Teacher Workbook

My goal for RISE for Education “Teacher Workbook” is to support students and teachers alike in their emotional and academic growth. In doing so, I have organized this book into three major sections: Warm Ups: How to RISE before the lesson, Checking for Understanding: How to RISE during a lesson, and Exit Slips: How to RISE at the end of a lesson.

Each section begins with a personal story about an experience I have had with a student in the past. This is, in part, to provide examples of how stress can drive student thoughts and actions in various, unrecognizable ways, and how a RISE practice can benefit teachers. It is also because this project started as a selfish attempt to process the events of my teaching career.

Each section will also include a brief background to the psychological “Laws of Suggestion” that drive the thinking behind why RISE is a powerful tool and can improve the culture and climate of today’s classrooms. The Laws of Suggestion that will be discussed are: The Law of Attention, The Law of Auxiliary Emotion, and The Law of Effect.

Perhaps most importantly, this book will provide educators with RISE activities they can use at the beginning, middle, or end of class. Beginning: How do we prepare to learn? Middle: How do we refocus? End: How do we reflect? Each lesson will be ready for a teacher to use when needed. So, the teacher will have autonomy and responsibility on when to apply it.

The final section, “Teacher Action Plan” is specifically for educators. How do we decompress? How do we keep from taking home, not just the work, but the multiple mini-traumas that happen each day? These sections are the mental and emotional stretching we need to prevent burnout.