A Teacher’s Perspective | By: Kim Gulbrandson by Dr. Kim Gulbrandson I recently interviewed Jennifer Krutina, a second-grade teacher in a French-immersion school. She has been using the Second Step program for seven years, and does an excellent job modeling and practicing social-emotional skills in her classroom. What changes have you noticed in your students as a result of using the Second Step program? Students are easily able to identify how others are feeling. They will tell me, “Ms. Krutina, so and so is looking mad.” Students are also better able to solve problems on their own, without needing direct teacher intervention. I see fewer situations that escalate. Students are better able to identify other’s perspectives and they will give someone a chance to apologize or make amends. Because of this, there is also less misunderstanding between students. How do you reinforce the strategies taught in Second Step lessons? Can you give some examples? Practice, practice, practice. I do a lot of “on the spot” practice, with the whole class and with individuals. Much of it is practice in verbalizing how to talk with one another. For example, if a student is having a problem with another student, I will ask others to help think of some ideas to help them solve their problem. Many times, they do this on their own now, without my assistance. Yesterday, three students helped two of their classmates dealing with strong emotions by telling them to take a deep breath and to step back. So, practice really does help. I do a lot of modeling of the skills taught in Second Step lessons. When I feel frustrated, I will take deep breaths for example. In fact, when my students see me getting frustrated they will sometimes say, “Take a deep breath, Madam.” I also communicate to students that the skills I teach are important to use at home and in the community, not just at school. Self-regulation is such a big part of the Second Step program. What kinds of things do you do in your classroom to encourage self-regulation? I incorporate self-regulation into their check-in, check-out process. Students have specific meeting times during the day when they self-rate themselves on respect, responsibility, and safety, based on a 0-1-2 point scale. There are specific behaviors under each of these categories, and at the end of the day, I ask students to identify one of the areas they want to work on. I also incorporate self-regulation into academic activities. Students self-rate their own work habits after reading time. They also evaluate their effort. What suggestions do you have for others who are implementing the Second Step program? Implement it fully. Don’t let it be the area that gets cut when you become busy. By using the curriculum regularly, you are communicating to students that it is important. If you don’t, students are not likely to use the skills. Do the skill practice/role-play activities. They really help students learn how to actually use the skills. Integrate Second Step skills into your daily routine in the classroom. Encourage students to use the skills at recess, and talk regularly about how the skills can be used outside of class. What do you like best about the Second Step curriculum? I love the fact that the program actually teaches specific strategies for dealing with strong emotions, especially anger. I also like that it is a proactive approach. It involves teaching the skills to students ahead of time, to give them skills. It is not reactive. The empathy piece (being able to recognize emotions in oneself and others) is one proactive component that I like. It is so important for anger management. Second Step skills can easily be incorporated into various curricular areas. For example, I incorporate it into literature by asking how characters in the stories are feeling. How do you incorporate the Second Step program into your immersion program? I teach the program in English. Otherwise, many of the young students I work with tune out because they do not understand much French yet. However, I practice the strategies in French whenever possible. We will talk about problems in French and brainstorm solutions. I would love to have posters with common language in English and French.