5 Reasons Educators Take On Too Much
5 Reasons Educators Take On Too Much
A former K-5 public school principal turned author, presenter, and leadership coach, DeWitt provides insights and advice for education leaders. He can be found at www.petermdewitt.com. Read more from this blog.
Over the past few years, I have been making a conscious effort to turn down the noise that was coming into my life from the moment I woke up until the minutes before I went to bed. I didn’t even realize how much of the noise was seeping into my life countless times a day until I began practicing meditation and focusing on being more aware of my habits.
The noise I am referring to is that of the 24/7 news coverage that was beginning to impact my mood in the morning. What originally was a habit to turn on the television in the living room as I prepared my morning coffee, soon turned into a barrage of negative stories that didn’t seem to bother the newscaster at all.
At the time, they were announcing COVID deaths as if they were scores from the baseball game the night before, and then they covered politics, entertainment news about another breakup, all in an effort to capture my attention. Don’t get me wrong. I still watch the news because I want to be aware of what is going on in the world, but I have turned down that noise to 30 minutes a day.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, before I changed my habits, I would get on my computer at the same time to check my email and then quickly take a sip of coffee and click over to my social media accounts. The emails were work-related, but social media became more and more negative, and although some of the negativity calmed down over time, the morning news still had the same number of negative stories.
That’s when I realized I didn’t need to watch the news in the morning and could listen to a few good radio stations on one of our classic old radios, instead. As for social media, I broke my habit of getting on one social media platform where most of the negativity appeared and chose to read a magazine or book, or even better, hopped on the Peloton. It was a great decision, because not only do I feel physically healthier, but I also feel emotionally healthier as well.
During that period of time when I began investigating the noise in my life, I also explored the noise that we have going on in schools. I began writing a book called De-implementation: Creating the Space to Focus on What Works (2022. Corwin). De-implementation is the abandonment of low-value practices (van Bodegom-Vos L).
The work of de-implementation is about helping leaders and teachers unplug some of what they do in their classrooms or schools in an effort to find that all elusive extra time we are looking for and move from just doing things to having more impact.
Why do we overimplement?
Just like in our personal lives, we can find time in our professional lives to cut down on the noise that distracts us from engaging in work that can be much more impactful to our students and much more emotionally satisfying in our careers as educators.
Unfortunately, this is not easily done in our work settings, because we believe if we stop doing something, it might mean we care less for our students. That is simply not true. The other factor is that I have found in my research that people are much more willing to abandon a practice they believe has been forced upon them than to actually abandon a practice they like, even if it doesn’t work as well as another practice that is recommended to them. This is what I refer to as overimplementing.
There are at least five reasons we overimplement, as I call the practice. Those reasons are:
Thin content, nice packaging – We get tricked into buying things we don’t need because the packaging is nice. Publishers and educational resource companies package things in a way that makes us believe we need it, even if we don’t. Yes, I see the irony of writing this as I talk about a book. In my defense, I have done interviews where I tell listeners not to buy the book unless they need it.
What’s interesting about exploring the nice packaging with thin content idea is that research has found that publishers will use a brain image to make us believe that their resources have more merit simply because of the brain image. For example, in 2008, McCabe and Castel found that individuals were more likely to incorrectly rate books as scientifically meritorious when brain images were included than when only text was provided. Unfortunately, the books that had just text without brain images had more merit in this case.
When we go after the shiny new toy in nice packaging, we may actually be going in the wrong direction. The lesson we need to learn is that we have decide if we really need it before we buy it.
Emotions over evidence – We find it difficult to stop engaging in activities because we have an emotional connection to the activity. Perhaps we have been doing it for years and have fond memories of former classes doing it, even if they’ve been shown not to be impactful or they are not a part of our curriculum. We don’t want to stop because we have been doing the same activities for years and are afraid to let go because we have so many emotions tied to it. There are teachers who will engage in activities that are not a part of their curriculum at the same time they may complain that they are so busy. I have been guilty of this in the past for sure!
Time mismanagement – Meetings have often been the bane of my existence. Too often at meetings, precious time is wasted because the leader of the meeting did not engage in creating success criteria for the discussion, people around the table are unclear of their role in the meeting, or countless minutes were spent discussing issues that none of the people around the table actually control.
Workaholic cultures – I once had an assistant superintendent tell me that their community expects teachers and leaders to work hard and that the community expects to see the cars of educators in school parking lots later into the evening. I asked him how the community would know teachers’ cars were in school parking lots if it weren’t that, in most cases, those people were going home or passing by the school with their children as they went out to dinner.
Initiatives we can’t control – This speaks to the meeting comment I made earlier. Too often, time is wasted complaining about initiatives we can’t control rather than looking at how they may fit into the work we are already doing. Perhaps this is the meditation, but I have learned I can’t control things that come at me, thought I can control how I react to them.
Gone to the Dogs? Schools Use Therapy Animals to Boost Mental Health, Academics
Sometimes students say few words to school counselor Kelli Baker as they walk into her office, making a beeline for Kalani, a golden retriever/poodle mix that has been trained to work as a school therapy dog.
Morris, Okla., elementary school students who are stressed, struggling to manage big emotions, or dealing with crises at home bury their faces in Kalani’s golden fur and slow their breathing to match her relaxed presence.
It’s not uncommon for schools to teach children breathing exercises and calm-down techniques. In Morris, having two therapy dogs causes some students to do those things intuitively, said Baker.
“They work through those emotions and say, ‘Hey, Ms. Baker, I’m ready to go back to class,’” she said.
For others, the dogs provide a sense of safety that helps them gather the courage to ask adults for help.
“Kids will come in closed-off and reserved,” Baker said. “I don’t ask anything. They are just on the floor playing with the dog and they start sharing with me.”
Facing a worsening youth mental heath crisis, more schools have brought therapy dogs on board to help students cope. Some integrate the animals into academic work, using them in interventions for students with disabilities or as part of classroom engagement strategies.
“Particularly if a student loves animals, we see some wonderful growth,” said Jennifer VonLintel, a school counselor at B.F. Kitchen Elementary School in Loveland, Colo.
It’s clear that the pandemic has contributed to a growing interest in bringing therapy dogs into schools. Districts in states including Colorado, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Virginia have even used portions of the $123 billion in K-12 relief funding provided through the American Rescue Plan to pay for specialized therapy dog training, which can cost thousands of dollars.
More than just classroom pets
Formal therapy dog work dates back to use in hospitals in the 1970s, but it has become more prevalent in recent decades, especially in educational settings. And as more academic research emerges on the benefits of the human-animal bond, schools are working with canine companions in more sophisticated ways.
School therapy dogs are not just classroom pets, said VonLintel. Rather, school social workers, counselors, physical therapists, behavior interventionists, and special education teachers integrate them into specific tasks with students, she said.
For example, students with developmental disabilities may learn improved communication skills by directing the animals to sit or stay. Some children practice behavioral management by studying the signs that a dog is feeling relaxed—like ears that hang loosely rather than laying flatly against the head.
Students read to Kalani in Sheri Suiter’s kindergarten class at Morris Elementary School in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17, 2023.
Students read to Kalani, a therapy dog, in Sheri Suiter’s kindergarten class at Morris Elementary School in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17.
Michael Noble Jr. for Education Week
“When people approach me and say that they want to bring a dog to school, my first question is, ‘What is your goal?’” said VonLintel, who has worked with researchers to publish papers on different approaches to school therapy dogs.
Therapy dogs are trained to provide support in a community environment. They differ from service dogs, which are trained to assist individuals with specific tasks related to physical disabilities.
When VonLintel and a golden retriever named Copper started her school’s therapy dog program 14 years ago, she couldn’t find specific training locally, so she worked with a Colorado trainer to adapt service dog training to fit the needs of a school environment.
The program grew from there. This year, six teams of volunteer handlers will bring dogs ranging from a chihuahua to a Bernese mountain dog into the Loveland district’s schools.
In addition to monitoring the dogs’ interactions with students, the handlers have learned a bit about academic skills, like reading, so they can ask follow-up questions to guide students’ comprehension as their dogs sit with small groups during read-aloud sessions.
“I’ll say, ‘I don’t think Toby understood what was going on on those last two pages,’” VonLintel said, referring to her current therapy dog, a small brown cavalier King Charles spaniel mix. “‘Can you tell him what was happening in the story?’”
Sit, stay, and study
A private Facebook page VonLintel started to share her experiences in founding the therapy dog program now has 9,000 members who trade tips on training, school board policies, insurance, and how to incorporate animals into therapy and instruction.
Interest in the Loveland district’s use of therapy dogs has grown to the point that it now offers an on-site, evening training program, where interested staff members can bring their own dogs to learn in a school environment.
The dogs practice everything from basic commands to remaining calm and quiet in the unpredictable situation of a classroom lockdown drill. They must pass an evaluation before they can work in a school, and they must be regularly reevaluated to continue that work in future years.
Training is also key for handlers, who must learn to recognize when a dog is tired or stressed and monitor its interactions with students, said Helen Holmquist-Johnson, director of Human-Animal Bond in Colorado, a research center at Colorado State University that helps train and screen volunteer handlers to work in 30 schools in the region. Researchers there also study the effects of animal-assisted interventions, and develop approaches for students with specific conditions like autism.
Holmquist-Johnson recommends vetted, well-developed training programs like those offered by Pet Partners, a nonprofit organization for volunteer handlers.
Launching a school therapy dog program with community support
Access to training was a big concern for Baker, the counselor in the Morris, Okla., district, where the therapy dog program is still in its infancy.
The rural school system had not had an elementary school counselor in over 20 years when Baker started there in 2021, her position funded by a state grant.
In her first few weeks on the job, she noticed that students were struggling with behavior and emotions after months of COVID disruptions—part of a national trend. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Surgeon General have sounded the alarm about a youth mental health crisis worsened by the pandemic.
In Morris, some children had lost family members—and some were just uncomfortable in the school environment. Those students seemed to be “frozen in time,” still in the place they were developmentally at the beginning of the pandemic, she said.
Morris Elementary School librarian Lisa Merrill walks Shadow to a classroom at the school in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17, 2023.
Morris Elementary School librarian Lisa Merrill walks Shadow to a classroom at the school in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17.
Michael Noble Jr. for Education Week
Baker had experience working with therapy dogs in her previous role in the juvenile justice system and thought they might be a good fit for Morris.
She was early in her research when she got a call from a breeder about the dog she later named Kalani. She was the one puppy left in a litter of what are commonly known as goldendoodles—a mix of of golden retriever and a poodle bred with the intention of creating a lower-shedding coat. Unlike the other puppies, Kalani wasn’t born with a curly coat, and people were less interested in buying her.
The breeder offered to donate Kalani to the district for use as a therapy dog. Later, another breeder donated Shadow, a black goldendoodle who is handled by the elementary school’s librarian and occasionally works in the district’s high school.
Morris schools designated the dogs as property of the district, and not the employees who handle them at school and care for them at home. That allowed Baker, librarian Lisa Merrill, and Principal Becky Alexander to add the animals to the district’s insurance plan and to raise money that helped pay for training.
The $10,000 in private donations covered an intensive boarding program that allowed the dogs to learn on-site at a training facility for several two-week sessions, and additional handler training for Baker and Merrill that worked with their schedules.
That training prepared the dogs to remain calm and disciplined in unfamiliar environments. They went to Wal-Mart and Sams Club to get exposed to crowds and noises, like shopping carts and fork lifts, so that they’d be comfortable around mobility aids like wheelchairs and students with various visible disabilities.
The community quickly recognized the benefits of the dogs, whose harnesses bear the logos of some businesses that helped covered training costs, Alexander said.
“So many schools are in the same boat as us,” she said. “They say, ‘I want to do it. We’ve got our team, but we don’t know the steps to do it,’” she said.
Answering logistical questions about school therapy dogs
VonLintel, the Loveland counselor, recommends coordinating with trained volunteer handlers who bring in their own dogs and manage things like training, certification, and insurance. Such a model is less expensive and challenging than building a program from scratch.
Schools can contact local volunteer handler groups or consult organizations like Pet Partners or the American Kennel Club to locate teams, she said.
Whatever model a school uses, dogs should be given plenty of days off and time to rest on-site so they don’t burn out in a high sensory environment, VonLintel said.
Kelli Baker, school counselor and the handler of therapy dog, Kalani, reads to students at Morris Elementary School in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17, 2023.
Kelli Baker, school counselor and the handler of therapy dog, Kalani, reads to students at Morris Elementary School in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17, 2023.
— Michael Noble Jr. for Education Week
Students line up to pet Kalani after a story time at Morris Elementary School in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17, 2023.
Students line up to pet Kalani after a story time at Morris Elementary School in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17, 2023.
— Michael Noble Jr. for Education Week
Kalani greets Madeleine, the guinea pig in Jessica Heath’s 2nd grade class at Morris Elementary School in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17, 2023.
Kalani greets Madeleine, the guinea pig in Jessica Heath’s 2nd grade class at Morris Elementary School in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17, 2023.
— Michael Noble Jr. for Education Week
Therapy dogs Kalani, left, and Shadow pose for a portrait at Morris Elementary School in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17, 2023.
Therapy dogs Kalani, left, and Shadow pose for a portrait at Morris Elementary School in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17, 2023.
— Michael Noble Jr. for Education Week
Therapy dog Kalani watches students during a story time at Morris Elementary School in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17, 2023.
Therapy dog Kalani watches students during a story time at Morris Elementary School in Morris, Okla., on Jan. 17, 2023.
Toby, who was rescued as part of an animal welfare investigation, comes to school one day a week. He spins in excited circles when he sees VonLintel pick up the backpack that contains the gear he needs to go to work. If he ever looked tired or hesitant, she would leave him at home.
Among other common logistical questions:
Insurance for on-site dogs—which covers the cost of liability in the event the animals injure a person—may come through a professional organization, like a school social workers organization, through the school’s existing insurance plan, through a handler’s homeowner’s insurance, or through a supplemental plan, depending on various state and local laws.
Schools with therapy dogs must send forms home to parents to identify students with allergies or aversions to dogs. They should do the same for staff, and handlers work to avoid classrooms or spaces where people may be uncomfortable.
As would-be handlers select dogs to train for therapy work, Holmquist-Johnson, of Colorado State University, said the individual animal’s personality matters far more than the breed. School handlers should look for an animal—whether a purebred puppy or a mixed-breed shelter dog—that is friendly and eager to engage, she said.
Building on that foundation, well-trained dogs can serve a variety of purposes in schools, handlers said. Some may greet kindergartners anxious about leaving their parents on the first day of school. Some may play fetch with a student as a reward for improved behavior in the classroom. Some may sit and listen as two students talk through a conflict with their school counselor, serving as both a living mascot and a comforting bit of familiarity.
