The Power That Comes From Teaching Children The Brain State Model

0:00 have you guys um taught the kids the states of the brain have you talked to the kids and and talk to your fifth graders and taught them what the you know survival State and what goes on in the emotional state and what goes on in the executive state has that been something that you've used I know some of our older grade levels have talked about just knowing where they are in that self-awareness u a part one of

0:25 their SEO actually one of their SEO goals and just thinking about what do you need right what where are things that help you feel safe and feel connected and the students have really turned it around to take ownership of that and that's been huge kind of listen to them say oh you know what and maybe I'm maybe I need a minute uh and then they don't say like oh I'm in the state but you can see the impact of that

0:46 conversation of being aware of okay I'm elevated and escalated here's what I chose I chose finding a quiet spot to sit or I chose talking to an adult and even with some of our kids who we see we say hey remember when you're feeling you know rage mode is one of our students we hey you're in Rage mode what's our plan for rage mode and they know and I even heard one of the students before it's

1:08 like hey you know I was in Rage mode yesterday but I was able to go to the car room and calm down and I'm like yes you know you can identify it and see that and so even if the language for grade level is different having students be aware of hey this is your okay State this is your not okay State what's our plan you know how do what what got us there and how do we work our way out of

1:27 that it's been huge right one last little thing that I want to share is I when I was the guidance counselor um I did that I went around taught the brain States um as a tool so kids could um not only identify but then also really kind of figure out what are the tools that I need to help me get to a higher state right and um so there was a little girl and the principal was gone and I was the

1:52 standin so we didn't have an assistant I was the standing so I'm the counselor and the principal and I know some of y'all out there doing that same like that feels a little like a weird to jugle so this little girl out on the playground in a fight physical fight with another um child draws blood you know like there so it's it's a big scramble she comes in to the office where I'm sitting somebody else is you

2:21 know helping the the little gal that was injured and and so I open my mouth to start with positive intent right so I'm just going to start with positive intent my my my um States relaxed and she looks at me like this and she goes I am so in the red that if you say a word ugly stuff is coming out my mouth and and I was like wow yeah this is a girl who typically would get suspended extra days

2:49 because of the horrific you know other things that come after the event at another day and another day yes absolutely yeah and so she went she got paper she started taking you know which was something that in the counseling experience that I had done in her classroom I had shown them some different strategies and she's then she's ripping it up and then she's wading it into a ball and then she does it again scribbles scribbles rips rips

3:15 rips wads it up throws it into the trash and she does that maybe six eight times and then she turns around and looks at me and says I think I'm ready and so I start with empathy yeah and I say you were really frustrated someone was talking about your mom MH and you weren't sure how to ask them to be more respectful MH and it was really important to you that they

3:46 respected your mom and it felt really disrespectful what happened and you just couldn't find the words and and the interesting thing is Jordan in that situation you know I used all the tools that I knew to help her feel safe and connected right and she still had to leave the building h yes because right it's it's a you know like that wasn't in my hands that's a decision that is a policy of the district but here's the difference and

4:13 this is what I think that when you understand the brain States it's just so powerful so I then said to her what happens in our building if you put your hands on another person in a hurtful way MH MH and she said you have to go home yeah and I said I know yeah I hate that y I hate that and she said I know I'm going to I'm going to do it different and I said I mean I

4:43 think that we could work on that together right and this is the weird thing like I'm the principal for this minute but I'm really kind of the counselor both right which is what you do every day and and so I said I would love to teach you so that you could teach her how to treat your mother with respect because absolutely 100% your mother deserves that and so do you and she left and guess what didn't

5:07 happen nobody called the superintendent's office right nobody called the principal and said my daughter is being disrespected in fact the mom came in when she came in to pick her up had a conversation Pleasant and I believe was was going to take that child home and and they were going to have a learning experience it wasn't going to be puni the little girl felt heard felt seen felt valued but understood that there is a consequence and I think that

5:38 that sometimes is the confusing part when we have this mindset like okay but then there's never a consequence you know you're in your survival State you do something crazy and that is not the message that we are sending at all it is absolutely the delivery right that is the game changer yeah what do we do with that we know the policies for wherever you are but what do you do with the student how does what conversations do

6:03 you have absolutely