SEL in EDU
Real stories. Practical insights. Everyday Social Emotional Learning (SEL).
SEL in EDU
087: From Routines To Agency: How A HIgh School Teacher Integrates SEL Daily with Trevor Conde
What if US history class felt human, focused, and alive every single day? We sit down with high school social studies teacher Trevor Conde to unpack a design-first approach to SEL where routines create safety, novelty sparks curiosity, and students see themselves in the story. Trevor shares how backward design, clear weekly modules, and transparent due dates reduce friction and build self-management, while creative touchpoints turn content into a shared culture that students remember.
We walk through his daily architecture: collaborative “perch group” bell ringers that students own, a quick whole-class synthesis, and three station rotations with random groups that broaden social awareness and collaboration. Trevor explains the why behind randomization and how it grows real-world teamwork skills by stretching comfort zones. He also reveals a signature practice that boosts attention and presence: one device-free day each week. By committing to analog tools and shared materials, the class reclaims focus, deepens dialogue, and practices care for each other’s learning.
Along the way, Trevor models a growth mindset for professional learning by integrating literacy strategies and SEL into his existing goals, rather than treating them as add-ons. If you’re looking to balance routine with spark, bring SEL to life in your content area, and build a classroom that functions as a learning community, this conversation offers clear, practical moves you can try tomorrow.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
- Connect with Trevor via email at TConde@BASDschools.org.
- Recommended reading: Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García & Francesc Miralles
Welcome to season five of SEL in EDU. This is a space for educators who believe social emotional learning isn't an add-on. It's part of how we teach, lead, and show up every day. I'm Dr. Krista Lay, and in each episode, we'll explore real stories, practical strategies, and the human side of learning that helps schools grow with intention. I'm so excited to introduce Trevor Conde, a high school social studies teacher whose approach to teaching is deeply human, wildly intentional, and quietly brilliant. I met Trevor last year and was immediately struck by how naturally he weeds social emotional learning into US history through routines that build safety, structures that build agency, and lessons that help students see themselves in the story. In this conversation, you'll hear how he designs learning with a balance of routine and novelty, why self-awareness is a core thread in his classroom, and how SEAL, social, emotional, integrated learning, shows up in real practical ways. If you've ever wondered what it looks like when SEL isn't an add-on, but simply how a classroom works, you're gonna love this one. Hello, SEL and EDU family. I am incredibly excited to be back again with season five. And this season's focus is going to be more conversations with educators who are doing the work in the classroom. Last year, I got to meet a high school social studies teacher, Trevor, and was just blown away with his approach to SEL and the way that he sees patterns. I was so excited to have you come on and that you agreed to this because you have a natural way of infusing things. Thank you for your time today. I'm so excited you're here.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. Yeah, very excited to be here. I know getting to meet you through some of the programming at our school where you've helped train our teachers in implementing SEL practices into their curriculum. It was just something that forced me to be a little bit more creative, a little bit more purposeful with things I was already doing, but also in many ways gave a name to it and gave a structure for both the language, the terminology, and also just that validation that, yeah, there's a reason why I do these things. There's a reason why I approach lessons in this way, because it's building kids in these areas that we want them to be strong, whether it's relationship skills or self-awareness or all of the facets of what can go into great SEL implementation.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So, Trevor, you and I are both former, and I miss it, US history teachers. When you think back to getting your degree and entering into the classroom, like what was it that made you want to be an educator? And specifically social studies.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think education was often something in the back of my mind, even as a kid. I was typically the peer in a classroom who would help the other students who were struggling or needed that peer support. Teachers would typically tell my parents at conferences that Trevor's an extra teacher in the classroom. So I do think that inclination was somewhat innate. But then also as I matured into young adulthood, just my family situation, both my parents were trained engineers and worked in the industry for a long time. And they were both laid off when American manufacturing was moving overseas. So at that formative stage of where I'm deciding what I want life to be and what I want to do, my parents left corporate America. And then in being unemployed and starting to do substitute teaching and tutoring and some of the gigs that they hopped into, I just saw a different side from my parents, like joy in the work they were doing, not necessarily just clock in, clock out, come home and complain, but actually sharing exciting anecdotes from their day with students. And I think that's where it started to crystallize for me that this tendency I already had, I also was making the decision then to say, hey, I want to follow a fulfilling job. I want to do something with my life that is joyful, not just a paycheck. And so that that kind of leaned me towards pursuing education more officially. As far as becoming a social studies teacher specifically, when I studied undergrad in the sociology and psychology realms, I really enjoyed the humanities. However, in Pennsylvania, when you are certified for social studies, it is seven different subjects, some of which I totally love, some of which I hated. And ironically, I ended up in my role here teaching US history, which was probably my least favorite subject growing up.
SPEAKER_01:No, for sure. I'm gonna say economics, because that was my yeah.
SPEAKER_00:As far as the seven disciplines that I'm certified to teach econ, psychology, sociology, those would be the upper tier. Wow. But you take the job that's offered when I was new to the field and new to the building, young man on the totem pole, like I'm teaching freshman US history. I think it's actually been a pretty incredible journey in that way because I am now in charge of teaching a generation of kids the subject that I hated in high school. When you talk about incorporating SEL into a curriculum, I think a lot of why I've done it so well and so thoroughly is that my whole approach to teaching US history is to make sure it's not the US history I received. And I don't mean that as a disservice to any teacher I had along the way. I had great teachers who were knowledgeable about the content. But I think just even the way holistically that we approach the discipline has had room to evolve and grow since then. And really for me, teaching US history, it's not memorizing facts, it's not a series of lists of presidents and what each of their policies might have been. Kids who take my class, they're studying art, they're looking at literature, they're embedding themselves in the cultural experiences of people from different eras. And I really try to say we approach it or I approach it with a focus on the human side of US history.
SPEAKER_01:And I think you made a really good point there when you were talking about perspective and culture, because this the high school that you're in is one of the more socioeconomically, ethnically, racially diverse schools that I've had a chance to work with and that I know is in our side of the state, really. And so thinking about how students have a voice and see themselves represented is really critical and that avoidance of fact. So I can let you slide on it not being your favorite because I can understand the way that we went through it. But is there this dynamic person up in the front telling you these stories that are capturing your attention and not all of it is like that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I really on a daily basis, it's like trying to think myself into their shoes. Would I love taking this course? And that's how I try to build it. And I'm happy to say that for the most part, I think students do get a great experience. But even on something like an open house night, when I've talked to parents and presented what we do, I've had parents say, Can I sign up? Can I audit your course and take it with my kid? And I know they're joking, but it is a compliment because it's the goal I've been aiming for, which is to really bring US history to life and help kids feel like it's relevant and useful and important, rather than why am I studying old people from long ago that have nothing to do with my life?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. And I think that's one of the reasons why I was so excited to have you on and share, is because when I had a chance and opportunity to be in your classroom, you were able to weave the history with, and it wasn't just the facts, it was understanding the big concepts and the skills that go along with it and make it relevant to students. So your hooks and getting the students excited or thinking about how it relates to their lives was really present there. So let's rewind back to when we first met. And here I am, like, woo-hoo, Mrs. SEL coming in, yay, here's some neat things that we're gonna do to help students, truthfully. And knowing that you care about your kids and you want the best for them. What was some of the thoughts and the feelings that went through you as you sat thinking, like, okay, here this is a here are these skills?
SPEAKER_00:So I know a lot of times when you're signed up for a training, sometimes involuntarily, many in the field, or presumably in any field and industry have that resistance, right? That feeling of one more thing I need to do. Here's another agenda that gets added to my checklist that's already overwhelmed and time consumed. How am I gonna do more when I'm already so crunched? I will say, generally speaking, I think I'm a fairly open-minded adopter. So when I got put into an SEL training, I was excited about it. I did, like anyone, wonder is this gonna be relevant? Is this another PD that just is checking boxes and filling hours? Or is this gonna make me a better instructor in my classroom? I was really impressed and pleased with what we were doing in those sessions. And I'm not just saying that because I'm talking to you. Like I genuinely got on board most when I heard the SEL changing to S E I L. That's how we think of it in our district, social and emotionally integrated learning. I'm on board with that. That's really my whole shtick with it. I would like tools and resources and terminology and research-backed best practices, but I want things that I can integrate into my curricular goals, into my actual lessons that might already exist. I'm not necessarily someone who wants to take a pause from what I'm doing to have, okay, on this day, we're now going to do SEL. And so for me, in thinking of that training as further equipping me, putting tools in my toolkit, I was really looking for things that I can seamlessly latch on to what I'm already doing in my classroom. I feel like I have every day accounted for in a semester, and there's not a whole lot of extra time lying around. So I need things that are efficient for that reason, but also from a core belief. I want my activities, I want my student development to feel natural. I want it to feel connected to what our other agenda might be, what our course goals are. I don't want the kids to feel like, oh, on some days we do US history and on other days we do SEL, because I want them to be blended and integrated in an authentically valuable way.
SPEAKER_01:I appreciate that because when I think back to being in the classroom, I was voluntold to go into some professional learning sessions. And I'm like, oh man, one, I don't want to be away from my kids. And two, what's this time going to be like? And three, what does this mean for me coming back? And one of the other things that I thought was really incredible about you as a person and an educator is that weren't you also doing KTL training at the same time?
SPEAKER_00:KTL is keys to literacy. We know it's really important to enhance student reading ability for any class. And so our district's goal with that program is to take a literacy teaching perspective into every subject area.
SPEAKER_01:The reason I bring that up is because of how willingly you were able to navigate all of those pieces together. And I think back to when I was teaching and the literacy standards came out, and I'm like, oh no, this is why I'm not an ELA teacher. I'm not doing this that and it came from a place of fear, not having confidence in myself. And when I became an instructional coach, I worked with the ELA teachers to bridge that gap. And it was how could I contribute? I don't have to do it to the level that an ELA teacher does, but I do have a role to play. And that's how I started looking at SEL with all of the teachers. We all have a piece that we can be using. When you started putting these pieces together, I'm curious which SEL skills naturally seem to rise to the top for what your students needed socially, and what was a natural fit for your classroom culture?
SPEAKER_00:Sure. I don't necessarily have a hierarchical order of my thoughts and advice here. So more just what's coming to mind first is the self-awareness. I know that's one of the big categories for the skills and the things you're trying to help students develop. But self-awareness for me, I've always been someone. I did study sociology psychology who puts a high value on metacognition. And so even before being trained in SEL practices, I was constantly talking out loud to my students about thought process, about cognitive planning and small things, big things, you name it. I'll consistently start the week by having students think about what we're trying to accomplish this week. I'll consistently start class by trying to describe what we're trying to accomplish this class. And then I'll talk through here's a few barriers that I anticipate we will face. I know that we're in a time of year in the second marking period where there are holiday breaks. Can we step back and admit that anytime we get out of our routine, it can be a challenge to learning? So you're gonna go away for two and a half weeks, you're gonna come back and we're gonna take a final exam. I'm not sure that is an ideal scenario for learning. It may be ideal for our personal lives and we deserve that time of way. But if you're thinking purely about academic achievement and about the things you're trying to learn and show on an assessment, I don't know that a semester with a Thanksgiving break followed by a winter holiday break, I'm not sure that's an easy marking period for our kids. So having those conversations and just talking through that mental cognition side of things with kids consistently, I think is something I always valued. But now there's a name to it, right? Now the SEL skill is self-awareness, recognizing what are the challenges ahead of me this week? What are the challenges ahead of me this month? When students are successful on things, talking through the success they've had, why were you successful? You got a great grade on that quiz. What was it that you did this week that helped you feel prepared for that task? The tasks themselves are obviously important. That's why we're here, that's what we're doing. But are we having conversations about the tasks? Are we thinking through our approach? Are we discussing hurdles that help, supports the various things that are in place that are more process-oriented rather than result-oriented?
SPEAKER_01:Where are you seeing some of these other entry points that have really worked for your students to get them thinking about skills?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so a couple of things come to mind there. One thing about me that I think those who ever come to my classroom will quickly realize is I am very whole picture backwards planning design oriented. My first day of the semester, when I give kids a syllabus, it includes the due dates for every graded assignment. And those due dates really don't change, which on the surface, when you have a teacher who has every day planned out to the T ahead of time, it might sound inflexible, but it's about building a system for me, more so than exactly what everything will be. And so for me, the system is we're gonna take one era each week. And we know that on Monday, if we start a learning segment or a module, as I call them, that by the end of the week, before we leave for the weekend, we should be able to show what we know. Yes, you might call it a quiz, you might call it a due date, but it's within this week, we're gonna learn some stuff and we're gonna show what we know before we leave for the weekend. And if we have a five-day week, then I stretch that over five days. If we have a four-day week, we do it in four. So there is that backwards planning that sort of has the end goal in mind for each step along the way. But believe it or not, I am also very adaptive and flexible. And I think that's a key for any young teacher who's trying to map out a semester or a course or even a unit. Figure out your end target date, provide a system that you think would get you there, but also within that system, think about where you're leaving room for flexibility. So, for instance, in the scenario I just described, yes, we think of school as being five-day weeks, but we know there's a lot of four-day weeks, holidays on a Monday or things of that nature. So every module that I build it so that it could be done in four days, knowing that I will likely have five. And that fifth day, that extra day, it's not after the quizzes. It's typically the Thursday. So when I have a five-day week, Thursday becomes this enrichment or supplemental or extra day for us. And that's a day that I know when I have that fifth day, we're doing something creative. We're doing something where students are reflecting personally on the topics. Maybe if we're studying the Roaring 20s and we're talking about the silent film era, we're gonna have students recording silent film charades where they're acting out vocab words, but we're gonna play them as silent films because it's topically appropriate, right? And so those are what Thursday activities become in my classroom. Yes, sometimes I don't have five days. And so on a four-day unit, that gets cut. And okay, we don't have that full thorough activity, but we still get the learning done. And I think building things where your system can remain consistent, but it offers room for flexibility is uh a great way to then integrate. These different programs that are being tasked to you. So whether it's the SEL initiative of our district or we talked about that KTL initiative, I have spaces in my lesson design to just plop those things right in. The KTL I tend to use in my warmups. So every day, the first five minutes is a warm-up. And I know every day of the semester will have a warm-up, but I don't have them scripted down to each one. I know those are areas where I can insert a KTL lesson activity. I can insert a SEL activity. And so I've created a system that works for me, where I have a very solid, well-planned overall curriculum, but I have these spaces where I know I can give the students what they need, whatever that might be, where I can fulfill some district requirements when they come my way, or where I can just tap into something that I think is really fun and I think is cool. And let's do it.
SPEAKER_01:I want to draw out a couple of things that you said there. One for people who are listening who might not realize you're on a block schedule and you have semester courses. You're really thinking developmentally about what is best for students and that they're showcasing what they've learned before they go away for the weekend. So there's this natural mental break for them.
SPEAKER_00:Correct. Yeah. And I think another aspect of SEL development for our students is unspoken to them. I know there's a lot that we should be discussing with them and developing their awareness of these SEL skills, but there's also an element that we build things behind the scenes unbeknownst to them. And are you building things that are good for their development? So I often, for my own mental tug of war, but also in conversations with other teachers, I often come to this concept of routine versus novelty because routine is something that provides students with stability and predictability. And it truly does help them learn. It helps them feel comfortable and safe. It helps them be successful. But routine on paper can also be mundane, it can also be boring. So you have the vision of a teacher who is this firecracker, whirlwind of energy who can draw the students into these amazing storytelling moments and who can just bring things to life. There may be a lot of novelty, but as far as structure, perhaps there's something missing, right? And it is a tug of war. I think it really needs to be a balance, that your classroom routines are solid so that things are efficient, so that students are able to learn a volume of content. If every assignment my kids did was brand new instructions, they would spend a lot of their time learning instructions. Whereas what I try to accomplish is a set of very routinal lessons or units. My students know in each of the 12 eras we study, they're going to have a list of eight vocab words. They know in each of the 12 eras, they're going to have a list of five key contributors, the five people they need to know about. They know they're going to have to understand five events in a sequence, and that they're going to be responsible for analyzing three primary sources in that era. So there's so much unnegotiable like set of requirements in a way, but how we approach it throughout the year can still bring those things to life in exciting ways. So it's not a matter that unit one for my course looked like this, and unit two is a whole different ballgame. And now that you just learned the rules for how we do things in unit one, guess what? None of those rules apply. We're going to approach learning in an entirely different way as we transition to unit two. That's not what I'm trying to do. So for me, it's about building routines, but building them with purpose, making sure if I'm going to commit to doing something 12 times in a row by moving through 12 eras, it's got to be really good. It can't be a sloppy, thrown-together concept. It's got to be something fantastic that is useful and enjoyable for students to do 12 times. And I don't know if I always get it right, but that's the thought process behind what I'm building for them. And all of that is simply to say that for students' social and emotional well-being, they need a balance of routine and novelty. And I think teachers would do well to really think hard about what their personal balance is going to look like when you're building a course.
SPEAKER_01:A lot has to do with what system you're working inside. And you're thinking about are they physically, emotionally, and psychologically safe so that they can experience the novelty with joy.
SPEAKER_00:And if you'd allow, elaborating on just some of the practical things I do to find that balance myself, one of them is the physical structure of my classroom. I want students to be on task and to be aligned with my goals at all times, but I don't think it's necessarily ideal to sit in an assigned seat for 90 minutes. So when my students come to class, they own the first five minutes. It's like a known thing. And I've developed that with them and coached them. So when the bell rings, class has absolutely started. There is a goal, there is a task, but we call it the bell ringer task in my room. A lot of teachers would call it a warm-up or a do now. They grab that sheet on their way in, get the materials they need, and they are allowed to go anywhere in the room that they want. They are expected to be with their perch group, which means you're not going to an assigned seat. You can land at whatever perch you would like, but you are with a core group of people that is consistent day to day. And almost all of my bell ringers are designed to be collaborative. So this perch group of three students should be working through the concept together. And it allows them to stand over by the windows or perhaps to sit on a couple of the sofa chairs in the back. Many will end up in desk seats, but they might not be in their personal assigned seat during that time. I also coach the students like you own that time and it feels like a reward to them, but it also comes with some responsibility or what you might call responsible decision making in your program, that there's a five-minute task and that clock's ticking down and it's gonna buzz. And when that timer goes off, you then are gonna be at your assigned seat and you're gonna be ready to share because you had five minutes to prepare for the conversation we're about to have whole class. And so students using that both for skill development, it's a place those five-minute assignments. I can insert KTL, read this paragraph and summarize it in your own words, but I also coach them through using that time in a relationship skill model of collaborating with others and supporting each other and helping each other be ready for class and helping each other have something to say before you're gonna have to say it in front of the whole group. And then my students are they're at this point in the semester, we're in December, they're great with it. The timer goes off. I more or less don't even say anything, and everyone within 20 seconds is in their assigned seat, ready to go. They're ready to share. They've already thrown their idea off of a sounding board with their classmates before they would have to speak it to the whole room. And when it's not an ideal bell ringer day, that's okay too, because I can then talk through that with them. There's times where during the bell ringer, they were supposed to think of another important event from the era that they might want to add to our list of events. And when we start the conversation, it's crickets. And I can use that with my typical build you up mindset. Ever attack my students, but just offer that little bit of a critical lens of, hey guys, like this conversation died off pretty quickly. We should be able to generate a relatively thorough list because we had five minutes to prepare. You at your group had other people who could have offered an idea that you're now ready to share. You weren't alone, you had other resources to tap into, and you've had time. So what else was needed in order for this to be a meaningful conversation? And usually they'll say, No, you gave us everything that we needed. I don't think we used the time very well. And that's okay. And then often kids will raise their hand a couple more times and oh, suddenly there's some ideas. But I think them recognizing when they fail or when they aren't successful on any task, big or small, like looking internally at the ownership of like why, and not just throwing their hands up and saying that was impossible, or my teacher didn't give me what I needed, or there wasn't opportunity. It's so unfair. Getting them to reflect and say, nope, it was quite fair. I had what I needed, I've just got to follow through. And usually when we have a day like that, the next day the conversation is rousing because they're like ready to show me, like, look, we can use our bell ringer time. We are prepared for class and we are capable. Then the remaining time involves what I call stations. So they're gonna rotate through three spaces in the classroom. And I have a very obvious physical structure that like these desks look and face and orient in a different way compared to these and those. So the three spaces are very physically defined, and students know they are gonna move through three different learning activities. They don't always know what the activities are. The activities at each station might cycle through different goals and different actual learning tasks, but they know they're gonna move in those ways. So once we finish our whole group portion, I throw random lists on the board for the three groups, and it's okay, head to your first station. You'll see the materials there that you need. I usually will print out like a sign for each station that says what tool is being used, computer, notes, project materials, nothing, and a goal and a task to do. But students are gonna spend roughly 15 to 20 minutes in that spot. We've got those first five where they own it, we do 15 together, and now we're gonna rotate through 20-minute stations, and they'll come out of that with three different sets of learning. So, beyond that, not only is it helping them with self-management, knowing that I only have to focus on this thing for 15 minutes, I have some urgency because it's not a super long deadline, it's something I gotta get it done. So the self-management piece, I think, is built into that, but also the collaboration or what you'd call relationship skills, because the random groups is a huge part of our classroom culture. And I coach them through that. We talk about it often. Why are we in random groups? Because the natural complaint is, oh, I want to be with my friend. And I discuss that metacognition side again, why I believe in random groups and why you're consistently going to be placed randomly rather than through choice. And I do generally get good buy-in from the students because I'm willing to have those conversations. And for me, the the answer to that, the why, is that I want them to meet new people. I don't want them to interact with the same person every day. And if you can only collaborate with one person or one type of person, then your collaborative skills aren't that great because collaboration is about taking diverse perspectives. It's about understanding the other. It's about being exposed to new ideas and new concepts and being challenged and stretched. And so I regularly, maybe not every day, but I would say at least once a week, I'm reminding the students, hey, we're gonna get our random groups. Remember, we like random groups, we like working with different people because that's how we grow. And the counterbalance is the reminder to them. There's three groups. Mathematically, you'll be with your best friend one out of every three days. So I'm not denying you access to your best friend. I'm saying first five minutes, go for it. And in group work, once every three days, you will be with your best friend.
SPEAKER_01:You take the time for the why. And just the fact that that's the world. We're going to be working with all different types of people. I think some of the most brilliant ahas are when you're like, wow, you two, or oh my gosh, that's so cool. Tell me about that. And you find you have a connection and an interest in somebody that you would never have thought of seeing that before.
SPEAKER_00:I think when you have a really great toolkit, you can then build some pretty amazing and memorable moments for your students. I don't want to let it go by without mentioning a few of those really special moments that my kids have had this semester. I think one of them is what you were just describing, the random group who turns out to work really well together and be like, wow, we could be fast friends. I saw that just this week. I saw students working on a group project together where I had chosen the groups. They were super dynamic and mature in their conversations. But I know, at least from my perception, these two kids aren't best friends. Like they probably never talked to each other outside of this class. And so on their way out the door that day, I said, Hey, I have a missing item from the civil rights group. Can you guys come over? I just need to check in with you about that, which I didn't. But that those kids were able to stop by. Everyone else had exited the room. And I could just have that moment to say, hey guys, I just want to let you know, like, I'm so proud of the conversations I'm hearing during your group work. And I just think you guys have taken a task that many aren't excited about being put with someone random, and you've made the most of it. And I don't know if you guys will ever talk again after this project, but the conversations I've heard during this project are have just been so wonderful. So having moments like that where you see the rewards of pushing kids or stretching them, and that it was worth it, like just for that moment alone. One of the things I sometimes joke about, but believe, is that my superpower is being able to take anything thrown at me and tie it right into my curriculum goals. Morning routine at the building allows students into the building early, especially during these cold months, but we don't necessarily have the building staffed and monitored because contractually teachers don't start till a certain time. And so there's a few of us who have volunteered to occupy the first floor and hold down that space and provide supervision so that kids can be indoors. And every day while I stand there, there's blank walls in some of those spaces. Students are more or less told that they are allowed in the building, but you gotta stay right here, stay in this corner, stay in this stairwell, like hang in these relatively limited spaces. And I was just staring at this blank wall marble wall for three months and was like, I gotta figure out something to put up there. And meanwhile, it's also Thanksgiving week. And in my course, we happen to be in our civil rights unit. So I'm like, I've got all these things in my head of some random goal downstairs and the holiday that's coming up, and we have our unit that we're working through. And I was able to off the cuff develop a project that asked students to explore a civil rights leader that they are personally thankful for. And initially it's what do you mean? Like personally thankful? But building a project that makes sense in our course goals and also allows that reflective moment around that holiday produced something really cool. So students had to research a civil rights leader. Uh, I coached them through perhaps choosing someone relevant to your own interests. If you're a female student and you feel like the feminist movement is something you're thankful for, let's look up and research some of the icons of that movement. If you're a student who perhaps values the progress of our queer community and some of the groundbreaking pioneers who have allowed society to become what it is in that realm, maybe you're looking up a civil rights leader in that ilk. If you're a student from a minority background or from a religious minority standpoint, is there a leader who's really helped people in a way that you identify with? So coaching them through that and getting them into groups and working and still targeting a lot of the skills that we do curricularly. So you need to identify a meaningful quote from the person. I need you to reference three significant events from their life in a biographical sense. What is an impactful accomplishment of their career? And can you summarize the historical significance of that moment? And then lastly, getting them to do the reflective statement, that that personal element of I am thankful for Betty Friedan because, or I am thankful for César Chavez because. And then we were able to print out their projects and tape them all over the wall downstairs. And for the last few weeks, there's been a display in the lobby which is Thankful for Civil Rights. And it's got a variety of leaders. And aside from coaching them through how to come up with someone, I didn't control who they chose. And random people who have walked by that display have commented how it's so cool seeing the variety of people that not just your standard MLK Rosa Parks and JFK, but really running the gambit and students connecting to all sorts of different civil rights leaders. There was a student who put Bill Russell, famous MBA basketball player, that even to my knowledge, like I wouldn't have necessarily jumped to him as a civil rights leader, but you read about his story and his impact and what he did off the court, and you realize, oh my gosh, absolutely civil rights leader for sure. And so it was a really cool moment. Sometimes we think creating those moments is going to take so much time and so much effort. I promise it was one day, and it wasn't even really a tangent. It was the lesson we were working on. It was the civil rights movement, which we were already embedded in. It was the skills and the content that we've been practicing all semester. But we connected it to an authentic reason, the Thanksgiving holiday. And we were able to display their work publicly to an authentic audience, our entire school community. And it just resonated certainly more than your typical lesson, fill out this worksheet and submit it.
SPEAKER_01:And you got to learn about what was important to the students. So then digging back into that self-awareness and their identity, they got to have the social awareness and seeing the strengths of others and what people are grateful for. And what a treat for the people walking through that hallway all the time, getting to see people who maybe they were like, Oh, I didn't know anybody else knew about them, or oh my gosh, I didn't know about this person, and now I need to do more. The impact has this enormous ripple effect.
SPEAKER_00:And I'll just share one more thing. Another piece of the puzzle for me, and each teacher certainly can decide where they stand on technology, but another piece for the puzzle for me in how I approach SEL is getting kids off the computers. Not holistically, there's a lot we do in my classroom that is on the machines, but I carve out there is absolutely one day every week where they will not be on the computer during my class. It's typically Monday, just from how I build my routines. So you've heard from me that I have this plan for each week. And Thursday is that bonus enrichment, like typically more exciting day. And Monday in Mr. Conde's class is no computers. And that's like a known thing. Kids come in. I have it would be similar to open or closed sign at a restaurant. Like I flip it daily, and right above it, it basically says, Do we need computers today? And it's either a yes or a no. And when it's a no, they're expected to keep that machine in their backpack and their backpacks stay at the front of the room, not at their seats for a number of reasons. One, because we move around a lot in my room. And as we're going from station to station, we shouldn't be tripping over things. And if it's not part of what we're doing, then it's a distraction. So there's a number of reasons why we put that stuff away and why I coach them about removing distractions and self-managing in that way. But more than that, I really do feel that day they are more fully present and they're more fully human, right? Like when we do too much on the machine, we lose a little of ourselves, I think. And so there's at least one day a week where all of it is gonna happen analog, right? It's all gonna be without the computer. And sometimes that puts an extra burden on me from a planning perspective, because maybe 75% of my lesson works perfectly well without a computer, but there's like that one thing that actually you would want a digital tool. But that's where I get very whole part whole and I plan out my week to make sure, hey, if there's a different activity later in the week that works well without the computer, let me swap that into Monday so that Monday can remain a meaningful computerless day. And I've just really seen a lot of value in that in small ways, just with attention and limiting distractions. But in a bigger sense, I think it is subtly reminding students in my classroom that learning is not synonymous with computers. Computers may often help. Computers may be a tool, but students in my room get a very clear message that we can learn without it, we will learn without it, and often we'll learn more when it's put away. At the end of the day, it's that sense that a classroom is a learning community, right? It's so that's not your seat, that's one of the desks in our classroom. And you don't entirely own that space. You will sit there often, you'll move through that space at times, but that's where a lot of the thought process is in terms of trying to get students to recognize you're not a stagnant aspect of this room. So you're not gonna sit in one spot the whole time, you're not gonna work on one device the whole time. Like you're gonna stand, you're gonna touch other materials, you're gonna work with manipulatives, you're gonna actually have to share those manipulatives with classmates, because I don't make an individual set of manipulative tools for each student. I make three for the group, and the group might have 10 students. And so the more that we're sharing things, whether it's our seats and our spaces and the tools we're learning from, compared to as soon as you go device-wise, everyone gets their own. All of a sudden, that same Google Doc, everyone can have a copy of it, and it separates people rather than when you're sharing a physical space off of digital screens. The nature of sharing physical space connects people, I think. And just starting to recognize that oh, I need to have my materials neat and tidy and orderly because other people are going to pass down these aisles. Other people are also trying to learn. And when you start to care about other people's learning, I promise you will learn more. When you start to care about other students' success, I promise you will be more successful. I do truly believe that. And so a lot of what I'm trying to build in my room is that learning community where we're committed not only to ourselves reaching the goal, but we're committed to the group reaching the goal.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think people realize how connected we all are.
SPEAKER_00:I'll be the first to recognize that I'm not perfect. I'm not always nailing it every single day. But I also at this point, I mean, I'm in my eighth year of teaching. I would say confidently that I do put a lot of thought into it, that I'm not just rolling with my typical from last year. I'm constantly reinventing things and trying to perfect my craft, trying to perfect my curriculum. And at this stage, I do feel really proud and really good about the product I'm putting out. Now, when I look back, I know there was growth I needed along the way. I the first cohort of students I worked with, there's part of me that feels sad and guilty. Oh, they didn't get this. Like what I'm doing now, those kids got such a lesser version of what they could have had. But that's fair. We're all allowed to grow in our time. And I just try to think each semester, what have I learned? What tools have I gained that can create a better experience for the kids now? For the most part, I think each semester gets better. I think I am better at it, but also in the subtleties, like just so much more skilled as like that master craftsman who has the attention to detail. And you just learn as you go if you're willing to. And so to bring it back to that district initiative example where you know you're gonna be trained on something and are you gonna resist it? Or are you gonna view it as a potential benefit to your craft? Can it make you better at what you do? Can you take the small pieces that you like and include them along the way? Some of us might benefit in bigger ways from certain trainings, some of us might benefit less from a particular topic, but we all should be growing in our craft, in our coursework, in whatever it is you do, whether you're a teacher or even something else. So for me, it's never felt like one more thing I have to do because the thing I have to do is grow in my craft. Whatever I'm currently doing, I'm gonna hold on to the things that I love, I'm gonna lean into the things that went well, but I'm also gonna stretch and grow towards something better in the spaces where I can. So if I define my goal for the school year as I need to give that test that I always give and that project that we always do, and I have to have that one lesson that is so iconic. When it's this set of things that are required to get done, then yes, a new initiative might feel like a burden. But if the one thing you have to do is grow in your craft and put out a great product, then I think new initiatives are gonna be more refreshing than they are a burden. They're gonna be tools or ideas or brainstorms that can help you with that actual one goal that you have, which is to grow in your craft of putting out a great product.
SPEAKER_01:I think that you just very accurately explain the difference between people who lean in and people who resist. Would you want to share it in case there is somebody who's listening who's, you know what? I'd like to run a couple ideas by him or talk more, learn more.
SPEAKER_00:No, I'm a nerd to heart. I love having conversations and collaborating and discussing education with people. You're certainly welcome to reach out and get in contact with me. You heard my rant about getting off devices. So, in line with that, I will say I don't have any social media handles. I do have an email and at a personal level, I connect with people and am happy to converse, but you won't see me putting out any blogs or teacher websites, or I don't have a profound presence online by any means. My email handle as a teacher here in the Bethel Maria School District, my first name is Trevor, so T conde C-O-N-D-E at BASD schools with an s dot org. So t conde at basdschools.org. I'm pretty good with email at least, but you probably won't find me much elsewhere.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for that. And for those who are listening, I will drop that in the show notes. Trevor Bank for your time and sharing your expertise and your experiences.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. I love education. I love building systems and structures and routines and working with young people and helping them grow. And I'm thankful for the people who have collaborated with me, my fellow teachers here in the building, but also the outside resources who bring in these fresh new ideas and shake me up and make me try new things. And so I'm thankful for your role in that, the partnership that you through your company have really started to have an imprint on our building, on our district in a meaningful way. I think when more people, institutions, organizations are all pushing in these positive directions, and we can get ourselves aligned and helping each other do it in the best ways we can, at the end of the day, that's good for everyone.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for being part of the SEL in EVU family. As you move into the rest of your day, I invite you to notice one small way social emotional learning showed up in your thinking, your relationships, or your work. Until next time, take care of yourself and keep making space for meaningful connected learning.
