This is an elementary school in Columbus, Ohio. And inside of this school there was a student named D. When D started school here he was six years old: cute as a button, with a smile that brightened the entire room. But after a few months in school, D became angry, and that smile faded. D began to do things like flip tables, throw desks and chairs, yell at teachers, stand in windowsills, run in and out of the classroom and even running out of the school. Sometimes these fits of anger would put the entire school into lockdown mode until D could get himself back together, which could sometimes take over an hour. No one in the school knew how to help D.
這是俄亥俄州哥倫布市的一所小學。 在這所小學裡, 有個名字叫做 D 的學生。 D 在六歲時進入這所學校就讀: 當時他好可愛, 他的微笑能照亮整間房間。 但,在讀了這所學校幾個月之後, D 變得很憤怒, 他的微笑漸漸消失了。 D 的行為開始改變,會翻桌, 扔桌子和椅子, 對老師大吼, 站在窗台上, 跑進又跑出教室, 甚至跑到學校外面。 有時,當他的憤怒發作時, 整所學校會因此進入一級封鎖模式, 直到 D 重新恢復正常才解除, 有時會花上超過一小時。 學校裡沒有人知道要怎麼協助 D。
I know this because I was the principal at this school. And what I quickly and collectively learned with my staff was that this situation was more extreme than anything we had ever been trained for. Every time that D lashed out, I kept thinking to myself: what did I miss during my principal prep coursework? What am I supposed to do with a kid like D? And how am I going to stop him from impeding the learning of all the other students? And yet after we did everything that we thought we knew, such as talking to D and taking away privileges and parent phone calls home, the only real option we had left to do was to kick him out, and I knew that would not help him.
我之所會知道這點, 是因為我當時是這所學校的校長。 很快的,我就從全體教職員那邊得知, 這個情況實在太極端, 已經超過了我們過去 受訓能處理的範圍。 每當 D 爆發時, 我自己就不斷心想: 我在讀校長預備學程時 少學了什麼嗎? 我該拿 D 這樣的孩子如何是好? 我要如何避免他妨礙到 所有其他學生的學習? 我們把我們知道的所有方法都用上了, 比如直接和 D 談,奪去他的特權, 也打電話到他家找他父母, 最後我們只剩下一個選項, 就是把他踢出去, 我知道這麼做對他沒幫助。
This scenario is not unique to D. Students all over the world are struggling with their education. And though we didn't come up with a fail-safe solution, we did come up with a simple idea: that in order for kids like D to not only survive in school but to thrive, we somehow had to figure out a way to not only teach them how to read and write but also how to help them deal with and manage their own emotions. And in doing that, we were able to move our school from one of the lowest-performing schools in the state of Ohio, with an F rating, all the way up to a C in just a matter of a few years.
並不只有 D 有這種狀況。 世界各地都有學生 遇到教育上的困難。 雖然我們沒有辦法提供 萬無一失的解決方案, 我們仍提出了一個簡單的想法: 為了幫助 D 這樣的孩子 不僅能在學校存活下來, 還能好好發展, 我們得要想出一種方法, 不只是教導他們閱讀和寫字, 還要教導他們處理和管理自己的情緒。 透過這麼做之後,我們的學校 本來是俄亥俄州 表現最差的學校之一, 評鑑分數只有 F, 後來在短短幾年間就一路爬升到 C。
So it might sound obvious, right? Of course teachers should be focused on the emotional well-being of their kids. But in reality, when you're in a classroom full of 30 students and one of them's throwing tables at you, it's far easier to exclude that child than to figure out what's going on inside of his head. But what we learned about D, and for kids like D, was that small changes can make huge differences, and it's possible to start right now. You don't need bigger budgets or grand strategic plans, you simply need smarter ways of thinking about what you have and where you have it. In education, we tend to always look outside the box for answers, and we rarely spend enough time, money and effort developing what we already have inside the box. And this is how meaningful change can happen fast.
這方法聽起來顯而易見,對吧? 當然老師應該要重視 孩子的情緒健康。 但在現實中, 當你的班上塞滿了三十個學生, 其中一個學生朝你扔桌子, 比較容易的做法是逐出那個孩子, 要去理解他腦袋裡 在想什麼就困難許多。 但,我們從 D 及這類孩子 身上學到的是, 小小的改變就能造成大大的不同, 且我們可以現在開始採取行動。 你不需要多大的預算 或多偉大的策略計畫, 你只需要比較聰明的方法, 想想看你有什麼資源, 及它們在什麼地方。 在教育上,我們在找答案時, 總是希望跳出傳統常規, 我們很少花足夠的時間、金錢、心力 去發展我們已經有的傳統常規。 這樣才能快速產生有意義的改變。
So here's what I learned about D. I was wanting to dig a little bit deeper to figure out how he had become so angry. And what I learned was his father had left the home and his mother was working long shifts in order to support the family, which left no adult for D to connect with -- and he was in charge of taking care of his younger brother when he got home from school. Might I remind you that D was six years old? Can't say that I blame him for having some trouble transitioning into the school environment. But yet we had to figure out a way to help him with these big emotions all while teaching him core skills of reading and math. And three things helped us most.
以下是我對 D 的了解。 我那時想要再深入一點了解, 他怎麼會變成這麼憤怒。 而我得到的資訊是, 他的爸爸離家了, 他的媽媽必須要 長時間工作才能養家, 因此沒有任何成人能和 D 連結—— 他放學回家之後, 得要負責照顧他弟弟。 容我提醒各位,D 才六歲大。 我實在無法責怪他 在轉換到學校環境時遇到困難。 但,我們得要想辦法協助他 處理這些強大的情緒, 同時還要教導他閱讀 和數學等核心技能。 有三件事對我們幫助最大。
First, we had to figure out where he was struggling the most. And like most young kids, arrival at school can be a tough transition time as they're moving from a less structured home environment to a more structured school environment. So what we did for D was we created a calming area for him in our time-out room, which we had equipped with rocking chairs and soft cushions and books, and we allowed D to go to this place in the morning, away from the other kids, allowing him time to transition back into the school environment on his own terms. And as we began to learn more about D, we learned other strategies that helped him calm down. For example, D loved to help younger students, so we made him a kindergarten helper, and he went into the kindergarten classroom and taught students how to write their letters. And he was actually successful with a few of them that the teacher was unable to reach. And believe it or not, D actually helped calm some of those kindergarten students down, signalling to us that the influence of peers on behavior was far greater than anything we adults could ever do.
第一,我們得要了解 他最大的困難點在哪裡。 對大部分的小朋友而言, 「到學校」就是個很艱難的轉換時期, 因為他們從比較 沒有結構的家庭環境, 進入到比較有結構的學校環境。 我們在隔離間中為 D 創造了 一個冷靜用的區域, 這裡,我們的設備包括 搖椅、軟墊,和書籍, 我們允許 D 在早晨時到這個地方, 遠離其他孩子, 讓他有時間可以轉換回到學校環境, 照他自己的步調走。 我們更了解 D 之後, 我們發現還有其他策略 可以協助他冷靜下來。 比如,D 很喜歡協助 年紀比他小的學生, 所以我們讓他擔任幼稚園助手, 他會去幼稚園教室, 去教學生如何寫字母。 他甚至成功教會了幾個 連老師都沒輒的學生。 且,信不信由你, D 還成功協助幾位 幼稚園學生冷靜下來, 讓我們見識到, 同儕對於行為的影響 遠大於我們成人能用的任何方法。
We used humor and song with him. Yes, I know it sounds really silly that the principal and the teachers would actually laugh with kids, but you can imagine the shock on D's face when the principal's cracking a joke or singing a song from the radio station, which almost always ended in a laugh, shortening the length of his outburst and helping us to connect with him in his world.
我們對他採用幽默和歌曲。 是的,我知道聽起來很蠢, 校長和老師跟孩子們笑成一團, 但你們可以想像一下, D 的神情有多震驚, 因為校長透過廣播講了個笑話 或是唱了一首歌時, 通常最後大家就會笑成一團, 這讓他爆發的時間縮短了, 也讓我們可以 在他的世界中和他連結。
So I know some you are like, "It's really not practical to lay on this kind of special treatment for every student," but we actually made it happen. Because once we figured out the tools and tactics that worked for D, our teachers were able to roll that out and use them with other students. We began to proactively address student behavior instead of simply react to it. Our teachers actually took time during the lesson plan to teach kids how to identify their feelings and appropriate, healthy coping strategies for dealing with them, such as counting to 10, grabbing a fidget spinner or taking a quick walk. We incorporated brain breaks throughout the day, allowing kids to sing songs, do yoga poses and participate in structured physical activities. And for those kids that struggle with sitting for long periods of time, we invested in flexible seating, such as rocking chairs and exercise bikes, and even floor elliptical machines, allowing kids to pedal underneath their desks. These changes encouraged kids to stay in the classroom, helping them to focus and learn. And when less kids are disrupting, all kids do better.
我知道在座有些人在想: 「對每個學生都要實施這種特殊待遇, 實在不是很實際的做法。」 但我們真的實現了。 因為,一旦我們搞懂了 哪些工具和戰略對 D 行得通, 我們的老師就能推行這些方法, 用在其他學生身上。 對於學生的行為問題, 我們開始先發制人, 而不再是單純被動應變。 我們的老師真的在教案上花時間, 教導孩子如何辨識出他們的感受, 並教導他們用適當、 健康的策略來處理那些情緒, 比如從一數到十, 拿個指尖陀螺來玩, 或快速去散個步。 一天當中,我們也會 融入大腦休息時間, 讓孩子唱歌,做瑜伽動作, 並參與結構性的動態活動。 針對很難久坐的孩子, 我們投資了有彈性的坐椅, 比如搖椅和室內單車, 甚至還有滑步機, 讓孩子們可以在桌子下面踩踏。 這些改變能鼓勵孩子們待在教室裡, 協助他們專注和學習。 愈少有孩子搗亂, 所有孩子就會表現得更好。
And here's the magical thing: it didn't cost us a whole lot of extra money. We simply thought differently about what we had. For example, every public school has an instructional supply line. An instructional supply could be a book, it could be a whiteboard, it could be flexible seating, it could be a fidget spinner, it could even be painting the walls of a school a more calming color, allowing students to thrive. It's not that we didn't invest in the academic tools -- obviously -- but we took the social tools seriously, too. And the results speak for themselves. By taking the emotional development of our kids seriously and helping them manage their emotions, we saw huge growth in our reading and math scores, far exceeding the one year of expected growth and outscoring many schools with our same demographic.
很神奇的是: 我們並沒有花很多額外的錢。 我們只是把既有的東西 套上不同的想法來使用。 比如,所有公立學校都有教具經費。 教具經費可以供給書籍, 白板, 彈性座椅, 也可以是指尖陀螺, 甚至可以把學校的牆壁 漆上比較有緩解作用的顏色, 讓學生可以好好發展。 當然,我們還是有投資學術工具—— 這很明顯—— 但我們也認真看待社交工具。 結果不言自明。 因為我們能認真看待 孩子的情緒發展, 並協助他們管理他們的情緒, 結果孩子在閱讀和數學分數上 都有相當大的進步, 遠超過預期的年成長, 還打敗了和我們有相同 人口統計特性的許多學校。
The second thing we did to help our kids manage their emotions was we used leverage. As a not-so-funded public school, we didn't have the support staff to address the chaos that our kids might be facing at home, and we certainly weren't trained or funded to address it directly. So we started to reach out to local groups, community agencies, and even the Ohio State University. Our partnership with the Ohio State University afforded us college students not only studying education but also school psychology and school social work. These students were paired with our teachers to help our most struggling students. And everyone benefitted because our teachers got access to the latest college-level thinking, and those college students got real-world, life experiences in the classroom. Our partnership with our local Nationwide Children's Hospital afforded us -- they're building us a health clinic within our school, providing health and mental health resources for our students. And our kids benefitted from this, too. Our absences continued to go down, and our kids had access to counseling that they could access during the school day.
在協助孩子管理情緒上, 我們所做的第二件事 就是借力使力。 我們是一所資金 不太充裕的公立學校, 我們沒有支援的人員 可以處理孩子們在家中 可能會面臨的混亂, 我們也沒有接受過培訓 或資金能直接介入。 所以我們開始接觸 地方團體、社區機構, 甚至俄亥俄州立大學。 我們和俄亥俄州立大學合作, 請他們提供大學生給我們, 不只是主修教育的大學生, 還有主修社會心理學 和學校社會福利工作的大學生。 這些學生和我們的老師配對搭擋, 來協助狀況最糟的學生。 大家都能受益, 因為我們的老師能夠取得 最新的大學等級思想, 而那些大學生能在教室裡 獲得真實生活中的經歷。 我們也和我們本地的 全美兒童醫院合作, 合作方式是——他們 在我們學校中建立健康診所, 提供健康和心理健康資源 給我們的學生。 我們的孩子也能從中受益。 我們的學生缺席狀況越來越少, 我們的孩子能夠取得諮詢, 且是在上學日就能取得。
And perhaps the biggest change was not in D or in the kids at all. It was in the adults in the room. Teachers are typically good at planning for and delivering academic instruction, but when you throw in disruptive behavior, it can feel completely outside the scope of the job. But by us taking the emotional development of our kids seriously, we moved from a philosophy of exclusion -- you disrupt, get out -- to one of trust and respect. It wasn't easy, but we felt at heart, it was a positive way to make change, and I'm in awe at the teachers that took that leap with me.
也許, 改變最大的人不是 D 或其他孩子, 而是教室中的成人。 一般來說,老師很擅長 規劃和實行學術性的教學, 但如果遇到了打斷課程的行為, 感覺處理這件事 就完全不在工作範圍內了。 但,我們認真看待孩子的情緒發展, 因此我們能從原本的排除哲學—— 你打斷課程,滾出去—— 邁向信任和尊重的哲學。 這並不容易,但我們打心裡知道, 這是一種正面的改變方式, 我非常敬佩願意和我 一起冒險嘗試的老師們。
As part of our personal professional development plan, we studied the research of Dr. Bruce Perry and his research on the effects of different childhood experiences on the developing child's brain. And what we learned was that some of our students' experiences, such as an absent parent, chaotic home life, poverty and illness, create real trauma on developing brains. Yes, trauma. I know it's a very strong word, but it helped us to reframe and understand the behaviors that we were seeing. And those difficult home experiences created real barbed-wire barriers to learning, and we had to figure out a way over it. So our teachers continued to practice with lesson plans, doing shorter lesson plans with a single focus, allowing kids to engage, and continued to incorporate these movement breaks, allowing kids to jump up and down in class and dance for two minutes straight, because we learned that taking breaks helps the learner retain new information. And might I add that the "Cha-Cha Slide" provides a perfect short dance party.
我們的個人職業發展計畫包括了 要研讀布魯斯佩里博士的研究, 他研究過不同童年經歷 對於兒童大腦發展的影響。 我們所學到的是, 我們某些學生的經歷, 比如單親、 家庭生活混亂、 貧窮及生病, 會對正在發展中的大腦 造成真實的創傷。 是的,創傷。 我知道這是個很強烈的詞, 但它能協助我們去重新表述 和了解我們看到的行為。 而艱困的家庭狀況 對學習帶來了如鐵絲網般的障礙, 我們得要想辦法繞過這障礙。 所以,我們的老師 持續練習各種課程計畫, 用比較短且只有 一個重點的課程計畫, 讓孩子們參與其中, 並持續整合這些休息活動, 在課堂上騰出整整兩分鐘時間, 容許孩子跳上跳下以及跳舞, 因為我們學到,稍微休息一下 能協助學習者保留新吸收的資訊。 讓我補充一點,"Cha-Cha Slide" 這首歌就很適合做短暫的舞會。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
I saw teachers say, "What happened to you?" instead of "What's wrong with you?" or "How can I help you?" instead of "Get out." And this investment in our kids made huge differences, and we continue to see rises in our academic scores.
我發現老師們學會說: 「你發生了什麼事?」 而不是「你有什麼問題?」 或者,他們會說: 「我能怎麼協助你?」 而不是「滾出去。」 在孩子身上做這些投資, 造成了很大的不同, 我們學校學生的 學術成績持續在提升。
I'm happy to say that when D got to fourth grade, he rarely got into trouble. He became a leader in the school, and this behavior became contagious with other students. We saw and felt our school climate continue to improve, making it a happy and safe place not only for children but for adults, despite any outside influence.
我很高興能跟各位說, 當 D 升四年級時, 他已經很少惹麻煩了。 他成了學校中的領導人, 且這種行為可以感染其他學生。 我們看到也感受到 學校中的風氣持續在改善, 讓學校成為快樂又安全的地方, 不僅對孩子來說是如此, 對成人亦然, 就算有外界影響也一樣。
Fast-forward to today, I now work with an alternative education program with high school students who struggle to function in traditional high school setting. I recently reviewed some of their histories. Many of them are 17 to 18 years old, experimenting with drugs, in and out of the juvenile detention system and expelled from school. And what I discovered was that many of them exhibit the same behaviors that I saw in six-year-old D. So I can't help but wonder: if these kids would've learned healthy coping strategies early on when times get tough, would they now be able to survive in a regular high school? I can't say for sure, but I have to tell you I believe that it would've helped.
快轉到現今, 我現在參與了一項替代教育方案, 對象是難以適應 傳統高中教育的學生。 最近,我檢視了 一些學生的歷史記錄。 當中許多人的年齡是 17~18 歲, 在嘗試吸毒, 進進出出少年輔育院, 被學校退學。 我發現, 這些學生當中有許多人都展現了 我在六歲的 D 身上看到的行為。 所以,我忍不住想: 如果這些孩子能早點在艱難的時刻 就先學到健康的情緒處理策略, 現在他們有沒有可能 在一般的高中裡生存? 我無法肯定, 但我得告訴各位, 我相信那會有幫助。
And it's time for all of us to take the social and emotional development of our kids seriously. The time is now for us to step up and say what we need to do for our kids. If we teach kids how to read and write, and they graduate but yet they don't know how to manage emotions, what will our communities look like?
該是我們認真看待孩子的社會發展 和情緒發展的時候了。 我們現在就該站出來, 說出我們該為孩子做些什麼。 如果我們教導孩子如何閱讀和寫字, 且他們畢業了, 但他們不知道如何管理情緒, 那我們的社區會變成什麼樣子?
I tell people: you can invest now or you will pay later. The time is now for us to invest in our kids. They're our future citizens, not just numbers that can or cannot pass a test.
我告訴人們: 你要麼現在投資, 要麼是以後付出代價。 現在我們就應該投資在孩子身上。 他們是我們的未來公民, 不只是考試及不及格的數字。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause and cheers)
(掌聲及歡呼)