2022 Education magazine

2022 Education Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS February / March 2022 Page 19 T his year Mount Pulaski School District implemented a social- emotional learning program called Capturing Kids Hearts (CKH.) Capturing Kids’ Hearts® equips professionals in K-12 education to implement transformational processes focused on social- emotional wellbeing, relationship-driven campus culture, and student connectedness. This program couldn’t have come at a better time in the midst of the pandemic. When our teachers implement the Capturing Kids’ Hearts processes with consistency, sustainable transformation can be seen, heard, and felt on campus. The year started off with a two-day training for all of our staff. Within this training is where we learned the processes of the program and the reasoning behind these processes. Teachers have an enormous opportunity to positively influence students through their actions, thus increasing desired student motivation and behaviors. When students experience great teaching and high levels of competence within their teachers, they are more apt to mimic these behaviors and to begin their journey into developing self-efficacy. Add a process where teachers model and teach SEL skills by classroom immersion and a new positive culture begins to emerge. By Danielle Lora, Heather Fricke, Jenny Mendenhall and Linda Smith CKH is embedded within staff professional development opportunities provided in-district. In the pictures shown, teachers and support staff worked in groups to solve a challenge posed with limited instructions. Through this process, they were building relationships with others they don’t usually interact with, while also collaborating and problem-solving. They then reflected on how these components can be applied at all ages within the classroom setting. Capturing kids hearts at Mount Pulaski CUSD 23