OEA Grow

OEA member host Leonne Bannister kicks off season three with community partner Amanda Coven, former middle-school math teacher and current Director of Education at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education. Leonne and Amanda discuss navigating critical conversations about honest, accurate history with a focus on Senate bill 664: Holocaust Education which passed in 2019. It is currently a K-12 mandate with full integration into grade-level standards in social sciences scheduled for 2026. Amanda explains that SB664 is not just about the Holocaust, because If we want to prevent mass violence, we need to understand how violence unfolds in a variety of different places and situations. Additionally, the skills necessary to navigate critical conversations about history are transferable to all kinds of other difficult conversations. Amanda and Leonne discuss what the mandate looks like in practice and provide tips for teachers, including using trauma-informed measures before teaching any difficult history, being honest and open with students about our own difficulties discussing these topics, reassuring students that we will check in with them, using your school counselor, and including processing time at the beginning and end of lessons. Amanda also provides information on how educators can get support from her and the Museum. Finally, Amanda explains the difficulties of current Jewish American students in their schools and their struggle to feel safe.   Resources: Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education Amanda Coven email address: acoven@ojmche.org  National Museum of American Jewish History Pantsuit Politics podcast I Think You're Wrong But I'm Listening Now What? How To Move Forward When We're Divided (About Practically Everything)

Welcome to season three of the OEA Grow Podcast, a member-led production of the Oregon Education Association. In season three we will be discussing Safe, Welcoming, and Inclusive Schools. This topic has been a prominent one on educators’ minds both before and since the publication of OEA’s Crisis of Disrupted Learning Report. We will continue with member-to- member conversations with the occasional community partner guest. Some of the topics of discussion include behavior interventions, social emotional learning, trauma informed education, and special education. Listen in as you sip your morning coffee, cook dinner, etc. Our member educator host for season three is Corvallis school counselor Leonne Bannister. Head over to grow.oregoned.org to stay up to date on all the professional learning opportunities available through OEA.

In the final episode of Season Two: Conflict Resolution Strategies, Joyce welcomes Brinda Narayan-Wold and Huck Wilken to discuss the free and confidential mediation process available to OEA members. The OEA Mediation Network helps individuals and teams reduce conflict-based suffering and get back to a place of dignity. Communication, decision making, and professionalism issues are the three major reasons people seek mediation. The process can be initiated by emailing the Mediation Network. Mediators will then conduct individual and impartial interviews with each party to ensure that people feel heard and understood before the group session. In group mediation, everyone wants to come to a solution and the solution arises from the participants themselves. To emphasize the confidential nature of mediation, Brinda and Huck explain that mediation sessions and their outcomes are not shared with HR, principals, or local unions. One-on-one coaching and mediation are also available to help individuals develop conflict resolution skills and strategies. For example, teachers can learn how to deal with a difficult principal. Brinda and Huck emphasize that when we get through challenges and conflict, we are better people and educators.   Ready to contact the OEA Mediation Network? Email mediation@oregoned.org  Learn more about the OEA Mediation Network

Joyce is joined by retired educator Beverly Wilson to discuss what happens in our brains and bodies when we experience conflict. When our values, needs, or identities are threatened, we react biologically and have an opportunity to interrupt the conflict. They discuss values (culturally defined) and needs (universal), the role they play in conflict, and the different ways people respond to a given situation. By engaging our prefrontal cortex, slowing down our thinking, and asking reflective questions we are able to disengage our amygdala. Beverly reminds us that by validating, empathizing, and asking clarifying questions, we can help someone who is starting to become elevated to slow down.  Learn more about the OEA Mediation Network and opportunities for Conflict Coaching.

We’ve all dealt with difficult people before and are likely to again. Maybe we’ve also been “difficult” ourselves? Mediator and former middle school math and STEM teacher Huck Wilken talks with Joyce about dealing with difficult people. A lot of conflict starts with miscommunication. Huck explains that managing our own emotional response is the first step in dealing with difficult people in conflict situations. Dealing with difficult people requires a steady presence, neither being defensive nor offensive. The next step is to listen authentically; everyone, including a difficult person, wants their truth to be heard. And we need to speak our truth so that we’re heard as well. Joyce and Huck also talk about meditation a little bit, emphasizing that mediation places the emphasis on difficult situations, not difficult people.   Resources: Learn more about the OEA Mediation Network  20 Expert Tactics for Dealing with Difficult People - Psychology Today

In week 4, Joyce chats with MaryJean Harris Williams, PhD about conflict management styles. MaryJean teaches Communication Studies at Clackamas Community College. MaryJean recognizes that most people don’t like conflict and have different styles of dealing with conflict. Joyce and MaryJean help us understand the five main conflict management styles: avoiding, accommodating, competing, compromise, and collaboration. Most people prefer one of these conflict management styles over the others. MaryJean explains, using great situational examples, how some of the styles can be useful in certain situations and unhelpful in other situations. She also acknowledges that it’s healthy to develop different conflict styles for different purposes but also encourages us to accept our own preferred communication style. And she gives some advice for how to navigate conflict with others who present with one of these particular communication styles. Arriving at a collaborative solution, using the collaboration style, requires trust and patience but is the “gold star” of conflict resolution.    Resources:  Conflict Response Styles: A Visual - Joyce Rosenau and MaryJean Harris Williams Learn more about the OEA Mediation Network

Joyce’s guest in this episode is Suzi Spencer, alternative high school teacher in Salem. Collaborative problem solving has been used in Suzi’s school for the last few years. Suzi defines collaborative problem solving as a situation where all involved parties are asked for their perspective, all perspectives are honored, and the parties come up with solutions together. Collaborative problem solving is proactive instead of reactive and in a school setting, seeks to avoid punishment. It can also be used in adult relationships, as it works with all ages. Suzi describes the three steps involved: empathy, define the problem, and invitation. This last step is where the parties generate realistic solutions together. Suzi also explains the power of focusing on the problem, not the person.   Resources:  The Explosive Child - Dr. Ross Greene Lost at School - Dr. Ross Greene Learn more about the OEA Mediation Network

The Conflict Resolution season kicks off with a discussion about the liberating potential of conscious listening. Joyce chats with OEA member Brinda Narayan-Wold, School Counselor at Kelly Middle School in Eugene, and mediator with the OEA Mediation Network. Joyce and Brenda emphasize that conflict resolution strategies, like conscious listening, can be used in both our professional and personal lives. Conscious listening starts with creating a safe space for conflict resolution. Brinda explains that conscious listening is paying attention both to what is said and not said, including body language. Open-ended questions can be another powerful tool  to get to the root of an issue. For example, often when we see signs of our students suffering, we can use open-ended questions to build trust and soothe the situation. Brinda also describes how silence, summarizing, validating, and empathizing are used in effective conscious listening.    Resources: Learn more about the OEA Mediation Network

Welcome to season two of the OEA Grow Podcast, a member-led production of the Oregon Education Association. In season two we will be discussing Conflict Resolution Strategies. The host, Joyce Rosenau, and all guests of this season are members of the OEA Mediation Network- a conflict resolution service for OEA members started in 2019.  Some of the episode topics will include: the neuroscience of conflict, conflict response styles, and collaborative problem solving.  To learn more about the OEA Mediation Network and ways to access this service, please visit oregoned.org/mediation.  Don’t forget to head over to grow.oregoned.org to stay up to date on all the professional learning opportunities available through OEA.  

As we get ready for the launch of season two next week on Safe, Welcoming, and Inclusive Schools, season one concludes with a wellness discussion focused on students. Sara Roadman, first grade teacher in Eugene, has been practicing mindfulness with students since 2019. She uses many different mindfulness strategies including eyebreaks, noticing what’s around you, yoga, one-minute guided meditations, affirmation meditations, and breathing exercises. By adding these strategies to the daily routine, students have grown to be very comfortable with mindfulness. Most of her students know 10 yoga poses! Sara also discusses the power of appreciation circles where students simply make eye contact with other students and appreciate the opportunity to be in in-person school; some of her young students haven’t been in face-to-face school since preschool. Sara has also found that these mindfulness techniques help kids with Covid-related worries and anxieties that are unique to today’s students.   Resources: 4 Ways to Cultivate Mindfulness in the Classroom (video) - edutopia A Mindful Minute Helps Students Arrive in the Classroom (video) - Mindful Schools Best Practices for Bringing Mindfulness into Schools - mindful Integrating Mindfulness in Your Classroom Curriculum - edutopia The Mindful Schools Podcast