Post-traumatic growth and 1-minute interventions (with Dr. Mike Gaskell)

There’s a lot of talk about risk factors in education; but not as much focus on protective factors. That’s why I invited Dr. Mike Gaskell to episode 118 of De Facto Leaders to talk about the work he’s done helping students and staff build resilience in a way that’s feasible for busy educators. Dr. Michael Gaskell is an author, speaker and school principal in East Brunswick, NJ., following experience as a special educator and assistant principal in Paramus, NJ. He models the pursuit of lifelong learning as he serves to mentor new principals through the New Jersey Leaders to Leaders program. An NJPSA Stars recipient, he has been published in over 4 dozen articles in education journals and blogs, including ASCD Smartbrief, Tech & Learning, Education Post, eSchoolNews, NASSP, Edtech, currently writes a monthly column in ASCD Smartbrief, and has made the most-read section of ASCD Smartbrief numerous times. Mike presents at national conferences, including the Learning and the Brain conference, November 2021; FETC January 2022, and FETC, again in January 2023. He has been on numerous podcasts including Larry Ferlazzo’s Education Week Classroom Q&A. Mike has published three books: Radical Principals, Leading Schools Through Trauma and Microstrategy Magic. Dr. Gaskell works relentlessly to support instructional excellence and student success, for his school community, and most importantly, for the wellness and equity of all children. In this episode, we cover a wide range of topics, including:✅De-escalation strategies school staff can use for handling emails and social media posts; including Jay Baer’s “reply only twice” strategy.✅Three protective factors that increase post-traumatic growth.✅How to “stack” 1-minute interventions to improve resilience, behavior, and performance. ✅Simple but powerful ways to improve attention and engagement; including the “coffeehouse effect” and greeting students at the door. You can connect with Dr. Michael Gaskell on LinkedIn here, on Twitter here, and on Instagram here. His books include Radical Principals, Leading Schools through Trauma,  and MicroStrategy Magic: Confronting Classroom Challenges While Saving Time and Energy.In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program for related service providers who want to take a leadership role in implementing executive functioning support. You can learn more about the program here.  Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:Learn more about Renaissance:As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.