Formando Vidas SEL

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Multimedia Learning is Here to Stay

Multimedia Learning is Here to Stay

Multimedia learning provides so much more than plain text, both in content and in benefits for students! It’s one the main reasons we made sure our curriculum incorporated multimedia elements for every grade and lesson. Here are four ways multimedia learning helps students succeed in their learning journeys.

Visual Creatures

Large sections of the brain are dedicated to perceiving and understanding visual stimuli. Multimedia learning helps engage the mind by using pictures, interactive activities, videos, and animations alongside the text material. Text is strengthened with these tools used together, further engaging the students growing minds by using different areas of the brain to reinforce learning complex concepts.

Engaging Learning Tools

Multimedia is ever-present in our daily lives. Computers, smartphones, and other screens are integrated into everything from entertainment to advertising to professional environments. At younger ages, children are accustomed to media being an entertainment source. Multimedia learning can help children adapt to perceiving media as a learning tool as well. Videos can be gleaned for information, text can be dynamically read, and interactive activities are puzzles to be solved. By introducing multimedia learning, not only can the student’s problem solving be improved, but they can also have a more healthy base relationship with technology by being introduced to it as a resource for learning.

Fosters Curiosity

By properly using the media resources, students can look beyond their own experiences and witness new cultures, customs, subjects, and more. With the aid of teachers and parents, multimedia learning can help expand students’ world views, showing more about the world outside of their neighborhoods. After being shown the world of endless possibilities and education, students become naturally more curious. Once they learn successfully through multimedia and see the rest of what they can know, there is a natural excitement and curiosity when approaching the world around them.

Increased Accessibility

Students are individuals and therefore have various learning styles that they use to understand the world around them. For students who struggle with reading, either due to age or a learning disability, text-only mediums can be problematic as a sole source of information. Multimedia learning opens up new learning opportunities for students like this. With more visuals, audio, animations, videos, and interactive activities, they would have access to information in more ways to help them learn. Multimedia can also help children who struggle to read learn to read better! With engaging activities, targeted visuals, and helpful videos, they can focus on learning to read to increase that skill rather than becoming overwhelmed in information at the same time. With multimedia learning, students can become more engaged in their learning, have a better relationship with technology, become more curious, and help get over learning hurdles. This dynamic content delivery had already made a huge, positive impact on how we help students and will continue to make waves in education for decades to come.

August 11, 2021
Why Parent Involvement in Learning is Key to Student Success
Why Parent Involvement in Learning is Key to Student Success

Creating and maintaining supportive relationships is one of the building blocks of SEL. To do this, students need to learn empathy, develop interpersonal skills, and learn to make caring decisions. There are a few ways to influence this but let’s think about a crucial relationship that can help in this process: the relationship with their parents.
What relationship has more impact on a child’s life than the one with their parents? Learning starts at home, where a child’s first social norms and expectations are introduced. By observing and interacting with their parents daily, children begin to form their expectations about behaviors, coping strategies, empathy, and how to relate to others. It all starts with watching their parents at home. Because of this, parental support and involvement throughout their learning journey is key to a student’s success. When what is being taught at school is reinforced and encouraged at home, the student will have a higher likelihood of remembering the information and be more successful at applying it. Studies have shown that when parents are involved in their children’s learning, their grades, attendance, and social skills are all majorly improved. When parents are encouraging and helpful with their child’s education, the student is more likely to perceive their schooling positively.
Engaging parents is crucial
Because of this, we include weekly summaries with our curriculum to help engage parents in the learning process, inform them of their child’s progress, and give them the understanding to help bring Social Emotional Learning into their homes. Whether you’re a parent of a student or a teacher encouraging parent involvement, here are a few ways to help parents engage with their student’s learning:
1. Find ways to incorporate what the child is learning in activities at home.
2. Set a good example by showing your own love of learning.
3. Look at their homework even when they don’t ask for help. Try to understand what they are learning and show interest.
Above all, the best thing parents can do for their child’s learning journey is to engage in their education and approach it with positivity.
With regular help from their parents, it’s only a matter of time before the student succeeds.
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Why Parent Involvement in Learning is Key to Student Success

Creating and maintaining supportive relationships is one of the building blocks of SEL. To do this, students need to learn empathy, develop interpersonal skills, and learn to make caring decisions. There are a few ways to influence this but let’s think about a crucial relationship that can help in this process: the relationship with their parents.
What relationship has more impact on a child’s life than the one with their parents? Learning starts at home, where a child’s first social norms and expectations are introduced. By observing and interacting with their parents daily, children begin to form their expectations about behaviors, coping strategies, empathy, and how to relate to others. It all starts with watching their parents at home. Because of this, parental support and involvement throughout their learning journey is key to a student’s success. When what is being taught at school is reinforced and encouraged at home, the student will have a higher likelihood of remembering the information and be more successful at applying it. Studies have shown that when parents are involved in their children’s learning, their grades, attendance, and social skills are all majorly improved. When parents are encouraging and helpful with their child’s education, the student is more likely to perceive their schooling positively.
Engaging parents is crucial
Because of this, we include weekly summaries with our curriculum to help engage parents in the learning process, inform them of their child’s progress, and give them the understanding to help bring Social Emotional Learning into their homes. Whether you’re a parent of a student or a teacher encouraging parent involvement, here are a few ways to help parents engage with their student’s learning:
1. Find ways to incorporate what the child is learning in activities at home.
2. Set a good example by showing your own love of learning.
3. Look at their homework even when they don’t ask for help. Try to understand what they are learning and show interest.
Above all, the best thing parents can do for their child’s learning journey is to engage in their education and approach it with positivity.
With regular help from their parents, it’s only a matter of time before the student succeeds.

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July 28, 2021
Keep Those Brains Active

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Keep Those Brains Active

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“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Benjamin Franklin

During the pandemic, many conversations came up about gaining the “quarantine 15”. (We might have all fell prey to some sort of weight gain!) There were months of more sedentary days. Just as our bodies get flabby and out of shape, our minds can get out of shape over the summer if we don’t engage them and keep them active.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Jigsaw Puzzles are a fun way to challenge the brain. Young children learn the concept of fractions of the picture being a part of the whole. They also learn shape recognition and fine motor skills. Research suggests puzzles aid in increasing concentration and sharpening memory. My mom typically got out a jigsaw puzzle in the cold winter months, but why not summer. They are a fun way to give the brain exercise while also boosting our mood.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Learning a New Language is a great way to keep your brain active and challenged. Today, there are many apps for young and old alike to learn a new language. My 10-year-old granddaughter is doing this and has partnered with one of her friends as they challenge each other to complete 5 lessons each week. This keeps both of them on track and in the process, they are learning French! A couple apps to consider are Duolingo and Gus on the Go.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Dance! Dancing releases endorphins, improves coordination, strengthens muscles and is just plain fun! Learning a new line dance or joining a dance class will keep your brain remembering the moves and sequences of the steps. There are many tutorials on YouTube for learning a line dance. May I suggest the Cupid Shuffle, a personal favorite.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Be the Teacher. Teach a friend or family member how to do something, such as making a craft, playing a card game, or playing a musical instrument. Being the teacher keeps your brain thinking of how to put yourself in the student’s shoes remembering when you learned. You will have to recall each step in the process and think through the “how to’s” that will help them be a success. Patience will be needed in seeing mistakes and knowing how to correct them. Reverse the roles and have them teach you something. Of course, learning exercises the brain every time.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Above are just a few of the many ways you can ensure that your brains don’t turn to mush over the break. You can return to school knowing your brain is in shape and ready to learn. Follow Benjamin Franklin’s advice and make some investments in knowledge![/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

July 22, 2021
Hope Can Be Taught: 7 Steps To Nurturing Hope
Hope Can Be Taught: 7 Steps To Nurturing Hope

The science behind hope is based on more than 10 years of research and 150 published works by Dr. Chan Hellman, Ph.D., Founder and Director of the OU Hope Research Center. According to his research, the strategies developed to nurture hope can show a statistically significant improvement in a child or adult in about one hour of Hope work.

These strategies can be introduced in a short amount of time, allowing for momentum in growth and added efficiencies in the educators’ teaching schedule. The simple methodology behind the Science of Hope is based on three steps:
1. Set short- or long-term goals toward purposeful behavior.
2. Identify the pathway or roadmap to attain that goal.
3. Find the willpower to focus your attention on the pursuit of the goal.
However, there are a few more components to fully round out the process for building and nurturing Hope. Here’s the full outline of strategies used to Nurture Hope:

Introduce Hope

When just getting started, students need to know that Hope is much more than wishful thinking. It’s a belief that the future will be better than the present. Hope is a confidence in a better tomorrow and the mindset that each individual plays an integral role in making that future possible. The first step in nurturing hope is introducing hope and discussing its core components.

Goal Setting

Setting goals means deciding on or identifying something that is wanted and valued. This must be personally relevant! Most high trauma youth are in survival mode and are likely to initially set short term goals. When goals are clarified, it increases the agency (or willpower) to attain them.

Identifying Pathways

This is the step in the process where students discover various ways to achieve their goals. This is the creation of the roadmap to get from Point A (where we are) to Point B (where we aim to go next). It’s important to list and discuss potential pathways, consider the barriers that will come up, and which alternative pathways might be an option.

Cultivate Willpower

Harnessing willpower is finding the inner force to make the goals a reality. This is the mental energy that is required to complete the goal. Cultivating willpower including identifying and describing the motivation behind the goal.

Problem Solve

It’s difficult to be hopeful, especially when students have faced significant trauma. But by helping children look for obstacles while discussing ways to overcome them, we help them develop their problem solving skills as they nurture the hope. Failed attempts and not quitting are sometimes a part of the journey.

Create a Hope Visual

A gallery of Hope serves as a Visual Map for this Journey to Hope. This visual, created with the student, can serve as a reference tool throughout the duration of the process. It should highlight where the student is headed and the process or steps required to get there.

Re-Goaling

After the goal is attained, it is important to remember that we all have the ability to “re-goal.” Hope can continue to grow. We can work through the process again fully in order to reach another set goal.

When educators use a social emotional curriculum infused with Hope, it reduces the impact of toxic stress and builds resilience in students, especially those who have experienced trauma and adverse childhood experiences. My Best Me is a series of lessons designed to deliver SEL competencies and help students discover their true identity and purpose. It’s also certified to increase hope, and lessons can be taught in just one hour a week.
July 14, 2021
De-Stress, Teachers
De-Stress, Teachers

Hats off and cheers to teachers! You did it! If you’re reading this, you survived teaching through a pandemic—uncharted waters. Our appreciation and admiration goes out to you beyond words. All the things you had in place through your education and experience were like a “table cloth trick” yanked away for you to try to keep everything in place on the table with your students learning. Now another school year is in the books!

If you got used to virtual learning/teaching, not so fast, you will more than likely return to your more familiar in-person teaching if you haven’t already. Your rhythms and routines have changed back and forth. Like a chameleon, you have adapted and made it work.

Teachers, The old McDonald’s commercial jingle said, “You deserve a break today…” If anyone has deserved it, it is you!

Here are a few tips to put your school year in the past and enjoy a summer of relaxation and de-stressing:
- Treat yourself –You are a survivor and this is an act of self-care. This may mean going to your local ice cream place and splurging on your favorite sundae or purchasing that pair of shoes you’ve had your eye on.
- Read a good book – Your time off is a great time to enjoy a book by the pool, on a beach, or on a hammock in the backyard. Your escape to another time or another place through reading distracts you from daily stressors.
- Exercise – Go to your neighborhood gym to do your favorite work-out or join a session of fun classes. Keeping your body fit through exercise will release endorphins that improve your physical and emotional being.
- Get away from the routines and schedules – If your time and resources can’t afford an out-of-town vacation, spend a night away at a hotel or bed and breakfast. Take a day trip to a great state park or water park.
- Make memories – Be intentional about going to lunch with friends and about having fun with children and/or grandchildren. Now is the time, because it slips away so quickly.
- Revive an old hobby – Creativity through writing helps to manage emotions. Creativity through drawing and painting expresses emotions. Music is therapeutic in relaxation.
The pandemic took its toll. If your emotional health is in serious jeopardy, please seek out a good counselor to work through this. You are valuable, teacher. Your self-care is important to students and parents alike. Have a blast during this much needed summer break!
July 7, 2021