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The Braving BSEL Blog

BSEL LIbrary: Part 1 of Career Building - There's no Dream too tall

1/9/2024

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Where I live, teachers as young as kindergarten are required to start teaching about career skills. It can seem a bit daunting, adding that kind of pressure to a classroom of five-year-olds! I'm glad to have recently found two books that make career building and talking about the future approachable for kids, and today, we'll explore about the first one:
 "There's No Dream Too Tall" By Amie Dean and illustrated by Sian James.


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BSEL Library: Will You Be the I in Kind?

12/4/2023

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In my classroom, we had a motto: 
Be safe, Be kind, Be your best self.

But kindness can be difficult skill to teach. How do you just "be kind?" Is it an attitude, or a personality trait? I would argue that kindness is a skill, with behaviors that can be explicitly taught to students! And thankfully, I found a book that gives specific ways to teach kindness in your classroom.
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On your journey to teach students to be kind, "Will You Be the I in Kind?" written by Julia Cook and illustrated by Jomike Tejido is a phenomenal resource. Here's why and how to use it.

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Giving Thanks: Behaviors to Promote Gratitude today and everyday

11/21/2023

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Happy Thanksgiving, friends!
It's that time of year where we gather around tables with loved ones to reflect on what we're thankful for. It's a great practice, yet it's one that I think we often miss in the busy-ness of everyday life. But gratitude is a value like any other, which means there are behaviors we can identify that help us live out this value in our daily lives.
​Here are three ways you can incorporate gratitude behaviors into your life this year.

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BSEL Library: Beat, Beat, Thump and the power of Mindfulness for Anxiety

10/26/2023

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          One of the challenges of coping with anxiety is regulating the body's responses. This can be hard for kids, but it's important to teach children how to work with, rather than against, these natural responses. 
          Alex's story does just that and gives hope to students who may be struggling with anxiety, through kid-friendly strategies and models of reframing in the book Beat Beat Thump by Allison Edwards and Steliyana Doneva.


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BSEL Library: Understanding "Your Amazing Brain" through Nonfiction Picture Books

10/16/2023

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When I experienced my brain injury in 2022, I learned the hard way that your brain really impacts everything! 

That's why I was so glad to see a book come out that teaches children just how our brains work and interact with the world to form our thoughts, feelings, and actions - really, our behavior. 

That book is "Your Amazing Brain"
by Jessica Sinarski. 



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BSEL Library: Teaching Coping Skills using "Felix and the Feelings Formula"

9/30/2023

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As a professional bridging the gap between behavior science and SEL, I am all about making emotional skills observable, measurable, and explicit. It can be really hard to take coping skills - a skill that comes naturally to some and often takes place internally - and break it down into concrete steps for instruction.

Recently though, I came across a diamond of a book that does just that, and I want to share it with you.

It's called "Felix and the Feelings Formula" by Kate Bartlein. 


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BSEL Library: What Should Danny Do? On Vacation!

7/6/2023

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If you're like me, you love the original book What Should Danny Do? by Ganit and Adir Levy. That's why I am so excited to share with you the perfect summer sequel, What Should Danny Do? On Vacation!  

​We're going to break down what we love about the book, a couple things you should be aware of before using the book, and ideas and resources for how to use this book in your classroom, including a free ending map to help you choose your class' adventure.


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The "Tough Kids": Shifting How We Think and Talk About students with Challenging Behaviors

6/23/2023

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Think of the toughest student to ever walk into your classroom. Every teacher has one. Maybe this student was whispered about in the faculty lounge, or yelled about in the principal's office, or cried about in your empty classroom at the end of a hard day. Can you picture this student? Good. Keep them in your mind.

This student was one of "those kids" - a student who had challenging behaviors at school. But how we think and talk about a student with challenging behavior as a significant impact on how we interact with them. That's why, as a BSEL Coach, I choose to refer to students with challenging behaviors as “tough kids.” 

Today, we're reclaiming the word "tough."


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Behavior is not a bad word! Defining behavior and how it can challenge or support our work as educators

5/10/2023

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The word "behavior" has become a buzzword in education, probably because of the many challenging behaviors happening across today's classrooms - more on that in a second. Unfortunately, the term behavior is often misused or misunderstood. Today, we are here to clear the air about what behavior really is (and is not) to help all educators better support all students.

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To start off, behavior is not a bad word. ​


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How Braving BSEL Came to Be

2/25/2023

 
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     The story of how braving BSEL came to be is long, but it matters. It starts with a simple truth: education is not what I expected.

       If your teacher certification program was anything like mine, you probably talked a lot about pedagogy, standards, and lesson plans.
  If you were lucky, (or just a special education major), you might have a classroom management or behavior management course thrown in too. Either way, I felt ready for what I thought teaching was mostly about: academic content.

When I got in my own classroom for the first time though, I felt deceived. 



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    Meet Jenny

    I'm a special education teacher turned BSEL coach. If I'm not geeking out on the research, I'm probably snuggling up on the couch with my husband and our two cats, Gibson and Binks.

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  • Home
    • About
    • Blog
    • Contact
  • Behavior Help
    • Coaching >
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      • Support for Teachers >
        • Coaching Packages
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    • Training >
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        • All Video Trainings
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  • Other
    • HappiClass Podcast