Description
180 Days + 10 New Additions!
The 180 days of Applied Educational Neuroscience: Scope and Sequence toolkit is for educators, therapists, counselors, social workers, mental health practitioners and students. This toolkit serves to explore and apply the emergent social and affective neurosciences through the Applied Educational Neuroscience framework and the Polyvagal Theory into our school and community cultures. We do this as we build it into what we already do: procedures, transitions, rituals and routines.
Highlights:
• Brain-aligned practices, presented as mini-lessons with differentiated strategies for all ages
• Downloadable PDF document to incorporate at desired pace
• Pricing options available for individual use, school-wide use, or district-wide use(pricing for districts fluctuates based on size, inquire about pricing at brain@revelationsineducation.com)
• Now includes + 10 Additional lessons/practices for educators & students
Developed to support social and emotional learning through the lens of neuroscience, this Scope and Sequence document is intended for adults and students as we collectively learn how our nervous systems adjust to adversity, mitigate stress, and learn deeply, along with the mechanisms that drive engagement, behaviors, resiliency, and social and emotional growth and health.
This scope and sequence is not a program with a script. It is intended to be integrated each day as a part of our procedures and transitions, whether that is bell work, morning meetings, advisory classes, or when needed during transitions or difficult days. It is a supportive resource to prepare the nervous system for learning by engaging with one another through brain-aligned practices that are presented as mini-lessons with differentiated strategies for all ages. Most social and emotional learning programs are only targeting student success and are implemented as skills to be taught for 20- 30 minutes each day. This scope and sequence is support for our staff who work beside children and youth. We hope that these mini-lessons will be shared before staff meetings, department meetings, PLCs, and grade-level discussions. There is no one correct way to integrate this course. One day could be a week-long if you only have a few minutes during a particular week. We hope that this scope and sequence brings a common language to your classroom, school, or district and that together we will strengthen our understanding of why we feel, sense, and behave the ways we do when our experiences are challenging or celebratory.
Outcomes For Staff and Students
• Students, educators, and mental health practitioners will discover through discussion and practice what lies beneath behaviors as we explore the nervous system and its hierarchical states impacted by toxic levels of stress and accumulating adversity in the brain and body (How can we weave this scope and sequence into our content, such as reading, math, social sciences, and language arts?) (How can we modify this scope and sequence for our EL’s?)
• Students, educators, and mental health practitioners will identify practices that feel regulating and anchoring as they begin to access the cortex where we learn, emotionally regulate, pay attention, focus and hold the potential for strong working memory.
• Students, educators, and mental health practitioners will begin to meet the needs of diverse learners through a variety of resources that address nervous system states and the connection to sensations, feelings, and behaviors. These resources and practices tap into our identities, interests, passions and emotional and social growth and development.
We will continue to augment this scope and sequence each year with the applications of the most recent social, relational, and cognitive neurosciences. We will also be providing feedback surveys so we can continue to meet the needs of educators and students.
Trish Giese (verified owner) –
“Focused Attention Practices and Brain Aligned Bell Work has been a game-changer in my room. This is the first year that I have incorporated the use of focused attention practices with my first-grade students. We have built these into our daily routines and procedures. Oftentimes, students come into class dysregulated from their bus ride, or maybe they forgot their lunch, or possibly they were running late for school and mom/dad were rushing them out the door, etc. A lot of commotion also occurs at their lockers before coming into the classroom. Teaching students about focused attention practices is a life skill that teaches self-regulation and enables students to start their day off in a positive manner.
First thing in the morning, as I am taking attendance, lunch count, and reviewing parent notes, the students get their chrome books and work on a daily Discussion Board post in Canvas. This usually occurs within the first five-ten minutes of each morning. Once our school business is taken care of, the students meet me on the carpet in a circle. During this time, we make connections/touchpoints through questions such as “what is something kind that you did when you left school”, “what is a happy memory that you would like to share with us”, and “what do you love to do with your family”, etc. I have a talking piece and students hold it when they are sharing, and all other students are listening. After sharing, we do a focused attention practice. This allows students to regulate, regain their focus, and get ready for a day of learning. We also do a similar practice after lunch/recess so that we get ready to learn again.
We make focused attention practices a part of our daily schedule. The students really look forward to calming their minds, eliminating any negative thoughts, and getting their brains ready for learning. I truly believe that incorporating these routines and practices into our daily schedule allows students to decompress and identify the sensations that they are feeling (*teaching first-grade students about sensations will take a few separate lessons after students understand the routine of focused attention practices). Students learn how to breathe to help calm their nervous systems and lower their blood pressure and heart rate. Students recognize that being regulated is necessary for learning to take place. You can see a difference in students when we are finished, and they return to their desks. In my thirteen years of being an educator, this is the FIRST year that I have not had to send any student to the office for behavior issues.
So, the magic question that I hear often is “When do I have the time to do this”? It’s easy! I have eliminated “morning work” in our classroom and replaced it with the routine of focused attention practices each day. The students really look forward to it! By the end of the year, students were asking if they could lead these practices. If I had a substitute teacher in the room, I would select a student to help the substitute lead the practice!
Look at it this way … If you don’t think you have the time to incorporate these practices into your daily routines (5 minutes), take a moment to reflect on how much time it takes out of your day to continuously redirect a student, correct behavior, write them up, email or call a parent, and ultimately send that student to the office. The positive impacts of incorporating focused attention practices into your daily procedures are a GAME CHANGER! When students can identify sensations that they are feeling and they become dysregulated, they have the tools to get in front of any negative behavior that may occur. They also know that if they are feeling dysregulated at any time throughout the day that they can go to a quiet corner in our room or go to our regulation station. They take a ten-minute timer with them and that is their time to regulate. Some students may take more time, and that is okay. Everyone is respectful of any student that feels the need to regulate, and the students don’t take advantage of these valuable resources. They are purposeful when they use the regulation station.
Focused attention practices have changed my mindset as an educator and my students now have a toolbox of lifetime strategies to use when they are feeling dysregulated.”
Trish Giese
First-grade teacher
Homan Elementary School, Lake Central School Corporation
N. Goins (verified owner) –
Amazing resource!
Sherri Bergum (verified owner) –
“As we enter our second year as a corporation working with Dr. Desautels and the Applied Education Neuroscience framework, it was critical for our teacher to have concrete tools to begin implementation year one and the Focused Attention Practices and Brain Aligned Bell work were perfect resources and activities for our teachers to use immediately in their classrooms as they began to teach their students about their brains . These quick and purposeful activities helped start our days in our cortex and were proactive strategies within the school day that helped students remain in their cortex ready to learn. It was great to see principals also facilitate FAP OF THE WEEK building wide that gave a common language and focus for everyone.”
Sherri Bergum
New Castle Schools
Katie Thompson (verified owner) –
“Focused Attention Practices have been crucial in my journey as an educator. After my student teaching experience, my students gave me advice for my first year teaching. One piece of reoccurring advice was, “Keep doing Focused Attention Practices with your new students!” Students feel the effect these practices have on their brains and bodies. They want to co-regulate. Creating routine of brain-aligned work changes the culture in a classroom. Students feel capable and more prepared to step into their cortex as we begin academic content learning.”
Katie Thompson
Butler University Class of 2022
Elementary Education Major, Spanish Minor
Kathryn G. Parthun (verified owner) –
“Focused Attention Practices are the best of both worlds: They feel like a moment of escape from the rigid expectations of on-task behaviors in class while being a brain-aligned primer for prepping your nervous system to get on board with learning and engagement. When everyone takes a moment to speak the language of their lower brain systems, they will more efficiently and more aptly be ready for transitions, challenges, new information, and be flexible in doing so. It’s a win for everyone!”
Kathryn G. Parthun
Director of Social and Emotional Learning
Lafayette School Corporation, Sunnyside
Dustin Springer (verified owner) –
“When we greet our students every morning and welcome them into OUR classroom nests, we are able to connect with each and every one of them in a meaningful way. We use this time to decide if we need to start our day off with an energizer or if we need to bring some calm to our nervous systems in order to be prepared for learning! Focused attention practices ensure that we are regulated and ready to face the day. They have helped us be the best we can be!”
Dr. Dustin Springer
Principal, Gray Hawk Elementary School
Basehor-Linwood school district USD458