Reflective Practice: Self-Awareness, Communication, and Problem Solving

Housman Institute, a leader in research and training in emotional, cognitive, and social early learning, is pleased to introduce an important program to help all early childhood and elementary leaders to support the emotional well-being of their school community.

The Problem

Now more than ever all educators are experiencing tremendous levels of stress. In fact, well before the global pandemic, two-thirds of teachers reported feeling stressed-out and found their work to be stressful 61% of the time, according to an AFT survey, and nearly a quarter of respondents said work was “always” stressful. Teachers are juggling and shifting and handling more than ever before, all while trying to maintain their own well-being. The impact that stress and anxiety have on educators takes a toll not only on their mental health and well-being but also on their ability to teach and our students’ ability to learn. If you are struggling with stress, anxiety, frustration, and an overload of emotions you simply cannot be your best or do your best. There is a lot of pressure squarely on the shoulders of educators. This five-course program will help teachers and school leaders to understand, manage, and attend to their emotional health. This program was designed to help educators develop the key emotional tools to carry with them not only for their personal and professional growth and satisfaction but also so they can best model for and guide the children in their care in their emotional development.

Why It Matters

We know that when educators are calm and focused they are more effective in their role to successfully guide and teach children. With more and more emphasis on the importance of emotional learning for children, we cannot ignore the stress and emotions that educators are experiencing. Teachers are key socializers for the children they care for and educate. If they are not attending to their own emotional well being, they are not able to appropriately model behavior for children to emulate. Children are emotional detectives, and when they perceive the important adults in their world as stressed or anxious they pick up on those emotions. When educators are overwhelmed by stress and anxiety, and they cannot successfully manage and regulate their own emotions, their performance can’t help but suffer.  They cannot be there for their classroom, and they cannot help their children with their own emotional learning and needs.

Reflective Practice: Self-Awareness, Communication, and Problem Solving, provided by Housman Institute, is a self-paced series designed to support leaders within the school community in using self-awareness, self-reflection, stress-management techniques, and an understanding of one’s own emotionality to begin transforming the entire school-community. In this course, leaders will learn how to implement Reflective Practice, adapted from Reflective Supervision to improve their school-wide practices and support systems within the school community.

The program serves as a way to support leaders in dealing with the many stressors that they experience on a daily basis and establish systems within leadership practices to manage stress of all members in the school community. Reflective Practice, self-awareness, self-reflection, stress-management, communication, and problem-solving are addressed in this self-paced, three-module program. Each module begins with an overview of the learning objectives and topics, and contains instructional videos, interactive scenarios, games, and knowledge checks to inform and support learning.

Program Goals

At the end of this training, leaders will understand how to implement self-awareness, self-reflection, and stress-management techniques to help with understanding and enhancing their own emotionality. They will also learn about Reflective Practice and how to implement Reflective Practice language, techniques, and sessions into their school support structure. For further learning, leaders should participate in the begin to ECSEL teacher and mentor training program.

In this program, leaders will explore and learn through three sequential modules:

1. Module 1: Helping Leaders Help Themselves
2. Module 2: How Leaders’ Emotionality Impacts the Community
3. Module 3: Implementing Leadership and Reflective Practice

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

• Identify how Reflective Practice supports leaders within the school community by using self-reflection, emphasizing understanding one’s own emotionality, and stress management techniques.
• Implement the steps of Reflective Practice sessions to improve school-wide practices and support systems within the school community.

Ready to sign up? Our Educator Well-Being Course is Now 50% Off for a Limited Time! Complete the Form Below to Access the Discount.