Discover an approach to social-emotional learning (SEL) that helps students bring their own values to their schoolwork and relationships. This highly practical resource shows educators how to use the elements of EMPOWER--exploration, motivation, participation, openness, willingness, empathy, and resilience--in engaging SEL activities, supportive conversations, and professional practices that make school a source of meaning, vitality, and community in students' lives. How this book will EMPOWER you: Understand what values are, how they differ from preferences and goals, and how they lead to empowerment. - Lead activities that help students discover the values they want to live by, choose actions that are consistent with those values, and dignify the struggles associated with living a meaningful life. - Use conversational strategies that tap into students' intrinsic motivation. - Center student values in professional learning communities, parent partnerships, and curriculum design. - Discover how bringing your own values to your classroom and collaborations can make your teaching more effective and satisfying. Contents: Introduction: Empowering Students to Transform What School Means Part I: Activities That Empower Students Chapter 1: Exploration Chapter 2: Motivation Chapter 3: Participation Chapter 4: Openness Chapter 5: Willingness Chapter 6: Empathy Chapter 7: Resilience Part II: Strategies That Empower Students Chapter 8: Empowering Dialogue Chapter 9: Empowering Partnerships Chapter 10: Empowering Collaborations Chapter 11: Empowering Curriculum Chapter 12: Empowering Inquiry Chapter 13: Empowering Yourself Conclusion: Paths to Empowerment Appendix: Examples of Values References and Resources Index This is not a book about engagement. When we engage something -- an engine or gear, for example -- we are getting it to serve a purpose we find worthwhile. This book is about empowerment. When we empower someone -- a student or teacher, for example -- we are encouraging that person to find meaning and purpose in their own life. I was very lucky as a student to have teachers who empowered me. They noticed me even though I was quiet and believed in me even though I had no confidence in myself. I've dedicated my teaching life to helping students make their assignments and interactions meaningful. In this book, I'm sharing what I've learned with teachers who want to do that too. Lauren Porosoff teaches middle school English at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in the Bronx, New York. At Fieldston, she's served as a grade-level team leader and a diversity coordinator, and she's led curriculum mapping and professional development initiatives. An educator since 2000, she has also taught middle school history at the Maret School in Washington, DC and second-, fifth-, and sixth-grade general studies at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Maryland. Helping students make their work meaningful has been a constant in Lauren's teaching practice, and that interest led her to learn about methods of values-guided behavior change in acceptance and commitment therapy, relational frame theory, applied behavior analysis, motivational interviewing, and other applications of contextual behavioral science. Informed by these methods of values-guided behavior change, Lauren developed applications for the classroom, such as the processes for curriculum design described in her book Curriculum at Your Core: Meaningful Teaching in the Age of Standards . Lauren has written for AMLE Magazine, Independent School, Kappan, the PBS NewsHour blog, Rethinking Schools, and Teaching Tolerance about how students and teachers can clarify and commit to their values at school. She's presented on these topics at regional and national conferences of various professional organizations, including the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, Learning & the Brain, the National Council of Teachers of English, the New York State Association of Independent Schools, and the Progressive Education Network. Lauren received a bachelor's degree in English from Wesleyan University and a law degree from George Washington University. Jonathan Weinstein is a clinical psychologist with the Veterans Administration. He serves as the suicide prevention coordinator at the VA Hudson Valley Healthcare System and holds appointment as assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at New York Medical College. Prior to serving in suicide prevention, Jonathan served as the PTSD/substance-use disorders coordinator at the James J. Peters VA in the Bronx, New York. Before working for the VA, Jonathan served in a variety of mental health and education roles in New York, Maryland, and Mississippi, stretching back to 2000. Jonathan has long been interested in diverse applications of contextual behavior science to applied settings, particularly underserved ones. As an early contributor to the development of relational frame th