Life Skills

Designed to be extremely practical for K–12 administrators, teachers, and students, the book equips educators with the knowledge and skills needed to implement responsive circles effectively. It explores how student behavior serves as communication, how traditional discipline fails to address underlying issues, and the next steps educators can take.

Structured around the author’s IMPACT framework, this book provides grades 6–12 teachers, SEL coordinators, instructional coaches, and administrators with strategies to build meaningful, impactful relationships. Each chapter delves into a letter of the IMPACT acronym: intentional, meaningful, practical, authentic, consistent, and teamwork.

Lead a foundational shift in the way your school approaches student behavior. Using straightforward language, the authors offer research-based, practical strategies for understanding and supporting trauma-impacted students and providing a safe environment for them to learn.

Create safe classrooms where students are empowered to build resilience, cope with traumatic experiences, and achieve at high levels. Learn how to cultivate a trauma-informed classroom environment and utilize classroom management strategies to encourage positive learning experiences for trauma-impacted students.

Learn how teachers, school counselors, psychologists, and social workers can harness their collective power to support the complex needs of students through meaningful team building. Foster productive social-emotional learning (SEL) that promotes a whole-child education.

Take strategic action to close the systemic behavior gap with the support of Behavior Solutions. Foster social-emotional learning (SEL) by utilizing the PLC at Work® and RTI at Work™ processes to boost student metacognition and create an action plan for meeting their psychological needs.

Discover how to develop a balanced system of schooling that fosters consciousness, compassion, confidence, courage, and community as a vehicle for student success and academic achievement. Use assessment tools like the S-CCATE (School Compassionate Culture Analytic Tool for Educators) in a conscious leadership role.

Build compassionate classrooms and mindful schools that prioritize both learning and well-being. Based on the latest neuroscience research, this book provides mindfulness exercises as well as trauma-informed practices for creating positive learning environments.

Marlene Moyer is a teacher at South Lake Tahoe Middle School in South Lake Tahoe, California. She was an integral part of a leadership team that designed student-friendly critical concepts for student scoring using the High Reliability Schools framework.