Author: Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D.

The Importance of Belonging: Maslow Before Blooms

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment
https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-maslow-bloom-all-day-long

The idea of belonging is not a new concept for me. I’ve always felt the need to belong to something larger than myself as it gave me a purpose but also a sense of safety and acceptance.

My background in psychology coupled with my time in the classroom solidified my resolve to share with fellow educators the need to focus on ways to instill a sense of belonging for students.

Having worked in two different Title I schools, I learned first-hand just how hard life was for my neediest of students. My heart hurt to hear that a student lived in a garage with their entire family, that they lived with their grandparents because both parents were in jail, that they slept on a couch because they don’t have a bed let alone a bedroom…I could go on and on.

And I learned real fast that there’s only so much that I had control over. I couldn’t control what happened outside of my classroom, but within the four walls of my classroom, I could made intentional decisions to cultivate a sense of belonging for my students.

The challenge of how to help students who are disconnected from school and academics can be addressed in 5 steps:

  • Acknowledge that certain needs have to be met in order for learning to occur, you cannot control everything, but you can control some things
  • Identify students who may need additional emotional support structures
  • Hone your empathy skills and provide ways for your students to develop empathy for others as well
  • Build a warm classroom environment where students feel welcome 
  • Cultivate opportunities for students to develop a sense of belonging in your classroom and with their peers with the hope that they can carry this feeling with them when they leave your classroom

I’m not saying that any of these steps are a silver bullet. But I can assure you that I’ve used each and every one of them in my classroom and it made a difference for my students. How do I know? They told me. Some of them mentioned it in passing, others wrote me letters, some emailed me a thank you, a few gave small tokens of their appreciation, while others came by for a quick hug before leaving for high school. All of these meant so much to me because I felt that all of my efforts were working. Maybe it didn’t work for every single student. But it worked for some. And that’s all that mattered.

In the words of Rita Pierson, I wanted to Be a Champion for my students. And I made that an intentional decision each and every day.

If you want to learn more, please check out a webinar that I recently hosted. The Importance of Belonging can be found on EdTechTeacher’s YouTube Channel. Please feel free to leave comments or reach out with your own stories and solutions. As I previously mentioned, I’ve always felt the need to belong to something larger than myself…and being part of the educational community is something that will always be near and dear to my heart.

Thanks for reading!

Operationalizing the Variable

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

While at Johns Hopkins, I had to take several research methods courses to ensure that I knew not only how to conduct research, but how to define, collect, and analyze data. One of my professors (I took two of the three research methods courses with her because she’s nothing short of amazing but that’s a story for another time) always reminded us to operationalize the variable. Now, I realize that if you’re not in the research world that phrase may not mean anything to you, but for those of us who are studying change and program effectiveness in schools…this phrase means everything.

To operationalize the variable means to define it in clear terms–preferably in terms that can be measured.

By operationalizing the variable, it should be clear to everyone exactly what you mean.

If the variable is clearly defined, then it makes it easier to determine if change occurred.

To be clear, just because you operationalized the variable doesn’t mean that the program or change initiative worked. A lot of factors can and do influence change. However, to determine what changed, to what extent change occurred, and what possibly contributed to the change, one needs to start with clearly defined variables.

For example, if one wanted to measure the effectiveness of a program change, then one needs to:

  • Identify a problem of practice (what it the gap? what are potential drivers to the problem?)
  • Design and conduct a needs assessment (how do you know it’s a problem? what does the literature reveal?)
  • Operationalize the variables (what is it that you want to see changed?)
  • Clearly define the instruments (what is going to measure the change? how will data be collected? when will data be collected? how will the data be analyzed? who will analyze the data?)
  • Clearly define the program or intervention (what is change initiative? foundational theory of change? program details? duration? who is the target of the program initiative? what are the proposed proximal, short, and long-term outcomes?)

All of that is the bare minimum. I didn’t include all of the steps, but I’m sure by now you get the gist that conducting a program evaluation is not a simple or quick task.

For the evaluation to mean anything, however, it is imperative that all of the variables are defined–that is, operationalized.

I bring this up because I’ve been doing research on social-emotional learning and culturally responsive teaching. And, although these two can certainly work in tandem to build a warm and supportive classroom community, they can (and in my opinion should) be implemented separately if one wants to truly measure change.

Definition: social-emotional learning is the “process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions” (CASEL, n.d.).

Definition: culturally responsive teaching uses “cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically diverse students as conduits for teaching them more effectively” (Gay, 2002, 106).

One of the biggest problems I see in education is the morphing of definitions. We’ve all been privy to buzzwords in education–most of these which likely started with the best of intentions, but because many of the terms were not clearly defined–operationalized–educators, parents, community, general public, and the media have put their own spin on it. They’ve redefined the terms according to their understanding or they’ve taken similarities in terminology and made the assumption that the terms basically mean the same.

And therein rests the problem.

So, what initially appeared to be something that might actually effect change, instead became watered-down, redefined, or morphed into something quite different or less effective than what was intended.

Now, I’m not saying that teachers and schools cannot implement two different frameworks, pedagogies, theories, etc. at the same time. Heck, we’ve been doing that (and more) for years. But doing so makes it impossible to know what exactly changed, to what extent it changed, and even what caused the change.

And if the end result isn’t what one expected, what happens? The theory, pedagogy, framework, or strategy is scrapped and something new is put into place.

And what a shame since many of these theories, pedagogies, frameworks, and strategies are backed by research. Evidence that it can work. But we’re hard pressed to know if it could work in certain situations since educators were juggling multiple and competing initiatives–so it’s hard to tell what changed, what caused the change, or even why didn’t the expected change occur.

So, if you truly want to see if a (new) program is effective, then it’s critical to (1) operationalize the variable and (2) remove competing initiatives.

I would love to not see social-emotional learning or culturally responsive teaching reduced to buzzwords. Each of these has its merits, and I truly believe that they can effect positive change in the classroom. However, these need to be implemented with fidelity but more importantly, clearly defined for everyone at the outset so that there’s no confusion as to what the terminology means.

References

CASEL. (2022). Fundamentals of SEL. Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel

Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2), 106 – 116. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.294.1431&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Passion Projects

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

It’s been awhile since I posted, but time has completely flown by this year! And, I am FINALLY getting a chance to enjoy this new chapter in my professional career as a learning consultant.

Finally.

Although the start of 2022 was a continuation of challenges from 2020 and 2021, it also afforded me the opportunity to make some rather large changes professionally. This was not a bad thing.

Leaving the classroom (and my kids) behind at the end of the semester in January was hard. And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I missed being with them. Because my good friends are still holding down the fort at my old school, I was privy to the activities and other things that were happening on campus. And I was also able to see some of the end-of-the-year pictures which brought tears to my eyes as I saw my 8th graders (some of whom I taught as 7th graders, too) smiling as they enjoyed the last dance of the school year and wearing the biggest grins as they walked across the stage at Commencement. It made my heart happy to know that they (that we) survived the last two years with a shifting school schedule and policy/mandates. And, I loved the sweet messages from my 7th and 8th graders in the send-off video my dear friend and Journalism advisor put together for me. =)

After I made the decision to leave the classroom, it gave me time to really think about what it is that I wanted to do . . . next. I was fortunate find two different companies who offered me projects that kept me busy. I’ve done a bit of curriculum writing, research, and tons of professional development workshops. (And I’ve had the chance to work with people from a variety of organizations whose goal is to make learning fun, engaging, and meaningful for students. Yay!) Most of these projects were within my comfort zone–with a few that were solidly at the edge of my zone of proximal development. Luckily for me, I have mentors who provided guidance and encouragement throughout this journey thus far.

Surround yourself with a village. You will not regret it. =)

Now, as the summer draws to a close and the new school year gets underway . . . I have had to readjust my mindset because for the past 27 years, I’ve only known the rush, the craziness, and the exhaustion of the start of the school year. But to be honest, I don’t miss that part at all.

One of the benefits of consulting is that I get to choose my schedule. The projects to some extent dictate deadlines, but I love that I can sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, and walk the puppy before settling in to work. This new adventure has been a bit scary because there are so many unknowns, but I have to say that having a supportive husband and an awesome circle of friends has made this transition easier to manage.

I am truly blessed.

The start of a new school year still feels like the start of something new to me. And, I am really looking forward to finding more passion projects. =)