NorCal Educator's Digest
February 2022Winter Institute -- Inspiring Change
The two day NorCal Educational Leadership Consortium Second Winter Institute, with more than 200 educators on 41 local teams attending, began with inspiring equity stories from two Northstate counties. Paradise Unified School District (PUSD), in Butte County, had a powerful panel including former students who catalyzed a series of change efforts by penning “An Open Letter” to PUSD administrators. These young women of color shared stories of discrimination during their time at PUSD and the administrators listened and began actions to improve school climate for all students. The panel also included a Shasta County Office of Education administrator and Happy Valley teacher/consultant from the American Indian Advisory who worked towards healing, building trust, and advocating for a state level change to allow students who attend cultural ceremonies to have absences excused.
The Winter Institute was developed, with expert facilitation by Abeo School Change, to provide an opportunity for teams to come together, summarize where they are in their equity centered improvement project, network with other teams, learn, and get inspired. Feedback from participants indicates they did just that. Some participant quotes:
- “The panel discussions yesterday were so engaging and educational. The information about the inequities taking place and what is being done to repair them is heartening. We all need to look within our own communities to see what's happening.”
- “The presentations by Shasta and Paradise were very powerful to listen to and gave great examples of how a few can make a big change”.
- “The amount of information and presentations have been eye opening and thought provoking into how I can make my classroom more equitable.”
- “Equity was at the forefront of many of our discussions.”
- “The consultancy was helpful as our partner group had great input for our problem of practice.”
Teams shared their journeys with one another through story deck reporting. Team McKay from Chico Unified School District shared a root cause analysis using a Fishbone Diagram showing potential causes to their Problem of Practice around disproportionately negative educational outcomes for linguistically and culturally diverse students. See Fishbone here (PDF).
Team Gerry from Maywood DaVinci School in Corning Union Elementary School District, made a pivot in Year 2 of their project (Problem of Practice, PoP) around Social Emotional Learning (SEL) from focusing on discipline referrals as an indicator to the following:
“POP is now focused on identifying and addressing feelings of disconnectedness and a lack of trust between our students and staff. These feelings were evident more (data analysis) in students whose home language was not English. We want to create an environment of inclusion for all our students on campus.”
NorCal ELC will begin planning for a Summer Institute to be held in June, 2022. In the spirit of continuous improvement the leadership team will consider participant feedback collected after the Winter Institute to develop and improve the content and activities of the Year 2 culminating event.
To view recorded sessions from the 2022 Winter Institute, refer to the links provided below from the 2-day event.
- Day 1: January 31st, 2022 - Winter Institute Recording(opens in new window)
- Passcode:@+DNn17F
- Day 2: February 1st, 2022 - Winter Institute Recording(opens in new window)
- Passcode: v!kHVmm3
If you have any questions about NorCal ELC, contact Dr. Mike Kotar.
What is a Benefit Mindset?
At a recent Saturday workshop, Bill Funkhouser, Coordinator, Arts & Creativity Initiative (ACI) and ArtSEL Initiative for Humboldt County Office of Education, and his co-presenter Melanie Rick, the Arts Integration Consultant for Focus 5, introduced more than 40 teachers to a new concept, Benefit Mindset, as they explored connections between art and social and emotional learning (SEL).
You have probably heard of fixed or growth mindsets, but what are mindsets anyway? They are deeply held beliefs, attitudes and assumptions we create about who we are and how the world works. Mindsets are habits of mind created by our experiences. They shape our lives. Examining our mindsets can explain the choices we make, and help us change how we live our lives and meet new challenges.
During their workshop, Bill and Melanie explained Benefit Mindset:
Growth mindset and fixed mindset are “me” mindsets and the third mindset, “Benefit Mindset” is a “we” mindset. What is the purpose of improving the self? Personal growth and success are good, but can there be a higher calling for them? When we see the application of all we are for the benefit of others, we’re exhibiting a “Benefit Mindset”. Bringing about meaningful change requires us to build a sense of “we,” that we are all in this together as one human family that cares deeply for the well-being of all. While a growth mindset has advantages over a fixed mindset, what truly makes us thrive is realizing our personal ability to serve the well-being, not only of humans but the entire community of life on the planet. Benefit Mindset asks us to identify our skills, wisdom, and the gifts we can offer the world. It emphasizes empathy, inclusion, and altruism. It supports the four G’s: gratitude, goodwill, giving, and greater purpose. Benefit mindset is the belief that we can make the world a better place.
Benefit Mindset is redefining success from being the best in the world, to being the best for the world.
For more information, view a two minute video about benefit mindset. The Benefit Mindset School Guide (PDF) is a free resource for educators.
Helping educators bring the concept of Benefit Mindset to their students, through “we” rather than “me” is both meaningful and moving. You can experience the power of benefit mindset by viewing these brief student videos that offer both clarity and inspiration.
Student benefit mindset interviews:
Benefit Mindset books for inspiring children:
- Kids Who Are Changing the World
- Change Sings, A Children’s Anthem - Amanda Gorman
- Trombone Shorty
- The Magic Pencil!
- Just Help! How to Build a Better World
View Bill and Melanie’s slide deck(opens in new window). Resources for the full workshop(opens in new window) are housed on the Humboldt County Office of Education's fantastic arts integration website.
Teachers who attended the workshop explored their personal capacities related to the benefit mindset with these reflection questions:
- What abilities do we recognize in ourselves? What do we offer? What gifts do we offer the world that might be unique to us? If we don’t know what we offer we don’t know how it can make the world better.
- When do you share these in the world?
- How can you strengthen your capacity to share these with others? How can you become more active or increase your impact?
- Are there any downsides? How can you give in a way that is sustainable?
We appreciate Bill and Melanie’s work for Northstate educators and students. If you want more information about art, SEL and Benefit Mindset, reach out to Bill Funkhouser.
Bill Funkhouser, MFA, Arts Learning Specialist
Coordinator, Arts & Creativity Initiative (ACI), ArtSEL Initiative
Humboldt County Arts Lead, CCSESA
Humboldt County Office of Education
Need Additional Funding for Improvement?
Below are two potential sources of funding for innovative projects in community engagement and SEL (social and emotional learning) practices.
1. Apply to be a part of Cohort III of the California Community Engagement Initiative. Any interested school district is invited to submit an application to build capacity for authentic community engagement, with a focus on improving outcomes for all students, particularly English Learners, low-income students, Foster Youth, and students from other underserved student groups.
- The deadline for applications is May 17, 2022.
2. Education First is inviting applications for SEL in Action Awards to seed projects that foster social and emotional competencies in students in grades PK-12. Education First wants to support projects that build and foster much compassion, honor the assets and lived experiences of students, build skills to embrace and understand differences, and work through challenges to promote healing from all forms of trauma.
- The deadline for applications is March 14, 2022.
NorCal ELC Webinar Series
We’ve sponsored a series of webinars that focus on increasing equity in education and social and emotional learning. The upcoming webinar will be held live cast on Zoom.
NorCal Equity Community of Practice
With Lily Chang - Coordinator of Continuous Improvement, BCOE
- Thursday, March 24, 2022 @ 3:30-5 PM (Session 3 of 4)
Achieving equity in education is necessary to improve the outcomes for students and staff, especially those who have been historically marginalized. It’s imperative that educators come together to prioritize equity as it relates to race and culture, address systemic racism, forms of oppression and exclusion, and identify unfair practices and policies that contribute to inequitable outcomes. Participants will deepen their learning and awareness, share resources and tools, collaborate and network in order to move to action.
Future Session Date(s):
- Session 4 will be held live cast on May 19, 2022
Join NorCal ELC for Help Working on a Local Problem of Practice
- Tuesday, March 29, 2022 @ 4-5 PM
NorCal ELC is recruiting Year 3 participants for our local team-based approach to professional learning for school and teacher leaders. We focus on building leadership capacity, educational equity and continuous improvement. Join us via Zoom for an Info Session to find out how to participate and more!
Contribute a Northern California School Picture
At NorCal ELC we love the almond picture on our website. For us it represents one of the important rural products of California. But our project is about P-12 educators and their students, schools and communities in Northern California. We are inviting submission of pictures that incorporate education and schools that we can use on the NorCal ELC website. Since these pictures will be made public you must have district permissions in place for their publication.
Send pictures to Blanca Estrada, NorCal ELC’s Website Developer.