The Pathway 2 Success

Solutions for Social Emotional Learning & More

Mindfulness Journal Ideas You Can Try Today

by Leave a Comment

Mindfulness journal activities for kids and teens to help feel calm, focused, and happy. Mindful activities teach self-control, emotional management, growth mindset, self-love, and so much more. Use this as a daily morning practice or in your calm down area. Perfect for home or school. This post has printable and ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success

Mindfulness is a critical self-regulation strategy that can help kids and young adults feel calm and focused. Pairing mindfulness with journal writing just makes sense. Journal writing is personal and allows learners to connect with themselves. Additionally, it’s something kids can stop and do every day.

Mindfulness is an ideal practice in the morning to help kids and teens start their day off in a positive place. Practicing mindfulness can also be helpful before a big test, after a break, or when kids need strategies for self-regulation. Read up more on the 10 best times to practice mindfulness in the classroom.

There are several simple strategies to help learners practice mindfulness with journal writing. While you can read on and try any of the activities right away on your own, I also understand that it’s easy to be busy and struggle with fitting them all in. If you are needing all these and more no-prep ideas, I have put together an entire yearlong mindfulness journal that you can use right away.

Mindfulness journal activities for kids and teens to help feel calm, focused, and happy. Mindful activities teach self-control, emotional management, growth mindset, self-love, and so much more. Use this as a daily morning practice or in your calm down area. Perfect for home or school. This post has printable and ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success

Here are three simple strategies you can use right away with your learners to help them practice mindfulness:

MINDFUL FOCUS

What it is: Mindful focus is an activity where learners mindfully focus on one object for a period of time.

How to try it: Have kids choose one object in the room. Encourage them to hyperfocus on the object. Look at it and think about it for a few minutes. What does it look like? What colors does it have? Is it bumpy or smooth? How does it move? What is it used for? What makes it special? After the mindful focus activity, have students write about their object and sketch a picture.

Why it works: By focusing all of your attention on something, you are focusing only on the present moment. This can be a healthy strategy to help kids ground themselves in times of stress.

Mindfulness journal activities for kids and teens to help feel calm, focused, and happy. Mindful activities teach self-control, emotional management, growth mindset, self-love, and so much more. Use this as a daily morning practice or in your calm down area. Perfect for home or school. This post has printable and ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success

GUIDED VISUALIZATION

What it is: A guided visualization is an activity that involves picturing a calming scene, such as a beach or quiet meadow.

How to try it: Use a picture or describe a calming scene. It can be anything from a peaceful walk in the park to a calming waterfall in a forest. Have learners picture themselves in the scene. Then, allow them to write about what they see, feel, hear, smell, and taste.

Why it works: By picturing a peaceful scene, kids and young adults can clear their minds and regain a sense of calm. Visualization can be a healthy tool to use when feeling angry, sad, worried, or overwhelmed.

Mindfulness journal activities for kids and teens to help feel calm, focused, and happy. Mindful activities teach self-control, emotional management, growth mindset, self-love, and so much more. Use this as a daily morning practice or in your calm down area. Perfect for home or school. This post has printable and ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success

EMOTION CHECK-IN

What it is: An emotions check-in is a free write about how someone is feeling and thinking in the moment.

How to try it: Encourage kids to just close their eyes and think about how they feel. Consider every sensation in your body and thought that pops into your mind. Rather than judging those feelings, let them be. Notice them and recognize them. Then, have learners write about how they are feeling and thinking. As a simple alternative, you can have learners give colors to their emotions as they draw.

Why it works: Checking in with ourselves is an important strategy for improved self-awareness and mindfulness. By thinking about how we are feeling and thinking, we can make better choices about what we need in the moment.

Mindfulness journal activities for kids and teens to help feel calm, focused, and happy. Mindful activities teach self-control, emotional management, growth mindset, self-love, and so much more. Use this as a daily morning practice or in your calm down area. Perfect for home or school. This post has printable and ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success

SHAPE BREATHING

What it is: Students will draw a shape on their journal page and trace it as they breathe in and out.

How to try it: Have students draw a shape on their journal page. It can be any shape, such as a shape or a triangle. Students can even draw lines that wave up and down. Then, have students trace the lines of the shape with their finger or pencil as they breathe in and out. Afterward, students can write about the activity and describe how it made them feel. Use these free printable mindfulness breathe boards to get started.

Why it works: By focusing all of their attention on something as they breathe in and out, learners are practicing mindfulness while practicing deep breathing. This can be a helpful strategy to teach because it can be done almost anywhere.

Mindfulness journal activities for kids and teens to help feel calm, focused, and happy. Mindful activities teach self-control, emotional management, growth mindset, self-love, and so much more. Use this as a daily morning practice or in your calm down area. Perfect for home or school. This post has printable and ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success

MINDFUL COLORING

What it is: Students will color a coloring page on their own.

How to try it: Explain to students that they will be practicing mindfulness by coloring. Discuss that they will be coloring, breathing, and just letting thoughts pass through their minds. Note that you can play soothing music while students color to support a calming atmosphere. Need a head start? Use these free printable mindfulness coloring pages!

Why it works: Coloring is an active way to calm the mind. Additionally, this strategy can help learners practice just doing something in a mindful way without focusing on what is “right” or “wrong.” This is particularly beneficial for learners with perfectionistic behaviors. It is a perfect way to practice just coloring and being in the moment.

Mindfulness journal activities for kids and teens to help feel calm, focused, and happy. Mindful activities teach self-control, emotional management, growth mindset, self-love, and so much more. Use this as a daily morning practice or in your calm down area. Perfect for home or school. This post has printable and ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success

Just a reminder that you don’t need to be an expert to start a mindful practice in the classroom! Just use any of these ideas to give mindfulness a try! You might also want to read up on 5 free mindfulness activities or just grab the yearlong mindfulness journal to get started right away!

Mindfulness journal activities for kids and teens to help feel calm, focused, and happy. Mindful activities teach self-control, emotional management, growth mindset, self-love, and so much more. Use this as a daily morning practice or in your calm down area. Perfect for home or school. This post has printable and ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success


10 Reasons Why It’s Okay to Take a Sick Day

by Leave a Comment

Educators need to be able to take sick days when they need them for physical and mental health needs. Instead of worrying about everyone else, teachers and support staff need to stop and focus on themselves! Here are 10 reasons why. #selfcare #pathway2success

Teacher guilt is so real. Unless you’ve taught, it’s actually hard to describe. There are a million reasons to head into school when you’re not feeling well, from having to write sub plans to feeling worried about leaving your students with someone else for the day. What is worst is that teachers will go to extreme lengths to report to their duties, crawling into the school with a fever or the flu.

I think part of the teacher guilt comes into play because teachers LOVE what they do every day. As teachers, we want to be there. We want to show up. We want to greet our kids with a smile. We want to be there to know our students are working on the skills we know they need.

It’s okay to love what you do and still need a day off here and there. Actually, it’s not just okay; it’s healthy.

If you agree with these or think another teacher friend needs to hear it, please pass this message along. It’s important and it matters.

Educators need to be able to take sick days when they need them for physical and mental health needs. Instead of worrying about everyone else, teachers and support staff need to stop and focus on themselves! Here are 10 reasons why. #selfcare #pathway2success

Even though you do not need any of these, here are ten reasons why it’s truly OKAY to take a sick day.

Your Mental Health Matters

I think it’s important to highlight mental health first and foremost. Whether you need a day to tend to your fever, or time just to time to clear your mind after a stressful couple of weeks, that’s okay. Both are 100% valid reasons. Sometimes, it’s easy to ignore mental health needs, but that shouldn’t be the way. Take care of yourself. And as always, if you need more support, find a therapist or counselor to help. You matter.

Spreading Germs Isn’t Cool

Even if you think you can handle coming to school with a fever or hacking cough, recognize that sharing your germs isn’t going to help anyone. It can, though, get other colleagues and kids infected, which isn’t fun. If you are that sick, keep those germs at home until you are better, please.

Rest Helps You Get Better Quicker

Rest is a strange thing. We all know we need it, but we don’t want to make the time for it. You might be able to drag yourself into school day after day feeling horrible for two weeks, when if you had just taken a sick day earlier on, you could have rested and recovered much quicker.

Your Role as a Parent Come First

If you are a parent, please know you have all of my admiration. Teacher-parents go above and beyond taking care of their classroom children through the day and their real children in the afternoon and night. With that said, your role as a parent in taking care of your children is so important. When your kids need you, they need you. And that’s okay.

Your Family Deserves the Best You

It’s true that many times you can make it through the day feeling horrible. However, by the time you get home, you’re beat. Your family is important and they deserve the best you. YOU deserve the best you. Taking a sick day can help you get there so you can get back on track to spending the time with them that you love.

Educators need to be able to take sick days when they need them for physical and mental health needs. Instead of worrying about everyone else, teachers and support staff need to stop and focus on themselves! Here are 10 reasons why. #selfcare #pathway2success

Your Students Deserve the Best You

Let’s face it; A sick teacher isn’t on their game. I’ve experienced it myself many times. I had less tolerance for the small stuff. Your students deserve the best you. Taking a day when you need one truly does help you be the best you.

It Builds Flexibility In Your Students

I remember in my first year of teaching I was terrified to be out sick. I didn’t want to leave my students. They relied on me. It was then that a good colleague and friend taught me that kids can’t have everything perfect for them all the time. They have to learn how to cope with change, including when their teacher is out. You being out sick and taking time for yourself actually builds flexibility in your students, and that’s a good thing.

Your Colleagues Will Survive

If it’s not bad enough that as teachers we worry about our students, I know from experience that we also worry about our colleagues, too. The truth is that life goes on at school without you. Your substitute will find their way. To be honest, many subs are some of the most amazing educators doing a great job in a tough situation (let’s give them all the credit they deserve). Your other colleagues will be fine, too. School life goes on without you. It really does.

You Are Modeling Self-Care

Sometimes, in our society, self-care isn’t valued as much as it should be. We want our learners to value taking care of themselves, listening to their bodies, and focusing on their own mental and physical health needs. So, with that, we have to model it. Be up front with students and tell them that you were sick and needed a day to take care of yourself. It’s healthy. If you need another reminder of self-care, grab this free educator self-care poster to hang up!

Educators need to be able to take sick days when they need them for physical and mental health needs. Instead of worrying about everyone else, teachers and support staff need to stop and focus on themselves! Here are 10 reasons why. #selfcare #pathway2success

You’re Not Indebted To Your Job

I saved this reason for last because I think we have all felt this way. As teachers, we LOVE our schools and classrooms dearly. We want to be there (even on the tough days!) And if we aren’t there, there’s a huge sense of guilt. Let’s be clear, though. You are not indebted to your job, classroom, school, or district. You are a valuable educator. One who matters. And your physical health and mental health matter.

If you love this message or feel a colleague needs to hear, please remember to pass it along. You matter. Your mental and physical health matters. You are an amazing educator. Take care of yourself because you deserve it.

Educators need to be able to take sick days when they need them for physical and mental health needs. Instead of worrying about everyone else, teachers and support staff need to stop and focus on themselves! Here are 10 reasons why. #selfcare #pathway2success

Mindful Breathing Activities for Kids & Teens

by Leave a Comment

Mindful breathing is a technique that can help improve focus and restore calm into the classroom. Best of all, it’s a strategy that helps develop self-regulation skills, something that kids and teens need throughout their lives.

What is Mindful Breathing?

The idea behind mindful breathing is that if we can control our breathing, we can also calm our body and mind. With that said, it’s not just a nice theory; there is actually scientific evidence behind it. When upset or overwhelmed, our bodies invoke a stress response known as “fight or flight.” It’s an important response that helps us avoid serious danger. The trouble is that we can also have this same response during arguments, worries, or when something doesn’t go our way.

Practicing deep breathing helps to slow the heartbeat and lower blood pressure, allowing us to feel calmer, focused, and more in control.

Practicing Deep Breathing

It’s important to note that practicing deep breathing really is a practice. For many kids and young adults (and even adults), it feels silly and unnatural to breathe in a deep and controlled way. By making it a habit to practice deep breathing, though, it can become a healthy routine in our lives.

Use these mindful breathing exercises to integrate mindfulness and social emotional learning into the classroom. Mindful breathing can help kids and teens manage emotions, improve focus, and feel calm. Check out these free ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success

To practice deep breathing with kids and young adults, first explain mindfulness and why it is important. Discuss the benefits with them so that they can understand why they are adding this practice into their lives.

Then, choose any deep breathing strategy and give it a try together! Remember that this might feel silly to kids and young adults. That’s okay! The goal is to give it a try and keep up the practice.

Mindful Breathing Exercises to Try

By making mindful breathing fun, easy, and memorable, students are more likely to be able to use it when they really need it in the future. Below I’ve listed some breathing strategies kids and young adults can practice. If you love them, check out the Mindful Breathing Cards that you can print and use today.

Bubble breathing. Most kids know what it feels like to blow bubbles. If they don’t, you can certainly even use actual bubbles for this breathing activity. Have kids close their eyes and imagine they are blowing bubbles as they breathe in and out.

Use these mindful breathing exercises to integrate mindfulness and social emotional learning into the classroom. Mindful breathing can help kids and teens manage emotions, improve focus, and feel calm. Check out these free ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success

Shape breathing. Have kids draw any shape or design on a piece of paper (or on the board). Then, have them slowly breathe in and out as they trace their finger along the shape. With this breathing technique, kids are focused just on the shape, allowing them to really calm their minds in the moment.

Use these mindful breathing exercises to integrate mindfulness and social emotional learning into the classroom. Mindful breathing can help kids and teens manage emotions, improve focus, and feel calm. Check out these free ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success

Apple pie breathing. Have kids imagine there is a warm slice of apple pie in front of them. Have them slowly breathe in to smell the pie and then breathe out. Note that this breathing exercise really can be done with any type of food. I also like to do this with pizza or a warm cup of cocoa.

Use these mindful breathing exercises to integrate mindfulness and social emotional learning into the classroom. Mindful breathing can help kids and teens manage emotions, improve focus, and feel calm. Check out these free ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success

Marching band breathing. One of my favorite strategies involves kids imagining that their breath is a marching band. Students should count to the beat of four as they breathe in and out. You can incorporate movement with tapping or clapping as well.

Use these mindful breathing exercises to integrate mindfulness and social emotional learning into the classroom. Mindful breathing can help kids and teens manage emotions, improve focus, and feel calm. Check out these free ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success

When Should Kids Practice Deep Breathing?

There are many times when kids and young adults might want to practice deep breathing on a more regular basis. Here are a few:

  • In the morning to start of the day on a positive note
  • Before a big test or quiz
  • After a transition
  • Right before a morning meeting
  • At the beginning of a class
  • After lunch or recess
  • As an intervention for students struggling with tough emotions

Whether you practice mindful breathing with a whole class, small group, or with individual learners, this practice can help give kids and young adults the tools they need to be successful. Use some of these mindful breathing exercises or grab the full set to get started today.

Use these mindful breathing exercises to integrate mindfulness and social emotional learning into the classroom. Mindful breathing can help kids and teens manage emotions, improve focus, and feel calm. Check out these free ideas you can use right away! #mindfulness #pathway2success

Self-Care for Teachers

by Leave a Comment

Strategies for self-care for teachers and other educational support staff. Teaching is tough! It's important to put mental, physical, and emotional health first. Use these strategies to help focus on yourself. It comes with a free printable poster as a self-care reminder.

The Case for Educator Self-Care

Saying that teaching is tough is a bit of an understatement. Between teaching, creating lesson plans, answering parent emails, grading, and everything else educators work through, teachers are under a substantial amount of stress. While some of these challenges are less under our control, one thing that is under our control is how we address self-care.

Self-care is any deliberate activity aimed to support mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Although it seems like a simple concept, taking care of ourselves is something that can be easily forgotten. This is especially true during the holiday season, during parent conferences, and the back to school rush, just to name a few specific times.

As educators and as humans, taking care of ourselves is critical. It helps reduce stress, improves mood, and promotes a sense of calm. More self-care can even help you be a better teacher. It’s worth taking the time to incorporate more self-care into your life. And most importantly, you deserve it for yourself.

Making Self-Care a Practice

Self-care is best when it’s planned proactively. That means taking the time to schedule important things for yourself and not overcommitting so that you do have time for you.

It’s important to note that self-care isn’t always spa appointments and bubble baths. More often than not, healthy long-term self-care is about setting limits, making positive time for yourself, and encouraging yourself to make good choices. It might mean waking up earlier to go to the gym, spending time reading your favorite book, or saying “no” when asked to lead an extra after school club.

To add more self-care into your life, choose a few activities that you think will help you. Don’t try to do them all. Stick to a few that you know you can commit to. Make a plan for yourself and reassess as you go.

Strategies for Self-Care

Strategies for self-care for teachers and other educational support staff. Teaching is tough! It's important to put mental, physical, and emotional health first. Use these strategies to help focus on yourself. It comes with a free printable poster as a self-care reminder.

Here are 15+ ways you can add self-care into your life:

Treat yourself when you need it. Whether it’s a coffee, a massage, or a shopping trip, treat yourself when you need it. It’s important to find what works for you.

Remember to start fresh every day. As an educator, some days are hard. It’s so important to start every day with a fresh mindset. Not only does it help the students, but it will help you, too.

Connect with uplifting colleagues. Find the teacher friends who will listen to you, encourage you, and lift you up.

Do physical activities you enjoy. Whether it’s a daily workout, a yoga class, or jogging with your dog, find the physical activities you love to do most. Then, make them a routine in your life. Sometimes, this can be hard! Make a schedule and try to stick with it. Even in the times when you don’t feel like doing it in the moment, you will always be thankful later on.

Take a break when you need one. We all need breaks sometimes, in the classroom and outside of the classroom. Whether you need a mental health day or just a few minutes to yourself, take a break when you need it most.

Spend time journaling. If you love writing, journaling can be an excellent strategy to improve self-awareness and help you become more in touch with your everyday emotions. Spend just a few minutes a day writing down how you’re feeling, what happened, and what thoughts are going through your mind. Sometimes, just writing them down can help you think things through.

Use positive self-talk. Positive thinking can have a huge impact on our mental health and well-being. Work to recognize your more negative thoughts. Then, reframe them into more positive ones. Saying phrases like, “Today is going to be a great day,” and “This might be tough, but I can do it,” can help you through tough times.

Go for a walk or spend time outside. Spending time outside can be extremely healing and mindful. On the nice days, make an effort to spend a few extra minutes outside, whether that means reading on the porch or taking a walk around the block. You can even consider spending some time outside with your students when weather allows.

Read a good book (just for you). As educators, many of us are often reading to help choose books for our learners or improve our teaching craft. Instead of focusing on reading for teaching, spend time finding and reading a book just for you.

Plan an activity to look forward to. It’s always nice to have something positive to look forward to. Schedule a special dinner with friends, grab tickets for a concert, or plan your family vacation ahead of time.

Spend time with friends and family. It’s true that spending extra time with family and friends can help you feel happier and more fulfilled. Your time with family and friends matters.

Leave work at school for the night or weekend. As an educator, the work is really never done. There is always more than can be planned or graded. Practice leaving work at school over the night. Even more, leave it for the entire weekend to give you the extra family time you deserve.

Spend less time on social media. While there are many benefits to social media, there are a lot of drawbacks, too. Consider taking a peek in your phone’s setting to see how much time each day you’re really spending on social media. Now, just imagine what else you could be doing with that time for yourself! Make a goal to spend a little less time on social media each day.

Bring healthy snacks and meals. Good nutrition can go a long way in helping you to feel your best. Spend some time over the weekend planning what you could bring during the work week. Try planning to bring in one healthy snack each day, like carrots, nuts, or yogurt. Again, it’s important to find what works for you!

Delete your work email from your phone. Sometimes, self-care is about setting limits. If you notice that your work emails are interfering without life outside of school hours, it’s worth considering deleting it from your home. Your you-time matters and the work can wait.

Be comfortable saying “no” to more obligations. You can’t do it all, and you shouldn’t expect yourself to. The next time someone asks you to commit to an extra obligation, really ask yourself if you want to do it or not. Be comfortable saying “no” when you don’t want more added onto your plate.

Give yourself grace. Be kind to yourself! Recognize that you won’t always be perfect and that’s perfectly okay.

If you need some extra reminders, grab this self-care poster for your classroom or the teacher’s room!

Strategies for self-care for teachers and other educational support staff. Teaching is tough! It's important to put mental, physical, and emotional health first. Use these strategies to help focus on yourself. It comes with a free printable poster as a self-care reminder.

What other self-care activities are the most meaningful for you? Share yours!

Strategies for self-care for teachers and other educational support staff. Teaching is tough! It's important to put mental, physical, and emotional health first. Use these strategies to help focus on yourself. It comes with a free printable poster as a self-care reminder.

Teaching Kindness with a Free Activity

by 4 Comments

Teach kindness with a free printable learning activity for kids and young adults. As teachers and parents, we know that teaching about being kind can create a more positive learning environment for everyone! Complete a kindness challenge with a fun lesson to help encourage a caring and positive community for all. #kindness #pathway2success

Kindness is an important social skill the plays a huge role in creating a positive learning environment for all. When we have kinder students, kids are better able to work together, share, express differing opinions in respectful ways, and help each other when someone is in need.

To help teach and encourage kindness I’m sharing how a quick and simple lesson on teaching kindness with your learners, as well as ideas for keeping the positivity going. This would be great to do during World Kindness Day, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s, or during the first few days of school. Of course, this is an activity you could do ANY time. Kindness is always cool.

Keep reading for more ideas and a free activity worksheet you can use right away.

Discussing Kindness

Start the lesson by discussing what it means to be kind. Kindness can mean many different things. Sometimes, it is doing something nice for someone else. Sometimes, it is treating someone the way they want to be treated in the moment. Other times, it is doing our part to clean up and take care of the environment. Kindness is even about being loving and thoughtful to ourselves.

Encourage students to come up with a list of ways to be kind. This can be done as a whole group or in small groups. You can even make it a challenge to come up with the biggest list of kind acts before reporting back to the whole class.

Students should come up with lots of different acts of kindness, from opening the door for someone else to helping someone with a homework assignment. What’s most important is that learners notice we can show kindness in big and small ways every single day.

Teach kindness with a free printable learning activity for kids and young adults. As teachers and parents, we know that teaching about being kind can create a more positive learning environment for everyone! Complete a kindness challenge with a fun lesson to help encourage a caring and positive community for all. #kindness #pathway2success

Understanding The Chain of Kindness

Ask students to think about and describe a time someone was kind to them. Have them think about how that made them feel. Have them then share times when they were kind to someone else. Have them also think about how that made them feel.

It’s critical for kids and young adults to see that kindness creates more kindness. It is a chain. When we are kind to someone, it not only makes that person feel good, but it makes us feel good, too. The more kind acts we do, the kinder our entire world becomes.

Making a Kindness Challenge

Come up with a list of kind activities together (or use the one I’ve put together). Encourage students to complete a kindness challenge by actually doing each of the activities throughout the week.

Best of all, this is something you can do again and again by coming up with new lists of kind activities. You could even have a challenge every single week or month.

Make it extra exciting by adding a special reward at the end of the challenge. Just randomly select one winner who completed the challenge and give a special reward, like sitting in the teacher’s chair or getting to choose the movie for the end of the week.

Teach kindness with a free printable learning activity for kids and young adults. As teachers and parents, we know that teaching about being kind can create a more positive learning environment for everyone! Complete a kindness challenge with a fun lesson to help encourage a caring and positive community for all. #kindness #pathway2success

If you want to get started with an activity and fun visual you can use right away, grab this free kindness activity!

Keeping the Kindness Going

It’s important to continually discuss and practice kindness. While one lesson or activity is a great place to start, it’s critical that students see kindness on an ongoing basis. Here are a few other ideas for keeping that kindness going.

Give kindness shoutouts. Dedicate a bulletin board in the classroom to “kindness shoutouts.” Allow kids to write out when they see someone else being kind in the classroom. Have them write it on a piece of paper that you (or the students) can post on the bulletin board.

Model kindness. It’s helpful to get other educators on board with highlighting acts of kindness throughout the whole year. It goes without saying that kids are most certainly watching the adults, how we interact with other adults, and how we interact with kids. Modeling kind behavior all the time needs to be a consistent focus.

Share kindness quotes. One of my favorite quotes about kindness is, “We never know what someone else is going through. Just be kind.” Sometimes, we all need this reminder.

Teach kindness with a free printable learning activity for kids and young adults. As teachers and parents, we know that teaching about being kind can create a more positive learning environment for everyone! Complete a kindness challenge with a fun lesson to help encourage a caring and positive community for all. #kindness #pathway2success

Use literature. There are a number of read alouds that can be used to highlight kindness, gratitude, and giving back. Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson and Good People Everywhere by Lynea Gillen are a few good ones to start with. Grab this free Social Emotional Learning read aloud list for a few more ideas.

Do you have a favorite kindness activity? Share it!

Teach kindness with a free printable learning activity for kids and young adults. As teachers and parents, we know that teaching about being kind can create a more positive learning environment for everyone! Complete a kindness challenge with a fun lesson to help encourage a caring and positive community for all. #kindness #pathway2success

12 Games to Practice Self-Control

by Leave a Comment

Use these games and play activities to strengthen self-control and self-regulation skills for kids and young adults. Teachers can use these games during break times or even as rewards! Games can be one of the best ways to help boost self control for teens and children. #selfcontrol #pathway2success

Self-control is our ability to stop and think before making decisions. This involves taking a pause when our emotions want to take over so we can think through the situation, consider solutions, assess the consequences, and move forward with the best choice in that scenario. Self-control is particularly difficult executive functioning skill for kids and young adults, and there is actually a scientific reason for that! The limbic system in our brains, which is responsible for managing emotions, develops ahead of the prefrontal cortex, which is the area responsible for planning, suppressing urges, and using self-control. Simply put, that means kids and young adults are going to need lots of practice with using skills for self-control.

Using Games to Teach Self-Control

Games are a great technique for practicing self-control skills because they are instantly fun and interactive. Kids and young adults are far more likely to learn and practice the skills if it’s something interesting to them. Whenever you play any of these games, it’s important to be purposeful about the skills you are teaching. First, explain what self-control is and why it’s so important.

I love to give examples about situations involving self-control that all kids can relate to. One example is: Imagine you are going over to your friend’s house. You see a delicious chocolate cake just sitting there on the counter. You really WANT to just eat a piece or taste the frosting with your finger. What should you do? How could you use self-control? What could happen if you don’t use self-control? These questions are an important foundation to help students understand self-control and why it matters. Let students know they are playing the game in order to practice and strengthen their skills for self-control. Then, let the games begin!

Since games are a great tool to teach skills, you might also want to read up on games to teach social emotional skills and games to strengthen executive functioning skills, too!

Use these games and play activities to strengthen self-control and self-regulation skills for kids and young adults. Teachers can use these games during break times or even as rewards! Games can be one of the best ways to help boost self control for teens and children. #selfcontrol #pathway2success

Games To Try

Jenga. I love this game because it’s the perfect blend of structure and chaos (perfect for your kids who really need self-control practice!). As students play, remind them to have self-control every time they remove a block from the tower. The more cautious and careful you are, the more likely you are to win. Not only is this a really fun and interactive way to practice self-control, but the entire game becomes a metaphor for self-control in life. If you aren’t careful, things can fall apart. Take your time, stop and think, breathe, and carefully move forward. This is a game you can practice again and again. It never gets old!

Self-Control Speedway. I developed this self-control board game as a fun but direct way to target self-control skills. Students will move along the racetrack game board answering critical questions about self-control. I truly love the idea of comparing self-control to driving because I always it is teaching kids that they are in the driver’s seat!

Use these games and play activities to strengthen self-control and self-regulation skills for kids and young adults. Teachers can use these games during break times or even as rewards! Games can be one of the best ways to help boost self control for teens and children. #selfcontrol #pathway2success

Blurt. This is by far one of my favorite ways to practice self-control. If you’re not familiar with it, Blurt is a set of cards with definitions for vocabulary words. A leader will read the card and students “blurt” out the answer. My favorite way to play is “around the world” style. Have two students stand next to each other for a duel. Read the card and allow only those two students to shout out the answer. All other students in the room have to use self-control and not shout out, even if they know the answer when no one else does! This can be a big challenge (and GREAT practice) for those students who struggle with shouting out when it is not their turn. Note that if you don’t have blurt, you can always make up your very own cards with content area questions!

Guard Duty. Use this as a secret weapon when you want students to use self-control in the hallways. The idea is simple: Tell students that they are guards for the palace. They have a mission to be as serious and guard-like as possible. That means using self-control and ignoring anyone who tries to distract you! Anyone who fails the challenge has to go to the back of the line. It can be added fun if you have another teacher do something to try and distract your students.

Use these games and play activities to strengthen self-control and self-regulation skills for kids and young adults. Teachers can use these games during break times or even as rewards! Games can be one of the best ways to help boost self control for teens and children. #selfcontrol #pathway2success

Freeze. This game incorporates movement, play, and self-control all in one. Just play some music and let kids dance, wiggle, and walk around. Have one person be the leader (a teacher to start) and yell “Freeze!” at any time. As soon as someone shouts it, everyone should freeze in place, with the music still playing. This can be challenging with the music still going, because you might have the urge to keep dancing. This is a great game to practice at the end of the week for some added fun.

Simon Says. This game focuses on attention skills, but self-control, too! Kids have to be focused to listen for what Simon says to do, while using self-control to stop themselves if “Simon” doesn’t say it! Stand in front of the class and shout out commands like “Simon says put your hands on your head” and “Simon says stand on one foot.” Then, throw one in there that doesn’t say “Simon says” and see who can follow along. Afterwards, you can switch it up and have students be the leader as well.

Social Problem Solving Board Game. This social problem-solving board game is one of my favorite games I created because it targets so many different social areas all in one. Students move through the game board answering a variety of social problem-solving questions about school, home, activities, and friends. This is a great way to practice self-control because students need to stop and think about how they will solve each problem.

Use these games and play activities to strengthen self-control and self-regulation skills for kids and young adults. Teachers can use these games during break times or even as rewards! Games can be one of the best ways to help boost self control for teens and children. #selfcontrol #pathway2success

Wait Five. I love this game because it can be played with any trivia, vocabulary, or academic content. This makes it a great review game, too. Ask one question at a time but students must wait a full five seconds before shouting out the answer. This can be especially helpful for those students who love to shout out the answer without being called on. Of course, you can play around with the rules, making the wait time longer or shorter, and even allowing only certain students to shout out at certain times. The whole idea is to build self-control by waiting just a little bit longer than we really want to!

Role Play. Kids and young adults love acting scenarios out, but it can also be a great way to practice skills for self-control. Come up with your own scenarios or use these social scenario task cards. Have students act out the situation in partners or small groups, considering what they would do and why. You can even invite students to act out the situation at the front of the class. It is most important to highlight the socially appropriate choices and why they matter. This can be a fun addition to any morning meeting or social group time.

Self-Control Task Cards. I added these in because you can use these self-control task cards along with any turn-taking game. Just have students answer one card before they can take their turn. It’s a win-win because kids and playing a game they love while learning about self-control at the same time.

Use these games and play activities to strengthen self-control and self-regulation skills for kids and young adults. Teachers can use these games during break times or even as rewards! Games can be one of the best ways to help boost self control for teens and children. #selfcontrol #pathway2success

Orchestra. Anything that incorporates music and skill practice is a win! For this game, you can choose to pass out instruments to your students if you have them (such as triangles or drum sticks). If you don’t have them, that’s okay, since students can use their hands, pencils, or imaginary instruments to go with the beat. Play a sample of music and have students play to the beat. Continue with many different samples, both slower and faster. The whole idea is that students are able to use self-control to stay with the beat, even if they want to go faster or slower in the moment.

Stoplight. This game is another quick activity that can be done any time with no props. Start by shouting out, “Green Light”. Let students walk around the classroom, talk, and mingle. You can even let them dance if you want to! Then, after a few seconds or minutes, say, “Yellow Light.” At this time, students have to slow down and go at a snail’s pace. They can still move, but it has to be slow! Finally, end with “Red Light,” and have students completely stop in their tracks. You can continue over and over with as much time as you have.

Use these games and play activities to strengthen self-control and self-regulation skills for kids and young adults. Teachers can use these games during break times or even as rewards! Games can be one of the best ways to help boost self control for teens and children. #selfcontrol #pathway2success

Games can be the perfect way to integrate social skills and self-control practice into your classroom! Do you have other games that work in your classroom? Share them below!

Use these games and play activities to strengthen self-control and self-regulation skills for kids and young adults. Teachers can use these games during break times or even as rewards! Games can be one of the best ways to help boost self control for teens and children. #selfcontrol #pathway2success

15+ Executive Functioning Strategies Every Teacher Can Use

by 2 Comments

Over 15 strategies for executive functioning that all educators and teachers can use to help struggling students. Whether kids are having difficulty with attention, organization, self-control, or flexibility, these ideas and printable resources will help kids and teens find success in the classroom! #executivefunctioning #pathway2success

Many kids and young adults struggle with executive functioning challenges. Some are easy to spot, such as when a student can’t focus on a lesson or comes to class without their entire binder. Other EF challenges are less obvious, though. A learner might take two times as long on homework because they don’t understand strategies to help them complete it quicker. Another student might look like they are paying attention, but may not be absorbing the content. For more of an in-depth explanation on these skills, be sure to check out my post on executive functioning skills explained.

Kids and young adults only have so much mental energy they can use at one time (we all do, right?). For kids who struggle with basic EF skills, like organization, planning, and time management, we want to reduce any wasted mental energy. This can help our learners focus on the more important things, including learning the content and practicing the skills.

Here are some simple steps that every educator can take to help all learners develop executive functioning success in the classroom:

Over 15 strategies for executive functioning that all educators and teachers can use to help struggling students. Whether kids are having difficulty with attention, organization, self-control, or flexibility, these ideas and printable resources will help kids and teens find success in the classroom! #executivefunctioning #pathway2success

#1 Develop, teach, and practice routines. Consistency is a huge key to student success. That’s true for all learners, but especially kids and young adults with EF deficits. Make everything a routine. Turning in homework each morning? Routine. Writing homework down at the end of class? Routine. Cleaning out notebooks for a new unit? Routine! It’s important to note that just coming up with a routine for these tasks isn’t really enough. The routines need to be practice and re-practiced throughout the year.

Over 15 strategies for executive functioning that all educators and teachers can use to help struggling students. Whether kids are having difficulty with attention, organization, self-control, or flexibility, these ideas and printable resources will help kids and teens find success in the classroom! #executivefunctioning #pathway2success

#2 Keep a daily schedule posted. Not only does a daily plan for the day keep educators on track, but it keeps students organized, too. A daily schedule or plan doesn’t need to be “perfect.” It’s okay if it is a rough outline of what you plan to do during the class. A daily schedule or plan keeps students more organized and gives a sneak peak of what is to come. This can help everyone mentally prepare for class and preview expectations.

#3 Write homework in the same spot. Having a designated homework spot means kids and young adults use less mental energy figuring out where their assignment is listed each day. It’s a small step that can make a big difference.

Over 15 strategies for executive functioning that all educators and teachers can use to help struggling students. Whether kids are having difficulty with attention, organization, self-control, or flexibility, these ideas and printable resources will help kids and teens find success in the classroom! #executivefunctioning #pathway2success

#4 Embed executive functioning instruction in your content. One of the easiest ways to teach EF skills is by discussing them through your content and curriculum. For example, when working on a long-term project, you might talk about organization and time management. Before working on a challenging test, you might highlight strategies to help all learners use flexibility and perseverance. There are so many opportunities. Every teacher can and should be a teacher of executive functioning skills.

#5 Give organization time at the end of class. Kids and young adults with executive functioning challenges are notoriously disorganized. They can certainly learn skills to improve, but they need the time to get there. Dedicate the last few minutes of each class to tidying up, putting papers in the right spots, and making sure homework is written down. While not all kids will need this time, many really do.

#6 Teach skills explicitly. When kids struggle with math or reading, we teach them. The same should be true for skills like organization, self-control, and time management. You don’t need to be an executive function expert to talk about and teach these skills. I have developed a number of EF materials for educators, including executive functioning task cards and an executive functioning workbook. If you’re looking for even more, grab the whole yearlong executive functioning set to get started right away. Even if you are just discussing one skill each week or so, you are moving kids in the right direction.

Over 15 strategies for executive functioning that all educators and teachers can use to help struggling students. Whether kids are having difficulty with attention, organization, self-control, or flexibility, these ideas and printable resources will help kids and teens find success in the classroom! #executivefunctioning #pathway2success

#7 Give mini-deadlines on long-term projects. Any educator knows that long-term projects can be a major challenge for some students. Mini-deadlines are a simple solution to the problem. If a report is due in two weeks, work to break up the project into sections. Make a date for students to find their sources, create an outline, and write a first draft. Over time, you can train students to create their own mini-deadlines to build independence.

Over 15 strategies for executive functioning that all educators and teachers can use to help struggling students. Whether kids are having difficulty with attention, organization, self-control, or flexibility, these ideas and printable resources will help kids and teens find success in the classroom! #executivefunctioning #pathway2success

#8 Reduce distractions. It’s important to note that reducing distractions will look different in every classroom. Still, it’s important to be reflective. Art projects hanging from the ceiling might look beautiful, but they may actually be doing more harm than good if they are distracting your learners. Take time to re-assess the visuals and materials in your classroom and reduce any distractions that might be about.

#9 Give time checks. Kids and young adults who struggle with time management often don’t have a strong understanding of time itself. During working sessions, use a chime or just your voice to give time checks for how much longer is left. For example, you might say, “This is a time check. You have about 10 more minutes before we need to clean up the lab stations.” This simple no-prep support is helpful to all kids, but especially to kids with EF challenges.

#10 Keep extra papers stored in a bin. Of course, we want all students to stay organized and keep all of their papers where they need to be. However, kids with EF challenges are likely to lose papers. Give them a way to find an extra paper without having to ask an adult every single time by setting up a bin with extra pages.

Over 15 strategies for executive functioning that all educators and teachers can use to help struggling students. Whether kids are having difficulty with attention, organization, self-control, or flexibility, these ideas and printable resources will help kids and teens find success in the classroom! #executivefunctioning #pathway2success

#11 Explicitly state when important information is being shared. It would be great if every student perfectly paid attention during all lectures and lessons, but we all know that’s not exactly the case. With this, it’s critical to be very explicit when sharing information that matters the most. You might say, “I’m about to say something really important. Pencils down and eyes on me,” as a cue.

#12 Give breaks. No one can be 100% all of the time. This is especially true for our learners with executive functioning challenges. Their brains are working extra hard to pay attention, stay organized, manage their time, problem-solve, and work through challenges. It’s important to give brain breaks during class, when needed. Individual students may also benefit from breaks, such as getting a drink at the water fountain or having them deliver something to another classroom for you.

Over 15 strategies for executive functioning that all educators and teachers can use to help struggling students. Whether kids are having difficulty with attention, organization, self-control, or flexibility, these ideas and printable resources will help kids and teens find success in the classroom! #executivefunctioning #pathway2success

#13 Preview changes. For kids and young adults who struggle with flexibility, change can be a huge obstacle. If there is a change of schedule coming up, give students a heads up. Explain what the change is and how the day will proceed. This doesn’t need to take much time, but can help take some of the stress away from the changes coming up.

#14 Stock a classroom office. For some kids, organization comes easy! For others, it is a lifelong struggle. While working on these skills, give the kids the tools they need to be successful in the classroom. Stock a classroom office with pencils, pens, extra paper, and other supplies for kids who need them. It’s important to see this as an intervention and a support, not a way to enable kids. Of course, the goal is to have learners bring their own pencils and come prepared each day. However, an executive functioning deficit shouldn’t impact a child’s ability to learn the math or reading content for the day. While working on EF skills, stock a classroom office so all kids have the tools they need.

Over 15 strategies for executive functioning that all educators and teachers can use to help struggling students. Whether kids are having difficulty with attention, organization, self-control, or flexibility, these ideas and printable resources will help kids and teens find success in the classroom! #executivefunctioning #pathway2success

#15 Let kids work through challenges. Kids and young adults need the experiences of doing tasks on their own, whether it is struggling through a math problem or learning how to cut out a craft. It’s okay if things aren’t perfect. It’s much more important that kids and young adults develop the confidence that they can do things independently. This also allows for problem-solving, flexibility, and perseverance. Sometimes, they will need help, and it’s important to give that support! But it’s also okay to let them learn through their struggles so they can persevere and succeed.

#16 Play executive functioning skills games during downtime. Sometimes, it is difficult to integrate EF skills into the day with all the content and curriculum that needs to be covered. This is when downtime can be extremely valuable. Use the last few minutes of class to play fun games that actually strengthen EF skills, like Simon Says and Freeze. Some games, like Guard Duty, can even be played while your students are in line on the way to another class. The idea is to have them act like a guard to the palace and use self-control to not react to anything. Read up on more ways you can use play activities to practice executive functioning skills.

Over 15 strategies for executive functioning that all educators and teachers can use to help struggling students. Whether kids are having difficulty with attention, organization, self-control, or flexibility, these ideas and printable resources will help kids and teens find success in the classroom! #executivefunctioning #pathway2success

#17 Allow for movement in the classroom. Many kids and young adults learn best when they are moving. This can be especially true for kids who struggle with attention and focus. Use center work, stations, and even movement games to allow for extra movement throughout the day while kids are learning the content you need them to.

#18 Be concise. Say what matters the most and keep it short! Kids and young adults who struggle with attention and focus will get lost when directions or information is too wordy. It may also help to have both visual and verbal reminds for the directions for those who need.

If you are interested in teaching executive functioning skills explicitly, I have developed an entire yearlong set of activities for executive functioning skills. It includes everything from workbooks to lessons and crafts to task cards. It is ideal for advisory or the resource room, but I’ve even had general education teachers use it in the first few minutes of class to help teach the skills kids need most.

Also, here are a few more blog posts you might be interested in:

Over 15 strategies for executive functioning that all educators and teachers can use to help struggling students. Whether kids are having difficulty with attention, organization, self-control, or flexibility, these ideas and printable resources will help kids and teens find success in the classroom! #executivefunctioning #pathway2success

Strategies for Oppositional Kids

by 4 Comments

The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd

Working with kids and young adults who are oppositional can be challenging. Being oppositional might mean refusing to do work, breaking rules, and engaging in other challenging behaviors. The truth is, many kids can be oppositional from time to time, so many of these strategies work with all learners. With that said, these strategies are truly aimed at learners who are more significantly oppositional and defiant. These are the students who demonstrate challenging behaviors on a regular basis, purposefully do the opposite of what is told, engage in arguments, and might even show aggression.

Whether or not your student is diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, it can be helpful to understand the disorder. Many of the strategies and techniques can be helpful for all kids who are displaying defiant or disruptive behaviors on a regular basis. If you think a child or young adult might have oppositional defiant disorder, it is important to talk it over with a professional in your area.

Simply put, kids and young adults who demonstrate oppositional behaviors are often in need of significant interventions and supports, not punishments. The list below highlights several strategies for before, during, and after challenging behaviors.

Oppositional kids need support! The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd

PROACTIVE STRATEGIES

  • Build a relationship. Spend time getting to know your student. Look far beyond their challenges and see who they are as an individual. Find ways to build a positive relationship over time.
  • Start fresh every day. This one is important. Treat every day as a new start. Not only does this help educators move past yesterday’s challenges, but it also teaches the student that it is okay to have a bad day sometimes. Make this one your mantra.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Consider underlying needs. So often, oppositional behaviors are the result of underlying emotional challenges and needs. Take time to consider if a learner is struggling with feelings of anger, anxiety, or anything else. When it comes to challenging behavior, there is always a reason why, even if sometimes we don’t see it right away.
  • Explicitly discuss expectations. Teach about social expectations using simple words and visuals. Note that just discussing them once isn’t enough. They need to be openly talked about on a regular basis.
  • Explain your why. When you have a rule or expectation, explain the why behind it. For example, if you want student to turn their work into a specific bin, explain that this is so you don’t end up misplacing their work. It might seem silly, but sometimes just a valid reason is enough to help a student understand and follow along.
  • Watch your tone. Tone of voice can mean a lot to kids, and especially to kids with oppositional defiant disorder. Notice the way that you say things. “Please take out your homework for today,” is much nicer and calmer than, “Take out your homework right now.” Sometimes, it’s the small things that make a big difference.
  • Explicitly discuss consequences. Before challenging behaviors happen, make sure to openly discuss what the consequences will be. Together, come up with a list of what some consequences might be in your setting and discuss why they might happen.
  • Make sure consequences make sense. Logical consequences are always more beneficial than punishments. In the simplest terms, logical consequence are consequences that make sense and aim to repair the problem, rather than simply punish. For example, if a student makes a mess, the consequence might be to clean up. If a student says something mean to someone else, maybe they should do a kind deed or write a letter.
  • Give choices often. Rather than giving one direction or instruction, give a choice between two or three things. Choice can make a BIG difference! For example, if you want your student to spend time reading, ask them, “Would you rather pick out a novel, read a magazine, or listen to an audiobook?” As an educator, you are still making sure your student is working towards their goals, but you are also giving the student a say in how they get there.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Develop small goals together. Spend time 1:1 with your student and come up with small and manageable SMART goals that the child can work on. It’s important to make the goals short-term and attainable so that they can reach them and feel successful. Keep in mind that sometimes kids with oppositional challenges don’t see that success often. Getting a taste of it can really change their life. Use that momentum to keep pushing the student forward in the right direction.
  • Be consistent. Kids and young adults thrive on consistency. Make an effort to have the same routines, expectations, and consequences each day. This makes it much easier for learners to understand and follow along with the expectations you set.
  • Teach strategies for mindfulness. Many kids and young adults don’t know how to put the brakes on when they are upset. Practice mindfulness once or twice a week together to encourage students to develop these skills over time. It is not a skill that develops right away, so lots of practice is necessary. One big positive is that practicing mindfulness in the right way can be fun for kids and young adults.
Mindfulness activities are a great strategy! The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Develop routines. The more routines you have for students, the easier it is for everyone. Develop routines for starting group work, turning in homework, writing homework down, lining up, and switching from one subject to another. The more concrete and consistent these routines are, the less behavioral challenges will come up along the way.
  • Get all adults on the same page. Consistency from adult to adult is critical. If a student is allowed to run in the hall with one adult but not the other, this can be confusing and even frustrating for the learner. Talk with other professionals, including paraeducators and parents, to try and set similar expectations for the student.
  • Practice deep breathing techniques. Teaching kids and young adults to control their breathing can help give them tools to calm down in the moment. It’s important that we teach these strategies ahead of time, so kids can use them when they really need them. Use these free mindful breathing boards to give mindful breathing a try.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Identify triggers. It’s critical to spend time to think about our students’ emotional triggers. Knowing that group work, doing work in front of the class, or independent work are triggers can help you structure your class in a way to minimize those challenges. Sometimes, it takes structured observations to figure out the triggers. If you struggle with this, consider having another staff member take time to observe the student and notice what situations immediately precede the behaviors.
  • Develop a calm down area. Not all kids will need a calm down area, but the ones who need it, really need it. A calm down area is just a special spot for students to go and regulate themselves when they are angry or upset. It is a helpful strategy to keep kids in the room, have them practice coping strategies, and get them back to learning quicker.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Give genuine praise. When a learner is doing something positive, privately let them know. Remember to be specific and genuine in your approach. You might say, “I noticed you worked really hard through that test even though it was a little bit frustrating. That was awesome of you and it showed you’re really doing your best. Thank you.”
  • Provide breaks. Kids with social-emotional needs can’t be at their best all of the time. They need down time. Schedule structured breaks and activities to give some down-time in their day.
  • Teach coping strategies. So often, kids don’t know how to calm down on their own. They need to be explicitly taught skills that can help them feel calm, safe, and regulated. Most importantly, kids need to learn and practice these skills when they are calm (not when they are upset). That means spending time actually practicing listening to music, writing in a journal, and coloring. Teaching coping strategies is not a waste of time; it’s a life skill. Learn about unique ways to teach coping strategies or grab this free list of coping strategies to get your students started.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Stay organized. Keeping the classroom and schedule organized will keep your learners organized, too. A lack of organization can frequently be a trigger for oppositional kids who need extra structure in their lives.
  • Give special responsibilities. Help your most oppositional learning develop a greater connection to the school and classroom by allowing them to give back in some way. Assign the student to water the plants each morning, pass papers back, or be in charge of technology. Try to align the classroom responsibilities with their interests, if possible.
  • Teach social skills. Simply put, if kids aren’t behaving in a socially appropriate way, we need to teach and re-teach those social skills until they can. To support this need, I have developed social skills lessons for elementary kids and social skills lessons for middle and high school students.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Use student interests. One effective way to keep learners engaged is using their personal interests in lessons and activities. Choose read alouds with trains or bikes, if that is what your student loves. Use math problems about dogs, if that is a particular interest.
  • Avoid power struggles. A power struggle with a student is always a losing battle. Your best defense is using techniques to avoid power struggles in the first place.
  • Let the little things go. If a student wants to use a pink gel pen to complete their work, let them! If a learner wants to work standing up, why not? Ask yourself if the behavior is interfering with their learning or not. If it isn’t, try to let the little things go!
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Learn ways to calm yourself. Dealing with a student’s challenging behaviors can be difficult in the moment, especially if those outbursts are directed specifically at you. Find ways to calm yourself down, such as deep breathing or positive self-talk). The calmer you can be, the better it will be for all your learners.
  • Integrate strategies for social emotional learning. Kids and young adult who are oppositional often need supports with social and emotional skills. Learn how to you can integrate social emotional learning or start with these free strategies for SEL.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Brainstorm with other professionals. When you are looking for new strategies and solutions, it’s often helpful to talk with other specialists in your school who know the child. Brainstorm with the school counselor, social worker, psychologist, and any other professionals who work with him or her. Brainstorming with a paraeducator who works with the student can also often be very helpful.
  • Consider incentives and rewards. While intrinsic rewards are always better, it’s true that sometimes kids and young adults need some extra encouragement along the way. Use this free list of rewards and incentives to get ideas to help motivate your learners.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Talk with the child’s counselor. If possible, get permission from guardians to talk with the child’s outside counselor. It can help to try and work on some of the same strategies together.
  • Focus on your own self-care. Working with a student who is oppositional can be extremely stressful for the adults involved. Remember to focus on your own self-care so that you can be the best you for all of your learners. Grab this free educator self-care poster as a reminder.

IN THE MOMENT STRATEGIES

  • Stay calm. Kids and young adults feed off others’ energy. Make it your mantra to stay calm. Sometimes this might mean acting like you are calm, even when you are not! Having a calm attitude is essential to helping kids and young adults feel safe and protected. Not only does a calm demeanor help students regain calm themselves, but it also models appropriate behaviors for them at the same time.
  • Be clear and concise with expectations. Give specific and simple directions as to what the student is expected to do. It’s important to watch your tone of voice and say these expectations in a non-emotional way. If a student is refusing to start their work, calmly tell them, “Please complete up to number 10. Thank you.”
  • Give space. When kids are upset, the last thing they need is an adult talking at them and telling them what to do over and over. So often, they already know but need time to get there. Talking to them can sometimes just create more of an argument. Tell them what you need to tell them, but then walk away. Give them space to get themselves started.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Avoid taking materials away. While this is a critical de-escalation strategy, I think it’s important enough to mention separately. If a child or young adult is using their phone when they shouldn’t be, never take it out of their hands. If they hand it over to you, that’s one thing. It is never advisable to forcefully take something from a child or young adult, though. This just creates a power struggle and will only incite more anger from the child or young adult. Give the instruction, walk away, or ignore, but never take something physically from a learner.
  • Use planned ignoring. Behaviors can happen for many different reasons. When the function is to gain attention, planned ignoring goes a long way. Planned ignoring is when you purposefully ignore problematic behaviors in order to stop and extinguish them. For example, if a student is making silly noises to get your attention during independent work time, try ignoring and pretending you don’t hear. The idea is simple: if the purpose is to gain attention, don’t give them attention. It’s important to note that planned ignoring can be difficult. Sometimes, behaviors even get worse before they get better. However, if adults are consistent in ignoring the behaviors, it can be an extremely useful strategy.
  • Help the child regulate their emotions. When a student is upset, it’s always most important to help them get back on track. Give the student time to regulate their emotions by going to a calm down area, spending a few minutes to themselves, or getting a drink at the water fountain.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Don’t take it personally. This is easier said than done, but it’s important to remind yourself not to take behaviors personally. Kids and young adults with behavioral challenges are struggling. They are acting out in the best way they know how to get the support they need in the moment. Take a deep breath and walk away when you need to.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd

POST-PROBLEM STRATEGIES

  • Make sure the child is calm. Before reflecting on an issue, it is critical that the child or young adult is calm first. If a learner is still upset, give them extra time to calm down and chill out before moving forward. Remember that the ultimate goal is helping that student learn from their ups and downs. That is only meaningful when they are truly calm and ready to learn.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Give time for reflection and problem-solving. While challenging behaviors are happening is not the time to learn. Kid and young adults are emotionally overwhelmed at this stage, meaning no learning is taking place. However, after a child is calm is the perfect time to reflect and problem-solve for the future. This is when the new learning is happening. Spend time talking with the student. Be inquisitive about what happened and not accusatory. For example, you might say, “I noticed you had a problem today with ____________. What happened?” and “What could we do moving forward?” Spend some time brainstorming ideas, strategies, and solutions.
  • Be creative. It is critical to stay open-minded during the problem-solving phase. If a child or young adult gives you an idea, consider it. Not everything will work, and that’s okay. It’s important to allow the child or young adult to be part of the problem-solving process, though. For example, if a student says they think they would do better working while listening to music, consider it. Try it. It’s okay to consider strategies even just a trial. Even if it doesn’t work out, it helps give responsibility to the learner themselves. It also shows that you are fair and willing to try things to help them be successful.
  • Make a plan together. Sometimes, it’s helpful to write out a specific plan with strategies moving forward. When you do this, it’s important to list strategies that the student will do and strategies that the adults will do. While you don’t always need to write out a plan, having these strategies listed and documented helps in a couple of ways. First, it holds all parties responsible for the strategies. Second, it documents that you are trying new strategies. This can be important in the future, so that if it works, you can continue (and if it doesn’t, you can just try something else!). If necessary, you might also consider developing an entire behavior intervention plan.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Give strategies time to work. Not every strategy is going to work perfectly right away. Give them a few times and days before determining if they are effective or not.
  • Help makeup for mistakes. Teaching kids and young adults how to make up for their mistakes is important. It’s also important that they don’t feel they are thrown into this alone. Help them through it. For example, if a student said something mean to someone else, help them write an apology note to their friend. If a student made a mess in another teacher’s classroom, help them find a time to go in and tidy or clean the room to give back. Not only will this help fix the damage, but it teaches a critical life skill.
  • Apologize when you mess up. Sometimes, in the moment, we all make mistakes. After some reflection time, if you think you’ve made a mistake, own up to it and privately apologize to the student. This often goes a long way with kids who are oppositional. A genuine apology can help mend relationships and help the student see that the world can sometimes be a fair place.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
  • Forgive and move on. Remember that every day is a fresh start. Once an incident is over, do your best to forgive the student and move on. Kids (even big kids) are still kids who are learning and growing.
  • Don’t give up. No matter what, never give up on your learners. Even the kids who are oppositional and challenging need all of your support, encouragement, and love. Tell them you won’t give up with your words and show them with your unconditional support.
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd
The ultimate list for strategies for oppositional defiant kids and young adults! Use these strategies, printables, and ideas to help students who struggle with behavioral challenges in the classroom. These are the students breaking rules, refusing to work, engaging in arguments, and struggling with social skills. Some might be diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and others are not! #pathway2success #oppositionaldefiant #odd

100+ Read Alouds to Teach Social Emotional Learning Skills

by Leave a Comment

100+ Read aloud short stories to integrate social emotional learning into the classroom. Elementary teachers and even middle school educators can use these texts to discuss SEL skills like empathy, friendships, emotions, decision-making and more. Read and grab your free printable list! #sel #socialemotionallearning #pathway2success

Social emotional learning skills are important. Every educator wants their learners to understand their own strengths and challenges, effectively cope with stress, persevere through challenges, have empathy for others, develop lasting friendships, and make positive decisions. These are really just a few examples of what skills social emotional learning can cover.

There are numerous benefits to teaching SEL skills in the classroom, such as a reduction of behavioral problems and giving learners tools to problem-solve on their own.

Sometimes, the best solution is to dedicate a time period to social emotional learning each day. If this is something you are planning in your classroom, I’ve developed a COMPLETE yearlong SEL curriculum for elementary learners (and I have a SEL curriculum for older kids, too)!

100+ Read aloud short stories to integrate social emotional learning into the classroom. Elementary teachers and even middle school educators can use these texts to discuss SEL skills like empathy, friendships, emotions, decision-making and more. Read and grab your free printable list! #sel #socialemotionallearning #pathway2success

With that said, sometimes time in the classroom is short. Although it can be extremely beneficial to teach SEL skills explicitly, there are always helpful ways that teachers can embed them into what they are already doing. For example, educators might use a daily SEL journal during writing time, have class discussions during break time, or use art activities to highlight SEL skills. One of the most helpful strategies for integrating SEL can be through literature.

The idea behind using literature to target social emotional learning skills really is quite simple. Educators can read the text as they normally would, stopping along the way to highlight critical skills that come up.

One of my favorite examples is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. In this short story, Alexander is having an awful day. It is such a terrible day that he wants to go and live in another country. However, rather than packing up his belongings and ignoring what is happening in his life, Alexander learns to cope with his emotions. He also learns about starting fresh each day. There are so many social lessons that can be learned from this one short read aloud.

With this, I put together a complete list of read alouds to use for social emotional learning. Grab a copy of your free printable SEL read aloud list to get started right away.

To get started, just find a skill you want to work on and select a book! As always, you know your learners best. It’s possible that not every book will work for your students, and that’s okay. Find the ones that suit their individual needs and see how much fun integrating SEL with literature can be.

Here are just a few examples from the complete list:

DEVELOPING SELF-AWARENESS

  • Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae
  • Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
  • It’s Okay to be Different by Todd Parr
  • The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
  • Hooray for You! A Celebration of You-ness by Marianne Richmond

BUILDING CONFIDENCE

  • I’m Gonna Like Me by Jamie Lee Curtis
  • Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
  • Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
  • I Like Me! By Nancy Carlson
  • Zero by Kathryn Otoshi

UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS

  • Visiting Feelings by Lauren Rubenstein
  • Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall
  • The Way I Feel by Jonan Cain
  • The Color Monster by Anna Llenas
  • In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek

HOPES AND DREAMS

  • Hiromi’s Hands by Lynne Barasch
  • Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty
  • Big Al by Andrew Clements
  • Matthew’s Dream by Leo Lionni
  • The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin

STUDY HABITS

  • Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell
  • Planning Isn’t My Priority by Julia Cook
  • Don’t Forget the Bacon by Pat Hutchins
  • See You Later, Procrastinator! By Pamela Espeland and Elizabeth Verdick

SELF-CONTROL

  • Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
  • How to Be a Superhero Called Self-Control by Lauren Brukner
  • What If? by Collen Doyle Bryant
  • What Were You Thinking? Learning to Control Your Impulses by Brian Smith

PERSEVERANCE & RESILIENCE

  • Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan
  • Brave Irene by William Steig
  • Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson
  • Unstoppable Me! By D.r Wayne W. Dyer
  • Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull
  • The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

RESPECT

  • David Goes to School by David Shannon
  • The Way I Act by Steve Metzger
  • Respect and Take Care of Things by Cheri J. Meiners

EMPATHY

  • The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig
  • The Bicycle Man by Allen Say
  • Do Unto Otters by Laurie Keller
  • Stand In My Shoes by Bob Somson
  • Zen Ties by Jon J. Muth

KINDNESS

  • Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson
  • Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
  • Pinduli by Janell Cannon
  • Good People Everywhere by Lynea Gillen
  • Kindness Starts with You by Jacquelyn Stagg
  • A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams

FRIENDSHIP SKILLS

  • How to Lose All Your Friends by Nancy Carlson
  • Making Friends is an Art by Julia Cook
  • Love Monster and the Last Chocolate by Rachel Bright
  • Jessica’s Box by Peter Carnavas
  • Louise and Andie: The Art of Friendship by Kelly Light

INCLUDING OTHERS

  • The Boy Who Wouldn’t Share by Mike Reiss
  • Rulers of the Playground by Joseph Kuefler
  • A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead
  • The Invisible Boy by Patrice Barton
  • Same Same But Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

  • Eat Your Peas by Kes Gray
  • Sharing a Shell by Julia Donaldson
  • There’s a Bear on my Chair by Ross Collins
  • Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
  • Iris and Isaac by Cheterine Rayner

BEING RESPONSIBLE

  • The Paperboy by Dav Pilkey
  • I Just Forgot by Mercer Mayer
  • Arthur’s Pet Business by Marc Brown
  • The Emperor’s Egg by Martin Jenkins
  • The Way I Act by Steve Metzger

MAKING GOOD CHOICES

  • What If Everybody Did That? By Ellen Javernick
  • Do Unto Otters by Laurie Keller
  • Making Smart Choices by Lucia Raatma
  • Land of Or by Katie Mullaly

PEER INFLUENCE

  • The Juice Box Bully by Bob Somson and Maria Dismondy
  • One by Kathryn Otoshi
  • The Hueys in the New Sweater by Oliver Jeffers
  • A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon
  • Bully on the Bus by Carl W. Bosch

REFLECTING ON CHOICES

  • David Gets in Trouble by David Shannon
  • Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Kenkes
  • Beautiful Oops! By Barney Saltzberg
  • After the Fall by Dan Santat

Happy reading! If you’re interested in more ideas for SEL, here are a few posts that might be helpful:

100+ Read aloud short stories to integrate social emotional learning into the classroom. Elementary teachers and even middle school educators can use these texts to discuss SEL skills like empathy, friendships, emotions, decision-making and more. Read and grab your free printable list! #sel #socialemotionallearning #pathway2success

20+ Strategies for Teaching Empathy

by Leave a Comment

Use these strategies and ideas to teach and build empathy with kids and young adults! Learners who have a lack of empathy can struggle with other social skills. Help elementary, middle, and high school kids build these skills by using literature, teaching lessons, practicing with games, and more. Also includes a free printable lesson for kids and teens. Helpful for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs. #socialskills #empathy #pathway2success

Teaching empathy is important. In the simplest of terms, empathy is the ability to notice, understand, and share the emotions of others. It is a critical social skill for all people to have. In many ways, empathy is the social skill that paves the way for all other social skills. It helps us to take someone else’s perspective, understand each others’ emotions, connect with one another, show compassion, make good social choices, and ultimately develop lasting relationships.

What does a lack of empathy look like? Learners who lack empathy can end up with many social challenges. These kids and young adults may struggle to build friendships, have difficulty working with others, and make poor social decisions overall. Most importantly, kids and young adults who lack empathy are often unaware their behaviors can negatively impact others. These learners might do or say something that makes sense to them in the moment, without giving consideration to those around them.

Learners who lack strong empathy skills might:

  • Do or say something that appears rude or inappropriate, such as loudly commenting on someone else’s pimple.
  • Engage in socially unexpected behaviors, such as cutting to the front of the line when they want to be first.
  • Make comments that hurt others’ feelings, such as telling someone their shirt is ugly.
  • Fail to recognize times to be sensitive to others, such as mentioning how much they love their dog right after a friend’s dog passes away.

How can educators build empathy? It is critical for educators to recognize that having a lack of empathy is a skill deficit and not a behavior problem. In the words of Ross Greene, “Kids do well if they can.” There are many ways to teach, highlight, and practice skills for empathy, so these abilities can be learned over time. If you want to get started right away, I have created a whole unit targeting perspective-taking and empathy. It’s important to note that some learners are going to struggle with these skills more than others. What’s important is that you work on them slowly and watch the skills grow. Quite often, these strategies can be integrated into the classroom to help support a positive learning community for all. It’s a win-win!

Here are some strategies for building empathy:

Use literature. Using short stories and novels, you can help learners to think about the emotions and motives of characters. You might ask: How do you think they feel right now? Why do they feel that way? What might they be thinking? How would you feel if you were in their shoes? What might they do next? Best of all, using literature is an easy way to integrate social-emotional learning since it’s something that teachers teach every day!

Teach “being in someone else’s shoes.” Use situations to encourage students to think about how they might feel. Then, go the extra step and have students think about how someone else might feel. This is a critical component of empathy because how we feel might not be how someone else might feel. It’s a skill that can sometimes require lots of practice and discussion with others.

Use these strategies and ideas to teach and build empathy with kids and young adults! Learners who have a lack of empathy can struggle with other social skills. Help elementary, middle, and high school kids build these skills by using literature, teaching lessons, practicing with games, and more. Also includes a free printable lesson for kids and teens. Helpful for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs. #socialskills #empathy #pathway2success

Watch videos and movie clips. Similar to literature, videos and movie clips can be a strategy to think about the emotions of characters. This may be a helpful tactic for learners who struggle with reading or just a fun activity for the end of the week. Just play a quick video clip (or watch a whole movie) and discuss the characters’ feelings, thoughts, motivations, and reactions.

Talk about emotions. Talking about feelings should be normal and expected in the classroom! Model using I-statements and teach about different emotions as they come up.

Use optical illusions to teach perspective-taking. Optical illusions are a fantastic way to teach perspective-taking because they show students that we all think differently and that’s okay! Simply show an optical illusion and have students independently write down what they see. Then, have them discuss. Soon, students will realize that they don’t all see the same thing. It’s a great way to start the discussion on perspective-taking and empathy. You can use this free perspective-taking lesson to try right away!

Use these strategies and ideas to teach and build empathy with kids and young adults! Learners who have a lack of empathy can struggle with other social skills. Help elementary, middle, and high school kids build these skills by using literature, teaching lessons, practicing with games, and more. Also includes a free printable lesson for kids and teens. Helpful for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs. #socialskills #empathy #pathway2success

Keep an emotion vocabulary board. Improve each student’s emotional vocabulary by keeping a board posted with all different emotion words. Students should recognize that there are multiple shades to every emotion, from irritated to irate and content to elated. Make these words part of the norm so that students can learn to use them effectively.

Identify emotions in photos. Get random old magazines or use your own photos. Have students look through magazines or photos to find images of people. Encourage them to identify how each person might be feeling or thinking. This is such a fun activity that can be done again and again.

Use these strategies and ideas to teach and build empathy with kids and young adults! Learners who have a lack of empathy can struggle with other social skills. Help elementary, middle, and high school kids build these skills by using literature, teaching lessons, practicing with games, and more. Also includes a free printable lesson for kids and teens. Helpful for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs. #socialskills #empathy #pathway2success

Teach social cues. Learners who struggle with skills for empathy can greatly benefit from learning about facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice. These can be critical cues for them to start recognizing the thoughts and feelings of others. This can be fun to teach as “social detective work.”

Role-play social scenarios. Discuss a variety of social situations and have students act out what they might do. For example, “Imagine you see someone fall down in the hall. What would you do?” This social situation encourages students to think about how someone else might feel as well as how they should respond. Come up with your own scenarios to discuss or use task cards. I have created social scenarios for elementary students and social scenarios for middle and high schoolers. Start off with this free social problem-solving task cards set to see how your students do!

Use these strategies and ideas to teach and build empathy with kids and young adults! Learners who have a lack of empathy can struggle with other social skills. Help elementary, middle, and high school kids build these skills by using literature, teaching lessons, practicing with games, and more. Also includes a free printable lesson for kids and teens. Helpful for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs. #socialskills #empathy #pathway2success

Play empathy games. For learners who struggle with empathy, it is a difficult skill to learn. Games can be a highly motivating way to learn these skills. I developed a fun empathy game with many different scenarios to help learners think about how others feel and how they might show empathy to others. Best of all, there are so many scenarios that kids can play again and again.

Use these strategies and ideas to teach and build empathy with kids and young adults! Learners who have a lack of empathy can struggle with other social skills. Help elementary, middle, and high school kids build these skills by using literature, teaching lessons, practicing with games, and more. Also includes a free printable lesson for kids and teens. Helpful for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs. #socialskills #empathy #pathway2success

Watch animal live cams. Who doesn’t love animals? I’ve found that kids who really struggle to show empathy with other kids are still very likely to empathize and care about animals. With that, there are many free animal live cams you can stream. In my classroom, we loved watching an owl cam, a bald eagle nest, and even a giraffe who was about to have a baby. Of course, there are many ways to integrate science, reading, and writing to any of these animal live cams. This can be a great way to help kids learn to care about and for something else.

Have a daily morning meeting. It’s important to give every student a daily check-in time. Every child and young adult needs to know they are valued, loved, and supported. Use a 10-minute morning meeting time to check-in with students and let every voice be heard.

Use these strategies and ideas to teach and build empathy with kids and young adults! Learners who have a lack of empathy can struggle with other social skills. Help elementary, middle, and high school kids build these skills by using literature, teaching lessons, practicing with games, and more. Also includes a free printable lesson for kids and teens. Helpful for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs. #socialskills #empathy #pathway2success

Teach coping strategies. Kids and young adults need effective strategies for managing their tough emotions. Spend time teaching, discussing, and practicing a variety of strategies that might work for them. Practice mindful coloring, listening to music, exercising, and even yoga. It’s important to practice these activities when students are calm so that they can use them when they really need them the most. Use these coping strategies visuals or grab this free coping strategies list to give you some ideas on how to start! Also, read up on some fun and unique ways to teach coping strategies to kids and young adults.

Use these strategies and ideas to teach and build empathy with kids and young adults! Learners who have a lack of empathy can struggle with other social skills. Help elementary, middle, and high school kids build these skills by using literature, teaching lessons, practicing with games, and more. Also includes a free printable lesson for kids and teens. Helpful for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs. #socialskills #empathy #pathway2success

Start an emotion journal. Help students connect with their own emotions by journaling and writing about how they are feeling. This is something that can be done first thing in the morning to help students start the day off in a positive way. Give time for students to share their feelings if they are comfortable. Not only will students benefit from expressing themselves, but others will build empathy by hearing the thoughts and feelings of those around them.

Teach how to see the other side. Learners need to understand that we all have different opinions and thoughts. Use topics such as “favorite pizza” and “best sport” to drive conversations about differences of opinions. Help all students see that we all think differently and that’s perfectly okay.

Use these strategies and ideas to teach and build empathy with kids and young adults! Learners who have a lack of empathy can struggle with other social skills. Help elementary, middle, and high school kids build these skills by using literature, teaching lessons, practicing with games, and more. Also includes a free printable lesson for kids and teens. Helpful for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs. #socialskills #empathy #pathway2success

Give responsibilities. Use student strengths and abilities to give every student a responsibility in the classroom. If a student does well with technology, have him or her be the computer troubleshooter. If a student loves nature, have them water the plants on a regular schedule. Responsibilities are a great way to have each student caring and thinking beyond themselves.

Teach how our words matter. Have each student draw a heart on paper and cut it out. Talk about different things we can say to each other that can be kind or hurtful. For each statement, have students make a fold in their heart. At the end of the activity, open the heart back up and discuss that the marks are still there long after the words have been said. Remind students that our words leave a lasting impact so it’s important to stop and think about what we say to each other.

Build confidence. Sometimes kids and young adults who lack empathy appear to be over-confident because they don’t seem to care how others feel in the moment. However, this can actually be superficial. These learners may actually struggle with feelings of rejection from their peers, leading to lower self-confidence. Make sure to spend time on building every child up and helping them share their strengths, passions, and dreams. When kids feel better, they usually do better, too. Use these confidence-building activities to get started.

Use these strategies and ideas to teach and build empathy with kids and young adults! Learners who have a lack of empathy can struggle with other social skills. Help elementary, middle, and high school kids build these skills by using literature, teaching lessons, practicing with games, and more. Also includes a free printable lesson for kids and teens. Helpful for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs. #socialskills #empathy #pathway2success

Collaborate with school specialists. If you have a student who is struggling with showing empathy, talk with the school counselor or social worker for additional input and ideas. It might even be beneficial to have them come into your class for a quick lesson or activity.

Practice mindfulness. Kids and young adults can greatly benefit from learning to be in touch with their own emotions first and foremost. Spend 5 or 10 minutes practicing mindfulness after lunch, before a big test, or just to start the morning out in a more positive way. Read up on ways you can practice mindfulness and some free resources to help you practice mindfulness with students.

Use these strategies and ideas to teach and build empathy with kids and young adults! Learners who have a lack of empathy can struggle with other social skills. Help elementary, middle, and high school kids build these skills by using literature, teaching lessons, practicing with games, and more. Also includes a free printable lesson for kids and teens. Helpful for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs. #socialskills #empathy #pathway2success

Encourage random acts of kindness. Kindness is about being thoughtful without expecting anything in return. Teaching and encouraging kind acts can help learners start to think about the feelings of others. You can start a random acts of kindness jar or bulletin board in the classroom. When a student witnesses a kind act, have them write it on a slip and post it. At the end of the month, you can choose to pick one randomly to win a special reward.

Engage in community service. Empathy and compassion go hand-in-hand. Encourage learners to think about the community and world by doing community service acts. Spend time cleaning up the courtyard, visit another class to read books to younger students, or even come up with a plan to donate supplies to a local animal rescue organization.

Start a kindness share. Give each student a piece of paper (have them cut it into a heart if you want!). Have students write their names on the paper and pass it to their right. When they get a piece of paper, they should write something kind about that person right on the paper. Continue the share until all students have written something kind about someone else. At the end, every child will have given back AND gotten kind words in return.

Use these strategies and ideas to teach and build empathy with kids and young adults! Learners who have a lack of empathy can struggle with other social skills. Help elementary, middle, and high school kids build these skills by using literature, teaching lessons, practicing with games, and more. Also includes a free printable lesson for kids and teens. Helpful for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs. #socialskills #empathy #pathway2success

Teach students to respectfully disagree. Part of building empathy means recognizing that others can think differently from you. Help students learn the skills to accept and respect the opinions of others when they disagree. Encourage students to use phrases like, “I see your point,” and “I have a different point of view, but I see where you are coming from.”

Teach social-emotional learning explicitly. Give social and emotional learning the time it needs by dedicating time each day or week to these skills. One of my favorite strategies for this is using a daily ssocial-emotional learning journal to teach and discuss the skills every day of the year. I have also developed a complete social emotional learning curriculum for elementary learners to help students learn the skills they need in an explicit way. I also have a complete social-emotional learning curriculum for older kids.

Do you have other strategies for building empathy? I’d love to hear them! Share your thoughts in the comments!

Use these strategies and ideas to teach and build empathy with kids and young adults! Learners who have a lack of empathy can struggle with other social skills. Help elementary, middle, and high school kids build these skills by using literature, teaching lessons, practicing with games, and more. Also includes a free printable lesson for kids and teens. Helpful for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs. #socialskills #empathy #pathway2success

Find It Fast

Instagram