As Wolf staff returned to kick off a new school year with Summer Institute, a week dedicated to professional development, chart reviews, and classroom setup, they were also greeted with something more. From a new staff celebration board to fun icebreaker games leading to lots of laughter and mindful minutes as a whole group, there was an increased focus on personal wellness and self-care. Since heading back to school can be just as difficult for adults as it is for students, this was a welcome addition to a typically busy week. But this wasn’t just a one-time thing, instead, it was just the beginning of an introduction to Conscious Discipline®, a self-regulation program introduced and implemented this year at Wolf.
What Is Conscious Discipline®?
According to their website, Conscious Discipline® is an “evidence-based, comprehensive, multidisciplinary self-regulation program” that addresses the emotional intelligence of adults first and children second. Simply put, it’s a similar mindset to attaching your own oxygen mask before helping someone else. Conscious Discipline® seeks to address the issue that school staff cannot be expected to attend to the social-emotional needs of students when they haven’t addressed their own. As the adults in a school community learn how to stay calm and take care of themselves, they’re able to see misbehavior or big emotions as an opportunity to teach. As staff learn to self-regulate themselves, they are more capable of teaching this knowledge to help students learn to do the same.
To understand the research behind Conscious Discipline® and learn how to effectively integrate this into a school community, a Conscious Discipline® Action Team (CDAT) was created at Wolf. This team made up of administrators, teachers, therapists, and teacher assistants attended a 2-day Conscious Discipline Educator Workshop to learn all about building resilient classrooms. Following the conference, the CDAT met regularly during the summer to review all that was covered and determine how to best implement the principles of Conscious Discipline® school-wide.
Why Use Conscious Discipline®?
With the program focusing on building community and connections in each classroom and school-wide, the core of Conscious Discipline® aligns seamlessly with the Wolf School’s mission and core values. Since our founding in 1999, The Wolf School has understood the importance of brain states – it is when a student is regulated that they are able to access learning. Conscious Discipline® expands this idea to clarify that in order for students to be able to learn and problem-solve, they need to feel safe and connected to their school community.
With research around Conscious Discipline® showing increased academic achievement, improved school culture, healthier social-emotional skill sets, and a decrease in problem behaviors, Conscious Discipline® provides Wolf an opportunity to create a school environment even better than before that focuses on the social-emotional well-being of everyone.
Conscious Discipline® At Wolf
So how is this being implemented at Wolf? Along with training throughout the year for staff and families to help implement this mindset shift, this year one of the focuses of CDAT is prioritizing the well-being of staff in order to better support the students. In addition to the staff celebration board mentioned earlier, CDAT has also created a grown-up chill zone in the faculty room, a well-wishes board, and team-building activities embedded in our professional development opportunities.
School-wide there have been 3 community initiatives to bring Conscious Discipline® to Wolf!
Friends and Family Tree
Community building is key in developing feelings of safety and connection and to show this is a school-wide endeavor, we introduced the friends and family tree. Along with a reminder of our school community as a whole, this is an opportunity to connect with students, parents, or other visitors in the school.
Daily Greeting
Coming to school may be anxiety-inducing for some students as they deal with past school trauma. Even for staff as they deal with family obligations, traffic, work stress, and more. So to start each day on a positive note and show that everyone is a welcome member of the Wolf community, a daily greeting is posted on each exterior door and classroom door. Students pick which greeting they’d like to receive today and start their day feeling listened to and welcomed!
Weekly Mantra
As a way to introduce the ideas behind Conscious Discipline®, Wolf will be breaking down each of the Conscious Discipline® Seven Powers (power of perception, power of unity, power of attention, power of free will, power of acceptance, power of love, and power of intention) through weekly mantras.
These mantras are introduced and explained at All School Assembly so the entire school community can understand the meaning behind it and share their own ideas for how they can implement that week’s mantra. For example, as part of the Power of Perception, the first weekly mantra introduced was “I can listen to others’ ideas.” Students shared that they can put this mantra to use when deciding what game to play at recess, how to move forward with a group project, or engaging in a conversation topic that wasn’t their first choice.
A new school year brings with it the opportunity for growth and through the addition of Conscious Discipline®, we’re confident this is going to be a great year!