Parent Teacher Magazine Union County Public Schools March 2015 | Page 7

Workshop equips teachers to empower students
The way an adult handles a child who is misbehaving can either foster or inhibit
that child’s ability to develop self-regulation.
With this in mind, about 110 Union County Public School teachers, administrators
and support staff participated in a “Conscious Discipline” workshop facilitated by
Kim Hughes on Jan. 20 at the Union County Agricultural and Conference Center.
The workshop, a collaborative effort between NC Pre-K, UCPS Exceptional
Children Pre-K and the UCPS Title I program, took an in-depth look into a researchbased classroom management system and social-emotional learning program for
early childhood and elementary schools.
The program addresses the adult’s skill set first, and then empowers that adult
to teach and model these skills with children.
“Teachers were actively engaged in learning ‘Brain Smart’ strategies that
promote the power of perception and self-composure,” said Lisa Gibson, director of
academically and intellectually gifted and federal programs.
“Conscious Discipline, developed by researcher Dr. Becky Bailey, suggests,
‘Discipline isn’t something you do to children, it’s something you develop within
them’,” Gibson added.
Teachers had the opportunity to practice the tools students can access to
successfully navigate life events, in and out of the classroom.
The presenter addressed empowerment skills such as attention, acceptance and
intention, as well as discipline skills like composure, empathy and consequences.
Life skills such as anger management, cooperation and problem solving were
also addressed.
“The session emphasized the importance of building relationships as the heart of
discipline in the c