[RE]LEARN 2020 - The Learning Innovation Festival

This session is for teachers working with very young children as well as school administrators and thought leaders committed to empowering students to be mindful and caring co-creators of their classroom and school cultures. For the past several years, academic scores have become the focus in classrooms all over the world while social emotional learning became non-essential. Social emotional learning was stripped away along with play time, imaginative play, expressive art and dance, and rest time. We now know that these “soft skills” are crucial to the academic and social well-being of children and, later, adults.
During this brief presentation, we will introduce you to an evidence-based program called CosmoKidz that you can use immediately and effectively in your classroom or entire school. The approach you will be shown today will help do the following:
Restore social development as your students calm their mind and body
Construct social worlds characterized by courage, well being, and kindness
Nurture emotional intelligence and caring children
Foster active learning and learning strategies
Enhance creativity, originality and initiative
Provide opportunities for critical thinking, analysis, and innovation
Increase complex problem-solving
Develop leadership and social influence

Creating this student based classroom culture will have a positive effect on the students' ability to stay engaged and master their own behavior.

With the help of CosmoKidz we’ve found a way to teach academics and social emotional skills simultaneously, we refer to this as “braiding it in”. In addition, we will demonstrate short lessons that can be used during sacred SEL teaching blocks. CosmoKidz is a set of activities created for teachers, pre-school and day-care professionals, parents, grandparents, and anyone else meaningfully connected with children ages 4-8. CosmoTweenz provides an opportunity for Tweenz (8-11 year-olds) to have brief but meaningful conversations with their peers and in the presence of an adult (i.e., teacher, parent, school counselor, therapist) about challenges they experience but that don’t lend themselves to easy answers. Together, we will explore how these sessions look in both the physical and virtual classroom. The tone of the entire day, the energy in your classroom, and the classroom as a community, can completely change because of this style of teaching. The program follows the recommendations for teaching the whole child: intentional, relational, and inclusive. CosmoKidz and CosmoTweenz teach children skills and abilities that develop their care for self and others—skills that last for the rest of their lives.