CPI TRAINING

Last week Lisa and I attended the CPI Training. We learned so much. We were very impressed with with the presenters and the presentation. It gave us a new perspective on our students and our work. Quick reflection: We learned the importance of trying to understand the underlying factors to our students behaviors. Two important thoughts:

QTIP- Quit taking it Personal and QRRIT (cure it). Questioning, Refusal, Release, Intimidation and Tension Reduction. Here is a visual.

The WAMS Staff:

Cartoon series update.

Hello all. I hope all is well. Here is an update on the cartoon series. The students are really taking a liking to this process. They are also getting better. They are still having difficulty selecting topics pertinent to them. So, we are now asking them to come up with three topics and we select the most pertinent. We are starting to see some instances of "play" in their cartoons which as you know is important for so many reasons. We will keep you posted! Here is one more!

EMOTIONAL METER LANDSCAPE

Hello all. We are baaaaack!!! We had a wonderful day today. We got an opportunity dialogue with our students. They all identified an issue they need to work on. Their peers provided them with additional objective feedback. For the most part the students were able to diggest the feedbck. It is challenging for some as can be expected. We also discussed the emotional landscape. The image below is a visual representation of our emtional gage. The students seem to understand this issue quite well. We also discussed the concept of the button and how others are able to control us by pushing it at will. Th definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over AND expecting something different! Why not just do something different. Just a thought! lol

WAMS Staff

Student background a nd reflections

Here is a sample of a setting a student created. As you can see they all have different types of interest. I think I might be enjoying this process more than them.

Reflections: We are observing that some students are having a tough time coming up with issues they need to resolve. They are also having a tough time accepting criticism about their own issues. We have tried to use our own shortcomings to set the example. But they are getting fixated on the criticism that we provide. They also want to criticize others but not themselves. Sounds like any of us adults. lol. We learned that cartoon writting is like any type of writting. Success lies in the re-write. We expect the follow-ups will be much more involved.

We will keep you posted.

The WAMS staff

Staying out of others business...

This cartoon was designed by a student who has issues with interrupting others conversations and/or business. The issues usually result in someone getting threatened or hurt. He was able to resolve the situation in a way in which no one got hurt or threatened.

Reflection: The students seem to have a great time developing their cartoons. They seem to understand and internalize their issues much more when they criticize themselves. Our intent is to allow them to recognize their social shortcoming and reach more positive resolutions to their issues on their own.

The WAMS staff!

This cartoon was designed by one of our students. In this case, the student was asked to make a choice between participating in class and having more negative consequences. The student decided to follow through with the activity and was rewarded with an A for his choice.

Enjoy!

The WAMS staff

Hello all. I hope all is well. The students have completed first series of their cartoon series. We have concluded that they really enjoy doing cartoons. We are going to develop cartoons based on issues the students have to address. They are responsible for coming up with a positive resolution. Here is what they have come up with. They are also responsible for presenting it to their peers. This cartoon was developed by one of our students. He decided that he wanted to address the issue of annoyance. Enjoy!!!

The WAMS Staff!

Cartoon series update.

Hello all. Here is a quick update on our social cartoon series. Most of our students have developed a setting. However, some felt the heat and are asking to re-do theirs. I also learned that some are not great artists. No problem. We are combining a bit of technology. We are generating copies of the characters they are designing. They are all having a blast. Here is a sample...

Some of our overachievers are now working on their themes. We decided that we assign them a theme based on a social skill they need to work on (relevance).

We will update you soon...

P.s. Thank you Erin for the idea!

The WAMS Staff

Thanks, Alfredo

Cool idea. Looking forward to watching it grow.

Hello all

Hello Everyone, so excited about being a blogger!!