SEDL in Action - Albany County
Approaches:
- Outreach to and engagement of families and community
- Attention to school - classroom environment and relationships
- Skill acquisition through sequenced social - emotional learning opportunities and standards-based instruction
- After school, out-of-school, extra curricular and service learning and mentoring
- Alignment of district and school personnel, policies, and practices to support students
- Collaboration between school district and community-based service providers
- Staff development for administrative, instructional, student support staff and willing partners
1. Outreach to and engagement of families and community
There are no programs listed for this approach.
2. Attention to school environment and student-adult relationships
Bullying Prevention Program, Lynnwood Elementary School, Guilderland NY
Parents were concerned about bullying behavior and were looking for a process to create a school culture
where students took responsibility for their environment. The teachers in the school, already conducting
classroom meetings and using cooperative learning strategies, were trained to provide coaching and
guidance in response to inappropriate behaviors. In principal Jim Dillon words, “Kids who make mistakes
never forfeit their membership in the community.”
Student surveys between 2003 and 2006 showed that the biggest impact occurred with those students who report being bullied. Fourteen percent of all students who were bullied didn't report it to anyone in 2003 but in 2006, 100 percent of students who were bullied reported it to someone. “The 100 percent indicates that students got the message that bullying was not something they had to accept. Students trusted the adults enough to tell them about the bullying and they felt that they would be heard.” Students also had dramatically fewer behavioral problems when teachers turned the weekly classroom meetings into daily meetings.
For more information see Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: www.olweus.org
and
Making Connections Newsletter: https://www.astihosted.com/GVBDCP/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=608
On the Bus, Lynnwood Elementary School, Guilderland NY
“If you were to create an environment that would invite a mosaic of inappropriate behavior, it would be a
bus. The older kids claim territory, and with noise level high “kids can get pretty good at doing things and
not being noticed.” Principal Jim Dillon invented a program called The Peaceful School Bus. What the
principal also discovered was that much of the bullying at school took place on the bus, often initiated by
kids who were outstanding citizens in the building.
“One huge mistake that is made in dealing with bullying,” Jim explains, “is if you get it mixed up with conflict. It’s important to keep the distinction. Not every mean word is bullying. You have to understand about the power differential – the big aspect of bullying – and that sometimes is overlooked by students and parents. If you try to do a conflict resolution between a kid who is truly a victim and a kid or group of kids who are bullies, you’re going to traumatize that victim even more so.”
3. Skill acquisition through sequenced social - emotional learning opportunities and standards-based instruction
Aerobic fitness changes their biology to help them to learn: The PE Central Challenge Among children and adolescents, there always will be the athletes who are in no danger of going without exercise. It's the rest of the under-18s that people worry about. At one end of Albany’s Montessori Magnet School gym, students bounce foam balls on a tennis racket. On the other, kids try to keep a hula hoop spinning for 20 seconds. Other youths are balancing on a two-by-four, jumping rope or practicing throwing and catching a rubber ball. Teachers are giving out pedometers for walking contests and are looking for new ways - such as yoga or dance - to get children to enjoy exercise. One school, for instance, has installed a climbing wall, ropes and a cargo net in the gym. They also teach "life skills" like ultimate Frisbee, golf, yoga, bowling, cross-country skiing, even ballroom dance. A gym teacher at Blue Creek Elementary in Colonie holds an early-morning walking club in the warmer weather. As many as 40 kids, plus some parents, have taken part.
4. After school, out-of-school, extra curricular and service learning and mentoring
The Patroon Creek Study - Albany, NY High School
Biology students collected trash out of an urban streambed, which by itself provided a highly valued and
important volunteer service to the community. The students then analyzed pollution samples, identified
possible sources and shared the results with nearby residents with suggestions for reducing pollution.
Providing such service paid dividends for the participants according to their teachers and mentors: students matured in peer relationships, and in social and leadership skills. They grew academically, learning about water quality and laboratory analysis, developing an understanding of pollution issues, learning to interpret science issues to the public, and practicing communications skills by speaking to residents. The experience afforded the opportunity to reflect on their personal and career interests in science, the environment, public policy and related areas.
5. Alignment of district and school personnel, policies, and practices to support students
There are no programs listed for this approach.
6. Collaboration between school district and community-based service providers
There are no programs listed for this approach.
7. Staff development for administrative, instructional, student support staff and willing partners.
There are no programs listed for this approach.