USU-BEST Conference Materials

Behaviors that Support Tier 1 Mental Health in the Classroom

Session Summary: Recent events have effected the overall mental health of millions of Americans.  Our students have experienced unprecedented increases in depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, sadness, and hopelessness. As educators, there are specific behaviors we can display to provide support and protective factors for our students. These behaviors are free, simple to use, and evidence-based to be effective to enhance overall mental health and wellbeing of students and staff. Research shows when we infuse these practices into our daily routine, students and staff are happier, time engaged in learning increases, and overall outcomes are improved. 

Prevention and Intervention—You’ve Got This!

Session Summary: This year, teachers and paraeducators have voiced frustration over problem behaviors in the classroom setting. We often see “procedural drift” when it comes to implementing the basics of effective instruction and classroom management techniques. This session’s tips and strategies will help teachers feel more confident addressing challenging behaviors through antecedent and consequence-based interventions.

Sustaining Student Engagement!

Session Summary: Have you felt like the strategies you've used just aren't motivating or engaging students in the ways they used to? In this session we will look at the changing landscape of engagement as well as the research and practice that will help you continue developing your understanding of what makes students want to fail forward, learn, and grow.

Actively Caring for People in Schools: How to Cultivate a Culture of Compassion
Behavior Analysts Reduce Bullying by Rewarding Desirable and Incomplatible Behavior
The Actively Caring for People Movement: A Synergistic Integration of Behaviorism, Humanism, and Positive Psychology
Actively Caring to Prevent Bullying in an Elementary School: Prompting and Rewarding Prosocial Behavior
Geller book ordering: https://www.gellerac4p.org/
Wristband ordering:  https://activelycaringpeople.org/

Session Summary: How can we cultivate an optimal teaching/learning culture that prevents interpersonal conflict and bullying behavior? Teachers, school administrators, parents, and school resource officers can be prepared and empowered to initiate and nurture an actively-caring-for-people culture in schools. 

The Color Wheel System: Better Classroom Management by Breaking the Rules for Classroom Rules
Color Wheel Summary Guidelines

Session Summary: There are common misconceptions associated with classroom rules and how their clear application can prevent and remedy common classroom problems. The Color Wheel System addresses common classroom problems. It includes three or more sets of classroom rules, which set different behavioral expectations for common classroom activities. 

The Laughter Elixir: How Stress Makes You a Terrible Person and Why You Should Laugh About It!

Session Summary: This interactive session will review the most recent science on the physical, psychological, and social impacts of chronic stress and will introduce participants to the science of laughter. This presentation will help participants understand the correlation between stress and mental health and will provide a brief overview of why poor mental health is the next epidemic.  Participants will engage in a short laughter "practice" and Dr. Wappett will provide several simple self-care strategies that participants can use to manage stress and promote mental health in their personal lives and in the classroom.

School Mental Health as the Foundation for Student Success

Session Summary: This presentation will discuss multi-tiered school mental health as a framework to support student social-emotional, behavioral, and academic success. Content will include a discussion of ways educators can create safe and supportive school communities for all students—ranging from class and school wide practices to therapeutic services provided by school psychologists, counselors, and social workers, behavior analysts, and other elected service providers. The presentation will highlight the importance of working on mental health collaboratively within schools and between community partners, and the benefits of strong mental health programming on student achievement.

That’s Right! You are a Learning Architect!
Performance Engineering Tool Handout

Session Sumary: Richard Deming stated “Systems are perfectly organized to achieve the results they get.” Both teachers and school leaders aspire after learning results almost never attained. Rather, they attain the learning results their classrooms and schools are designed to attain. This session will guide participants through an abbreviated process in which they will peel back, layer by layer their classroom or school to better understand why it produces the results it produces, and from there, the process will help them develop a fresh blueprint, that if deployed, will result in far higher levels of student, teacher, and school leader success.