District 150 principals and assistant principals got a lesson on strategies to encourage students to tap into their resilience, during a workshop at Woodruff Career and Technical Center Tues.
Christian Moore Social is the author of "The Resilience Breakthrough" and has counseled youth in schools, corrections facilities and homeless programs.
During his workshop at Woodruff, Moore discussed human beings’ innate ability to “flip the switch," or channel energy from a negative situation and harness it for a positive outcome. He used Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela as examples, but a more practical example can be as simple as a teacher saying “instead of punching that kid in the face, go beat him on that basketball court,” Moore said.
Moore's WhyTry program incorporates multi-sensory strategies, like using music and imagery as therapy, to relate directly to youth who are experiencing depression or anxiety.
“Anxiety causes the brain to downshift, which causes learning to be inhibited, so as children get access to effective social-emotional skills we hope to do some research and see how that impact takes place here in Peoria Public Schools,” Moore said.
Trewyn K-8 School Principal Renee Andrews says she took away some concepts from the workshop that she’ll share with teachers.
“Kids are not going to get the reading, the writing, the math because they’re so bogged down in life," Andrews said. "So we have to respect that this is something that needs to be and must be taught.”
94 percent of students enrolled at Trewyn are considered low-income, according to Illinois Report Card data.
District 150 is one of the first school districts in the country to apply concepts from Christian Moore’s program.
Moore says the district will track progress in the years ahead in correlations to changes in GPA, referrals to the principal’s office and improvement in student behavior. His visit comes a few weeks after the district adopted a five-year strategic plan that emphasizes social-emotional learning.
