School and Community Winter 2023

of middle-class wage jobs require some kind of post-high school training, whether it be a certification, or a two-year degree or something else. RootEd helps rural students prepare for these careers by connecting them with advisors who can help explain some of the options available after they graduate. “It’s just talking with them, asking ‘What’s going to happen after graduation,’ and the vast majority of them don’t know. And that’s fine.I didn’t know what I was going to do after graduation, how many of us really do? I do have a handful that know exactly where they’re going to go, what they’re going to do, and that is probably what’s going to happen. But then there are the ones that come in and say, ‘I don’t really know,’ and then we have career inventories, questions we can work with, and sometimes they just need someone to talk with them about what their interests are, what they like. So it’s having those conversations, filling in some of those holes and some pieces for these students.” – Tracey Blaue Officer for Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, discusses the Blue Ribbon Commission as well as Missouri’s certification process for substitute teachers. “It became clear that we had to start getting really serious as a state in this conversation regarding teacher recruitment and retention. For the Blue Ribbon Commission we really focused on bringing a new stakeholder group to the table and to the conversation, and that is business leaders throughout the state. We want to be crystal clear that it’s not that we think educators don’t have a place at the table, but the idea behind that was we need to start sharing this information with a broader audience.” -Mallory McGowin Episode 15: DESE’s Mallory McGowin On this episode of MSTA Presents, Mallory McGowin, Chief Communications

The Common Bond Buddies Club: Growing together through trauma

BY: TAMMY HAGELY, MEHLVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT I am a first-grade teacher at Beasley Elementary in the Mehlville School District. I have started an after-school club for children who have experienced the loss of a parent. I am not a therapist, but I do have a common bond with students who have experienced the loss of a parent. My father died due to leukemia when I was nine. He was ill and in and out of the hospital for two years at just 34 years old. Through my experience, I felt I could offer some support and encouragement to these children. I teach them that in life you will go through difficult times and you have the choice to choose: better or bitter. My goal for this club is to build relationships with other children who have a common bond. The club is a safe place to talk about their feelings, which could be a range of emotions because we all deal with grief in different ways. I aim to provide them with strategies to deal with those feelings. I want to offer encouragement and hope to remember the good memories they had with their loved ones. We do crafts, listen to books dealing with grief, do mindful exercises and just have a good time building relationships while learning to cope with all the emotions that go with losing a loved one. First, I researched books, crafts and activities that deal with grief. Annie’s Hope (a center for grieving kids) was a great resource. I provided students with information about camps and meetings which the families could attend in our area. The first year was mostly about building

relationships and trust. I wanted them to feel safe and secure in the club so they could open up and speak about their feelings. We always start each weekly meeting with an informal check-in. How are things at school, at home, on the bus and with friends? We often listen to books about grief and find ways to deal with grief. Going outside and letting them play and interact on their own is essential. We then serve a snack and have an ongoing activity that we work on or make other crafts. One great and impactful activity is making bags for others who have experienced loss called Family Changes Survival Bags. I got the idea from Pinterest. We have been giving the bags to students and staff at our school who have lost loved ones throughout the year. The most touching part of this activity is to read the heartfelt notes written by the children in the club who have lost a parent, consoling others who have just lost a loved one. This project is truly what I hoped to accomplish – showing that these children can be a light in someone else’s life who is experiencing grief, instead of feeling sorry for themselves. Let’s learn from our experiences and help others! In turn, this truly helps us cope with our grief ! That is why I started this club. I want to help others who have a common bond with me and then have them go out into this world and help others in return. The children love to come to the club. They all get along well and do a lot of laughing, being silly and having fun!

Do you have a topic you’d like us to cover on MSTA Presents? Let us knowby emailing tfuller@msta.org.

S&C WINTER 2023 | 39