ROCKPORT, Maine (WABI) – Supporting educators so they can better support their students.
That’s the goal of the Winter Wellness Summit, hosted by the Maine Department of Education (DOE).
“The planning team for the Winter Wellness Summit, they’re constantly looking to see what are the needs in our area and really seeking incredibly important partnerships with people to provide those supports,” explains Maine DOE Student Engagement Specialist Sarah Nelson.
This year marks the third winter of Maine DOE centering the summit around teachings from The Regulated Classroom.
Written by former New Hampshire school counselor Emily Daniels, it is a framework that focuses on emotional regulation techniques for both students and teachers.
“The Regulated Classroom is an approach or a way to address educator-teacher burnout and student dysregulation in the classroom,” Daniels describes. “Teachers today will tell you that the biggest challenge they experience in the classroom is student behavior. And so The Regulated Classroom intends to help teachers know what to do to help them manage their stress and that student dysregulation.”
Offering free training sessions of The Regulated Classroom, Maine DOE says over 1,600 educators have participated, bringing this framework and its strategies to their own schools.
Four-year summit attendee Melanie Smith, Principal of Williams Elementary in Oakland, says she is always excited to return with new strategies.
“When teachers notice the energy in the classroom is low, or even if the teacher’s feeling their energy is low, they can incorporate an activator to ramp up the energy levels in the room and get everybody jazzed up for what’s coming next,” Smith describes of how her school implements The Regulated Classroom techniques. “Or after lunch and recess, if they feel the energy in the room’s off the charts, we’re teaching them a variety of settlers that they can incorporate in their school day to kind of bring the energy down.”
These methods are effective at any age level, per Gardiner High School teacher Kristy McNaughton: “I think the biggest joy that I get from The Regulated Classroom practices is seeing the kids smile and laugh, talk with students that they typically don’t talk to.”
Not only do these strategies make learning more effective for students, in school and as they get older, it also decreases teacher burnout and improves retention rates.
For Maine DOE, ensuring educators are cared for leads to cared for children and communities at large.
“We needed to access resources that could support educators in regulating themselves, so that they can co-regulate the students in their classroom. Which ultimately impacts our family engagement and our community and our Department of Labor,” Nelson details. “So by starting at a foundational level to provide the resources of regulation, it has an enormous impact on the state of Maine.“
This year, the summit was hosted at Rockport’s Samoset Resort.
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