#getinspirED

STARTER KIT

Welcome to inspirED!

inspirED FAQ

Getting Started: Bringing inspirED to Your School

Involving Teachers and Administrators in InspirED

Recruiting Team Members

Your First Meeting

Choosing Team Roles

Examining Your School Climate

Sample School Climate Survey

Project Planning Template

AdministratorLetter

AdvisorConversation Guide

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Table of Contents:

Project Planning Framework

Case Study: North HavenHigh School

inspirED Flier

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WHAT WOULDYOU DO IF YOUWEREN’TAFRAID

If you’re holding this guide, you’ve already taken the first step towards making your school a better place to be.

Fresh Start Introduction:

In this guide, you’ll find support for setting up and launching your inspirED team, evaluating your school climate, and working collaboratively to design a project that will positively impact your school community. Our model of change is built on the input of thousands of students and educators from across the United States. Like you, these individuals have a vision for a future where young people feel empowered to take action in their own communities. Together, we can build a nationwide movement that sends a clear message: emotions matter, every day.

This is your inspirED Fresh Start Guide, a one-stop resource for teams nationwide who are committed to changing the way that students and teachers feel in school every single day. If you are interested in adding inspirED to an existing club or organization, please see our inspirED Activation Guide.

Are you ready?Let’s get started!

inspirED was born out of a partnership between Facebook and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence with the goal of bringing social and emotional learning (SEL) and greater wellbeing to high school students across the nation. We know that emotions matter for students’ attention, memory, learning, judgment, relationships, and academic outcomes. We are dedicated to bridging the gap between how students currently feel in school and how they want to feel each day.

inspirED contains resources to start your own inspirED team and infuse emotional intelligence into your school community. Visit the site for case studies, activities, and updates from inspirED.

Join inspirED today! Together we are creating schools

where students feel…

The inspirED Cycle: InspirED Teams can be brought to your school two ways. You may choose to add inspirED to an existing school team or club. Or, you can start a free-standing inspirED Team at your school.

Evaluate your school climate. InspirED shows you how to understand what school climate is, and consider how it affects you. Survey your school climate using our template, or create your own!

Plan a project to address key areas. Use inspirED to develop a project to address the emotions or issues that are most important for your school community.

Act to bring your vision to life. Launch your project and document our progress on the inspirED site.

Reflect on your successes and challenges. What impact did you have on your school community? What were your strengths and challenges along the way?

Welcome to inspirED

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inspirED FAQ

What is inspirED?insirED began with a survey of over 20,000 high school students from all over the United States. We asked those students how they feel in school every day, and how they want to feel. The top 3 emotions students reported feeling were tired, stressed, and bored. In contrast, when we asked how they wanted to feel in school, they answered:

At inspirED, we are dedicated to bridging the gap between how students feel in school every day and how they want to feel. This guide was designed to equip you with everything your inspirED team will need to understand your school’s emotional climate and address the areas most in need of improvement through creative and collaborative projects.

The inspirED website contains lots of resources to help you infuse emotional intelligence into your everyday life, as well as real-world stories about teams just like yours who made a difference in their schools. We are thrilled that you have taken the first step towards positive change in your school community.

Why start an inspirED Team?

inspirED Team members work closely with one another and interact with students from diverse backgrounds and experiences. By starting a team, surveying the school climate, and developing an action plan, inspirED team members have the opportunity to transform their school climate and community. Its unique emotional intelligence approach allows inspirED allows the material to adapt to existing school-based organizations, or to function as a free-standing program. InspirED gives students the power to feel the way they want to feel in school every day, and the leadership skills to bring their ideas to life.

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Bringing inspirED To Your SchoolUnderstanding and addressing school climate is at the heart of your

work as an inspirED team. Follow these steps to get started.

The following steps will help you in this process:

Getting Started:

SET UP

• InspirED Teams can be brought to your school two ways. Depending on the momentum at your school, you may choose to add inspirED to an existing school team or club. Or, you can start a free-standing inspirED Team at your school. • Identify team members and a faculty advisor for your team. • Register your team as an official inspirED team. • Hold your first inspirED team meeting!

EVALUATE

• Use the information included to understand what school climate is, and consider how it affects you. • Survey your school climate using our template, or create your own!• Share the results with your school community and the inspirED Changemaker group.

PLAN

• Use feedback from your school climate survey to identify the emotions and issues that are most relevant to your school community. • Use the Project Planning Framework to develop an idea for a project to address these emotions or issues.• Set goals for your project using the Project Planning Template.

ACT

• Launch your project and share it with your school community!• Document your team’s work on the inspirED Facebook group.• Share your work with us to be featured on the inspirED site!

REFLECT

• Consider the strengths and challenges of your project. • Measure the impact of your efforts by re-considering your school climate through interviews or a survey.• Plan for the next year of inspirED!

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Although inspirED is a student-driven movement, teachers and administrators are integral to the success of the inspirED team. On the following pages, you will find tips and resources for reaching out to teachers and administrators to share your plans and ask for their support.

Involving Teachers and Administrators in inspirED:

inspirED Teachers

• You will need at least one teacher to serve as your inspirED Advisor. We suggest finding a teacher who has already expressed an interest in making school a more positive place. For help reaching out to a potential advisor, please see the Advisor Conversation Guide.

• Teachers who are not able to act as an inspirED Advisor may be interested in the class- room-based lessons on the inspirED website. There are 15-minute and 50-minute lessons for classrooms in any subject area. These lessons are a perfect compliment to the inspirED Team’s work, and a great way to reach even more students in your school.

inspirED Administrators

• Most schools require administrative approval for new teams. We strongly suggest reaching out to your administrator before your first inspirED meeting. For help with this, please see the Administrator Letter.

• Administrators play an important role in setting the climate for their school. Even small demonstrations of support can make a huge difference. Talk with your administrator about ways that he or she can support your inspirED Team’s work.

• Greeting students in the morning or after school, spending time in the halls and cafeteria, and participating in inspirED events and campaigns are all great examples of ways to get administrators involved.

After you’ve reached out to teachers and administrators at your school, you’ll want to spread the word among the student body. Here are some tips for recruiting inspirED Team Members:

Recruiting Team Members:

Post the inspirED Flier in visible, highly trafficked locations around your school. If you’d like, you can also create your own flier with important information on contact people and upcoming meetings.

Post about InspirED on social media. Include a link to the inspired site.

Ask your friends to spread the word! The more people who are working to recruit team members, the more successful you will be.

Select and target students who span a wide variety of groups and encourage them to be part of your team (e.g. ask a coach to mention it to players, put up flyers in your school’s art studio, or ask your friend who runs the debate team to join and bring some friends.)

Follow-up with people who express interest or curiosity. Make sure they have all the information they need to make it to your first meeting!

Keep recruiting throughout the school year. People should feel free to join inspirED at any time, so make sure to keep your doors open to everyone! Your team’s success depends on the strength of its members.

Get creative! Consider how information gets shared in your school. What are the most effective ways of reaching students? Do you have morning or afternoon announcements? Advisory periods? Is there a class you have that might be interested in inspirED?

JoinUs!

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[ ]Team Meeting Resources

You’ve worked hard to start your inspirED Team and spread the word throughout your school community. Here are some tips for making sure your first inspirED meeting runs smoothly.

At your first few meetings, you’ll want to:

Your First Meeting:

Get everyone on the team excited about inspirED. You can use the inspirED FAQ and the other materials in this guide to explain what inspirED is and why it’s so important to improve your school climate.

For example, you might start with asking your team members to share how they feel in school every day. What emotions are the most popular in your group? Then, ask your group to consider how they want to feel every day at school. The purpose of inspirED is to bridge the gap between how we currently feel, and how we want to feel in school.

Introduce your inspirED Team officers, or hold a mini-election to appoint open positions. For help, see Choosing Team Roles.

Set a regular time and place for future team meetings. We suggest meeting once per week.

Review your academic calendar to get a better idea of what the year will look like for your inspirED team.

Discuss your team’s plans for documenting your progress and sharing your story. Ask other team members if they are interested in helping your Social Media Coordinator document your work.

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Choosing Team Roles:InspirED officers are students in leadership positions on your inspirED Team. Officers help ensure that meetings run smoothly, and help keep your team on track to meet your goals for the year. You’ll want to establish a dedicated, passionate group of student officers to guide your inspirED Team. Below are some roles you might want to consider for your team.

FACULTY ADVISOR:

• The teacher or administrator who supports the work of the inspirED Team. • Promotes collaborative and compassionate meeting environments.• Assists inspirED Team Members in surveying their school, setting and meeting goals, and bringing their inspirED project to life.

PRESIDENT (or Co-Presidents):

• Attends and directs each inspirED Team Meeting.• Oversees inspirED Team activities, events, and programs.• Communicates with team members about their respective roles or duties.• Guides team members to meet team goals, including recruitment, surveying their school, and bringing their inspirED Project to life.

VICE PRESIDENT:

• Leads meetings when President is absent. • Assists the President with planning activities, events, and programs.• Guides team members to meet team goals, including recruitment, surveying their school, and bringing their inspirED Project to life.

SECRETARY:

• Assists with logistic planning of activities, events, and programs.• Takes attendance and records notes at meetings.• Maintains team records including meeting notes, school climate survey results, and inspirED project plans.

SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR:

• Creates and maintains a Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms for the inspirED Team. • Posts regularly to social media with team news and progress.• Documents the progress of the inspirED Team through stories, photos, videos, and more.• Shares regular inspirED Team updates with inspirED movement by sending to inspirED@fb.com and by posting on the inspirED Facebook Group.

Examining Your School Climate:With inspirED, you have the resources you need to understand your school climate and develop an action plan to improve it. This document will help you consider ways to evaluate your school climate in order to direct your work as an inspirED Team. By working with your team members to understand your school climate, you’ll know more about which issues and emotions are most important to your school community.

SCHOOL CLIMATE

• Refers to the quality and character of school life. • Is based on patterns of students’, parents’ and school personnel’s experience of school life.• Reflects norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning practices, and organizational structures. - From the National School Climate Center

SURVEYING YOUR SCHOOL CLIMATE

There are many creative ways to survey your school’s climate. Here are some of our favorites: • Hold a student focus group inviting your peers to attend and share their experiences at school. • Take your inspirED Team on a walkthrough of your school. Walk through the hallways during key times throughout the day - the start of the day, class times, lunchtime, the end of the day, and sports and team meetings. Have your team members list the emotions they notice in their peers. What causes these emotions? • Develop a survey and share it with your classmates. Use an online survey tool, or just pencil and paper. Ask teachers and administrators for permission to share your survey in advisory periods, classrooms, during lunch, or after school. For a sample survey, see the following page. Feel free to add your own questions!

SHARING YOUR RESULTS

Your results are the most important part of your school climate survey. Before you begin working on promoting certain emotions or addressing certain issues, you will want to share the results of your survey with your school.

YOU MIGHT...

• Post the results of your survey on a bulletin or message board.• Share the results during your school’s morning announcements or during an assembly.• Pass out copies of the results during advisory period. As a reminder, always end by inviting your peers to join your inspirED Team! Finding people who are interested in improving your school climate will be key to your success.

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School Climate Survey:

Thank you for taking our inspirED School Climate survey! Your responses are voluntary and will be kept con-fidential. This survey should take less than 10 minutes. With your feedback, we can work to make our school a better place to be.

How do you feel every day in school? List the top 5 emotions from the words above.

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How do you want to feel every day in school? List the top 5 emotions from the words above.

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Please describe the issues in our school that are most important for you right now:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Do you feel as though students have an adequate voice in our school? Why or why not? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________

What would you like to see happen at our school to build community and student voice?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please share any other comments with us!________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for taking our survey!

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[ ]Plan your inspirED Project

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Projects are the heart of your work as an inspirED Team. In considering your school climate, you gained an understanding of which issues and emotions are most important for your school community. Now, it’s up to your team to create a project, campaign, or program that will address those issues and promote the emotions that your school wants to feel.

You can use the following questions, along with your reflections on your school climate, to guide you as you develop your project. This template can help organize ideas and options, and connect your work to a specific emotion. Be sure to give your team members ample time for reflection and discussion.

Project Planning Framework:

GROUP DISCUSSION:

• Which emotions do you feel at school most often? Least often? Why do you think that is?

• What exists at your school that helps create the positive emotions you feel every day?

• What negative emotions do you feel in school every day? Why do you think that is? What are the consequences of this for students and teachers?

• Envision a school where this problem has been addressed. What does this “ideal” version look like?

• What kinds of projects, campaigns, or programs can we build as an inspirED team to bring your actual school climate closer to your “ideal” school climate?

Synthesize your group’s ideas and agree on an inspirED project. Use the project plan on the next page to assign roles and set goals.

ARE YOUR GOALS SMART?

SMART is a framework to help set goals that are easily attainable. Use SMART when developing your inspirED Team Project to maximize success.

S.M.A.R.T. stands for:Specific - Is the goal a specific action? Does it have a specific outcome or product?Measurable - How will we know we have reached the goal? How will we track progress?Attainable - Is it reasonable to ask your team members to attain this goal? Relevant - Will the goal help you work

towards your larger plan?Timely - Is there enough time to complete the goal?

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InspirED Project Plan:

Our inspirED Project is:

The team members working on the project are: List name, contact information, and role.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We hope to improve these aspects of our school climate:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Other people in our school or community who may be able to help: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tools, skills or events that need to happen in order for us to successfully achieve our goals:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Key ways we will know that we’ve met (or are on our way to meeting) our goals:

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How can you measure your success down the road? How will you know you have impacted your school climate for the better?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As an inspirED Team, we pledge to communicate and keep each other accountable for bringing this project to life in our school. (all team members sign)

How do you feel in school every day?A 2015 survey from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence asked 20,000+ high school students how they felt in school.

The top 3 emotions felt were:

inspirED is a nationwide movement of high school teams dedicated to empowering student leadership and improving school climate.

Date: ____________________________________

Time: ____________________________________

Place: ____________________________________

Contact: __________________________________

For more information, please visit inspirED.fb.com.

In contrast, the same group of students reported that they wanted to feel...

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Case Study: North Haven High School

Project Name: Diversity in ActionSchool Name: North Haven High SchoolLocation: North Haven, CT

DESCRIPTION: The Diversity Team at North Haven High School has worked for years to promote acceptance and tolerance in their school. When the results of their school climate assessment indicated that students in the school wanted more of a voice, they adopted inspirED and held a conference on diversity and emotional intelligence, using many of the activities featured on the inspirED site, for 19 other high schools.

THE CONTEXT: Six years ago, North Haven High School was a very different place. Although there was diversity in the student body, different groups of students did not get along. To address these issues, the North Haven Diversity Team formed with a mission of combatting inequality and promoting awareness of the diversity in their hallways.

In the 2014-15 school year, NHHS participated in the Yale School Climate Assessment. The results of the survey had a great impact on the vision of the Diversity Team. These results showed that, compared to the national average, NHHS scored significantly higher in “acceptance for diversity.” This was a major victory for the Diversity Team! It showed that their efforts had been successful in transforming the climate of the school. They had all felt a shift in their school climate, and with the data to prove it, they knew they were on the right track.

However, the results also showed something else. The team found that their school not only scored low in “student voice,” (meaning that students did not always feel listened to), but that the top three emotions felt by students every day were all negative. After considering the results of the report, the team concluded that students of different groups felt accepted for their cultural or physical differences, but did not always feel positive about being at school, and did not feel that they had much of a voice there.

THE PROJECT: With the data from the Yale School Climate Assessment, the decision was made to add inspirED to the Diversity Team efforts at NHHS, with the goal of empowering student voice and promoting more positive emotions among all groups of students on campus. The addition of inspirED was smooth, as the team already had officers, an advisor, and goals for the year. Team members regularly participated in conversations with other schools or academic organizations. They had even developed videos and workshops on a variety of topics, including mental health, LGBTQ identity, physical ability, and more. The emotional intelligence-based framework of inspirED was the perfect complement to the NHHS Team’s work to promote awareness and acceptance.

“This was a perfect progression for our work. Not only were we continuing to work on how we can be an ally to others, but the natural next step was to look at how we can teach students to be an ally to themselves through promoting emotional health. We found that it is easier to accept others if we first accept ourselves.” – Robin River, inspirED faculty advisor

Each year, the Diversity Team at NHHS develops and hosts a conference at their high school for other schools nearby. During this conference, students and educators work

together to consider various aspects of diversity and how to promote acceptance at their own schools. For their inspirED Project, the team decided to infuse their existing conference activities on diversity and acceptance with activities featured on the inspirED site.

To prepare for the conference, the NHHS team tested inspirED activities and made some changes to adapt them to suit the topic of diversity. They also considered how emotional intelligence could support people from different cultures and experiences. Equipped with workshops, activities, and snacks, they invited students and educators from 19 other high schools in Connecticut for a day-long Diversity in Action conference in their school library.

The Diversity in Action conference was held in October of 2016. Students and teachers were welcomed into the building through a “high-five” tunnel designed to make them feel excited and valued. They entered the library, decorated with student artwork. Each participant was given a paper flower which corresponded with colors on the walls. Students and educators from different schools were grouped together, and spent the day rotating through 60 minute workshops designed and presented by the inspirED Diversity Team. By the end of the day, participants had shared stories, exchanged ideas, and built relationships that would continue long beyond that day.

THE IMPACT: Integrating inspirED into NHHS has been transformative for the Diversity Team and for the school community as a whole. At the Diversity in Action conference this year, they increased their participation from 12 to 19 schools. In their follow-up surveys, student participants from all over Connecticut stated that their experience helped them to understand “the power of appreciation and kindness,” and that “these are easy qualities to pass on.” One school borrowed a reflection from the Diversity in Action conference and currently uses it to prompt their school community to reflect on the simple things that students and educators can do to make a difference in their school. Additionally, the “I Wonder Ball” activity the NHHS team developed for the conference is available on the inspirED website.

THE FUTURE: The inspirED Diversity Team at NHHS is just beginning to explore the possibilities that lay ahead of them. In the future, they plan to continue to address the results from their school climate survey. Having worked to promote relationships between different groups in school, the team is now considering how to address the negative emotions that individually impact students’ well-being and success. Their ideas include student-to-student support, and targeted kindness initiatives at certain times throughout the year. They are also excited to continue to develop more activities and workshops, and in March they plan to present their emotional intelligence and diversity workshop at the largest LGBTQ youth conference in the nation.

BEST PRACTICES: What advice would you give to other schools interested in inspirED?

“The inspirED website was very helpful to us and can be to other schools who want to do a similar conference. It is not difficult--it can start small with just a few workshops and grow as large as the team envisions for themselves. Choose one activity and do it with a group, and see if those participants feel comfortable doing it with other groups. The rewards are so powerful, and you see the impact when students say how good they feel after participating and that they can’t wait to pass it on.” – Robin River, inspirED faculty advisor

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Administrator Letter:

Dear _________________________ ,

We are excited to announce the formation of an inspirED club at our school. InspirED was born out of a partnership between Facebook and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence with the goal of bringing social and emotional learning (SEL) and greater wellbeing to high school students across the nation. The project began with a survey of over 20,000 high school students from all over the United States. We asked those students how they feel in school every day, and how they want to feel.

Can you guess the top 3 emotions that students felt every day in school? They were tired, stressed, and bored.

In contrast, the same group of students said they wanted to feel the following emotions: Happy, excited, energized, motivated, passion, purpose, safe, comfortable, contented, balanced, respected, valued, connected, supported, empowered, and inspired.

Our inspirED team is part of a nationwide movement dedicated to bridging the gap between the way students currently feel in school and the way they want to feel. Through student-teacher collaborations, evidence-based lessons, innovative climate survey tools, and project-based solutions, inspirED encourages student leaders to raise their voices and drive the change that they wish to see in their high schools.

As our administrator, you play an integral role in promoting positive school climate and student voice. Your participation in our work is invaluable to us. We invite you to attend a team meeting, where we can brainstorm ways to meet our goals of surveying our school climate and developing an innovative project or campaign to engage our school community.

We are grateful for your presence as we begin our inspirED work. If you would like more information, you can check out the inspirED website at inspirED.fb.com.

Thank you,

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Advisor Conversation Guide:

When you meet with your team’s potential advisor, you want to do your best to convey why inspirED is important to you and how you hope your advisor will work with your team. Think about the following questions before you meet with a potential faculty advisor.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

For help with these and other questions about inspirED, please see our inspirED FAQ.

Why do you think the faculty member

you have picked would be a good

team leader?

Why do you need a faculty advisor and what kind of role do you want that advisor to play?

What types of projects are you hoping to work on and how could your faculty advisor help you

execute these projects or ideas? Anything else you want your faculty advisor to know about inspirED.

Why is inspirED important to you and your school?

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Visit inspirED.fb.com for more information