What We Do
1. We Build a Foundation
You can’t build a house without a foundation. The same is true for creating a 21st Century Learning Environment.
Respect
Active listening and eye contact are important skills that build a culture of respect. Learn 21st Century strategies and routines that allow for practice of these skills in your environment.
Empathy
Empathy and compassion are learned behaviors and set the foundation for personal relationships and a positive, supportive and trusting culture.
Inclusion
Providing an opportunity for individuals to share how they feel excluded in their environment allows managers to see how these feelings can affect enthusiasm and productivity. Our framework will provide you with practical techniques to provide a welcoming and inviting environment by practicing exercises that encourage active inclusion.
Common Language
Words mean things. And the same word(s) can mean different things to different people based on their own experiences. Having a common language allows students, teachers, administrators, parents, community members and employees the opportunity to understand expectations and the ability to live up to those expectations.
8 Essential Questions
The eight essential questions allow us to develop a thinking pattern that focuses on the affects of our our actions and direct us in a reflection process to enable us to overcome challenges and solve problems.
2. We use real-life situations
Our approach begins each lesson by presenting videos or screen shots of real life examples. Participants are encouraged to work in pairs or groups for collaborative learning. By utilizing their experiences from the routines introduced and practiced as a part of the foundation, participants are encouraged to develop strategies for overcoming challenges and solving problems.
DEFINE a situation
What is the behavior that you are seeing that you want to change?
Reflect
The behavior you see is likely the result of something else. What are the underlying issues? Who are the participants?
FORMULATE
a plan
a plan
Which part of the foundation is crumbling to cause the situation? Acceptance and tolerance depend on the strength of the foundation. Trust only happens as a result of continuous opportunities to feel empathy and act compassionately. Do individuals understand that inclusion is a verb? Are all adults using a common language and common strategies to support students in overcoming adversity and changing behavior? What was your conclusion after working through the Eight Essential Questions?
IMPLEMENT
With support from the rest of the team (teachers, parents, administrators and students), put your plan into action in the environment.
3. We Help You Practice
Infuse the concepts you’ve learned into everything you do by using our Online Resources, participating in Lunch ‘N Learns and continuing to embrace the principles through online training.