As I begin to wrap up this academic year and make plans for the next, I am conjuring ways to incorporate some SEL components into my curriculum while ensuring that engagement is high and learning is maximally occurring.
So, I have created a synthesis unit that has students giving life advice to Eeyore while learning about the basics of mindfulness, EFT, Havening … as well as concepts like how to thwart negative self-talk and silence the endless monkey-mind.
Well before the days of Covid, I incorporated a number of these “things” into our classroom routine.
Students love it! They often ask to meditate or journal.
What I have done for today’s video and this unit is the following:
1. Knowing that this essay can go in a million different directions, my source packet is over 35 pages long. Pick and choose what is appropriate for you and your students. There is some challenging content like Ruiz’s 1st Agreement (Be Impeccable with Your Words) --- and there’s some easy stuff like a song Eeyore wrote entitled “Nobody Wants to be My Friend,” which is accompanied by a music video.
2. In the writing workshop video, I do my usual “Bob Ross of Composition” routine and “paint” my way through the entire essay while demonstrating for teachers and students how to manipulate my templates.
Link to the video is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsRviUG8-bk
If you’d like the PowerPoint slides I use in my writing workshop, as well as the reading packet and prompt handout, please drop me a line.
Happy teaching and happy writing!
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