If you are concerned about the future of kids in your charge, there’s no better person to have in your corner than Dr. Chan Hellman, board member of Hope Rising (405-676-4140) and someone who has lived through adverse childhood experiences.
Have you ever felt hopeless? Imagine choosing homelessness as a kid and sleeping on the roof of your school! That's what Dr. Chan Hellman did - one of the inspirations for this curriculum!
Hope Rising has updated ‘My Best Me’ - its hope-centered and trauma-informed social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum. The revised lesson plans aim to reshape the perspectives and improve the lives - and academic performance - of children who have experienced adversity.
Check it out at https://hoperisingsel.com
Hope Rising’s updated SEL curriculum combines a range of evidence-based pedagogical theories to help blunt the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and push children to flourish, rather than merely survive, in the face of challenging circumstances.
Teachers today are noticing an increase in the number of students who have faced hardship, been traumatized, or undergone intense stress. Enduring pervasive, negative experiences can make it difficult for a child to be optimistic. It has been established that this is to blame for rising dropout rates, academic difficulty, and emotional outbursts. This has an impact on each child, but it also spreads throughout the classroom, the school, and local communities.
The ‘My Best Me’ curriculum helps you - or the teachers at your school - to empower children, instilling in them the belief that a shift in perspective can make them agents of change - that is hope, not blind optimism. Hope can shield children in times of stress and offer an outlet for their emotions, with the knowledge that they can create a better future for themselves.
Thus, the lesson plans strive to create a new mindset, a way of approaching life that can act as a springboard for positive thoughts and actions. By helping kids develop personally relevant goals, you can lay the foundation before identifying the various ways for them to reach those goals. One key component of this approach is to find the source of the child’s motivation - by harnessing that motivation, the child can be taught to accomplish his or her goals.
A core tenet of this approach is to build children’s resiliency - not only against hardships, but also in the context of simple disappointments, obstacles, and minor setbacks. By creating visual maps to refer back to everything they have learned, teachers following the curriculum can keep the children focused and accountable while helping them revise their goals as they grow up.
There is online training contributed by Dr. Chan Hellman, a member of the board and one of the pioneers in the field. His book, ‘Hope Rising: How the Science of HOPE Can Change Your Life’, can offer an in-depth understanding of the components of Hope.
Take it from someone who knows firsthand. Obstacles can be turned into opportunities. Give the kids under your care a fighting chance to succeed and prosper!
Go to https://hoperisingsel.com and see what this curriculum can do for your school, your district, and your community!
