RESOURCES

The following resources are here for you and your students as you navigate the year ahead!  These valuable resources center around distance learning, race and equity, and student voice and advocacy.   Please don't hesitate to reach out to us if there is anything else you need to assist you in making this upcoming school year the best it can be! 

SCHOOL CULTURE AND ENGAGEMENT RESOURCES

Click for More Info about Envolve

Build School Culture with Character Strong

1. Lessons and Resources for Educators, Students, and Families Free lessons, tools, videos, etc. that you can use with your students throughout the upcoming weeks.  2. CharacterStrong Virtual Assemblies We have reached out to our network of speakers to see if they would be willing to share short inspiring, positive, and uplifting “virtual assemblies” over the coming weeks.  3. 30 Days of Kindness Journal In an effort to combat the fear and confusion we are currently experiencing, we’ve put together 30 Days of Kindness that can be done from home. 10 minutes or less a day to keep you focused on goodness and positivity with shareable social images, videos, and journal pages. 4. Free Ongoing Content to Keep You Connected with the WHY and the HOW Blogs, Podcasts, Webinars and Facebook Live events will be geared towards your needs right now. We will continue to put out regular blogs, podcast episodes, and webinars to support those who support our students.  5. Virtual Professional Development The content is thoughtful, practical, and has a strong focus on SEL, character development, purpose, and developing a common language. This resource can be used in many ways to train both certified and classified staff. Learn more about how to purchase this for your school site here.

#ICANHELP

Sign up for a FREE service where educators throughout the USA are talking about how to #UseTechToConnect kids throughout the nation.  ICANHELP is leading the change to have this conversation in one place and giving lessons, and future webinars to ease this isolation.  Go Sign Up for the FREE discussion.   Click to Sign Up for the FREE Discussion

PERSONAL AND FAMILY RESOURCES

Home Chats with Tim Elmore

Home Chats are one-page conversation guides to enable you and your kids to discuss and build relevant leadership and life skills. Each Home Chat guide uses a Habitude to build an applicable life skill by utilizing relevant visuals and activities to create a fun way for parents to engage their kids.

Click HERE to access these Home Chats!

      

Click for More info from Varsity Brands

Overcoming Obstacles’ Life Skills Lessons for Remote Learning offers educators engaging activities they can use with their secondary school students while they are learning from home. The activities will help students identify their strengths, make better decisions, achieve their goals, develop a positive attitude, respect themselves as well as others, and handle the stress in their lives.

To download the free handbook, click here. And please don’t hesitate to forward or share this email with anyone you think would find this resource helpful.

KHAN ACADEMY

Imagineering fans, get ready! If you’ve ever been one of many guests who’s visited a Disney theme park and found yourself inspired to dream, build and create, there’s a new online program you just can’t miss!

‘Imagineering in a Box’ is a free online program that brings together the diverse talents of Disney Imagineers around the world for a one-of-a-kind learning experience and is part of Disney’s commitment to helping today’s youth create the future they imagine.

The series offers 32 videos in which Imagineers share how they use a wide range of skills – from story development and conceptual design, to math, physics and engineering – to create immersive experiences. The online curriculum aims to ignite curiosity, inspire creativity, and encourage innovation in the minds of students and teachers alike, while creating fun and engaging opportunities to explore new concepts.

Imagineering in a Box

SCHOLASTIC (LEARN AT HOME)

Even when schools are not in session, you can keep the learning going with these special cross-curricular journeys. Every day includes four separate learning experiences, each built around a thrilling, meaningful story or video. Kids can do them on their own, with their families, or with their teachers. Just find your grade level and let the learning begin!

Scholastic (Learn at Home)

MINDFULNESS ACTIVITIES

Mindfulness activities for free for teens and adults

Mindfulness activities

Teaching mindfulness to kids

VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS

Virtual field trips are a great way to expose kids to new places all from the comfort of home. In this age of technology, so many museums, zoos and aquariums have set up virtual tours and webcams of their facilities. Now more than ever, is it easier to visit destinations around the world from the comfort of your couch.

Virtual Field Trips

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION RESOURCES

WHAT TO WATCH

13th (Netflix – mature teens and older for language, rape and sexual assualt triggers) Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation’s prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans.

King in the Wilderness (HBO – TV14) A portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. during the last years of his life, from his part in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to his assassination in 1968.

The Hate You Give (Cinemax,  PG13 – a book that is often in school libraries, but not all) Starr Carter is constantly switching between two worlds — the poor, mostly black neighborhood where she lives and the wealthy, mostly white prep school that she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is soon shattered when she witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend at the hands of a police officer. Facing pressure from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and decide to stand up for what’s right.

When They See Us (Netflix – Common Sense Media recommends 15+) In 1989 a jogger was assaulted and raped in New York’s Central Park, and five young people were subsequently charged with the crime. The quintet, labeled the Central Park Five, maintained its innocence and spent years fighting the convictions, hoping to be exonerated. This limited series spans a quarter of a century, from when the teens are first questioned about the incident in the spring of 1989, going through their exoneration in 2002 and ultimately the settlement reached with the city of New York in 2014. The cast is full of Emmy nominees and winners, including Michael K. Williams, John Leguizamo, Felicity Huffman, and Blair Underwood. Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Ava DuVernay co-wrote and directed the four episodes.

A Class Divided (PBS – used in classrooms for years across the world) The day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, Jane Elliott, a teacher in a small, all-white Iowa town, divided her third-grade class into blue-eyed and brown-eyed groups and gave them a daring lesson in discrimination. This is the story of that lesson, its lasting impact on the children, and its enduring power 30 years later.

 

WHAT TO READ

21 Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge: A self-challenge guide to creating effective social justice habits honoring dealing with issues of power, privilege, supremacy and leadership. 

How to Be an Ally

The article For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies by Courtny Areil serves two purposes. It was written for people of color to have a quick link to save time and energy to the frequently asked question “how can I be a stronger ally?” and for whites it provides six insights in allyship. 

Talking about Race: an article exploring how to raise anti-racist children.

Let’s Talk: a book for educators working to build their own competency facilitating classroom conversations about critical topics like identity, discrimination and inequality.

40+ Books for AntiRacist Teachers

Anti-Racism for Kids 101: Starting to Talk About Race

Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race: Resources

WHAT TO LISTEN TO (PODCASTS)

Teaching Kids About Diversity, Equity, and Racial Equality

Video | Slides

Description: As the fall approaches, we are hoping to refine our lessons regarding equity, diversity, and racial equality.  Our students are also eager to engage in discussion, and we need the tools to be able to respectfully guide and direct these important conversations. During this open format, panelists address questions posed through pre-submitted and chat room questions from attendees. 

Panelists: Dr. Laymon Hicks, Dee Hankins, Rashaan Davis, James Layman and Andres Martin with facilitator Sandra Kurland. 

About Race From the author behind the bestselling Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, comes a podcast that takes the conversation a step further. Featuring key voices from the last few decades of anti-racist activism, About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge looks at the recent history that lead to the politics of today.

Pod for the Cause (Leadership Conf on Civil & Human Rights) The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. Through advocacy and outreach to targeted constituencies, The Leadership Conference works toward the goal of a more open and just society – an America as good as its ideals.

Pod Save the People (Crooked Media) Activism. Social Justice. Culture. Politics. On Pod Save the People, organizer and activist DeRay Mckesson explores news, culture, social justice, and politics with fellow activists Brittany Packnett Cunningham and Sam Sinyangwe, and writer Dr. Clint Smith. They offer a unique take on the news, with a special focus on overlooked stories and topics that often impact people of color. There’s also a weekly one-on-one interview with DeRay and special guests, from singer/songwriter John Legend to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The experts, influencers, and diverse local and national leaders who come on the show go deep on social, political, and cultural issues. New episodes every Tuesday. 

Parenting Forward podcast episode ‘Five Pandemic Parenting Lessons with Cindy Wang Brandt’ How do we build a better world? One key way is by learning to raise our children with justice, mercy, and kindness. In Parenting Forward, Brandt equips Christian parents to model a way of following Jesus that has an outward focus, putting priority on loving others, avoiding judgment, and helping those in need. Parenting Forward shows how parents must work on dismantling their own racial, cultural, gender, economic, and religious biases in order to avoid passing them on to their children.

Fare of the Free Child Podcast Fare of the Free Child is a weekly-published podcast community centering Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color in liberatory living and learning practices. With a particular interest in unschooling and the Self-Directed Education movement, Akilah S. Richards and guests discuss the fears and the fares (costs) of raising free black and brown children in a world that tends to diminish, dehumanize, and disappear them.

STUDENT VOICE AND ADVOCACY

The WASC advocates for all students who want to use their voice and actions to make their schools safer and more inclusive. Connected and engaged students are a necessary piece to safe schools. It is our responsibility to work with our peers, teachers, administrators and community to create a positive and safe environment where we can learn, grow and thrive together. There is no single answer, action or policy – it requires all of us coming together, listening, caring and taking a variety of steps to create change. Here are a couple ideas to get you started. This is the time to: Listen. Learn. Lead.

Click above to read the full article featured in the August 2020 Edition of SCHOOL NEWS.

WASC RESOURCES:

Click on the following RESOURCES to help guide you and your schools on the journey of student voice and advocacy!

Students' Rights: Speech, Walk-outs, and Protests

What School Officials Can Do To Create Positive and Safe Environments

What Student Can Do to Create Positive and Safe Environments

Wisconsin School News – A publication from the WI Association of School Boards – Click here to read the Student Voice Article

VALUABLE ONLINE RESOURCES:

Click on the following RESOURCES to help guide you and your schools on the journey of student voice and advocacy!

Students Must Move Beyond Social Media to Become Truly Engaged

5 Ways to Give Your Students More Voice and Choice

Student Voice:  The Key to Unlocking School Potential with Russ Quagilia

The Word on Voice by Russ Quagilia

Monthly Advisor Checklists and other valuable resources can be found in the MEMBERS ONLY CONTENT