Harmony  is introducing its Online Professional Learning Library, which includes a number of online tools and resources to enhance the Harmony experience. Teachers and staff are able to access training, helpful healthy learning modules, support materials, and even the Harmony toolkit while on the go. Here are all the exciting new features that can be accessed right now!

Online Training

Teachers and staff can register for individual or group online training sessions. Upon completion of training, they will each receive a certificate, and will be well prepared to implement Harmony into classrooms. Watching the group training sessions during grade-level planning time offers teachers the chance to chat with one another about strategies appropriate for their teaching situations. In some school districts, the certificates received after the training sessions can be evidence that is submitted for salary or position advancement.

Digital Kits

Harmony kits just got a new look and are available through the Online Professional Learning Library! Kits include storybooks, games, grade-specific lesson plan books, and Quick Connection Cards. If teachers lesson plan at home, all of the digital teacher resources and lesson plans are accessible on home computers—no more dragging home heavy teacher editions when teachers make use of Harmony online resources.

Hablamos Español

The Harmony Digital kits for Pre-K through second grade will be available in Spanish on the Online Professional Learning Library this summer.

On-Demand Modules

Professional development modules will be available online in the coming weeks. You can view the modules at any time to support planning and implementation of Harmony activities, including:

– Affirming Difference and Valuing Background Knowledge

– Teachers as Agents of Change

– Working Against Racial Bias

Support Materials

Teachers and staff can watch helpful webinars and access other support materials (i.e. short videos) to refresh their skills and learn new techniques to apply in the classroom. The brief videos of real kids and adults will assist teachers in thinking about ways to implement Harmony activities in their classrooms. The videos are organized by grade level, so teachers can view those that are most applicable to their teaching situations.

What are you waiting for? To register for the Online Professional Learning Library and start enhancing your Harmony experience today contact a Harmony Online Ambassador at sanfordharmony@nu.edu.

The end of the day and the end of the semester aren’t always easy on young students—they may miss their friends and teachers, and the fun and structure of school. Make saying goodbye a happy occasion, so they carry that positivity with them long after they leave. Here are some tips to make saying goodbye easier for students.

Leave Connected – Have students suggest unique and fun ways to say goodbye (i.e. high five, hug, hand shake, smile, hip bump, wave, thumbs up, short dance move), and list their responses. Stand at the door as they leave, and as students say goodbye to you and each other, give them the option to use one of the fun ways from the list.

Regroup Routine – Create a 15-minute routine for the end of each day. Help students leave with a good feeling about themselves and what they have accomplished by doing the following:

• Clean up together
• Sit in a circle
• Let students know that talking about learning at the end of the day helps them remember what they’ve learned.
• Ask students a question and let each one give a brief response or a pass. Open-ended questions are best: What is one thing you loved doing this semester (or day)? What is one thing you learned this semester (or day)? What is something that we did in class that you’d like to have more time doing?

Stay Upbeat – Establish a goodbye ritual for the whole group to do together, such as singing a song, listening to special music, or doing a chant or fun poem. Suggested songs are “Happy Trails to You” or “So Long, It’s Been So Good to Know You.”

See You Later, Alligator – Recite this poem together throughout the semester and one final time on their last day in the classroom:

See you later, alligator

In a while, crocodile

Out of the door, dinosaur

Chop chop lollipop

See you soon, baboon

Take care, polar bear

Give a hug, ladybug

In an hour, sunflower

Maybe two, kangaroo

Better swish, jellyfish

Chow, chow, brown cow

Better shake, rattlesnake

Bye, bye, butterfly

Gotta go, buffalo

Let’s jam, Sam

Blow a kiss, goldfish

Be sweet, parakeet

How do make saying goodbye fun for your students? We’d love to hear!

 

 

The best thing about young students is that they all have their own unique personalities. While some are well-behaved, eager pleasers in class, some can tend to be more disruptive, unruly, and…not as well-behaved. There comes a point when you must address certain behavioral issues with the student’s parents, so together, you can come up with a solution that helps the student to do better, and ultimately succeed in school. Here are some tips for touching on this touchy topic with parents.

 Send a classroom management packet home

During the first week of school, or when a new student enters the classroom, send home a notice that outlines classroom expectations, including rules, guidelines, and goals. Parents should know exactly what type of behavior is acceptable in your class. During your conference, you can refer back to the guidelines, and parents won’t be taken by surprise should you have to address that their child is not complying with any of these standards.

Be friendly

This one should go without saying, but greet parents with a kind hello and a smile. Start off the meeting with some small talk, and get to know them personally, before diving into any issues. By putting parents at ease, they will be a less defensive and more receptive to your feedback about their child. Maintain a positive tone and attitude throughout the conversation.

Inform

The purpose of talking to parents about their child’s behavior is to strictly inform. Keep thoughts, opinions, and advice to a minimum (or entirely to yourself). If parents ask for your opinion, be cautious, and try to be as diplomatic as possible. Keep in mind you and the parents only want what’s best for their child.

Stick to the facts

Tell the student’s parents exactly what happened, or what has been happening, that prompted the conference or telephone call. Stick to what you know to be true, which brings us to our next tip.

Be honest

Be straightforward and say, “This behavior is interfering with learning, and is not allowed in this classroom.” Don’t hold back or allow any room for misinterpretation, because the most helpful language for parents is the plain truth.

Explain how you are handling the behavior

After giving the facts of the incident or behavior, let the parents know how the problem is being handled at school. Explain the rule or guideline that the student has broken, and how he or she is being held accountable. Assure the parents that you are doing your part to help resolve the issue, change the behavior, and turn it into a teachable moment.

Be brief

Try to conduct conversations or conferences with parents, especially over the phone, in less than five minutes. End the call by indicating to parents that you appreciate their support and that they can call or email with any further questions.

It’s never easy talking to parents about behavioral issues. However, keep in mind, parents appreciate being informed, and most certainly want to know about any issues, so they too can address them at home. Parents can use this information as a way to open up dialogue with their child, and discuss any underlying issues that may be causing the behavior at school. All children are good children, some just need a little extra guidance in regard to classroom etiquette. Do you have any tips for talking to parents about a difficult student? Share them in the comments section below.

 

 

(Source: Smart Classroom Management, June, 2011)

There’s probably nothing more gratifying, as a teacher, than seeing students develop a love of learning. When young students display an eagerness to understand, and desire to know more, we know that we’ve done our jobs. Some kids have a natural inclination to learn, and others may have a more lackadaisical approach to school. So, what can you do to get your students engaged, motivated, and excited about learning? Here are some Harmony tips:

Share Your Love of Learning

It’s important for students to know that learning is invaluable, and even necessary, at any stage of life. In a Meet Up, share a personal experience in which you learned something new as an adult or as a teacher. For example, discuss a book you read, a documentary you saw, or a person you met, and what you learned and why that was important to you. Invite students to ask you questions about this learning. When you share that you learn new things too, you become part of your classroom’s learning community. In another Meet Up, you can have students begin to share their learning experiences also.

Make it Fun   

One of the best ways to get students to love learning, is to teach in a way in which they don’t even realize that they are learning. Get your students moving around and playing physically. Play thinking games. Invent games and let students invent games. Make sure every game has a learning goal and make that goal explicit to the kids. Just make it fun! Use a wide variety of open-ended, multi-sensory materials so that children, with teacher input, can see everyone has different learning styles.

Teach a Lesson on Learning

Let kids know that learning can be difficult, but when new learning is produced, not only the learning but the effort it took to get there will be evident. During a Meet Up, tell your students about a time it was challenging for you to learn something new (i.e., new computer technology or riding a bike). Also, invite students to discuss some challenges they have experienced in learning.

Offer Praise for Effort

When students are praised for their effort (not just the end result), they begin to understand how learning works. This positive reinforcement encourages students to continue to try, and enjoy the process.

Change the Variable

Add just one new/different material in the classroom periodically so that children have new items to experiment with and use. This will make the classroom not so familiar or predictable and will challenge children to think of new ways to work.

If we want independent, self-reliant children who are able to direct their own lives, we need to give kids the learning tools and knowledge necessary. This requires challenge and loving direction. It’s important to teach that the process of learning is something that will benefit them their whole lives, and is a process they can make all their own. Follow some of our tips, and let us know if you have any of your own.

Just as classrooms all over the nation are adopting Harmony as their healthy learning program, after school programs are joining the Harmony movement! After school programs function differently than the traditional classroom, but are equally important to relationship skill development. This month, we’re putting the spotlight on LA’s BEST After School Enrichment Program offered at most schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

LA’s BEST gives Pre-K through middle school students a safe place to go after school for help with homework, and to participate in enrichment courses, STEM activities, dance, and the arts. LA’s BEST brings together hundreds of students at each site with diverse backgrounds, temperaments, and ages.  While this could be a recipe for chaos and disorganization, LA’s BEST provides structure and positive relationship building for their after school students by integrating Harmony strategies throughout their program.

Harmony Trainer, Erica Harms, explains, “LA’s BEST was searching for an effective healthy learning teaching tool. Harmony was a natural fit since LAUSD is currently implementing Harmony into all of its Pre-K classrooms, and has plans to roll out the program to all other grades as well.”

Since last spring, LA’s BEST has engaged students in Meet Up and Buddy Up routines using the Harmony Quick Connection Cards. “Site leaders have reported seeing improvements in students being more welcoming, showing empathy, and being more helpful. There has also been a decrease in arguing, bullying, and isolating” Harms reports.

Each LA’s BEST site carries out Harmony differently, depending on specific needs. For example, students may participate as one large group, or be divided into small groups based on grade level. Harms shares, “During after school programs, students have a great deal of energy and may express different emotional needs or frustrations: school is out, children may be excited or exhausted, and require a certain level of freedom. Harmony provides structure, and makes it easy for kids to branch out and work and play with other students. You might observe a third grader buddy up with a fifth grader, and this can make the third grader feel less intimidated, while the fifth grader feels a sense of responsibility to look out for and help his or her buddy.  Students appreciate having the structure, and having activities that include everyone. Through Harmony, students are building many new relationships that wouldn’t be built organically.”

LA’s BEST students have been enthusiastic about Harmony as part of their after school program. “Kids like sharing stories and talking about themselves. Shy students are able to come out of their shells and make new friends, because Harmony provides multiple opportunities for students to get to know and understand one another,” shares Harms.

Parents were pleasantly surprised how well Harmony was working for LA’s BEST students. Parents have reported noticing that children are now more connected and empathetic, and really enjoy attending LA’s BEST After School Enrichment Program. Harms says, “They are impressed with the care and emphasis on positive relationships that LA’s BEST provides for their children.” Parents have enjoyed the positive results of the program so much, they have asked if Harmony could be a component of back-to-school nights, open house, or other school events.

“One of the best parts about Harmony is that the options are limitless—it can be implemented in classrooms, after school programs, healing circles, Saturday academies, or parent nights, as participants will always value building supportive relationships,” reports Harms.

October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month

The statistics are alarming: one out of every three students is a victim of bullying. It’s an age-old problem that can impact children emotionally, physically, and academically. Anti-bullying legislation and campaigns can help, but educators must invest time to foster social-emotional competencies essential for a school culture of acceptance, tolerance, and respect. Harmony strategies, lessons, and activities are designed to build healthy relationships and combat bullying. Research indicates that Harmony reduces stereotyping, teasing, and bullying while increasing school connectedness, empathy, and student achievement.

Margaret Johnson is a former principal and director of curriculum and staff development who now serves as a Product Specialist and Trainer for Harmony program. In a recent interview, she shares the importance of building healthy relationships among children and how Harmony is helping educators prevent bullying and aggressive behavior in schools.

Q: What is bullying?

A: A student is bullied when he or she becomes a repeated target of deliberate negative actions by one or more students who possess greater verbal, physical, social, or psychological power.  Verbal bullying involves threats, name calling, teasing or spreading rumors and cyber-bullying. Physical bullying involves hitting, pushing, or destroying items that belong to others. Bullying also includes repeated social isolation when children are purposefully excluded from groups. Bullying has devastating effects such as school avoidance, loss of self-esteem, increased anxiety, and depression.

Q: Why does bullying occur?

A: Childhood and elementary school is a dynamic time of new experiences and forming relationships with diverse peers. Students come to school with diverse backgrounds and cultures, a variety of languages, different temperaments, communication skills, and maturity levels. During elementary school, children are still learning a great deal about how to get along with others. Some students are less prepared to share and solve problems with their peers. Unfortunately, some students resort to aggression to solve problems, rather than more effective ways to resolve conflicts.

Q: Are there certain characteristics of bullies?

A: Students more likely to bully others may be well-connected and enjoy social power among their peer group, be hyper-concerned about their popularity, and like to dominate groups. Other students tend to be more isolated from peers, not feel connected to school, have low self-esteem and may be anxious or depressed, be unaware of others emotions and feelings, and be easily pressured by peers.

Children who bully may also have the following factors:

• Less parental involvement or experience family issues at home
• Low options and tolerance of others
• Difficulty following rules
• Interested in violence
• Aggressive or easily frustrated
• Friends who bully others

Q:  What are the characteristics of a child who is victimized by bullies?

A:  There is no single descriptive profile to identify those students at risk for being targeted by bullies:  One indicator may be the absence of friends in a child’s life.  Children who are socially isolated are easier targets because they lack a friendship network to back them up and support them against a bully’s actions. They may be new to the school, struggle academically, be perceived as different from their peers in appearance, and not “cool.”

Students who are bullied may be passive or provocative victims. Passive victims may be physically weaker than most classmates, less assertive, experience learning difficulties and be more anxious than their peers. Lacking friends, these children are an easy target for bullying. Proactive victims may be both anxious and aggressive.  They may also lack social skills and tend to irritate or alienate their classmates. Bullies may provoke these provocative victims into an outburst through taunts or teasing and then sit back and watch as the teacher reprimands the victim for disrupting the class.

Q:  How does Harmony combat bullying?

A: The everyday practices of Meet Up and Buddy Up provide students with opportunities to interact with peers and participate in conversations and problem solving about issues related to your classroom community. Meet Up and Buddy Up teach your students essential relationship-building skills that combat bullying.

Setting Harmony Goals lays the foundation for the entire Meet Up process.  Creating goals establishes agreements for how the classroom will function is key to developing respect and equity among students. Regularly visiting goals and problem solving helps provide a common language to support and hold one another accountable. As students share commonalities and celebrate differences they are empowered to step into the shoes of their peers and learn to avoid hurting or bullying others.

Buddy Up creates opportunities for students to engage with diverse peers. By pairing students with a different peer each week students develop connections and social responsibility toward each other. When students know one another they are less likely to isolate, tease, or bully and more likely to support one another if they are bullied.

Harmony lessons and activities foster self-awareness and self-regulation skills and help students develop strategies to prevent bullying. Grades 3-5 lessons, activities, and games engage students in role-playing and problem-solving discussions to develop an awareness and prevention of bully behavior. Battle the Bullies is a popular game that helps students examine the roles of the bully, victim, and bystander and increases their awareness of effective and ineffective approaches for resisting victimization and providing victimized peers with support.

Harmony Pre-K-2nd grade storybooks introduce important relationship-building concepts to younger students.  The stories validate children’s feelings and help them recognize and manage their own emotions so that they do not harm themselves or others.

Q: What are teachers sharing about Harmony?

A: Teachers have embraced Meet Up and Buddy Up as effective practices to build supportive and respectful learning communities. Harmony teachers share they’re no longer putting out discipline fires all day as students are solving problems without staff intervention. Teachers are observing increased empathy and inclusion, cooperation, and supportive peers who are standing up against teasing, aggression, and bullying.  In Harmony classrooms teachers can teach and children can learn!

Q: What can parents do to help build healthy relationships?

A: Family and community investment in social emotional competencies enhances the Harmony experience. Parents want to know that their children feel included and accepted in their classroom. Harmony teacher kits include home school communication activities to share with families. Grade level manuals share a variety of strategies, lessons, and discussions appropriate for families. Our Harmony website also introduces parents to Harmony and provides supportive video teaching modules of Harmony in action.

Stopbullying.gov is an excellent resource for everyone invested in eliminating bullying:

Younger Students:  http://www.stopbullying.gov/kids/webisodes/ to learn how friends deal with kids who bully.

Upper Grade Students: Check out our “Be More Than a Bystander” section at http://www.stopbullying.gov/respond/be-more-than-a-bystander/index.html and learn how you can be exceptional role models in your school.

Teachers and School Administrators:  http://www.stopbullying.gov/prevention/at-school/index.html

Take the new online course:  http://www.stopbullying.gov/prevention/training-center/index.html.  This free online course will walk you through the basics you need to know about bullying and bullying prevention.

Summer is (finally) here! Whether you’re teaching through the season, or taking a much-needed breather, there is plenty to do to prep for the next school year (it will be here before you know it, after all). Here are our top 10 tips for new teachers to get ready for the year ahead.

Seriously, Relax

Yes, you have a lot to do. But you also need to take care of yourself. Whether it’s sleeping in, getting a massage, spending time with family, working out, or catching up on horrible (amazing) daytime TV, you need to stop and regroup. It was a good year, with some great kids—and you deserve some serious kudos for putting your heart into helping them learn. Now it’s time to do something just for you, before you hit the ground running, again.

Review…Yourself

Take some time to reflect on this past year. Ask yourself if you created a harmonious classroom environment. Evaluate your lessons, student progress, and the year overall. Were there areas for improvement? Was there anything you were particularly successful with? Did students or parents complete an evaluation of you? If so, go through them and come up with ways to make next year even better.

Get Inspired

What made you want to be a teacher in the first place? You may feel burned out at the moment, but you chose this profession for a reason. Go to conferences and events, meet with mentors, read books or articles, travel, learn something new, do anything that ignites your creativity and makes you motivated to be an inspirational teacher.

Review Curriculum

Try to get your hands on next year’s curriculum as early as possible—review curriculum with mentors or peers and see how they are planning on changing things up next year. Start researching and brainstorming lessons and learning activities.

Create Lesson Plans

The beginning of the school year is always a little hectic—you’re getting to know new students, you’re meeting parents, you’re trying to get everyone acclimated to being in a new class. To keep focused and organized in the midst of the chaos, it’s a good idea to create lesson plans for at least the first two weeks of school, which brings us to our next tip.

Plan the First Day of School

Kids are likely feeling a range of emotions on the first day of school—from excited and enthusiastic to nervous and even a little scared. Plan some activities that set the tone for the school year—activities that promote peer interaction and getting to know one another. Have some fun before diving right into the course material—let the kids ease into a new routine.

Design Your Classroom

Think of a theme for your classroom that coincides with learning material for your grade. Brainstorm ideas for how you want the class to be set up, where you want to display student work, or have reading zones or relaxation or quiet stations. Do you want your room to be full of bright, bold colors, or do you want more subdued, calming tones? Do you want a modern, techy vibe, or a more organic, earthy feel? Whatever you decide, make your classroom a place the children (and you) will love to be.

Create Your Rules

Put together your list of classroom rules to go over on the first day of school—like no gum chewing, raise your hand to speak, no eating during class, etc. Consider writing theses rules on a big poster board and displaying them as a reminder for students. When you begin the Harmony SEL program, you’ll also come up with more rules as a class, regarding how to treat peers, and being inclusive and respectful.

Collect Supplies

Well, since you got such a huge budget to buy supplies and all, go to the most expensive place in town and stock up! You’re thinking, “yeah, right.” As a teacher, you have to kind of get resourceful when it comes to getting some classroom necessities—like pens, pencils, markers or crayons, dry erase markers or chalk, scissors, staplers, glue sticks, stickers, construction paper, bulletin board paper, storage bins, and of course lots of books! Go to the local thrift store, hit up some garage sales, head to the dollar store, or find some discount supply shops online for items to last through the year.

Get Organized

You will have lesson plans, assignments, student work, and then some more. Create a system that works for you—whether it’s a binder with dividers or some sort of file system (get out that labeler you got for graduation). Getting organized before the new school year starts, will help save you the headache of doing it when the papers are flying around the back seat of your car.

Just remember, you have one of the most impactful professions out there—shaping our youth to be awesome and smart. Good luck getting ready for the next school year, while trying to take some time for you, too.