Blog
!mperative Social and Emotional News
Choosing your thoughts during a Pandemic
Gain some useful advice with tools on how to shine a light on thoughts which best serve us – particularly during this challenging time in history.
Self-Care in a World Gone Mad!!
This is a particularly tough time because of the pandemic and the anger and division out there. Keep your eye on the ball – your reason for teaching. Self-care is essential and this is me, post workshop – sharing the love.
Three Tips for Teachers to Start off This School Year Right!
Rule 1: Fill your own cup first
Set a morning routine that you can follow – and it need not take hours! Pullease!! Who has the time? Upon awakening, notice your thoughts. Decide, right there and then: today will be a ‘good’ day! You can also…
Uncertainty is the New Normal
The truth is that we simply do not know what’s going to happen in life. We never have. Finding a way to be comfortable with this uncertainty is of great interest to me. It’s not just Covid19 causing this uncertainty – we’ve always been this way!
A Self-Care HAPPY HOUR on June 25th
The school year is almost over and teachers and parents and kids are TIRED!!!! I know because I've been with you throughout the year. I've connected with you at your school, at conferences, online, and in life and you've told me! You've cried to me. You've shared your...
Mindfulness and Lessons during Covid19
If you need help with mindfulness, home schooling, teaching, and self-care then read this post and visit the Imperative Education YouTube Channel for support! I’m here for you during this Covid19 crisis. Jodi Derkson, founder, Imperative Education
Pink Shirt Day beyond just wearing pink
A portion of the classroom lesson for you to use:
Your friends start calling you names, sending you nasty text messages and forcing you to give them things or do things that you aren’t comfortable with. You feel so torn. What should you do?
1. Nothing. You must have done something wrong to make your friends act like that.
2. Start calling them names in return and threaten them.
3. Speak to your parents or teacher and tell them what is happening.
4. Something else (Open corner).
On February 26,2020 try this lesson to broach the important topic of how we handle conflict and power imbalances both in school and in our communities.
Teaching is so Lonely!
Last week I gave a workshop on Mindful Self-Care and started by asking the following question: Isn't teaching so lonely? Heads nodded! I sensed the relief flooding the room - this is going to get real! Nobody ever talks about how lonely teaching is. In fact, when I...
Bullying? Why Me?
Over the years I’ve wondered why I’m so hell bent on putting a stop to bullying. Like most normal people, I feel really sad imagining a child being bullied; it’s just so hard to feel unwelcome, alone, and hurt. Thinking about a kid deciding that life is not worth...
SEL begins with the SELF
If you’d like to teach social and emotional learning more in your class, then begin by immersing yourself in your own life – witnessing your own emotions as they come and go; noticing your state of mind upon awakening, or when in a classroom full of students. Role model your own growth and they will follow suit.
Hello! It’s Jodi, founder of Imperative Education. You know, ever since I can remember I’ve been interested in how people communicate… how relationships are formed. At McGill University, I studied Communications so that I could take this focus from intuition to fact, and from serious interest to passion. I decided to become a teacher, like so many, to make a difference and that initial goal hasn’t paled at all throughout the years
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