Ep. 72: Zooming In on S.E.L. and the Arts with Elizabeth Peterson
Make sure to check out Elizabeth’s guest blog post here.
How to Reach Elizabeth:
The Inspired Classroom Website
The Inspired Classroom YouTube Channel
The Inspired Classroom Facebook Page
The Inspired Classroom Instagram
Free SEAL Workshop
Elizabeth’s Twitter
Transcript
Melissa Milner 0:09
Welcome to The Teacher As... podcast. I'm your host Melissa Milner, a teacher who is painfully curious and very easily inspired. This podcast is ever changing. And I hope with each season, you find episodes that speak to you in your work as an educator. This is the fourth season of The Teacher As..., and it's exciting to see the growth in how many educators are listening. Episodes are released every other week. If you enjoy The Teacher As... please rate it on Apple podcasts and leave a review, it helps the podcast reach more educators. Thanks for listening.
Elizabeth Peterson 0:40
I'm excited to be here with you, Melissa, chatting about some good teacher stuff. My name is Elizabeth Peterson, this is my 24th year teaching. I teach elementary, upper elementary, and I did about seven years of teaching middle school music as well. And, you know, it's it's one of those things where you, when you've been in even even for the last seven to 10 years, you've noticed that kids are changing, and their needs are changing, and quite honestly, so are teachers needs are changing as well. And so what I have been so blessed to be able to use is my talent with arts and arts integration, something that I've been doing since I was a student teacher, really. And I've been able to utilize the arts not just for content and academic learning, but in the last few years, I've been really developing ways to use it to help students with their social emotional learning. And what's been so great is that not only does it help the students, but it helps the teacher as well. And so my thing is S.E.A.L.: social, emotional artistic learning. And it's a method of really empowering teachers with really good artistic strategies, and creative ways to help students with their social emotional learning throughout the day.
Melissa Milner 2:17
So you said there's a method?
Elizabeth Peterson 2:19
Yes.
Melissa Milner 2:20
Can you tell us about the method?
Elizabeth Peterson 2:22
Oh, yes, there's a method behind the madness, right. So S.E.A.L. has a framework, it's, it's done in three waves or phases. And the first wave is all about teacher mindset. And that is really getting the teacher to understand his or her role as a teacher in today's classroom, because it truly has changed. And we need to really have that opportunity to reflect on that and kind of take a look at what we're doing in the classroom, everything from our behaviors to the way we set up our classrooms, and especially how we're taking care of ourselves, so that we can truly be the best for our students. Because S.E.A.L. is...l and all all my work with teachers, and I've been teaching workshops and courses and retreats for 16 years. And all of that has been really focused in on the teacher, teacher centered professional development because well, teachers are, I believe, the most important part of the classroom.
Melissa Milner 3:26
Yeah, 'cause you can't pour from an empty bucket. Yeah.
Elizabeth Peterson 3:29
Definitely not.
Melissa Milner 3:31
Okay, so can you give us some examples of what you do in that teacher mindset section?
Elizabeth Peterson 3:38
Sure. So I mean, we we go through the whole gamut from the self care to things that you just kind of like your, your mindset, right, your your frame of mind as you're as you're entering the classroom itself. And I think one of the most powerful mindset shifts that so many of my teachers, once they really dig into it, and we do a lot of good artistic creation inside the courses to really kind of get a handle on this is understanding the concept of control and really understanding what you do and do not have control of whether that's in your classroom.
Melissa Milner 4:20
I'm sorry, that I'm laughing.
Elizabeth Peterson 4:23
Go for it. It's so...
Melissa Milner 4:24
Focus on what you can control? Yes.
Elizabeth Peterson 4:27
Yeah. And it can be in your classroom, your school, your district, it, you know, starts falling into your home life, your personal life. And when you really do the work to get a grip, to get a grip really. That's what it is. On what you can and can't control and you focus on those things that you can and you learn how to let go of the ones that you can't. It can truly, it just it's a game changer for so many teachers to be able to understand that, and know when they can walk away and know when they can run, say no. And just let go of things that are that are not doing any good for them.
Melissa Milner 5:16
So the teacher takes your workshop, and they go through this first part. And they're like, Okay, I know what I'm in control. I've got this, I know to get enough sleep at night and make sure to exercise and eat well, and, and, you know, just fill, fill my cup, so that I'm, you know, in, in good condition to work with students when I walk in my classroom? And then what do you do with them?
Elizabeth Peterson 5:42
Okay, and then the second wave is all about the S.E.A.L. teacher methods. And those are the ways that you can bring in some of these S.E.A.L. strategies into your classroom in ways that don't overwhelm you or overwhelm your students. Because you know, as a, as a current teacher, myself, I know that getting a new initiative or getting more piled up on top is just really, it's it doesn't do anyone really any good.
Melissa Milner 6:12
You said upper elementary. What grade do you teach?
Elizabeth Peterson 6:14
Yeah, I teach third grade.
Melissa Milner 6:16
Okay, I teach fourth. Yeah
Elizabeth Peterson 6:18
Yup I taught for for so many years, yeah. And being able to just have, have these methods have these ideas become part of your routine, and part of what you do and part of what your students can expect. And the great thing about S.E.A.L. is that because it's based in arts and creativity, it really is all about student experiences. So, it's not the type of program that's scripted, or lesson plans are laid out. And you have to do you know, like lesson one A on Monday and lesson one B on Tuesday, it's not that at all, it really is talking, you know, it really is working with students where they're at, and giving them the experiences that they can actually use to practice and develop their social emotional skills, right there in the classroom with you.
Melissa Milner 7:18
So is this circling up and having discussions and then and then adding some art piece to it? Or is this...? Like, what does it look like in the classroom? Yeah. And one more, is it one more thing? Or is it sort of incorporated into the day?
Elizabeth Peterson 7:35
Yeah, definitely, we use, well, there are some embedded strategies to S.E.A.L. and those are totally incorporated into your day. And... while you can have discussions, and it is good to, you know, be explicit about what you may be introducing to your students. It's, that's not the focus, the focus is on getting your kids to do something, for example, dance and movement as an art form is something that all teachers can and probably should bring into their classrooms. And I'm talking elementary through high school, and there are, you know, we talked about so many adaptations and modifications for those older kids and, and that type of thing. But, you know, just making dance and or movement part of your routine, getting them to transition from one thing to the next is just so powerful. And then when you were not sitting down and talking about, you know, what is it we're doing, why are we doing this, but kind of just sprinkling it in so that they just start to understand, okay, you know, I'm about to start math, we're gonna get up, we're gonna move a little bit. Before that, sometimes, you know, I'll incorporate integrate some math concepts in there. We'll do some like movement that has patterns.
Melissa Milner 8:59
So it's like a body break kind of thing.
Elizabeth Peterson 9:01
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 9:02
Okay.
Elizabeth Peterson 9:03
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And helping them to understand how that does actually help them with their self management, how how they can start to listen to their body and understand what they need. And that's where the social emotional piece comes in. And if you're doing that consistently, you know, throughout the whole year or throughout the trimester that you have your students, they are just, you can see those skills develop in front of your eyes, because they're involved with the activities and with the art itself.
Melissa Milner 9:42
Yeah. And are there other arts involved is you know, incorporating, you know, drawing and painting into subjects and theater and all that kind of stuff?
Elizabeth Peterson 9:54
Yeah, certainly.
Melissa Milner 9:56
Painting, singing, right?
Elizabeth Peterson 9:56
Yeah, exactly. And so on. Um, you know, S.E.A.L. takes all the four major art forms of visual art, music, dance and drama, and integrates it with all the various social emotional competencies. And once we get, excuse me, once we get into the third wave, that's where we really focus in on those integrations. And we look at how every art form, and every competency has those connections. And the teachers will start to really kind of grasp, you know, what, what makes sense to them? What makes sense? What are their students need, and start to really design what's going to work for their schedule. And to really hone in on those integrations that are going to that are going to work for their students.
Melissa Milner 10:50
Yeah, that was my next question. Because depending on what curriculum you have and depending on your daily schedule, there's a lot of variables.
Elizabeth Peterson 10:58
Certainly, yeah. And that's one of the great things that I love about S.E.A.L. is that it's so flexible. Like I said, it can work from pre K through 12. It works for so many different schedules, you know, I have teachers come through that are, you know, there might be music teachers, PE teachers, I've had a school nurse come through and able to use some of the strategies, teaching artists, people who do like before and after school programs. And because it's so flexible, and it really, you're able to hone into your style, your schedule, and of course, the students that are in front of you. It can really be so it just it just really helps that whole classroom atmosphere.
Melissa Milner 11:48
Sounds wonderful. It sounds like, you know, things some of us are probably already doing here and there. But to really have that bigger picture of how to incorporate it.
Elizabeth Peterson 11:59
Yup.
Melissa Milner 11:59
Daily routines and things. Could you tell us more like, like a typical day of a teacher that uses S.E.A.L.?
Elizabeth Peterson 12:10
Oh sure. Yeah, that sounds like fun. That's cool. Yeah, cuz
Melissa Milner 12:15
Or how you, you know, you can just do you.
Elizabeth Peterson 12:17
Yeah, so you know, I'll start my day, I'm actually finding some music to play as my students are coming in.And inside the S.E.A.L. course, we talk about the right type of music, we call it sound tracking the right type of music for the right type of time of the day, and what's going to really be the best for your students. Sometimes, sometimes, to have them come in you need, you need the music to be upbeat, sometimes you don't. Right? So you get to know your students, you kind of decide and figure out the type of music that you might play when when they come in. There's all you know, we definitely we talk a lot about greeting, student check ins, we have various ways to make sure that we're checking in with all the students. And that can be you know, verbally, conversation. That can also be visually, have them do some drawing or do some quick journaling as they're coming in or, you know, just different ways to check in with with the students and what's going to work for them and for and for your classroom. And then, you know, we transition into the first thing, and then I do a lot of movement to help with those transitions. Even, you know, I might have like an hour to an hour and a half long literacy block. We need to break that up, you know, when we are shifting from one topic or one thing to another activity, just that movement break is so, so important. And right. I mean...
Melissa Milner 13:59
Yeah, this year we have...it's kind of insane. Most of the days, they come in at 8:15. And they don't have any breaks, we built in we built in breaks, but right. They don't have like til like 11:45ish most of the days. And it's like math centers, math, literacy, social studies, then yeah, and it's, it's kind of insane. So we built in a snack. And then when we see them getting a little squirrely, we do a body break and but like I'd like to be more intentional about those transitions and break so, so continue.
Elizabeth Peterson 14:39
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I love what you said because so many teachers are doing these things, right. So many teachers are using music, but they may not like you said they might not know the intention of it, or they may not know exactly how to introduce it to the students. So a big part of S.E.A.L. is being explicit and telling the students why you're doing things and helping them to understand that. And also being proactive and utilizing these things and having the students practice them before they need them. So if they start to see the benefit of listening to a certain type of music, or genre or or sound, you know, they can, they can learn how to trans..., how to transfer that skill into their homework sessions, you know, and so there's a lot, there's a lot to it, as opposed to pressing play and seeing what's on Spotify, or just picking out what you think might be a really nice tune to play. So there is that intent, for sure. And you know, we do, we have what's called dramatic check ins, to give them the opportunity to tell you how they're feeling with a certain concept or a certain thing. And it might be that you ask them, okay, how are we feeling with this, give me a facial expression to really show me how you're understanding this idea right now. And some students, the facial expression is going to be good for some students, writing drawing a little emoji on their paper is is a good thing for them to do. Some kids who are like full body learners, they want to jump out of their seat and share you with their entire body, how they feel about certain things. So you know, we bring some of that drama in too, and it's, it's embedded, because it's so quick. And the kids get used to it because you make it part of their routine. And so even those kids who are hesitant to do any of this, and I've had kids who are hesitant to do any of this, but the more consistent you are with it, the more they're, they're more, they're apt to do it eventually and reap some benefit.
Melissa Milner 17:03
And do you do that whole class? Similar to a give me a thumbs up? Thumbs down? Or thumbs middle? Do you say give me a dramatic check in and then they all do it at once? Or do you pull kids over small group or small one on one to get that dramatic check in?
Elizabeth Peterson 17:18
Great question. I do it whole class. Okay, you can certainly do it in your small groups, too. And if I sense or see a kid who's just not responding, then that's a clue to me. Okay. Either he doesn't feel comfortable, which is totally fine. And I definitely need to check in with him or her. Or there's something else going on? And I need to check with him that, that for that reason. Yeah.
Melissa Milner 17:45
Oh, that's a fun idea. I like that. Dramatic check in.
Elizabeth Peterson 17:51
Don't use them at staff meetings.
Melissa Milner 17:54
Oh, my gosh.
Elizabeth Peterson 17:55
Can you imagine?
Melissa Milner 17:55
We don't want to be here.
Melissa Milner 17:58
So I'm hearing mostly like transitions. Is there during the learning block that you're doing some of these things?
Elizabeth Peterson 18:06
Yeah, definitely. So yeah, that a lot of transitions and check ins and that kind of thing. But also, in that third wave, when we look at all the different ways that the arts are connected with social emotional learning, that's when we really dig deep into some artistic activities that the kids can do. And for that, you know, it may mean that you take a little break from what you're doing, and do something creative with your students. And I think that that's really important, because that's when you can really start to build relationships, which is another huge part of not just S.E.A.L., but social emotional learning, and, you know, just just good teaching in general. But allowing yourself this is another little advocacy thing that I have for so many teachers, and that is allowing yourself to press that pause button every once in a while, stop the curriculum, because you know, you're not getting far right now. And do something creative and artistic with your students. And we have so much pressure put on us for you know, continuing with the curriculum, get on the next lesson, you know, you got to do it this way. And the scripted you know, curriculums that we might have, that it really sometimes teachers need to hear it... No, you have permission, you are the lead from here and you need, you know when your students need something, something a little different, something a little more creative, that's going to get them out of their shell a little bit more. And so yeah, there's so many different lessons and activities to really focus in on that.
Melissa Milner 19:50
Great so you're really talking about noticing when they need that break for you know, for me, I find our our our mornings are so insane that Friday morning, they come in and we have what I need time. So WIN time and they just are able, they go on something called a choice board, we have different choice boards. And they can do a how to draw video or they can go in and do coding, which they love to do coding. And it's set that that one chunk of time, Friday mornings, has now become like the Haven, they're so excited to come in. And I'm like, could we incorporate 10 minutes of something like that each day? You know?
Elizabeth Peterson 20:37
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 20:38
I mean, my co teacher and I are still just trying to get our brains around it. Because as adults, we're like, this is a long morning.
Elizabeth Peterson 20:46
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 20:47
So you can imagine how these fourth grade or third grade kids are sitting there going, Oh, my goodness.
Elizabeth Peterson 20:53
Right.
Melissa Milner 20:54
It's a lot. And our curriculum is very engaging. And they're getting up and doing group stuff that there's a lot of engaging stuff going on. But they still need just a couple of minutes to breathe. Like we were supposed to have a working snack. I hope my principal is not listening. But we're not doing a working snack. We're giving them 10 minutes to sit and talk to each other and relax and eat their snack.
Elizabeth Peterson 21:16
Heck yeah.
Melissa Milner 21:17
Cuz all morning, they're working. And then we try to build in at least one body break. We do like the Go Noodle or you know, things like that, just to get them up and moving.
Elizabeth Peterson 21:27
Yeah, that's so good. I know it. But you're right, they need that they need that time to socialize. And period.
Melissa Milner 21:35
Exactly. And then we do twice at least twice a week, we do our Open Circle, you know, meetings where we pass the stick around and ask questions that everybody you know, and then we're in a co taught classroom with students on the autism spectrum. So then we also have some lessons in the morning, that are really about you know, managing your emotions and like, like direct lessons about those things. Upstairs brain, downstairs brain. Think it, say it. You know, things like that, that the whole class gets. That's fantastic. That's my my co teacher who does those. But I guess what I'm getting to is, how can a teacher get this information? Like I know, I think you do courses, right?
Elizabeth Peterson 22:24
Yes. Yeah.
Melissa Milner 22:25
And then if, if they can't take your course, do you have a book? Do you have... are you on social media? Like how can teachers learn more about S.E.A.L.?
Elizabeth Peterson 22:36
Absolutely, yeah. So yes, I feel like I'm everywhere. So to learn specifically about S.E.A.L., you can go to teach seal.com. And on there, I've got some free resources, as well as a free workshop. That's called The Three Secrets to Integrating the Arts with Social Emotional Learning. And that's a great, that's a great workshop to just kind of get your get your feet wet, and start to really understand how this kind of all all can work together for yourself.
Melissa Milner 23:12
Teachers like free.
Elizabeth Peterson 23:14
Heck yeah,
Melissa Milner 23:15
We like to hear free. Thank you very much for that.
Elizabeth Peterson 23:18
Yeah, so that's all on teachseal.com. And my main, my main website is theinspiredclassroom.com. And again, lots of resources and links right up to everything that has to do with S.E.A.L. as well. And, yeah, so I have a couple courses in S.E.A.L. that bring teachers through those three ways to get to get things just started in their classroom. And then the second course is for those teachers who really want to dig deep into what this really can look for themselves and for their students. And, and, you know, everything I do, I try to really make it teacher centered. Because I think that that really is the best way to for us to make a difference in our students lives is to really dig into it ourselves so that we're more apt to utilize it inside our own classrooms.
Melissa Milner 24:14
That's great. And is you do you have like a favorite... so it's probably really hard to say your favorite. Do you have a favorite strategy or a favorite transition that you do with your students?
Elizabeth Peterson 24:27
Oh, that's a good question. I do love sound tracking because I am a music person. I am a musician. And I really like that personally, because it kind of allows me to do another dream job that I've always wanted and that's to be a DJ.
Melissa Milner 24:47
Nice. I have playlists for my classroom. I I haven't even used them this year. But yeah, no, I hear you on that.
Elizabeth Peterson 24:53
Yeah. Yeah. And kind of almost like like I'm on a soundboard kind of like try and make sure that the kids moods are are right where they should be like they're, you know, able to when it's focused time I've got, you know, I got a song for that if it's, if it's time where you can be a little bit more free and creative, I've got a track for that and kind of, you know, just maneuver the sound tracking to fit with what my students need. And that's my personal favorite.
Melissa Milner 25:28
And do you try to have different songs every time? Or do they you want them to be like, Oh, I liked this one. You played this one yesterday?
Elizabeth Peterson 25:35
Good question. Yeah, um, I tend to utilize some of the same things, for sure, especially for when they're walking into the classroom. Yeah. And then and then some of the more focused music that doesn't have lyrics, you know, maybe they find it familiar, or maybe not. I'm not sure. But that familiarity is actually quite, quite good for them as well.
Melissa Milner 25:58
Yeah. years ago, in my third grade classroom, I think it was my third or maybe my fifth. They loved my dad, Norah Jones.
Elizabeth Peterson 26:07
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 26:10
You know that song? Yes. Yeah. They that would be on when they're walking in. They're like, Oh, it's so veg. Like, yeah, yeah. And then some mornings, I was in the mood for Good Day, Sunshine. So they come in, Good Day Sunshine you know, it just depended. But I absolutely, I'm with you on that soundtrack concept, because I had my morning songs on one playlist. And then I had my like, dance break songs. Like, let's just get up and take a break, you know, those were completely, you know, Happy and all those songs. I love that idea. I just, it's tough. When you have a classroom, where you have students that, sometimes the music is too loud, like you want to play it, you know, if there's sensory issues, you want to play it so that it's not too loud. And at the same time you want them to enjoy it. And like I know, some kids are like, turn it up. That's the kind of a tricky balance when you have depending on your population. But you know, you want to respect the sensory issues in your classroom, but also be but doesn't mean you can't play music. So I think that's something to make sure we remember because I'm like, I haven't played music for the past few years in the cotaught classroom. And I'm like, Well, maybe if we played it quietly. So there's something I'll talk to my, like coteacher about, I think it's an interesting thing.
Elizabeth Peterson 27:36
Yeah, it's really about creating that atmosphere, whatever that atmosphere is that you want. That's why I love the whole idea, you know, DJing, or one classroom. It's really you're in control of kind of, it's part of, you know, setting up your classroom. It's just another layer, an audible layer. And yeah, a lot of things can come up. There's, there's a lot, a lot to sound tracking it in a in a really effective way, in every year with every class or if you see different classes throughout the day. That you know, they they end up with different needs. They have...
Melissa Milner 28:08
Oh, that's a good point. Like in the middle school, and yeah, high school. It's a completely different beast, you're right. Yeah. My first session this morning, they're the lively ones. My second session. Yeah, that's true for groups of kids. Very cool. I'm, I'm noticing here you talk a little bit about it. But on your flyer here, it says avoid teacher burnout with tools far beyond yoga and deep breathing. So when you talked about managing the emotional rollercoaster, the classroom mindset shift, you know, avoiding you, it says, Here are three ways to deal with burnout. Are you going to share those? Or do we have to take your free course?
Elizabeth Peterson 28:54
Oh, well, you can take my free course. And you can, you can follow me on social media and all that, but I will definitely, you know, tell you tell you some of those ways that I've kind of whole, you know, just kind of consolidated together, I think you get your most bang for your buck. And one of them is and we kind of kind of touched on this a little bit, is to go ahead and do some of those lessons that really bring you joy, whether that's pull something off the shelf that you haven't done in years, you know, experiment with something new, if you have a teammate that you want to collaborate with in the... and you just have this idea and it's getting you a little excited, you know, just to make sure that you do some of those things because it can be very easy to you know, do what you're supposed to do, you know, days turn into weeks, and then they're just like, oh, I need something and you know, your students feel that way as well. And I remember, a number of years ago, I was having a huge moment like that, like, things were just everything was... life was getting sucked out of myself and my kids, and we were prepping for testing and, and, you know, it was just like, Go Go, go, go go. And then one day I said, stop. I like I literally wrote the book on this... stop.
Elizabeth Peterson 30:25
And we did. And we spent almost the entire day. And of course, I have the let luxury as an elementary school teacher, that I can kind of sometimes get away with that. And we spent the day doing what I call a studio day. And studio days is a book that I wrote, it was like S.E.A.L. before S.E.A.L. actually was before, before we started really looking at social emotional learning. And we just spent the day we created some paintings that we were, you know, I was asking the students to experiment with different types of painting techniques and to see what would happen, and they just had such a blast. It was like, the amount of paintings that were just coming from them in, in the hour or so that we were working intentionally on that was amazing. And then we spent some time, you know, reflecting on that, what did we learn about ourselves, and it was just like this amazing reset that we really, really needed. And, and every time I get to a point where I'm just like, oh, I have to go in again, I think to myself, Oh, that's a signal.
Melissa Milner 31:37
Yeah.
Elizabeth Peterson 31:38
That I need to, you know, do something fun that I will enjoy as much as the kids will. And that's contagious. Right?
Melissa Milner 31:47
That's so important.
Elizabeth Peterson 31:48
Yeah
Melissa Milner 31:49
That's major. Yeah. And it's hard to stop when you know, you're supposed to be like, in on the scheduled. Yeah, it's very hard. But...
Elizabeth Peterson 31:58
It is so hard.
Melissa Milner 31:59
But if the kids aren't feeling it, you could tell they need a break. Yeah. Yeah, that's certainly.
Elizabeth Peterson 32:07
Alright. So that was one way. Yeah. So another way is making sure you're connecting with other teachers, that are not the negative ones. But connecting with other teachers, you know, you know, cliche and everything, but that that will lift you up, that will encourage and support you that maybe have like minded towards you. And sometimes that means going out and seeking them out. It might mean getting out of your classroom, it might be going online and finding them on Facebook, I mean, there's a...there are Facebook groups, so many different groups of teachers. I've been, you know, building one myself, called Inspiring Teachers, for just teachers who, you know, appreciate the arts in the classroom, wanted want to make a difference for their students and just have that optimistic outlook on teaching. Yes, even when it gets tough. And it's, you know, it's important for us to, you know, support and encourage one another, and so sometimes we need to do the legwork to go find those people, and walk away from the ones that are not those people.
Melissa Milner 33:21
So true.
Elizabeth Peterson 33:22
Um, third one for, for teachers to keep on learning, and finding professional development that they enjoy. Because, you know, we're, we're given professional development often. And while it may help us, you know, with our curriculum, or might help us to implement this, that and the other thing, I think it's so important for teachers to go again, seek it out for themselves, if need be, and find that teacher centered professional development that's really get to work for them. And it might be school related, like S.E.A.L. or something like that. But it might also be take that painting class that you've always wanted to, or, you know, just it's really important to do that for yourself because it will affect your professional life. And your personal life probably too, but everything you do will affect who you are as a teacher, I believe.
Melissa Milner 34:20
Yes, absolutely true. Amazing. This is great. So, I know you mentioned theinspiredclassroom.com.
Elizabeth Peterson 34:28
Yep.
Melissa Milner 34:29
And teachseal.com. Yes.
Melissa Milner 34:32
Right. What is what are your social media handles? Are you on Twitter, Facebook?
Elizabeth Peterson 34:37
Yeah. Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. I'm theinspiredclassroom. And on Twitter, I have a couple accounts, but I've been focusing on the liza_peterson and that's my personal Twitter that we try and post to every every so often. I'm not on there as much but the Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for sure.
Melissa Milner 35:03
And what do you do on YouTube?
Elizabeth Peterson 35:05
Oh, so I do have a channel. And I do have a good collection of videos that talk about... I have some playlists on there for one for arts integration activities, one for social emotional learning with the arts, one for creative teacher self care. And then yeah, so that's those are those three topics that I really love talking about?
Melissa Milner 35:31
Definitely check that out, for sure.
Elizabeth Peterson 35:33
Yep.
Melissa Milner 35:33
My gosh. I usually end with what are you zooming in on right now in your work?
Elizabeth Peterson 35:39
It's funny you say that because you have so many projects that I'm trying to find the one that I'm zooming in to. Yeah, so outside of the classroom, I am trying to zoom in on getting S.E.A.L. into schools more for groups of teachers. And in some cases, I'm working with some schools that will send you know their whole staff through S.E.A.L. And those might be like arts magnet schools or our arts integration schools. But you know, a lot of schools have, you know, art departments or specialist teams that like to go through the course together because it's wonderful as an individual, and it can really transform how you feel. But when you when you have just like with anything, when you have some colleagues that are going through that whole, you know, right in those three ways to S.E.A.L., it really can just make you going to work so much nicer, you're doing so much more, you have some people who are truly understanding what you're trying to implement into your classroom. So that's, that's one of my focuses outside of the classroom, for sure.
Melissa Milner 37:04
Yeah. So if there's a teacher or administrator listening, and they want to go ahead and have a workshop for their staff, and so on, they would go to that inspiredclassroom.com or the teachseal.com. Or...
Elizabeth Peterson 37:16
Either one and yup, I've got my little contact me down at the bottom right of the... of the website, and they can definitely contact me that way. Yeah. Or DM me on Instagram or what have you. Yeah. And I just love like right now. Just talking to other teachers is just so much fun. Other educators. It's like, it's so good. So I love when, when teachers reach out, and administrators reach out, so definitely a welcome thing.
Melissa Milner 37:49
Terrific. Well, I wish you the best of luck and I hope that a lot of people take you up on these workshops, because it sounds like pretty cool stuff. And I you know, I love the arts, clearly, but I think you know, just understanding even just for the transitions.
Elizabeth Peterson 38:05
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 38:06
I think that's that's a huge piece. Yeah, that's a huge piece of it. So thank you so much.
Elizabeth Peterson 38:13
Thank you so much for having me on and for this great conversation. I appreciate it.
Melissa Milner 38:17
For my blog, transcripts of this episode, and links to any resources mentioned, visit my website at wwwtheteacher as.com You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram @melissabmilner and I hope you check out The Teacher As... Facebook page for episode updates. Thanks for listening. And that's a wrap.