Turnaround Featured in ASCD EL Magazine on Supporting Teacher Well-Being

Turnaround for Children was featured in the ASCD EL magazine article, “Supporting Teacher Well-Being in a Time of Crisis.”

Written by Brooke Stafford-Brizard, who is the author of the Building Blocks for Learning framework, the article addresses the challenges teachers have faced throughout the pandemic and provides examples of how schools are building environments that prioritize educator and staff well-being and capacity to support students.

One tactic mentioned is recognizing the science behind relationships as the foundation of healthy and rigorous learning environments. Here, Turnaround’s contribution to the science of relationships and learning is cited:

Turnaround for Children, an organization that translates the science of learning and development into tools and strategies for educators, helps teachers understand the brain science connected to relationships and then share what they’ve learned with students. Its resources walk teachers through the connection between emotions, human connection and cognition. Because emotions and social connection are so deeply connected to our success as a human species, they are intertwined with cognitive processes like attention and memory, which we access to engage in learning. Relationships are key to this engagement. Just as cortisol is released with stress, oxytocin is released through human relationships and connection. The sense of safety and belonging that relationships provide is truly the foundation for learning, because they create the context that readies the brain to learn.

Read the full article here.