particular at the beginning of the school year, was time well spent. Think about it. To engage successfully in academic learning, the following skills need to be in place:

- Emotional regulation

- Problem solving

- Communication

- Teamwork

Students don't always come to school with the skills that they need and it is up to the educator to support kids in learning the "how" of getting through their school day. If you have ever read The First Six Weeks of School by Paula Denton and Roxanne Kriete, you will agree that spending time at the beginning of the school year, setting expectations, modeling and practicing socially acceptable behaviors, establishing a routine for identifying and resolving conflict and solving problems as a team will set up your students for success and allow your classroom to run like a well oiled machine. 

Setting Kids Up For Success

I remember one year, when I taught fifth grade. I was excited for the year, having been in fourth grade for many years. I was eager to dive into the fifth grade curriculum and set up a great academic program for my kids. Unfortunately, the twenty five youngsters in my class were not as excited as I was. The school year started off with problem behaviors, arguments, yelling, teasing... It was not the happy school year I had envisioned. About three weeks in, I brought academics to a screeching halt and put a heavy emphasis on character building. During the next month and a half I started holding a morning meeting each day, used the time right after recess for meditation and created an "Acts of Kindness" Wall. Everything we did academically involved practicing team-building and problem solving skills and assertive communication. By the end of October, my students not only knew what to expect and what to do, they also knew how to do it well. My well oiled machine was achieved!

Morning Meeting

Holding a morning meeting is an important part of your classroom culture. Starting each day as a community, interacting positively with one another is a great way to start off the day on the right foot, for students and for the teacher! There are many different activities you can incorporate into your morning meeting. Be creative and add activities that feel right for you and for your kids. Some ideas include:

Class Pledge- Write a pledge that speaks to the core values you want at work in your class. An example is "I pledge allegiance to my class, that I will try my best, to make good choices and try real hard to be responsible like the rest. I care about the others here and I care about me. I want school to be a special place where I learn and want to be!"

Greetings- One year I taught my students to greet one another using both Spanish and American Sign Language. Students would pair off and say/sign "Good morning, how are you?" The student would respond with "Good morning, I am (happy, mad, tired, sick...). How are you?" The kids loved the bilingual challenge!

Circle of Friends- Ask your students to sit in a circle either on the floor or in chairs. Pose a question such as "How will you be successful today?" or pose a challenge such as "Compliment the person next to you on something nice they did yesterday" and have each student respond. Emphasize active listening skills and use a talking stick if needed.

Problem Solving Box- Set up a box in the classroom with problem sheets that students can fill out indicating the following: I have a problem with... It is a problem because... I have tried to solve it by.... Each morning pull out one problem sheet and read it to the class. Allow the kids to generate possible solutions to the problem. The person who wrote the sheet can remain anonymous or they can identify themselves. Either way, the child with the problem will leave the circle with many new ideas to try!

Minute to Win It- Put kids into pairs and give them a 60 second challenge to complete together. Use riddles, math problems, rebus puzzles or have them complete a physical or building task like on the tv show. Allow the students to be noisy and have fun while they build teamwork skills!

Calm Kids are Productive Kids

I think one of the best decisions I ever made as a teacher was to add meditation to my schedule. I have used the technique at different times of the day but found that right after recess really helped kids to recharge and refocus, allowing success for the second half of the day. The meditation does not have to be long. Even a few minutes of mindfulness to breath and stillness can calm an active or emotionally labile child allowing them to make good choices with their behavior and with peer interaction. Try some of these techniques. I'm sure you will notice a difference in your students' affect as well as your own!

60 Second Vacation- Have the kids lay on the floor or relax in their seats. Ask them to close their eyes and imagine a place where they feel happy, calm and safe. Guide them in using their senses to explore this place, envisioning themselves doing something to be focused, calm and successful. After about 60 seconds of quiet visualization and deep breathing refocus students on the classroom environment and their job as a student.

A Moment of Stillness- Have kids relax as above and guide them in taking slow, deep breaths (belly breaths) filling up their lungs and expanding their abdomen like a balloon on the in breath, then releasing on the out breath. Once a breathing pattern has been established, ask the kids to continue breathing, remaining as still as possible for a minute of meditation. It is helpful to have them imagine sinking into their chair or melting into the floor. When time is up ask the kids to open their eyes and focus on your face (or a point in the room), taking one more cleansing breath.

Breathing Buddies- Students lay on their back on the floor with a small stuffed animal on their bellies. This is called their breathing buddy who helps them learn to take belly breaths as described above. Model for students how to take a belly breath, saying "On the in breath the belly goes out and on the out breath the belly goes in." Guide students in taking slow, deep belly breaths for a few minutes then collect the buddies and get back to work feeling refreshed!

Meditation for Kids

Meditation For Kids: Parents Turn To Mindfulness Practices To Help Children Stay Calm

Being Kind is Cool!

It is helpful to teach kids the importance of being kind and caring toward others. I helped my students learn this valuable lesson by first identifying acts of kindness in literature, providing roleplay scenarios and by inviting the "Note Fairy" to visit my classroom (she secretly leaves notes for students who she witnessed acting kindly toward others). Once the term "Act of Kindness" was well understood and students were regularly engaging in AoK's I set up an "Acts of Kindness" Wall where students could note the kindness of others or post their note from the Note Fairy to celebrate their own success. Each week a different student was honored on the wall with a brief description of how he/she went above and beyond in helping our classroom be a kind and caring environment. Regular celebration of success really helped to motivate kids to be kind to others and to themselves!

Random Acts of Kindness

Welcome | Random Acts of Kindness
Kindness stories, quotes, ideas, classroom resources and more.

Try some of these ideas and please share the wonderful things you do in your classroom! Be creative, have fun and remember, "What you notice will happen more!" Celebrate your students' successes and help them to build the skills they need to be able to add to the culture of caring you have established in your classroom.

Karen LeVasseur is an LCSW and is owner and operator of Calm4Kids Therapy Center, LLC in Bradley Beach, NJ where she offers hypnotherapy, play therapy, EFT, and mindfulness based psychotherapy for clients ages 3 through adult. Karen also has vast experience as a School Counselor, Elementary School Teacher, School Social Worker and School Anti-Bullying Specialist.

Mental Health First Aid

Guest Post by Kristin DiMiceli, LMSW

What would you do if you are walking down the street and see someone fall & potentially break a bone? If you are a considerate human being, you might run over to help them and/or call someone for help. Now think about a situation where you are walking & see someone in emotional distress: leaning over, breathing heavily, crying, & looking a bit disoriented. There are a variety of ways one might respond, but think about your initial feelings when imagining this scenario. One might turn the other way, try to solve the problem, or start to look panic stricken themselves. It doesn’t feel as clear cut as when you are addressing a medical problem, right?

To help solve this problem, the National Council for Behavioral Health (NCBH) started a movement to train people in Mental Health First Aid. This training was first created in Australia in 2001 by a nurse, Betty Kitchener, & a mental health literacy professor, Tony Jorm. It has been adapted in 23 other countries & was started in the United States in 2008. The NCBH has trained over 500,000 people, & is working towards the goal of reaching 1 million people with the help of Congress putting $15 million towards their cause. Their training sessions are conducted all over the United States to address helping adults & youth who may be experiencing emotional distress.

As a Licensed Social Worker working in the mental health field, I feel that this is a very important movement that will not only help people find ways to help those in need mentally, but to also reduce the stigma that is so heavily ingrained in our society regarding mental health. Whether we mean to or not, we tend to shy away from helping those who are in need due to mental health problems. First Aiders are trained to address individuals who may be suicidal, experiencing a panic attack, or using drugs.

With this training, one can at least try to help those in need by pointing them in the right direction using the Mental Health First Aid acronym, ALGEE. It stands for:

1. Assess
2. Listen non-judgmentally
3. Give reassurance and information
4. Encourage appropriate professional help
5. Encourage self-help and other support strategies.     

There is no quick fix in the moment, but at least the individual is being addressed & recognized, as opposed to being ignored. You never know if you might be the catalyst for a more positive path in their life. This Mental Health First Aid training is excellent for a variety of professionals, from police officers to teachers, as well as lay people. You don’t have to be a medical professional to give the Heimlich Maneuver & you don’t have to be a mental health clinician to give Mental Health First Aid.   

For more information and to sign up for training sessions, check out MentalHealthFirstAid.org.

Also, don’t be afraid to call 911 if you feel someone may need to be further evaluated.  Emergency rooms can evaluate individuals if they appear to need to be admitted.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Social Workers: America's Heart & Soul

As the United States celebrates & honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today, we here at Enky would like to honor Dr. King's outstanding legacy of civil service & compassion for his fellow man by focusing on some of the hard-working professionals who help to carry out his "dream" today: social workers. These amazing individuals dedicate their careers to helping others solve & cope with problems in their everyday lives. They can help with a wide variety of situations, from adoption of a child to dealing with a terminal illness diagnosis. Some social workers, known as clinical social workers, also diagnose & treat mental, behavioral, emotional, & substance abuse issues. Social workers are not limited in the communities that they help; children, people with disabilities, those with serious illness & addiction, as well as poor & downtrodden communities at large are all served by social workers.

Some social workers choose to work directly in the community to help individuals or families with their specific issues, while others work with groups, community organizations, & policymakers to develop or improve programs, services, policies, & overall conditions. This global focus is known as macro social work. Advocacy is also an important part of social work, as social workers often advocate or raise awareness on behalf of or with their clients & the social work profession on local, state, or national levels. There are many different specializations for social workers, largely depending on the segment of the population you would like to work with or the environment in which you would like to work. For example, some common types of social worker are School Social

Workers, Healthcare Social Workers, & Child/Family Social Workers. Becoming a social worker is a task that requires education in the field, usually either directly in social work or in a related field like sociology or psychology. Some social workers have a bachelor's degree in social work, while others pursue a master's degree or higher. These graduate degrees are necessary for licensing as a clinical social worker in all 50 states.

To learn more about social workers & the good they do for our communities, read through our fact-filled infographic below. Be sure to check back all week on our blog & social media pages, Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram, to find more great social work content!

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Images courtesy of Shutterstock.