Optimistic thinking impacts many areas of our lives, including work performance, productivity, motivation, sense of purpose, stress levels, and more. Now, more than ever, educators need to tap into their optimistic thinking and goal-setting skills to increase their resiliency, well-being, and positive outlooks.
Check out our free Optimistic Thinking Guide to get research-based, practical resources to enhance your social-emotional knowledge and skill set. In addition to improving your own health and well-being, you will also become better at delivering social and emotional learning (SEL) to your students.
Included within the Optimistic Thinking Guide are SEL growth strategies to help you develop and strengthen your own optimistic thinking. As part of the process, you are invited to take our Educator Social-Emotional Reflection and Training (EdSERT) program self-assessment, which we are now offering free online.
Here are the steps for completing the guide:
Step 1. Complete Aperture Education’s EdSERT Self-Assessment for Optimistic Thinking.
Take a few minutes to complete this 10-question survey. Your responses will help you reflect on your current areas of strength and identify areas for growth.
Step 2. Review your self-assessment ratings.
After completing the assessment, take some time to reflect on your responses. We’ve provided guiding questions to help give you context and make sense of your responses (see pages 4-6 of the Optimistic Thinking Guide).
Step 3. Select a focus area and a strategy.
Review the overarching optimistic thinking SEL themes and specific SEL strategies within the Optimistic Thinking Guide. Choose an SEL theme and one or more strategies to focus on for the next month.
Step 4. Develop a plan.
Any goal needs a plan for execution. Think about past experiences and practices you’ve used to achieve your goals. Make a plan to work toward your goal and make adjustments as needed.
Step 5. Review progress and continue competency development.
Just as you conduct progress monitoring with your students, review your own progress and how you are improving over time. At any time, you can adjust your SEL theme and/or specific SEL strategies.
We hope you enjoy our free Optimistic Thinking Guide and find our self-assessment and growth strategies helpful in improving your social-emotional competence. Want to learn more about our EdSERT program for educator SEL? Visit www.apertureed.com/educator-sel or contact us through the form below.