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Education leaders have varying power to change inequitable structures and systems, but all need safety, support, skills, strategies, and practices to sustain change efforts--especially when doing this work in a stressful or oppressive context. Often overlooked, the health and wellbeing of staff (all types) is as important as the health and wellbeing of students and families. To help education leaders in equity work, this toolkit offers evidence-based information on the brain and behavior in the context of leadership and educational equity work, then offers brain-body and somatic strategies, with specific examples, to guide leaders in recognizing and responding to physical, social, and emotional needs in the education agency context.

During the coronavirus pandemic, schools must find remote ways to continue providing learning and enrichment opportunities for students while also remaining committed to the social and emotional needs of entire school communities. As community members focus on sheltering in place and social distancing, they lose in-person connections and take on added stresses. These changes can greatly increase the need for community care (also known as collective care). Schools are uniquely positioned to help members of their communities, particularly those who may need additional support, to maintain a sense of connectedness and well-being. In this context, this brief, produced by WestEd as part of a collection of Crisis Response Resources, offers practical guidance for educators and school leaders to help them care for their school communities and maintain a sense of connectedness and well-being while coping with the stresses of social isolation, school closures, and changes to how services are provided. The brief includes sections on maintaining community and connectedness for staff, students, and families, and on identifying those most in need of extra support. It also provides some brief "tech tips" for online community building. [This brief was prepared by the Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety at WestEd.]

This curriculum guide offers principles, guidelines, and suggested activities for teaching art to young children with a wide variety of disabilities. An introductory chapter notes the benefits of the arts, adaptations for various disabilities, the curriculum's rationale, and integration of the arts across learning domains. Chapter 2 examines how children learn through play and art, and applies a cycle of learning to the visual arts, music and movement, and dramatic play. Chapter 3 considers the adult role in art education. Chapter 4 gives specific suggestions for structuring the art environment, including time, space, materials, and activities. Chapters 5 through 7 offer sample activities for the areas of visual arts, music and movement, and dramatic play. Chapter 8 addresses ways to integrate the arts into early childhood experiences, while chapter 9 explains how to adapt materials. Chapter 10 is on the value of family participation and chapter 11 offers suggestions for assessment. Chapter 12 lists resources, both expressive art resources and technology resources. Appended are a glossary and instructions for making a "music mat." (Contains 59 references and an index.) (DB)

Points out the usefulness of drawing for a biologist, how biologists spend time on it, and contrasts how teachers do not spent any time on drawing in biology education. Recommends starting drawing with plants because they are stationary. Provides drawing exercises and explains how to draw with different techniques. (Contains 12 references.) (YDS)

Suggests that preschool teachers use conflict resolution and discipline techniques such as redirection of activities and face-to-face discussions of infractions or problems rather than the over-used "time-out" form of punishment, according to which the child has to sit in a corner for a period of time. (MDM)

Outlines steps in producing videos for marketing camp programs: defining the need for the video and what population it will target; determining a budget based on technical quality and what uses the video will have; and developing and revising a script that highlights the action of the video. (LP)