by Lynea Gillen | Oct 8, 2016 | Social-Emotional Learning
Stories can do a lot of things – soothe, entertain, enchant, even teach. And it’s not just the content of the story itself that teaches. It’s what stories require of us: the use of our imagination. Imagination lays the groundwork for critical social skills such as...
by Jim Gillen | Sep 3, 2016 | Social-Emotional Learning
Great things can happen when people collaborate. We can develop dynamic solutions to seemingly intractable problems. We can uncover ingenious responses to our most pressing challenges. We can accomplish more together than any single one of us could possibly do alone....
by Lynea Gillen | Aug 13, 2016 | Social-Emotional Learning
When I was a counselor, I used to tell the young girls about the time I got suspended from school for a week. “I got in BIG trouble,” I’d say, then ask them to guess what I did. Usually they’d guess that I had skipped school. Or had said something really mean. Or had...
by Lynea Gillen | Jul 23, 2016 | Mindfulness, Social-Emotional Learning
One day, a group of children from the behavioral classroom came into my room VERY angry. As a group, they had been bullied on the way to an assembly, and their collective rage had come busting out. A frightened educational assistant brought them into my room and...
by Jim & Lynea Gillen | Jun 17, 2016 | Community, Social-Emotional Learning
Think back to your favorite school teacher. Elementary, middle, high school, college…doesn’t matter. Picture them. In your mind’s eye, see them in their classroom again. Remember the sound of their voice. Make the memory as vivid as you possibly can. Those teachers...
by Lynea Gillen | May 28, 2016 | Social-Emotional Learning
Recently, I visited a friend’s 120 acre farm with our granddaughter. It was a beautiful day, and it was wonderful to see Anna run around outside with so much freedom and joy. But I have to admit that her freedom stirred some worry for me. The rope swing she was...