Mr. David Spellmon and Ms. Delisa Fields represented our district this year at the NAEA Conference. Mr. Spellmon presented the Social Emotional Learning strand from the topic, "Just Like Music: How Hip-Hop Can be Used to Boost up SEL Competencies." Mr. Spellmon captured the attention of educators from across the nation in a packed-out room with attendees standing against the wall, in the doorway, and seated on the floor. He introduced the most comprehensive version of the CASEL 5 core competencies and explored the similarities that sampling (in music) and education share. His attendees learned how to incorporate the sampling technique to create a Social Emotional Learning and Hip Hop based curriculum while Ms. Fields supported him with technology. The response to the session was overwhelming, and his delivery was well received. Congratulations, Mr. Spellmon, for a job well done!
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Our District BMTs (Floaters) are the unsung heroes among us. From day to day, each of them is dispatched to several schools throughout our district, providing coverage during class transitions, lunches, game management, mediating conflict, and facilitating interventions to prevent school crises. The District BMT Team, under the guidance of Ms. Dimetria Williams, provides the district with a wealth of experience, talent, skill, and practices that contribute to providing a safe school environment for our students and staff.
Dr. Walter Gwin, Sr., Mr. Jonathan Dale, and Mr. Moses Harper are members of our District BMT Team. Just recently, as we supported one of our district high schools, these esteemed gentlemen were first responders on the scene to avert a crisis on the school's campus. As observed by Dr. LaCiana Rozier, one of our Core Behavior Specialists, Dr. Gwin, Mr. Dale, and Mr. Harper leaped into action to separate an altercation between several students. Because of their watchful vigilance and their combined skill sets to prevent a violent altercation, the incident was quickly de-escalated, all students and staff were safe from harm, and the day proceeded without any interruption. Here is Dr. Gwin's response to the team's intervention techniques, "When we saw the (students) gathering and the crowd growing around them, we knew instinctively that something was wrong. We couldn't wait to be called over; we had to move quickly. As we moved onto the scene, we discussed among each other the best strategies to use to prevent harm, and by the time we reached the crowd, we implemented our plan and deescalated the crisis."
On behalf of Dr. Lisa Barnes and the entire team at Student Discipline and Behavior Support, we salute our District BMTs for their hard work. And we are incredibly grateful to Dr. Gwin, Mr. Dale, and Mr. Harper for demonstrating the effectiveness of our CPI training, teamwork and vigilance in our work.
We celebrate Mr. David Spellmon, one of our Core Behavior Specialists, for his published article, Using Hip-Hop to Promote SEL Competencies, now featured on Edutopia.com. According to their website, Edutopia is an online research platform for educators featuring six strategies to reform education through comprehensive assessment, integrated studies, project-based learning, professional learning, social and emotional learning, and integrated technology. Mr. Spellmon's article is featured under the Social and Emotional Learning Strategy section of the website and is an insightful read.
Mr. Spellmon has recently published another article, Connecting With Hard-To-Reach Students Through In-School Social Groups, now featured on TeachThought.com. According to their website, TeachThought is an idea and brand dedicated to innovation in K-12 education. This is pursued by growing teaching through thought leadership, professional development, resource curation, curriculum development, podcast publishing, and collaboration with organizations around the world.
Congratulations, Mr. Spellmon, for a sound and well-written article and for the work you do to support our students' social and emotional learning. We are proud to have you on our team!
Congratulations to Mrs. Latasha Smith, our Restorative Practices Facilitator, for being featured in Amplify RJ for Black History Month. She is being honored for her work in making history for her contribution to restorative justice. Mrs. Smith joined Amplify RJ initially to enhance her skill set as a Restorative Practice Facilitator for the district and is now a facilitator for Amplify RJ as well. We celebrate the hard work of Mrs. Smith and are so proud of this noble accomplishment.
