Teach Me Teddy: Whitesville students use stuffed bears to refine SEL skills

Oct. 20—Kindergartners at Whitesville Elementary School received stuffed teddy bears Wednesday to help refine their social-emotional learning (SEL) skills.

The bears are part of a strategy created by educator and author Ruby Payne called "Teach Me Teddy."

" 'Teach Me Teddy' ... encourages children to verbalize their thought processes and develop positive procedural self-talk, which can enhance their motivational tendencies and chances for success now and as future motivated adults," said Destiny Clark, a guidance counselor at the school.

Clark said the hope is for "our youngest leaders" to comprehend leadership at a deeper level to have the skills to teach the bears leader expectations at the school.

"This activity will also focus on the five CASEL [Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning] competencies our SEL curriculum is built upon," she said. "We are so excited to provide our students with the 'Teach Me Teddy' experience to refine their leadership skills throughout this school year."

The five CASEL competencies include self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills and social awareness.

When incorporating CASEL and SEL practices in the classroom, Clark said she feels the younger the better when it comes to starting age.

"Regulation of emotions is key to socializing with others and being able to be in control of their emotions," she said. "One of the lessons the students taught their teddy was 'Where is my brain?,' and that's one of the tools in our SEL toolbox, and it's so children can be self-aware."

Clark said she and the students talk about body signals such as "leader brain," which indicates when a student is able to make good decisions and is having a great day.

"The 'caution zone' that we talk about is whenever your body signals start to kick in," she said. "If someone kicks you or touches your tray at lunch, you can maybe start to feel your body getting hot. We talk about different ways you can tell you're starting to get upset."

Another signal would be "flipping your lid," which Clark said they teach the students that it doesn't make somebody a bad person when that happens, and everyone "flips their lid" at some point.

" 'Flipping their lid' essentially means the top part of their thinking brain is not thinking for them, it's the reactive part of their brain that is making those choices," she said. "When we hit someone or when we call someone names, we really don't mean it, but our lid is flipped, and we're not using our thinking brain."

Whitesville kindergarten teacher Taylor Kennedy said when Clark presented the idea for the "Teach Me Teddy" program, she was happy to participate.

"It's easy to just say this is how you do it and this is the way it goes, but when they're actually teaching a teddy, they're engaged and you can see how they understand their SEL tools," she said. "It gives them so much ownership, and they were so excited."

Clark said students will take the teddy bears home on the school's Showcase of Leaders night towards the end of the school year, and it will be used as an opportunity to connect with parents so they can use the strategy to reinforce expectations at home.