Action Plan for Learning
School Name: Ecole Nestor Elementary School
School Goal: Social Emotional Learning
School Year: 2015
Goal / Inquiry
Student learning
Rationale
1-3 reasons for choosing
goal
References and sources to
support actions
Backup Documentation
Planned Actions
Continuing practices
working well (1-3)
 What will we do
differently? (1-3)
 How will we provide for
staff development and
collaboration?
 How will we involve
parents?
 How will we involve
students?
To assist students in their ability to solve problems in peaceful ways using self-regulation
strategies.
1) We have been concerned about student readiness for school in terms of selfregulation and problem solving
2) There has been interest expressed by staff in exploring ways of assisting students
in managing powerful emotions
3) Students who are not able to self-regulate often experience challenges in feeling
academic and social success at school
After working with a teacher from another school who has considerable experience with
using mood metres, we elected to create a Staff Charter (being able to model selfregulation and effective problem solving is important for educators). Teachers also
decided to introduce students to mood metres and to use literature as a means of
identifying human emotions. For September, teachers will use mood metres in all
classrooms with the hope of creating more intentionality and consistency in how we work
with students in solving problems and self-regulating. W.I.T.S. has been useful common
language for problem solving and perhaps some easily remembered mantras may be of
use for self-regulation. We hope to possibly work with Miriam Miller or teachers with
Mood Metre training in September. Literature (children’s books) will also be used as a
means of assisting students in developing their emotional literacy.
Learning in Safe Schools
http://pd.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/exsel/teachers/teacherslessons.htm
What’s working well:
1) The use of self-regulation strategies has been embraced more consistently by all staff;
class wide interventions such as increased physical activity are utilized and individual
needs (i.e. level of calmness, dietary needs, emotional needs) are considered before
attempts are made to discuss problems and solutions.
2) All class consistently use W.I.T.S. and discuss social responsibility. Every class has been
introduced to mood metres.
3) Office referrals for misbehavior have been declining each year for the past 5. Teachers
have expressed many examples of student success in their ability to self-regulate when
they are solving problems.
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 How will we monitor
progress and adjust
actions?
Nexts steps:
1) Continued use of common language and a consistent approach in working with
students on self-regulation. As one teacher said: “Using a common language in
our class to describe situations that may not be pleasant or appropriate has been
beneficial to all.” This is not yet consistent in our practice.
2) One teacher succinctly provided a new challenge to consider: “focusing on
“listening even when it is difficult.” Planning some strategies and actions to
achieve this goal would be valuable.
3) Consistent use of the mood metre as a means of assisting students in their ability
identify their emotions, the underlying conditions affecting them and their
capacity to embrace emotions or to adapte them as situations dictate.
Collaboration:
There has been much interest expressed in continuing professional development focused
on social and emotional learning. There may an opportunity to liaise with other schools
interested in further exploring the mood metre.
Parents:
Among other things, it might be of use to have an educational evening focused on selfregulation. Making mood metres a fixture on our community’s fridges could also serve to
enhance dialogue about human emotions and how we manage them depending on the
context. Increasingly, our reporting includes language on self-regulation and social
responsibility and hopefully this ongoing assessment serves to begin or continue dialogue
with parents on this aspect of their child’s learning.
Students:
Students will learn to use the mood metre on a regular basis and literature will play a
significant role in exploring this concept. Teachers have expressed interest in using
program’s such as Fin’s Friends which focuses on character traits of fictional characters as
a means to identifying and addressing emotional states in ourselves and others. Nestor’s
students are skilled at creating slogans and images to convey ideas and the creation of
mood metre posters would be a novel and effective way of communicating key messages.
Existing posters focused on the Code of Conduct and a weekly Safe and Sound Award
(focuses on safe behaviours) given to a selected class have been effective at
communicating Nestor’s culture in terms of problem solving and safety.
Assessment:
Continuation of using the Managing Powerful Emotions rubric (taken from the Early
Learning Continuum) and the Social Responsibility Performance Standards rubric are
useful for data collection and assessing our practice. The rubrics serve to define more
precisely our areas of focus and are useful for comparing student progress over time.
Nestor’s data collection has become more qualitative in that the anecdotal “data” and
observations of teachers and staff are collated and distributed. Sharing current practices
and challenges on an ongoing basis (i.e. Staff Meetings) is useful for assessing our
progress in this area.
Backup Documentation
Feeling Words and
books to teach.pdf
Emotional Literacy Book_Recommendati FWC_K-2_Step-1_Us FWC_K-8_Feeling-W
Book list.pdf
ons_(K_2)-1.pdf ing-RULER-Questions-with-Literature.pdf
ords-and-Definitions.pdf
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Documentation of learning
Key evidence of change
 How did your actions
make a difference?
 Choose 1-3 pieces of
evidence to demonstrate
the impact your actions
have had on student
learning to meet your
goal.
 Documentation could
include video, survey
results, performance
standard data, anecdotal
evidence, work samples,
etc.
Key Actions:
Nestor’s key actions can be summarized as intentional and individually focused. As one
teacher said: “The more clear I am with my expectations, the more the students can selfregulate.” Some examples of intentional practice are captured with this reflection: “Giving
brain breaks throughout the day, running laps of the school, skipping, doing bean bag
activities gives students the opportunities to use their energy appropriately and then
focus again in class.”
“Making sure the day is filled with a variety of types of work also helps students selfregulate. Seat work, group work, partner work, hands on activities, and setting
expectations for each type of work in advance helps students with appropriate
behaviours.”
Another teacher’s thoughts about particular students reflects our attention to individual
needs: “I gave X a 2 in Self Reg and a 1 in Social Responsibility at the beginning of the year.
He has come a very long way over the course of the year, and would rate him more at a 3
for both categories (most days). We have used things like breathing to calm him down,
taking a break in the hallway or alone on the carpet, reminding himself not to ‘sweat the
small stuff.’ I will sometimes see him now get teary eyed at his desk about something that
frustrates him, but is able to calm himself down independently now.
Y has probably regressed somewhat just in the last month or so, possibly due to changes
at home, moving schools, etc. He has been very impulsive and has a hard time thinking
before he acts or speaks. We have been talking a lot of about what a good friend
does/doesn't do and that he needs to treat others kindly if he wants them to continue
playing with him.”
Backup Documentation
Reflection Highlights
 Where are we now?
 What are some patterns
emerging?
 What surprised you?
 What conclusions /
inferences might you
draw?
 How does this inform
potential next steps?
In reflecting on our data and work with this students this year, one teacher’s submission
really captures the essence of the 2014/2015 school year: “The overall trend was for
improvement in both Self-Regulation and Social Responsibility. Although not every child
"fully met expectations" at the end, all students (except one) showed improvement from
the start of the year. Only 1 child out of 24 did not really show much improvement in
either area. It may be noted that siblings of this child also have difficulty with selfregulation, and that positive parental guidance appears to be minimal with these children.
One other child was not able to be "assessed" at the end, because of very little
attendance during Term 3, but she met expectations in both areas at the start of the
year.”
Some patterns have continued: continued need to support Kindergarten students with
behavioural supports due to a lack of self-regulation; males are the dominant group in the
cohort of students identified as Not Yet Meeting Expectations in self-regulation and social
responsibility. However, several female students required a high level of behavioural
intervention this year.
One surprise was that a small number of students actually regressed in terms of selfregulation. It is hard to determine one factor that drives regression, but changing family
dynamics and changes in medication seem to be a couple of mitigating issues. One other
issue unique to Nestor is the role language acquisition may play in the development of
self-regulation and peaceful problem solving; Nestor has some students who are clearly
struggling with these parts of their learning and moving forward and it will be important
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to ensure that any common language used in these areas by teachers and staff is
accessible to all. Use of technology (i.e. one teacher has developed lessons using a
SmartBoard that features graphic images of faces and emotions) may address this
concern.
In looking to the future given the needs of our students and our past work in assisting
students in their ability to solve problems in peaceful ways using self-regulation
strategies, there are a few potential next steps:
1) Creation of a new Staff Charter – it is important to model for students what we
are expecting in terms of self-regulating behaviors
2) Collect data using the existing rubrics – they are simple to use and clear
3) Inform our practice with frequent discussion and sharing of what’s working and
not working
4) Focus LIF staffing on supporting students who are struggling with self-regulation
5) Continue to monitor and track students using structures such as School Based
Team, LIF Meetings, Class Reviews and End of Year Class Reviews.
Backup Documentation
(Delete this section if Literacy is your main goal)
Literacy Data
Attach the following :
Nestor - CBA for APL
FSA2015.pdf
 Classroom Assessment
2015.doc
 School Assessment
 FSA results
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Signatures
School Name: Ecole Nestor Elementary
School
School Goal: Social Emotional Learning
School Year: 2015
Submitted by School Planning Council:
Title
Name
Principal
Sean Della Vedova
Parent
Mandy Molnar
Parent
Elaine Kwong
Parent
Nicole Cavanagh
Recommended by Assistant Superintendent:
Assistant Superintendent
Julie Pearce
Board and Superintendent Approval:
Board Chair
Judy Shirra
Superintendent
Patricia Gartland
Print this page, have it signed by
School Planning Council, scan it and
attach it here
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Signature