“Each Song and Every Lesson has a Purpose!”
By Kristin Clark Taylor
You can hear it in her voice: The sound of pride.
Though we are separated by hundreds of miles, many states, and an entire time zone, the sound of pride in her voice is as clear as a bell.
Laura Cardenas-Alvarez, a school counselor at Perez Elementary in Brownsville, Texas, clearly feels pride in her students, but she also celebrates the fact that her students feel just as much in themselves!
This is pride that can be felt and heard.
“When my pre-k and kindergartners sing ‘We Are Growing Smarter’ in their loud, happy voices, you can just feel their confidence and their pride growing,” Laura says with enthusiasm.
“They aren’t just singing empty words … they are singing what they believe to be true about themselves and each other.”
says that all of her students
point to ‘You-Nique’
as their all-time favorite song!”
QuaverReady is Filled with Favorites!
Listening to Laura describe everything she loves about QuaverReady, it’s easy to understand why school counselors across the USA rely on this extraordinary resource to promote social and emotional learning in their students. A few of Laura’s favorite features:
- The Songs: “There are loads of great SEL songs, but my personal favorite is ‘Change,’ she says. “This song helps my students understand that change is normal. Everybody loves this song – the students, other teachers, the paraprofessionals who sometimes come in – all of us can relate!”
- The worksheets: “I print the worksheets so my students can take them home,” Laura says. “They go over the lessons with their parents, and this helps parents understand how SEL is being taught and applied. Plus, parents learn about SEL, too! Everybody benefits.”
- Lessons with a Purpose: “Each song and every lesson has a purpose!” Songs like ‘How are We Feeling today?’ and ‘Show me how You’re Feeling’ give me the tools I need to discuss and identify important emotions with my students – and we have fun while we’re doing it.
QuaverReady is the Common Theme: “The entire district follows the curriculum very closely. In fact, they develop a monthly theme based on the Quaver curriculum — and we develop our monthly themes from there,” she says. “Everybody’s using it consistently, across the board.
“I also offer after-school counseling,” Laura adds, “where we talk about and learn how to manage anxiety, set goals, and make good decisions. All of these lessons and skills help my students cope.”
Laura Cardenas-Alvarez helps us understand that SEL is important to many people on many different levels, from students, teachers, counselors, and administrators, to families and the larger community.
She also helps us understand that all these different pieces can be sewn together into a single fabric — almost like a beautiful quilt – and the pieces of this quilt come from a single resource.
The name of this beautiful “quilt” of a resource?
That’s an easy one:
QuaverReady!
Kristin Clark Taylor is an author and a journalist.
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For more information on QuaverReady, go to www.quavered.com.
