• Gathering Student Input and Learning About Feelings

    Redwood Elementary in Grants Pass, Oregon is one of the schools in our District Partnerships program. Last school year, the school’s data team collected data about student behaviors that were most challenging to the staff. One of the challenging behaviors was defiance. Initially, the data team started thinking about it from the teachers’ perspective, wondering […]

  • Repackaging Consequences Does Not Create Equitable Learning Communities

    As the new executive director of Sound Discipline, I spend a lot of time studying everything I can about education equity, and social emotional learning. A few weeks ago, I read an article that I found disturbing:  “How Novice and Expert Teachers Approach Classroom Management Differently.” Citing a 2021 study, the author asserts that it […]

  • Terminal Park Elementary

    We Welcome a New Whole School!   Sound Discipline is pleased to announce a new Whole School partnership with Auburn School District’s Terminal Park Elementary.   Terminal Park Elementary in the Auburn School District will be a Sound Discipline Whole School for the 2021-22 school year. Professional development for the entire staff will be the initial […]

  • Third Annual “Designing Our Own Learning” Summer Intensive

    This summer Sound Discipline hosted our third annual “Designing Our Own Learning” (DOOL) intensive summer program. For a look back at the first two years of the program, check out Facilitator Alan Wong’s post on the College Spark Foundation’s blog. For two weeks in August, diverse students and teachers from Evergreen High School and Dimmitt […]

  • A Strong Start for Teachers

    Teachers: we sincerely hope you were able to take some well-deserved time off this summer. The past two school years have asked too much of you. And right around the corner is the beginning of something new…a new classroom of kids, new challenges, new successes.  Although we continue to face many unknowns this school year, […]

  • A Smooth Transition to the School Year

    The new school year is fast approaching, and the sunlit days are growing a little shorter. It’s time to transition from summer to the more structured schedule of fall.  There are still a lot of unknowns this school year, so it will helpful for kids to feel as ready as they can. When we leave […]

  • East Hill Elementary

    We Welcome Our Newest Whole School!   Sound Discipline is pleased to announce a new Whole School partnership with Kent School District’s East Hill Elementary. East Hill Principal Paul Tytler had this to say about the school’s collective decision to become a Sound Discipline partner: “We know social emotional learning is a priority, and beginning this […]

  • Kick Back into Summer as a Family

    This wild ride of a school year is nearing its close, and parents and caregivers need a break. The hours spent overseeing our kids’ schooling on top of working from home have resulted in significantly heightened stress levels that have not returned to pre-Covid levels. In fact, as vaccination rates rise and more social activities […]

  • Lakeridge Elementary Engages in Culturally Relevant SEL Content Schoolwide/ K-5th grade

    This month we are featuring some important work being done by two educators at Lakeridge Elementary School in the Renton School District. Jenna Middleton, SEL coach, and Angela Varela, counselor, began with a few questions – What could it look like for our students to receive culturally relevant and responsive lessons? How could we incorporate […]

  • What Did We Learn this Year that We Can Carry Forward?

    Phew!  This was a school year for the memory books! We may want to wash our hands (pun intended) of this year and say, “Good riddance!” to the sanitizer, the Zoom or Teams calls, and our vast collections of fashionable masks. And yet, in the chaos, curve balls, and continual transitions, there were some rock-solid […]