Welcome to the Springstone Scoop! It’s been a busy start to the new year and we are feeling hopeful and energized. As of this week half of our faculty members received their first vaccine dose and are finding happy relief as our country moves closer to getting a handle on the pandemic.
Springstone announced last week the decision to remain on distance learning for the remainder of the 2020-2021 academic year. This decision was made based on the CDC social distancing guidelines requirements and the size of our classrooms; we would not be able to accommodate more than three students at a time in the majority of our classrooms. We have ramped up our planning for the upcoming 2021-2022 academic year and are working closely with our partners on site discussing new ideas for incorporating other areas of the building into our campus. We are embracing this time to be creative, thoughtful, and as ever resilient.
As we buckle into the final few months of the academic year many parents and faculty are finding themselves challenged in new ways to meet the academic and socio-emotional needs of their children. It is a uniquely difficult situation for parents who are continuing to support children through everything they are experiencing in the midst of the pandemic while living, working, schooling, socializing, in close quarters. One of the many key skills Springstone has always focused on and works to instill in our students is the idea and the skill of resilience.
Resilience is the ability to bounce back from a challenging situation and to keep moving forward, continuing to work towards specific goals. People who are resilient are able to navigate through the tough times and may even thrive when adversity comes their way. Resilience is not a quality you are born with, it is a sort of muscle you can build and strengthen. With this in mind, we would like to share a few resources with you to strengthen your resilience in different ways throughout your life.
Click on this link for a website with a series of podcasts and suggested strategies for parents and families related to creating a home environment that foster resilience and emotional intelligence. The materials on this website are approachable and well thought out. We hope you will take a look and explore it’s many offerings.
Motivation, engagement, studying effectively, and academic achievement can be challenging for students under even the best of circumstances. These challenges are magnified right now and we are all acutely aware of how challenging distance learning is for our students, as well as how upended their lives have become while on distance learning. Knowing we all need support, ideas, and assistance right now, we are sharing additional resources that have been helpful to colleagues in the education community.
Click on the title to a free full length digital text, “Motivation and Learning Strategies for College Success” (this 2nd edition is free; the 6th edition can be purchased online). This book has quizzes for self-reflection, to prioritize reading of other sections, and also for goal-setting (see quizzes on pages 19 and 26). Research-based strategies in key areas of student self-regulation are presented in multiple chapters. These quizzes, the individual results, and goals set according to areas of strength and weakness are recommended for family discussion. While the title indicates the book is for ‘college success’, the strategies are applicable to high school also.
Another plentiful, research-based website resource is The Greater Good Science Center of the University of California, Berkeley. The site offers a collection of resilience based practices. We love their tagline, “Science-based Practices for a Meaningful Life.”
While it is slow, we see steady improvement in COVID counts and are cheered as we make steps forward toward normalcy. In the meantime we hope that these resources are helpful and that you continue to build your resiliency practices as it is a wonderful gift for yourself and your family to shift focus from how far you fall to how high you bounce.
Thank you for being in our community. We are in this together!
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