A Whole Child Approach: Balancing Learner Agency and Mental Health

Academic performance and mental health are inextricably linked: students who struggle to regulate their own behaviors also struggle academically. Inversely, learners display disruptive behaviors when grades drop.

This pattern begins in early years. We often observe disruptive behaviors around the time when students realize they're being compared with peers... and they're not fairing well. Self-regulation challenges that lead to expulsion further compound the issue of low academic performance; students who aren't present during instruction (for any reason) are less equipped to demonstrate mastery. We know that students who struggle with mental health usually do not receive adequate treatment making truancy inevitable. It's truly a vicious cycle that spirals into abject poverty, substance abuse, and prison.

Unsettling trends were published by the Child Mind Institute and Association for Children's Mental Health.

• Being at risk for mental health problems in first grade leads to a 5% drop in academic performance in just two years.
• Half of all mental illness occurs before the age of 14; 75% occurs by the age of 24.
• High school dropouts are 63 times more likely to be jailed than four-year college graduates.
• Over 50% of students with emotional and behavioral disabilities ages 14 and older drop out of high school - the highest drop out rate of any disability group.

We want children to be positive statistics: successful workers, managers, business owners. It follows that we must identify cracks in society (outside learning environments) and cracks in how we respond to learners with academic challenges (inside learning environments). We must work diligently and with tenacity to repair, not patch, these cracks before they become potholes - or worse, sinkholes that swallow our youth. We want to ward off disengagement from the lifelong learning process.

Consider the proposal below as a framework for reflection and action planning. You're invited to keep the conversation going by sharing the content, leaving a comment, or submitting a guest blog post.

Examine the Approach

Educators take a course in graduate school called instructional theory. During this course, I was charged with developing a personal instructional philosophy (or educational philosophy). Though generally referred to as expectations, parents have instructional philosophies as well. We all have a set of beliefs that govern how we approach and experience the task of educating others.

• Engagement. Are you hands-on and enjoy guiding students to the finish line? Do you prefer to serve as a guide on the side?
• Voice. Are you open to researching student interests to answer questions and provide supports? Do you listen and leave students to their own devices?
• Participation. Are you solely exposing learners to quality workbooks, e-books, worksheets, and activities? Do you carve out time to discuss learning expectations and outcomes?

Promote Learner Agency

Specialized instruction becomes an option only after we provide adequate instruction; this is the status quo that results in many overlooked drop-outs. Still, there's a reason students with mental health disorders are not eligible to receive the accommodations they need when there's lack of appropriate instruction. This reasoning further supports our responsibility to examine how we're approaching instruction and learning. How are we providing adequate instruction?

Does your approach limit or promote learner agency? Is there a healthy balance of student freedom and adult control that's age-appropriate? Are we considering how our approaches impact mental health?

Consider the Impact

There's value in reflecting on how we engage students. When leading activities, adjust feedback and answers to student questions with rigor in mind. We want to provide just enough support for the student to demonstrate maximum independence.

Consider a student that you know has background knowledge in long division; you know the student is capable, but she's forgotten steps to complete a long division item. Showing work - the problem solving process - for the student isn't an example of giving feedback with rigor in mind. Instead, we achieve an appropriate level of rigor through questioning... by asking guiding questions that lead the student to uncover logical next steps. Another approach that maintains rigor involves reminding the student to look at her notes on long division, where she's recording the story that helped her demonstrate mastery on previous items.

In these ways, we promote learner agency. The student feels a sense of accomplishment; she's empowered. She gets to participate in the learning process as opposed to passively watching a leader-centered approach. Meta-cognition and meta-learning take place; she's thinking about her own thinking as well as learning how she learns best.

Humanism is a school of thought that suggests students learn when their affective (feeling) and cognitive (thinking) needs are met. When giving feedback with rigor in mind, we affect learning in ways that motivate the learner. By the end of our scenario, we've improved how she feels when thinking about long division.

Teaching and re-teaching in ways that accommodate student anxiety about making mistakes and failure, faciliates stability, strengthens character, and improves relationships.

Schedule educator professional development and parental engagement training today. You're also invited to keep the conversation going by sharing the content, leaving a comment, or submitting a guest blog post.

IEP Teams and Families: 3 Best Practices for Student Success

As an educator and special needs mom, I have a unique perspective on the importance of collaboration between parents and teachers of students with IEPs. Students with special needs are more likely to experience success when there is a strong partnership between school and home.

Following are three best practices for collaboration between families and IEP team members to ensure student success.

COMMUNICATE 

The goal is for parents to be informed of challenges or successes children experience at school. There may be a need to reconvene as an IEP team if something needs to be changed and a parent has the right to request a meeting at any time. By starting off with positive, personal communication, it will likely be much easier to collaborate in the future.

• Families: Request a check-in protocol to maintain open lines of communication. This could take many forms and the needs of the individual child dictate how often this should occur. Teachers may complete a daily checklist or a weekly communication email. This should be established at the beginning of each school year and documented in writing in the IEP.
• Educators: It is a good idea for teachers with IEP students to be proactive and build relationships with parents early (even before the actual school year starts). After reading the student’s IEP, contact the parent and ask for input. Ask questions like: “What are some of your child’s outside interests?” or “Tell me how he feels about school.”   

COLLABORATE 

Educators need to know when to simply listen to parents and when to problem solve. Parents rely on communication from teachers to keep apprised of how children are performing in school. Case managers are the special education “expert” within the school. They are the member of the IEP team responsible for collecting data and managing goals. This person should always be included in any communication with other teachers. They are the liaison for all of the teachers and should be the IEP student's best advocate.  

• Families: It’s important to remember that no decision should be ever be made without input from all members of the IEP team, including you as the parents. In other words, the school team should never hand you a ready made IEP and ask you to sign it. IEP meetings should be collaborative meetings where the team crafts the document together.
• Educators: Sometimes it is necessary for parents to simply have a discussion with teachers in order to feel reassured that their child is being successful. In these cases, save your suggestions, comments and attempts to solve any problem and be an active listener instead. 

COLLECT DATA

The school regularly collects and analyzes data. It is common practice for teachers to meet and discuss how that data will inform their instruction. There may come a time where you do not agree with the school’s summary of your child.

• Families: It is essential to communicate with the team and share any outside data you may have from experts in the field. You know your child best and it is important for you to paint a picture of the "whole child" to ensure school programming is tailored to meet his/her needs.  
• Educators: When you have data to share with parents, remember to communicate sensitively. Parents of children with special needs are inundated with constant reminders of their child’s limitations. Be mindful of sharing in a way that highlights growth and includes the child’s strengths.  

Communication, utilizing a team approach and considering the whole child are best practices for both school staff and parents to successfully collaborate. A strong partnership between parents and educators contributes greatly to student success, especially for students with IEPs.  

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Laurie McLean has more than 20 years of experience in public education as a certified reading specialist, supervisor of curriculum, and administrator. Laurie is also the mother of a 13-year old son on the autism spectrum. Learn more about Laurie's work by visiting her blog: www.lifewithasideoftheunexpected.com

Unpack Confidence-building Strategies

I've been on hiatus, and it's great to be back in the blogosphere! Taking time away from blogging and dialing down other nonsocial business activities has allowed me to connect with people in unprecedented ways. Over the past year, I've dedicated more time than ever to building relationships. 

I launched a nonprofit, gave speeches, submitted my first federal program grant, scored grant and scholarship applications for a national competition, served as a coach, consulted with school administrators and counselors, developed an ACT prep program, and so much more. It's truly been a whirlwind of failures and successes since my last post.

In true edupreneur style, I record life lessons. This habit is beneficial as a contributor to the National Tutoring Association's Tutor Strategies of the Week blog. This partnership is phenomenal. The practice of summarizing teachable moments into compact, confidence-building strategies has revealed similarities among daily challenges that educators, parents, learners, and tutors overcome. 

Facing failure, remaining hopeful, and thinking critically are common barriers to success that leave us wondering should we go over it, around it, or through it?

Facing Failure

Learners pay attention to how we make mistakes. They pay attention to how we fail.

• Do we admit our failures or try to cover them up?

• Do we make our thoughts explicit?

• Are we modeling the right ways to recover from mistakes, to fail forward?

​When we value mistakes and model healthy responses to failure, we nurture the same in those around us. One way I model a healthy response to failure for clients involves marking out wrong answers rather than erasing them. 

Erasing a mistake makes it easier to forget, which is often the goal. But, this approach can be counterproductive. Clients are discouraged from erasing mistakes on the whiteboard and on notebook paper. The reason: seeing the mistake encourages us to make different mistakes until we succeed.

Remaining Hopeful

Shifting to a hopeful mindset (or growth mindset) following failure is challenging. This process requires grit, a concept I enjoy exploring with clients. So often we're sure the world is coming to an end due to a mistake, only to forget the details months later. 

We promote a growth mindset by encouraging learners to focus on what they can do. Help learners transition...

• from "I don't know" to "Let's try this"; 

• from "I can't" to "I can"; 

• from "I'm not good at _____" to "I can learn _____ with effort".

Model this. Make it a habit. Becoming gritty about adopting a growth mindset makes it easier to move from failure to failure without losing momentum. Explore more grit and growth mindset affirmations by creating your very own grit fish independently or as a group. The craft activity requires minimal prep time and is fun for all ages.

Thinking Critically

Asking people to do something they don't know how to do is one of the quickest ways to earn an introduction to a their 'not-so-fun' alter egos. Without the proper resources, having the desire to complete a task may not be enough to get the job done. What are we to do when we don't know what we don't know? 

To help clients clear their paths during the learning process, we use a strategy called "wait time" (or "thinking time"). The goal is to match the pace of  learners. We want to wait while they think... but not too long. 

We want to check nonverbal cues like body language to discern appropriate times we should...

• listen, 

• wait quietly, or 

• instruct.

​Allowing learners enough time to get uncomfortable without inciting frustration helps identify gaps in understanding. 

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You're invited to explore more strategies by visiting the National Tutoring Association's website. 

Jackson Education Support (JE) offers fun and engaging learning experiences to learners of all ages. Specialty subjects include literacy, math, and science. We develop in-person and online solutions for educators, families, and learners globally. Read feedback and learn more by visiting je411.com.