Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence - RULER Training

2018.3.21

Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence - RULER Training
“Outtakes”. A snippet of thoughts to kick off this blog post:

The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence is an impressive operation. The RULER approach makes so much sense and can have a positive impact on all members of a school community.

What I am looking forward to putting into practice, or continuing:
Practicing the use of “meta-moments” and picturing my best-self when I am faced with tough decisions or adversity.

Quote(s) that resonated with me this week:
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” ~ John F. Kennedy

“Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what happens to you.” ~ Aldous Huxley

“Success is the sum of small efforts - repeated day in and day out.” ~ Robert Collier


This week began with two days of training on the “Anchors of Emotional Intelligence” with staff from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Our trainers were extremely knowledgeable, engaging, and related many/most aspects of the training to real-world situations (which is always appreciated). Including myself, there were six employees representing NCHS as we were joined by educators from across the country (CT, NY, NC, TN, IL, KS, TX, CA) and around the globe (Spain, Qatar). 

The focus of the workshop was on implementing the RULER approach at the high school level. RULER stands for Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating. This has already been rolled out to the K-8 levels in New Canaan. Our team will continue planning and then be introducing it to the high school staff in the coming weeks, which is exciting. 

The training began with one of my favorite quotes by Maya Angelou, one that I have shared several times on Twitter as well as my blog. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you’ve said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” There is so much power, wisdom, and common sense in this quote. This was a terrific way to begin the workshop and set the tone for the work that we would be doing together.

Over the course of the two days, we learned about RULER, the science behind, and importance of, recognizing our emotions to be our best selves, and steps to implement this approach in our respective schools. This included thought sessions, collaborative discussions, activities that reinforce the foundation of RULER, and the four anchors of emotional intelligence: the Charter, the Mood Meter, the Meta-Moment, and the Blueprint.

Some of my biggest takeaways include:

• Emotions matter for: attention, memory, learning, wellness, everyday effectiveness, and more...
• The RULER approach is not an initiative, but a way of thinking/life. 
• The elements of RULER are not just for students, but for the entire school community (and certainly applicable in our personal lives). 
• They are all important, but I liked the “L” is RULER (“Label”) and the quote that goes along with it: “You’ve got to name it to tame it”. So true... 
• Each quadrant on the mood meter is important and where we fall on the meter will ebb and flow depending on the situations that we are in at any given time. Quadrants are not defined by “good” or “bad” and each serves a purpose (more on this below). 
• It is all about being aware and not necessarily expecting yourself, or anyone else, to shift or adjust. It is this awareness that allows us to respond accordingly. 
• The meta-moment is a six-step process, in the moment (that they jokingly say will keep you away from having to follow a 12-step program). The irony here is thick… The six steps include: Something happens. Sense. Stop. See your best self. Strategize. Succeed (which does not mean “win”; act in a way that reflects your best self, that you can be proud of).
• This is definitely a marathon and not a sprint. The introduction and roll out need to be done thoughtfully and purposefully, over an extended period of time. This may mean years for full implementation, and that is okay... 

This has been a tiny snapshot of RULER. I attempted to capture the essence of the approach and hope to share more about our introduction and implementation in the near future. We will be receiving several resources as well as research to back up the foundation of RULER to help us develop our blueprint for NCHS. In the meantime, you are welcome to check out a couple of their sites:

www.ei.yale.edu
http://rulercommunity.yale.edu (website)

Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog. Have a great week!

Tags: @YaleEmotion, @RULERapproach, #EmotionsMatter, @JADHoffmann, @NCHS_CT


Please feel free to contact or follow me:
Twitter: @DavidGusitsch
Blog: https://davidgusitsch.blogspot.com/
Email: david.gusitsch@ncps-k12.org


Here are a few pictures from the Yale EI Training:
Our @NCHS_CT EI crew. Representing English, Math, Art, Psychological Services, District, and Admin:





One of my favorite quotes as seen in the halls of NCHS:





Working on a draft “charter”:





Defining RULER:





Some words to describe emotions in different quadrants on the Mood Meter:



Some mood congruent instruction based on the meter:
Red - persuasive writing; debating
Blue - proofing/editing; showing empathy
Yellow - creative writing; brainstorming
Green - journal writing; building consensus


We took a quick walk before Day 2 began to get ourselves in the best mindset possible to learn!




The buildings and architecture on this part of the campus are amazing and beautiful:




A quick trip to the Yale bookstore after the last day of training. It’s always fun to check out university bookstores!:

New England Weather...

2018.3.11

New England Weather...
“Outtakes”. A snippet of thoughts to kick off this blog post:
Not unexpectedly in our area of the country this time of year, we had some weather-related disruptions to our normally scheduled week last week.


What I am looking forward to putting into practice, or continuing:
Hopefully, a more normal schedule. And, continuing work with the BeWell Expo sub-committee (more on this in a future blog).


Quote(s) that resonated with me this week:
Practice the pause. Pause before judging. Pause before assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you’re about to react harshly and you’ll avoid doing and saying things you’ll later regret.

~ Lori Deschene


Each week I pick a topic or two to consider reflecting on when I sit down to write my blog each Sunday. I typically take pictures, jot down notes, and put some thoughts together throughout the course of the week. This week was a little different, which I can sum up in three words: New England weather. My first choice of topic was going to be a reflection on #EdCampSWCT 2018 which was scheduled for Saturday (3/10). That was canceled. Next, the NGSX Science training workshop that myself and some NCPS colleagues attended last week. We only made it through one of the two scheduled days. Even the snow day makeup date was canceled. The opening of the “Through Our Eyes” Art Show? Postponed. You get the idea…

For those who may be reading this outside Connecticut, or New England, we experienced another Nor’Easter that left us with close to 20” of heavy snow resulting in downed trees and power lines. This caused a huge amount of road closures and power outages across our region. As always, our terrific maintenance staff had our buildings ready to go, but access to the schools was just not safe, or even possible in many cases and students were out of school for three days.

So, this will be a short post this week with a few pictures below to capture some of the happenings over the course of this snowy week.

In case you are interested in checking out more details of the above-listed events, please feel free to do so here:

https://edcampswct.com/

https://ctsciencecenter.org/education/mandell/ngsx-info/

https://ncadvertiser.com/118133/through-our-eyes-school-art-on-exhibit-at-carriage-barn/

Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog. Have a great week!
Tags: Snow day, NGSX, family, Safe Driving Week, Through Our Eyes Art Show, @APBedard81


Please feel free to contact or follow me:
Twitter: @DavidGusitsch
Blog: https://davidgusitsch.blogspot.com/
Email: david.gusitsch@ncps-k12.org


Here are a few pictures from this past week:
The CT Science Center is an impressive space. I would have loved to spend an entire day there exploring:




Learning about NGSS and science phenomena with the egg in the jar experiment:








Saxe MS AP Steve Bedard and me checking out an infrared camera during the lunch break:




My little guy Nicholas giving me a depth update on Wednesday evening. We were at about 13” at that point:




Following the storm, we got a nice family “snow hike” in on Thursday at our favorite park down the road from us, Huntington State Park:




As mentioned above, our terrific maintenance staff were back to business right away. Stan and Gary are preparing for the Safe Driving Week events at NCHS:




A look from the 3rd floor over the front of the building on Friday:




An unlucky road sign from the trip home on Friday shows how much of an impact this storm had:

#Brainstorm Experience: Kevin Hines Story

2018.3.4

#Brainstorm Experience: Kevin Hines Story
“Outtakes”. A snippet of thoughts to kick off this blog post:

Below is an account of my experience as I listened to Kevin Hines tell the story of jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, and surviving. It was nothing short of amazing to hear his story and it made me feel that we can all make a difference in someone’s life by just showing them that we care.


What I am looking forward to putting into practice, or continuing:
Continuing to find ways to spread positivity and make people feel good.


Quote(s) that resonated with me this week:
A smile and hello can make someone’s day. Showing that you care can save someone’s life.

“I’ve learned that people forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~ Maya Angelou


This past week was a busy one. Between the daily routine, unexpected events that inevitably come up, the scare at Staples High School, where I worked for the last 14 years (story, here), and the class of 2022 incoming freshman transition night (which was well attended and amazing), I was able to attend another Brainstorm Experience event that was put on by The Avielle Foundation. Their mission is, “to prevent violence and build compassion through neuroscience research, community engagement, and education”. I attended their inaugural event last month where they brought in Steve Gross from the Life is Good Foundation to speak on the power of positivity and optimism. It was tremendous. Feel free to check out a blog post I wrote about it, here.

This event was titled, “An evening with Kevin Hines: I jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge, and survived.” He also has a book called, “Cracked Not Broken, Surviving and Thriving After A Suicide Attempt”. Kevin gave some background on his life and the tough upbringing in a mixed, adopted family in California. Where appropriate, he infused humor throughout his talk, but the seriousness of his message was never lost. Mental health, and his mental state since he was a teenager, were a strong part of his story. Kevin was medicated and institutionalized several times during his relatively short life and still has struggles to this day.

It was incredible to hear a firsthand account of what was going through his head before, during, and after such an event. Unfortunately, leading up to his walk to the middle of the bridge, Kevin felt this was the only option, that no one cared, that him taking his life would be better off for everyone else. He shared that if someone simply asked him any of the following, “How are you today? Are you okay? Can I help you?”, he would have stopped. Instead, the only acknowledgment that he got was people staring at him and commenting on him talking to himself on the bus to the bridge. When he saw someone approaching him, and thought that he may be saved, it was a woman who asked him to take a photo of her. She never engaged in any conversation, he never even saw her eyes through the dark sunglasses that she was wearing. His next steps were over the edge of the railing. Then, he jumped. His last thought as he watched his hand leave the railing was that he did not want to die. It was too late. 200+ feet to the water. Hitting it was close to landing on concrete. Somehow he hit, was conscious, surfaced, and survived, but not without serious injury. As he lay in the water with several broken bones, he felt something bump into him. He thought it was a shark and expressed the irony that he felt from surviving a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge only to be eaten by a shark. Instead, it was a sea lion that he affectionately named Herbert (which, happens to be my father’s name). Kevin truly believes that Herbert helped keep him afloat until help arrived to pull him out of the water.

Following this nothing short of unbelievable day, Kevin continues to have many physical and mental challenges but he has made it his mission to share his story and help others hear, learn, and understand his message of living mentally healthy. I also took away the clear message that we all need to be considerate of people’s differences. We never know what someone may be going through at any given time, but we can do our part by lending a helping hand, or a smile, or simply making eye contact and saying hello.

The year after Kevin jumped, his adopted father wanted to help provide some closure. Against his will, Kevin joined his father at the exact spot that he jumped from. A rush of emotions came back to him but he knew he was there for a reason. In a symbolic manner, he dropped a flower that he had held in his hand for some time. It floated down the same distance, from the same spot, that he had jumped from a year earlier, only much slower and much more gracefully. As it hit the water, there was a series of ripples followed by a head that came up from under the water. Whether it was the same sea lion or not, Kevin believed that it was Herbert, looking up as if to say “hello” to his friend whose life he saved, physically, mentally, and emotionally…

Kevin closed with a great quote from Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda fame, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that's why they call it present”... There is much wisdom in this quote from a cartoon movie. Words that we can all live by and be better off for it.

Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog. Have a great week!

Tags: #BrainstormExperience, @KevinHinesStory, #BrainHealth, @AvieFoundation

Please feel free to contact or follow me:
Twitter:  @DavidGusitsch
Blog:  https://davidgusitsch.blogspot.com/
Email:  david.gusitsch@ncps-k12.org

Here are a few pictures from the Kevin Hines Brainstorm Experience event:
The program from the event:






Kevin Hines telling his story:




The Q&A session at the end of the event:




Some tweets and quotes from the event:





One of my favorite quotes of all time, which was relevant to the story that Kevin Hines shared. This quote happens to hang in the main hallway at NCHS: