How We Can Help You

For many parents and educators, it is difficult to stay positive about online schooling.  While some kids and adults take to it, its disadvantages are also overwhelming.  As one school principal told us last week, “Given the issues we face with Covid spread, online schooling is simply the lesser of two evils.”  Our inbox has been flooded with similar emails from school personnel and parents.  In most of those communications, this question is also asked, “Can the Gurian Institute help us?”

We can.  As the Spring online schooling took hold, the Gurian Institute began conducting action research to see what works and what doesn’t work.  We have subsequently developed a set of trainings and workshops delivered via Zoom (or other local online modality) that provide parents and teachers with assets for conducting education remotely.  Last month, we were not sure this new program would be needed, as it looked like many or most schools were going back to in person education.  Now, however, we believe this new program is relevant.

Not surprisingly, most of the emails and communication we get from schools and parents contain questions about how to make online schooling work for boys.  As of this date, we have received 1 email about girls for every 10 about boys.  Teachers and parents both intuit brain development issues that make it necessary to not only utilize a good baseline for online schooling–one that fits all children’s brains as much as possible–but specifically one that helps boys, and thus parents and teachers of boys, with issues such as:

*access/availability

*absence/presence

*tardiness/consequences

*motivation/under-motivation

*communication/withdrawal

*follow-through/neglect

*homework/school work

*screen time/social media

*anxiety/depression

*relational issues/social emotional development

*trauma-response/Covid-trauma response

*math/science/technology

*language arts/literacy/reading

*behavioral issues/mental health

*learning disabilities/special needs.

The issues that exist in a regular in-person schooling exist in online schooling, and in many ways, they are amplified.   While the male brain in emerging adulthood might be well matched for online schooling, for children 16 or under, it is likely not well-matched.  In some ways, the female brain is well matched throughout the life-span, but in other ways, online schooling exacerbates girls’ issues with anxiety and depression, as well as individual learning issues.

If you are struggling–whether from the school perspective or the home perspective–with online schooling please reach out to us at info@gurianinstitute.com.   Let us know your location, the number of students in your school (or home), the issues you are grappling with (please feel free to add the list we just gave and/or add to it), and anything else you can about your child(ren)’s situation.

For some families, individual instructional coaching might be a good way to go, without training or workshops.  GI can help with that.  For others, a pod or group training session might work via a parent outreach model.  For teachers and school personnel, our professional development, training, and instructional coaching can be arranged.  The Gurian Institute’s work fits relevant funding sources, including Title Funds.

If at all possible, we try to set up a package with you that allows for training and coaching for both the school staff and the parents in the community.  This way, everyone is more likely on the same page.

Our Training and Coaching

The Gurian Institute’s Online Covid-School Training focuses on solving issues via the sex and gender lens.   You will learn:

*basic brain development for all kids

*how the male and female brains (though similar) also differ greatly

*the impact on how boys and girls learn differently

*the impact on how the male and female brain (including the gender spectrum) approach online learning differently

*strategies for teachers to help kids learn well online

*strategies for parents to help kids learn well online

*strategies for mentors, coop teachers, and pod organizers

*how to protect boys and girls from excessive screen time

*strategies in specific content areas, e.g. math, science, literacy

*problem-solving for both teachers and parents, in all the areas of difficulty noted above.

*coaching, both instructional and parent coaching.

In the latter, we help you with specific cases and questions via virtual and phone coaching as needed.

In general, and if funding allows, Dr. Michael Gurian provides the first one to two hours of the teacher training via Zoom (or other online modality used in your system); he does the same, if possible, with the parent talks.  Our Certified Trainers generally provide the rest of the Strategies-Training and instructional and parent coaching.   We will work with you to customize a program design to fit your community’s, school’s, or home’s needs.

If you are back in person and planning PD days or parent education, please consider utilizing our normal services, detailed on our Programs pages of this website, www.gurianinstitute.com.  If you not back in person, we hope you’ll consider contacting us for this new customized service.   Please write info@gurianinstitute.com to begin a conversation.

Program Delivery

These programs are generally for educators to take part in through their normal educational PD formats, and parents and small parent groups navigating the Covid crisis and its stressors on families, parents, couples, and children.  These sessions are customized in length and delivery to meet teachers’ and parents’ scheduling needs.

In the following descriptions, you might notice that we have divided our one, two, and multi-day professional development, training, and coaching into shorter chunks.  We can do this, and thereby accommodate nearly any scheduling need, because virtual training modalities does not require us to travel on site to your school or community.

Please contact us at info@gurianinstitute.com with your questions and to start a conversation on next steps.

Some Programs to Choose From:

The Minds of Boys and Girls:  In Person and Online.

This deep dive into the male and female brain is an exciting journey into how boys and girls learn and grow, with a special look at how the male and female brain accommodate online learning.  This workshop includes PET, MRI, and SPECT scans of male and female brains at work, play, and rest.  You will be amazed to see how differently they learn, even while also sharing many characteristics with one another.  You’ll also gain strategies for maximizing each brain for online and virtual school, and the whole gender spectrum will be understood and accommodated.

Best Practices for Teaching Boys & Girls

This 2-hour strategies session takes the brain science directly to your lesson content, whether you are a teacher or parent (and, thus, a teacher now), and whether you are teaching math, science, language arts, or other curricula. You’ll be able to use these strategies to increase engagement in the learning process, while also meeting the social-emotional needs of your students and children.  As much as possible, we’ll practice it in the online format utilizing your own lessons and lesson plans from the school- or home-based curricula you are presently using.

Boys & Girls Learn Differently Online

This 6-hour training intertwines brain science with practical applications for every classroom–it is a longer composite of the previous two trainings. You’ll learn how the structural and chemical differences between male and female brains impact students’ learning needs, social interaction patterns, and emotional processing. Then you’ll practice and discuss strategies for applying the brain science to your class content, in both online and in-person formats. You’ll walk away with new insights into how to increase engagement in the learning process, while also meeting the social-emotional needs of your students.

This is our normal one day training adapted to online schooling and divided, as you need it to be, into one and two hour sections delivered to you via Zoom or other online modality.  As noted in the description, and as in the case with all of the offerings on this page, the strategies, workshop, and material will remain useful when children go back to in person classrooms.

GI Best Practices for Early Childhood Teachers (preschool – 1st grade)

This 2-hour strategies session takes the brain science directly to your lesson content with younger learners specifically. We’ll practice and discuss online format applications so that you’ll learn how to increase engagement in the learning process, while also meeting the social-emotional needs of your students and children.  This session can easily follow a Minds of Boys and Girls session.

Growing Resilience in Families Through COVID-19 and Beyond  – 1.5 – 2 hours

In this interactive session, parents will learn how they can help themselves and their children manage the stresses and challenges that so many families are experiencing. Teaching and practicing resilience skills can open up opportunities for increased communication and understanding, which are necessary to maintaining the connection that is foundational to family well-being.

GI Best Practices for Parents-As-Teachers!  2 hours

So, you didn’t train to be a teacher but here you are, monitoring and supporting your child in schooling at home! This session will help you use brain science to determine how to set up the home space for optimal learning, recognize your child’s learning style, and determine what strategies are needed to help your child stay engaged, while also meeting their social-emotional needs.

Self-Care for Parents in the Age of COVID-19  1.5 – 2 hours

Parents, this one is all about YOU! It’s become kind of a cliché to remind people to “put on their own oxygen mask first,” emphasizing the need for self-care before other-care. But it’s true! It’s hard to have energy for others when your own battery is depleted. That’s what we’re going to focus on in this session: how to make sure your battery is charged, your oxygen mask is on, and your bucket is at least partly full…so that you can be who you WANT to be in your relationship with your children.

The Digital Boy and the Digital Girl:  1.5  – 2 hours

Between online learning and our near-dependence on technology for connection and entertainment, how can parents answer the important question: How much technology is too much? Along with that comes:  What uses of technology are essential and helpful? In this session, we’ll evaluate some assets and challenges of digital technology use, identify age-appropriate uses and limits for screen time, and discuss strategies for teaching children social interaction skills that they may be missing, given our current state of increased isolation during the COVID-19 experience.

Eliminating Power Struggles With Kids   1.5 – 2 hours

When children push the boundaries, parents often don’t know what to do except push back.  What if there were an alternative to that power struggle? Parents will learn the difference between empowering and enabling kids as they go through rebellious phases, and walk away with strategies for staying connected even in the most challenging parenting moments!

Parenting Styles and Brain Science   1.5 – 2 hours

You’ve probably noticed that you and your spouse/partner have different styles of managing day-to-day parenting challenges. Many parents think they always have to be “on the same page” to provide consistency for children. While there is some truth to that, there is also research showing that different parenting styles bring different strengths to the picture and result in children who actually have more “tools in their toolbox” for solving problems and managing life challenges. This session will focus on how parenting strengths can be rooted in brain science, and how to use bi-strategic parenting to grow greater resilience in your children.

Individual Parent, Teacher, and Mentor Coaching

We provide individual coaching on online learning and all of our work and tools.  This coaching can transpire for a single hour or transpire as a series of sessions customized to your needs.  Dr. Gurian can provide the coaching, as can our certified and master trainers.

Please contact us at info@gurianinstitute.com to start a conversation on next steps in any of these categories.  We are here for you as you navigate Covid-related issues with your students and children.