SuppleMent to phi DeltA kAppAn *issue · 6 Kappan Professional Development Discussion Guide...

SuppleMent to phi DeltA kAppAn

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DISCUSSION GUIDEby lois brown easton

for the December 2014/January 2015 issue*

SuppleMent to phi DeltA kAppAn

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DISCUSSION GUIDEby lois brown easton

for the December 2014/January 2015 issue

for the for the *

Using this guide

This discussion guide is intended to assist Kappan readers who want to use articles in staff meetings or university classroom discussions.

Members of PDK International have permission to make copies of the enclosed activities for use in staff meetings, professional development activities, or university classroom discussions. Please ensure that PDK International and Kappan magazine are credited with this material.

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Copyright PDK International, 2014. All rights reserved.

Contents 3 Study guide overview

4 Guide to Improving mental health in schools Eric Rossen and Katherine C. Cowan Phi Delta Kappan, 96 (4), 8-13

6 Guide to Crossing a broad gray line to help children Megan M. Allen Phi Delta Kappan, 96 (4), 19-21

7 Guide to Get families on board to navigate mental health issues Kathleen M. Minke and Harleen S. Vickers Phi Delta Kappan, 96 (4), 22-28

8 Guide to Appropriate interventions can salve unseen anxiety barriers Jessica Minahan and Jerome J. Schultz Phi Delta Kappan, 96 (4), 46-51

9 Activity for group discussion: Visual dialogue and gallery tours

15 Applications

kappanmagazine.org V96 N4 Kappan Professional Development Discussion Guide 3

Study guide overview

The articles in this edition of the Kappan help readers explore problems and frame solutions related to what families and educators face regarding students’ mental health. One good way to understand the content of these articles is to form a group of parents and educators to discuss the effect of student mental health issues on all sides.

Begin this group effort by having all participants read the following articles, referencing the study guide materials below for each one. Encourage them to pay attention to the viewpoints of stakeholders involved in providing optimum education for students with mental health challenges.

Then gather the group for about two hours at a time that is convenient for everyone. Follow the directions in the Activity for Group Discussion at the end of this guide.

The articles to read:

1. Crossing a broad gray line to help children

By Megan M. Allen pp. 19-21

2. Appropriate interventions can salve unseen anxiety barriers

By Jessica Minahan and Jerome J. Schultz pp. 46-51

3. Get families on board to navigate mental health issues

By Kathleen M. Minke and Harleen S. Vickers pp. 22-28

4. Do this for better mental health in schools

Eric Rossen and Katherine C. Cowan pp. 8-13

4 Kappan Professional Development Discussion Guide December 2014/January 2015

improving mental health in schools

By Eric Rossen and Katherine C. Cowan

Phi Delta Kappan, 96 (4), 8-13

oVerVieW oF the ArtiCle

The authors, through the National Association of School Psychologists, focus on the need for improved school-based mental health services for all students and on how those services can be provided.

key pointS

• For all students to learn, mental health must be addressed; it is “not an add-on or extracurricular luxury.”

• Nearly 10 million children in public schools — one in fi ve nationwide — will have a mental health crisis and need help(Merikangas et al., 2010; National Center for Education Statistics, 2014).

• They experience a range of symptoms, from “quiet misery” to unsafe behavior; these issues interfere with their ability to think and learn.

• The school system is inadequate for supporting them, and often students fi nd mental health services diffi cult to access and risk stigmatization when they use them.

• From 70-80% get their initial services at school, mostly in special education programs.

• The authors trace the history of mental health services in school from the late 1800s to 2002’s No Child Left Behind Act.

• Currently, mental health services in school are moving away from the “siloed approach” to a range of services available to everyone.

• The authors acknowledge the infl uence of mental health on all aspects of school life: “discipline and safety, school climate, family engagement, instructional time, and teacher stress.”

• They suggest a multitiered system of supports: Tier 1, which promotes universal wellness and primary prevention; Tier 2, targeted prevention and intervention when an identifi ed problem manifests among a group of students; Tier 3, indirect and direct student-level services for the individual that may involve outside professionals.

• Schools are the optimum place for assessment and identifi cation of students because they have schoolwide screenings and educators who are close enough to students to recognize problems.

• Schools should use school-employed mental health professionals, analyze data to identify issues and services needed, work collaboratively, seek funding from a variety of sources (including Medicaid, public and private grants, IDEA funding), and engage families.


Deepen your thinking

1. To what extent did schools focus on mental health when you were going to school? What kinds of services were offered (counseling, for example)? Was there a stigma in terms of using these services?

2. To what extent was mental health associated with disruption or violence? To what extent were depression and other mood disorders, anxiety disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders, emotional-behavioral disorders, or obsessive-compulsive disorders recognized and addressed as mental health issues?

3. How do you think the situation has changed from your youth to now?

4. In your opinion, what are the most important reasons schools should address mental health issues?

5. How many individuals in your school (or a school you know well) work with students with mental health issues?

6. To what extent should students with mental health issues be segregated from other students in special programs (such as special education)?

7. In what ways are students with mental health issues challenged in terms of learning? How do these students challenge other aspects of school life for them? For their teachers? For the school itself?

8. What do you think about making mental health services available to everyone through a multitiered approach, with the first tier focused on promoting wellness and preventing problems schoolwide and the third tier focused on individual support?

9. What are the barriers to a multitiered approach? How can these barriers be overcome?


Crossing a broad gray line to help children

By Megan M. Allen



Black-and-white policies may challenge teachers who need to respond to the needs of students with social-emotional needs, forcing them to make decisions on the basis of moral and ethical considerations rather than rules and regulations.

key pointS

• The rules and regulations that govern schools do not always work to help students who have social-emotional and learning needs.

• Teachers working with these students often fi nd insuffi cient resources for their work — not enough counselors, social workers, psychologists and other personnel, for example.

• Sometimes teachers may need to break the rules — school and district policies — in order to serve students well, calling upon their own moral and ethical values.

• The author recommends that in doing so teachers need to seek help from each other and address problems collaboratively.

• They need to work with students’ families, contacting them as soon as issues arise.

• They need to learn about partnerships, programs, counseling, mentoring, and support services (including therapy available outside the school).

• They need to attend to issues that may or may not be serious, asking those who have the skills to decide whether they need attention.

• They need to let someone know that a child is in crisis.

• They need to check in with students regularly, even if the check-in is only a simple, “How are you?”


1. Why might teachers not be willing to walk the “gray” line between rules and regulations and a child’s needs?

2. What lines would you cross in terms of your own family’s needs? What lines would you cross in terms of the students or adults with whom you work?

3. What are some times that you have crossed the lines of black and white into the gray? What have been the results?

4. What cautions would you exercise if you were to cross the lines between rules and regulations and someone’s needs?

5. What resources would you want if you were to cross the lines between rules and regulations and someone’s needs?

6. How do you balance the needs of one student in a class with the needs of all students in a class?

7. To what extent should “seemingly black-and-white policies” be seen as a “multitude of grays . . . better addressed on a case-by-case basis”?

8. Although the author encourages working closely with the student’s family, what would you do if the family, itself, was the problem?


get families on board to navigate mental health issues

By Kathleen M. Minke and Harleen S. Vickers



The positive relationships that need to be developed with families of students who need social-emotional support must be consciously developed, enhanced, and sustained by school educators.

key pointS

• Children with mental health issues have one thing in common: They go to school, and school is the one place where they are most likely to receive treatment.

• Families and school educators must collaborate for student success.

• Relationships between families and educators must be intentionally developed and sustained.

• Challenges related to collaborating with families for school-based interventions include the fact that parents have a variety of views — some positive and some negative — about their roles with educators.

• In addition, parents have different views about mental health and the role of the school in addressing the mental health issues of their students.

• Schools are challenged by reduced resources and may react rather than take a more proactive, preventative stance.

• Educators react to potential problems in a variety of ways, perhaps feeling uncertain or defensive when they reach out to parents who themselves may be reluctant, anxious, or ashamed about a problem at school.

• Educators need to be encouraged to think differently, communicate differently, and take actions differently.

• Thinking differently means confronting assumptions, attitudes, and beliefs about families, generally and specifi cally.

• Parent-teacher conferences, which both parents and teachers may fi nd stressful, can be reshaped to start with listening and paying attention to nonverbal cues.

• In terms of doing things differently, teachers can increase the ratio of positive to negative communications.

• The author provides a number of tools that readers can use to build relationships: a goal for interactions described as CORE (Connected-Optimistic-Respected-Empowered); a communication strategy described as PRAY (Pause-Refl ect-Ask for additional information-Your own ideas); and tips for family-school meetings.


1. What do you remember most about parent-teacher conferences, either as an educator or as a parent? How would you rate them in terms of collaboration that supports the success of the student?

2. To what extent are schools the appropriate place for addressing mental health issues? Why or why not? If not, where else might they be addressed?

3. How do you think parents of students with mental health issues feel about working with the school on those issues? What faith-based or cultural viewpoints might infl uence those feelings?

4. In what ways are schools prepared to deal with mental health issues? What else do they need to be effective?

5. How do you think teachers of students with mental health issues feel about talking with parents of students with these issues?

6. What do teachers most need in terms of working with families that have students with mental health issues?

7. What assumptions or beliefs might teachers have about families that have students with mental health issues? What assumptions or beliefs might families of students with mental health issues have about teachers who are working with their students?

8. What characteristics of schools and districts might make establishing positive relationships with parents of students with mental health issues diffi cult?


Appropriate interventions can salve unseen anxiety barriers

By Jessica Minahan and Jerome J. Schultz



Teachers who understand that students’ reactions to stress have a neurobiological basis and are not just willful misbehavior can take a proactive approach with some simple strategies when situations are likely to challenge anxious students.

key pointS

• Chronic anxiety and stress may lead to troubling behavior as well as problems with cognition.

• The neurobiology of the “anxious brain” shows that fear and worry prevent new information from reaching the part of the brain that processes at high levels and stores memories and, in fact, that the primitive part of the brain takes over to keep the individual safe from stress.

• Teachers often respond to negative, irritating, or aggressive behavior ineffectively.

• For example, rewards and consequences are ineffective because they reward “consistently regulated behavior and performance,” which students under stress may not be able to demonstrate.

• Also, if students don’t have skills for managing stress and can’t behave in the expected way, incentives don’t help.

• Teaching that is fl exible and reinforces the development of underdeveloped skills, identifi cation of situations that stress students, and support for addressing those situations are helpful.

• Being proactive when students are likely to be stressed and focusing on students who need the most support are also helpful.


1. What do you typically do when encountering a stressful situation? How do you cope?

2. What do people typically do to protect themselves when they encounter something that might result in their being embarrassed or shamed?

3. What student behaviors appear to be willful, defi ant, or apathetic? To what extent could these be based on anxiety, stress, or worry?

4. Steve Krashen describes the affective fi lter as a way that individuals protect themselves when their self-confi dence is low or they are feeling stress and anxiety. To what extent could willful, defi ant, or apathetic behaviors be seen as protection?

5. To what extent do you believe that students would behave if they could? What skills might some students lack in terms of behaving? Can these be taught and learned?

6. To what extent have you seen students’ behavior change as they become more self-confi dent and effi cacious?

7. What do you think of the authors’ idea that just getting started is the best way to become productive? Why might students struggle just to get started? What can teachers do to help them get started?

8. How can teachers be proactive about reducing stress?


Activity for group discussion: Visual dialogue and gallery tours(Bailey and Easton, 2008)

In advance of the group discussion, divide the whole group into mixed role Visual Dialogue groups (may be done randomly or purposefully to ensure that a balance of parents and educators is in each group) of between five and 10 people. Select a facilitator and prepare the following materials:

1. The following Visual Dialogue Template, one for each group on a large piece (at least 3 X 5 feet) of chart paper. (Consider taking an 8½-x-11 inch sized template to a copy store to have it blown up to the 3-x 5-foot size.) Display these templates on a wall in the discussion room, providing plenty of room in front of each one for people to gather in a semi-circle.

2. The Directions for Visual Dialogue and Gallery Tour: one per person.

3. Possible stakeholder groups: both a handout for participants and a list on a whiteboard or piece of chart paper.

4. Small sticky note or dots or markers so participants can vote for stakeholder groups.

5. A list of So What and Now What Questions for each person.

6. Nametags, if necessary.

Directions

1. Welcome group members and provide a way for them to introduce themselves if they don’t know each other. They might do so with their names as well as a description of their interest in students’ mental health.

2. Provide the following outcome of the session:

Participants will understand various stakeholder perceptions of how the mental health and learning of all students can be improved.

Note that this activity will prepare them for deciding how mental health programs can be improved. By reading the articles and understanding the perceptions of stakeholders, they will have powerful ideas for improving efforts related to students’ mental health needs.

3. Distribute the Possible Stakeholder Groups handout and ask participants to list possible stakeholder groups. Allow them to select their top three stakeholder groups and vote for them by placing a small sticky note, dot, or mark by that stakeholder group on the list you have prepared on a whiteboard or piece of chart paper.

4. Tally the votes and announce the top five stakeholder groups. Announce to participants that they can add a sixth stakeholder group through consensus of their small group when they work in these groups.

5. Provide participants with the handout Directions for Visual Dialogue and Gallery Tours. Work through it with them.

6. Then, divide them into small mixed groups of between five and 10 people and have them gather around the chart paper templates you have placed on the wall.

7. Have them identify an additional Stakeholder Group they want to include in their dialogue.

8. Have them proceed as the Directions for Visual Dialogue indicate, following the norms and working together to identify, come to consensus about, and write on the chart paper what stakeholders might say about an effort to improve mental health services at their school.

9. At the end of a designated time period — perhaps 30-45 minutes — ask participants to assign themselves letters a through ___, depending upon how many are in the smallest group. For example, if the smallest group has five people, all groups should “letter off” a, b, c, d, and e. If other groups have more than five people, they should repeat some letters. This way, the Gallery Tour groups will have at least one representative from each of the Visual Dialogue groups to explain what they did.

10. Follow the directions for Gallery Tours, asking participants to note similarities and differences among stakeholder needs and concerns.

11. When the Gallery Tours have been completed, have participants return to the groups they were a part of for the visual dialogue process. Allow some discussion in the Visual Dialogue groups about what they discovered during their different Gallery Tours. Then, ask the Visual Dialogue groups to come together and ask each group to contribute one idea at a time — by stakeholder group — from their chart or from other charts. For example, start with the stakeholder group of parents of


students with mental problems — and go round-robin until each Visual Dialogue group has contributed all the ideas related to that stakeholder group. If groups have the same idea, simply make a tic mark (//) next to the item. Repeat with the other stakeholder groups.

12. Complete the process with this consensus activity. Have participants individually record the three most important things about a mental health effort for all students. Then, repeat the “round-robin” process by having each individual name something until all of the “most important things” are recorded. If individuals have the same thing, simply make a tic mark (//) next to the item.

13. Have the group use the questions on the So What and Now What sheet to consider what to do next.

14. Prepare for next steps by having someone type up (or photograph) the record of viewpoints for each stakeholder group as well as the results of the consensus activity.

Visual Dialogue template

What one stakeholder

group might say

What another

stakeholder group

might say

What another

stakeholder group

might say

What another

stakeholder group

might say

What another

stakeholder group

might say

What another

stakeholder group

might say

What another stakeholder group

might say


Directions for Visual Dialogue & gallery tours

ViSuAl DiAlogue

1. Meet in your assigned Visual Dialogue Groups. Introduce yourselves.

2. Have someone “draw” the template on the chart paper (if not already provided).

3. Discuss norms and agree to them or revise them. Agree on what to do if people violate norms.

4. Work together to cocreate parts of the template, listening to each other, building on each other’s ideas, capturing the outliers while writing the consensus points.

5. No one person is automatically “the leader” with higher status. Anyone can facilitate, write/draw on the chart, keep time.

6. What’s on the chart represents consensus.

7. Make sure each person in the group has participated and knows enough about the template to discuss it during a Gallery Tour.

8. Have fun. Get colorful! Be imaginative! Use icons, arrows, lines, etc.

Some good norms• Work together to cocreate parts of the

template rather than divvying them up for individuals to do; do not fi gure out any part of the template on your own;

• Listen fi rst to understand; build on each other’s ideas;

• Look for commonalities but treat each idea with respect and look for its fi t;

• Ensure that everybody has “air time;” and

• “Park” ideas that are not yet fully developed or haven’t been agreed upon on a separate piece of chart paper, making sure to go back to those ideas during the process.


gAllery tourS

1. In your Visual Dialogue Group, count off by __.

2. Leave your visual dialogue group and join those who have the same number you have.

3. In each NEW group there should be at least one representative from each Visual Dialogue group. You are now in a Tour Group.

4. As the tour reaches your chart, serve as Docent and highlight what you did. Answer questions.

5. As you are touring the visual dialogue posters, pose clarifying and probing questions. Make comments that the Docent writes down to share with the rest of his/her Visual Dialogue Group.

6. Take notes on the commonalities and anomalies.

7. When all Tour Groups have fi nished the tour, Visual Dialogue Groups should reconvene and share what they heard about their own work and what they noticed about other Visual Dialogue Groups’ work.

8. Look for consensus (agreement/commonalities) among the Visual Dialogue Charts. Also look for anomalies (outliers, items that are not common) that should be considered.

Types of questionsClarifying questions focus on facts:

• who?

• what?

• when?

• where?

Probing questions are how & why questions:

• “What would happen if. . . ?”

• “How would X be different if. . . ?”

• “What’s another way. . .?”

• “What are the assumptions?”


poSSible StAkeholDer groupS

All students

Students with mental health issues

All parents

Parents whose students have mental health issues

All teachers

Teachers who work with students who have mental health issues

Paraprofessionals and aides who work with students with mental health issues

Building administrators

School-based coaches

School-based professional learning communities

School specialists (reading, speech, etc.)

School psychologists and/or counselors

Special education teachers

District administrators

District psychologists

Other:

Other:

Other:

Other:


So WhAt AnD noW WhAt

The Visual Dialogue and Gallery Tour activities led to a consideration of WHAT is important in terms of improving the mental health and learning of all students. The SO WHAT and NOW WHAT questions enable participants to consider next steps.

So what

Have participants consider these questions:

1. Why is this issue important to us? Why do we care?

2. Why is it important to understand stakeholder viewpoints?

3. Why would these stakeholders care?

4. How important is this issue?

Now what

1. Given that this is an important issue, what do we do next?

2. What are some first steps? (A good first step, for example, is communicating the results of this meeting to people who need to know but were not present for this process.)

3. Who might take the lead at this point? Who would help?

4. What results do we expect from our first steps?

5. When do we expect these results?

6. How will we decide what to do next?

references

Bailey, S. & Easton, L.B. (2008). Visual dialogue. In L.B. Easton (Ed.), Powerful designs for professional learning (3rd ed.). Oxford, OH: Learning

Forward, pp. 283-293.

Krashen, S.D. (2003). Explorations in language acquisition and use: The Taipei lectures. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Merikangas, K.R., He, J.P., Burstein, M., Swanson, S.A., Avenevoli, S., Cui, L., … Swendsen, J. (2010). Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in U.S.

adolescents: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication-Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A). Journal of The American Academy of Child &

Adolescent Psychiatry, 49 (10), 980-989.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2014). Fast facts. Washington, DC: Author. http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372


ApplicationsThis Professional Development Guide was created with the characteristics of adult learners in mind (Tallerico, 2005):

• Active engagement • Relevance to current challenges

• Integration of experience • Learning style variation

• Choice and self-direction

As you think about sharing this article with other adults, how could you fulfill the adult learning needs above?

This Professional Development Guide was created so that readers could apply what they have learned to work in classrooms (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001):

• Identifying Similarities and Differences • Summarizing and Note-Taking

• Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition • Homework and Practice

• Nonlinguistic Representations • Cooperative Learning

• Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback • Generating and Testing Hypotheses

• Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers

As you think about sharing this article with classroom teachers, how could you use these strategies with them?

references

Marzano, R.J., Pickering, D., & Pollock, J.E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Tallerico, M. (2005). Supporting and sustaining teachers’ professional development: A principal’s guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

About the AuthorLois Brown Easton is a consultant, coach, and author with a particular interest in learning designs — for adults and for students. She retired as director of professional development at Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center, Estes Park, Colo. From 1992 to 1994, she was director of Re:Learning Systems at the Education Commission of the States (ECS). Re:Learning was a partnership between the Coalition of Essential Schools and ECS. Before that, she served in the Arizona Department of Education in a variety of positions: English/language arts coordinator, director of curriculum and instruction, and director of curriculum and assessment planning.

A middle school English teacher for 15 years, Easton earned her Ph.D. at the University of Arizona. Easton has been a frequent presenter at conferences and a contributor to educational journals.

She was editor and contributor to Powerful Designs for Professional Learning (NSDC, 2004 & 2008). Her other books include:

• The Other Side of Curriculum: Lessons From Learners (Heinemann, 2002);

• Engaging the Disengaged: How Schools Can Help Struggling Students Succeed (Corwin, 2008);

• Protocols for Professional Learning (ASCD, 2009); and

• Professional Learning Communities by Design: Putting the Learning Back Into PLCs (Learning Forward and Corwin, 2011).

Easton lives and works in Arizona. Email her at [email protected].

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