This is an elementary school in Columbus, Ohio.
这是俄亥俄州哥伦布市的一所小学。
And inside of this school there was a student named D.
在这所小学里，有个名字叫做D的学生。
When D started school here he was six years old: cute as a button, with a smile that brightened the entire room.
D在六岁时进入这所学校就读：当时他好可爱，他的微笑能照亮整间房间。
But after a few months in school, D became angry, and that smile faded.
但在读了这所学校几个月之后，D变得很愤怒，他的微笑渐渐消失了。
D began to do things like flip tables, throw desks and chairs, yell at teachers,
D的行为开始改变，会翻桌，扔桌子和椅子，对老师大吼，
stand in windowsills, run in and out of the classroom and even running out of the school.
站在窗台上，跑进又跑出教室，甚至跑到学校外面。
Sometimes these fits of anger would put the entire school into lockdown mode until D could get himself back together,
有时，当他的愤怒发作时，整所学校会因此进入一级封锁模式，直到D重新恢复正常才解除，
which could sometimes take over an hour. No one in the school knew how to help D.
有时会花上超过一小时。学校里没有人知道要怎么协助D。
I know this because I was the principal at this school.
我之所会知道这点，是因为我当时是这所学校的校长。
And what I quickly and collectively learned with my staff was that
很快的，我就从全体教职员那边得知，
this situation was more extreme than anything we had ever been trained for.
这个情况实在太极端，已经超过了我们过去受训能处理的范围。
Every time that D lashed out, I kept thinking to myself: what did I miss during my principal prep coursework?
每当D爆发时，我自己就不断心想：我在读校长预备学程时少学了什么吗？
What am I supposed to do with a kid like D?
我该拿D这样的孩子如何是好？
And how am I going to stop him from impeding the learning of all the other students?
我要如何避免他妨碍到所有其他学生的学习？
And yet after we did everything that we thought we knew,
我们把我们知道的所有方法都用上了，
such as talking to D and taking away privileges and parent phone calls home,
比如直接和D谈，夺去他的特权，也打电话到他家找他父母，
the only real option we had left to do was to kick him out, and I knew that would not help him.
最后我们只剩下一个选项，就是把他踢出去，我知道这么做对他没帮助。
This scenario is not unique to D. Students all over the world are struggling with their education.
并不只有D有这种状况。世界各地都有学生遇到教育上的困难。
And though we didn't come up with a fail-safe solution, we did come up with a simple idea:
虽然我们没有办法提供万无一失的解决方案，我们仍提出了一个简单的想法：
that in order for kids like D to not only survive in school but to thrive,
为了帮助D这样的孩子不仅能在学校存活下来，还能好好发展，
we somehow had to figure out a way to not only teach them how to read and write
我们得要想出一种方法，不只是教导他们阅读和写字，
but also how to help them deal with and manage their own emotions.
还要教导他们处理和管理自己的情绪。
And in doing that, we were able to move our school from one of the lowest-performing schools in the state of Ohio,
通过这么做之后，我们的学校本来是俄亥俄州表现最差的学校之一，
with an F rating, all the way up to a C in just a matter of a few years.
评鉴分数只有F，后来在短短几年间就一路爬升到C。
So it might sound obvious, right?
这方法听起来显而易见，对吧？
Of course teachers should be focused on the emotional well-being of their kids.
当然老师应该要重视孩子的情绪健康。
But in reality, when you're in a classroom full of 30 students and one of them's throwing tables at you,
但在现实中，当你的班上塞满了三十个学生，其中一个学生朝你扔桌子，
it's far easier to exclude that child than to figure out what's going on inside of his head.
比较容易的做法是逐出那个孩子，要去理解他脑袋里在想什么就困难许多。
But what we learned about D, and for kids like D,
但我们从D及这类孩子身上学到的是，
was that small changes can make huge differences, and it's possible to start right now.
小小的改变就能造成大大的不同，并且我们可以现在开始采取行动。
You don't need bigger budgets or grand strategic plans,
你不需要多大的预算或多伟大的策略计划，
you simply need smarter ways of thinking about what you have and where you have it.
你只需要比较聪明的方法，想想看你有什么资源及它们在什么地方。
In education, we tend to always look outside the box for answers,
在教育上，我们在找答案时，总是希望跳出传统常规，
and we rarely spend enough time, money and effort developing what we already have inside the box.
我们很少花足够的时间、金钱、心力去发展我们已经有的传统常规。
And this is how meaningful change can happen fast.
这样才能快速产生有意义的改变。
So here's what I learned about D.
以下是我对D的了解。
I was wanting to dig a little bit deeper to figure out how he had become so angry.
我那时想要再深入一点了解，他怎么会变成这么愤怒。
And what I learned was his father had left the home
而我得到的信息是，他的爸爸离家了，
and his mother was working long shifts in order to support the family, which left no adult for D to connect with
他的妈妈必须要长时间工作才能养家，因此没有任何成人能和D联系上，
and he was in charge of taking care of his younger brother when he got home from school.
他放学回家之后，得要负责照顾他弟弟。
Might I remind you that D was six years old?
容我提醒各位，D才六岁大。
Can't say that I blame him for having some trouble transitioning into the school environment.
我实在无法责怪他在转换到学校环境时遇到困难。
But yet we had to figure out a way to help him with these big emotions all while teaching him core skills of reading and math.
但我们得要想办法协助他处理这些强大的情绪，同时还要教导他阅读和数学等核心技能。
And three things helped us most.
有三件事对我们帮助最大。
First, we had to figure out where he was struggling the most.
第一，我们得要了解他最大的困难点在哪里。
And like most young kids, arrival at school can be a tough transition time
对大部分的小朋友而言，“到学校”就是个很艰难的转换时期，
as they're moving from a less structured home environment to a more structured school environment.
因为他们从比较没有结构的家庭环境，进入到比较有结构的学校环境。
So what we did for D was we created a calming area for him in our time-out room,
我们在隔离间中为D创造了一个冷静用的区域，
which we had equipped with rocking chairs and soft cushions and books,
这里，我们的设备包括摇椅、软垫和书籍，
and we allowed D to go to this place in the morning, away from the other kids,
我们允许D在早晨时到这个地方，远离其他孩子，
allowing him time to transition back into the school environment on his own terms.
让他有时间可以转换回到学校环境，照他自己的步调走。
And as we began to learn more about D, we learned other strategies that helped him calm down.
在更了解D之后，我们发现还有其他策略可以协助他冷静下来。
For example, D loved to help younger students, so we made him a kindergarten helper,
比如，D很喜欢协助年纪比他小的学生，所以我们让他担任幼儿园助手，
and he went into the kindergarten classroom and taught students how to write their letters.
他会去幼儿园教室，去教学生如何写字母。
And he was actually successful with a few of them that the teacher was unable to reach.
他甚至成功教会了几个连老师都没辙的学生。
And believe it or not, D actually helped calm some of those kindergarten students down,
并且，信不信由你，D还成功协助几位幼儿园学生冷静下来，
signalling to us that the influence of peers on behavior was far greater than anything we adults could ever do.
让我们见识到，同龄人对于行为的影响远大于我们成人能用的任何方法。
We used humor and song with him.
我们对他采用幽默和歌曲。
Yes, I know it sounds really silly that the principal and the teachers would actually laugh with kids,
是的，我知道听起来很蠢，校长和老师跟孩子们笑成一团，
but you can imagine the shock on D's face when the principal's cracking a joke or singing a song from the radio station,
但你们可以想象一下，D的神情有多震惊，因为校长透过广播讲了个笑话或是唱了一首歌时，
which almost always ended in a laugh, shortening the length of his outburst and helping us to connect with him in his world.
通常最后大家就会笑成一团，这让他爆发的时间缩短了，也让我们可以在他的世界中和他连结。
So I know some you are like, "It's really not practical to lay on this kind of special treatment for every student,"
我知道在座有些人在想：“对每个学生都要实施这种特殊待遇，实在不是很实际的做法。”
but we actually made it happen. Because once we figured out the tools and tactics that worked for D,
但我们真的实现了。因为，一旦我们搞懂了哪些工具和战略对D行得通，
our teachers were able to roll that out and use them with other students.
我们的老师就能推行这些方法，用在其他学生身上。
We began to proactively address student behavior instead of simply react to it.
对于学生的行为问题，我们开始先发制人，而不再是单纯被动应变。
Our teachers actually took time during the lesson plan to teach kids how to identify their feelings
我们的老师真的在教案上花时间，教导孩子如何辨识出他们的感受，
and appropriate, healthy coping strategies for dealing with them,
并教导他们用适当、健康的策略来处理那些情绪，
such as counting to 10, grabbing a fidget spinner or taking a quick walk.
比如从一数到十，拿个指尖陀螺来玩，或快速去散个步。

We incorporated brain breaks throughout the day,
一天当中，我们也会融入大脑休息时间，
allowing kids to sing songs, do yoga poses and participate in structured physical activities.
让孩子唱歌，做瑜伽动作，并参与结构性的动态活动。
And for those kids that struggle with sitting for long periods of time,
针对很难久坐的孩子，
we invested in flexible seating, such as rocking chairs and exercise bikes,
我们投资了有弹性的坐椅，比如摇椅和室内单车，
and even floor elliptical machines, allowing kids to pedal underneath their desks.
甚至还有滑步机，让孩子们可以在桌子下面踩踏。
These changes encouraged kids to stay in the classroom, helping them to focus and learn.
这些改变能鼓励孩子们待在教室里，协助他们专注和学习。
And when less kids are disrupting, all kids do better.
越来越少有孩子捣乱，所有孩子就会表现得更好。
And here's the magical thing: it didn't cost us a whole lot of extra money.
很神奇的是：我们并没有花很多额外的钱。
We simply thought differently about what we had.
我们只是把既有的东西套上不同的想法来使用。
For example, every public school has an instructional supply line.
比如，所有公立学校都有教具经费。
An instructional supply could be a book, it could be a whiteboard,
教具经费可以供给书籍、白板、
it could be flexible seating, it could be a fidget spinner,
弹性座椅，也可以是指尖陀螺，
it could even be painting the walls of a school a more calming color, allowing students to thrive.
甚至可以把学校的墙壁漆上比较有缓解作用的颜色，让学生可以好好发展。
It's not that we didn't invest in the academic tools -- obviously -- but we took the social tools seriously, too.
当然，我们还是有投资学术工具--这很明显--但我们也认真看待社交工具。
And the results speak for themselves.
结果不言自明。
By taking the emotional development of our kids seriously and helping them manage their emotions,
因为我们能认真看待孩子的情绪发展，并协助他们管理他们的情绪，
we saw huge growth in our reading and math scores,
结果孩子在阅读和数学分数上都有相当大的进步，
far exceeding the one year of expected growth and outscoring many schools with our same demographic.
远超过预期的年成长，还打败了和我们有相同人口统计特性的许多学校。
The second thing we did to help our kids manage their emotions was we used leverage.
在协助孩子管理情绪上，我们所做的第二件事就是借力使力。
As a not-so-funded public school, we didn't have the support staff to address the chaos that our kids might be facing at home,
我们是一所资金不太充裕的公立学校，我们没有支持的人员可以处理孩子们在家中可能会面临的混乱，
and we certainly weren't trained or funded to address it directly.
我们也没有接受过培训或资金能直接介入。
So we started to reach out to local groups, community agencies, and even the Ohio State University.
所以我们开始接触地方团体、小区机构，甚至俄亥俄州立大学。
Our partnership with the Ohio State University afforded us college students not only studying education
我们和俄亥俄州立大学合作，请他们提供大学生给我们，不只是主修教育的大学生，
but also school psychology and school social work.
还有主修社会心理学和学校社会福利工作的大学生。
These students were paired with our teachers to help our most struggling students.
这些学生和我们的老师配对搭挡，来协助状况最糟的学生。
And everyone benefitted because our teachers got access to the latest college-level thinking,
大家都能受益，因为我们的老师能够取得最新的大学等级思想，
and those college students got real-world, life experiences in the classroom.
而那些大学生能在教室里获得真实生活中的经历。
Our partnership with our local Nationwide Children's Hospital afforded us
我们也和我们本地的全美儿童医院合作，
they're building us a health clinic within our school, providing health and mental health resources for our students.
合作方式是，他们在我们学校中建立健康诊所，提供健康和心理健康资源给我们的学生。
And our kids benefitted from this, too.
我们的孩子也能从中受益。
Our absences continued to go down, and our kids had access to counseling that they could access during the school day.
我们的学生缺席状况越来越少，我们的孩子能够取得咨询，并且是在上学日就能取得。
And perhaps the biggest change was not in D or in the kids at all. It was in the adults in the room.
也许，改变最大的人不是D或其他孩子，而是教室中的成人。
Teachers are typically good at planning for and delivering academic instruction,
一般来说，老师很擅长规划和实行学术性的教学，
but when you throw in disruptive behavior, it can feel completely outside the scope of the job.
但如果遇到了打断课程的行为，感觉处理这件事就完全不在工作范围内了。
But by us taking the emotional development of our kids seriously,
但我们认真看待孩子的情绪发展，
we moved from a philosophy of exclusion -- you disrupt, get out -- to one of trust and respect.
因此我们能从原本的排除哲学--你打断课程，滚出去--迈向信任和尊重的哲学。
It wasn't easy, but we felt at heart, it was a positive way to make change,
这并不容易，但我们打心里知道，这是一种正面的改变方式，
and I'm in awe at the teachers that took that leap with me.
我非常敬佩愿意和我一起冒险尝试的老师们。
As part of our personal professional development plan, we studied the research of Dr. Bruce Perry
我们的个人职业发展计划包括了要研读布鲁斯佩里博士的研究，
and his research on the effects of different childhood experiences on the developing child's brain.
他研究过不同童年经历对于儿童大脑发展的影响。
And what we learned was that some of our students' experiences,
我们所学到的是，我们某些学生的经历，
such as an absent parent, chaotic home life, poverty and illness, create real trauma on developing brains. Yes, trauma.
比如单亲、家庭生活混乱、贫穷及生病，会对正在发展中的大脑造成真实的创伤。是的，创伤。
I know it's a very strong word, but it helped us to reframe and understand the behaviors that we were seeing.
我知道这是个很强烈的词，但它能协助我们去重新表述和了解我们看到的行为。
And those difficult home experiences created real barbed-wire barriers to learning, and we had to figure out a way over it.
而艰困的家庭状况对学习带来了如铁丝网般的障碍，我们得要想办法绕过这障碍。
So our teachers continued to practice with lesson plans, doing shorter lesson plans with a single focus,
所以，我们的老师持续练习各种课程计划，用比较短且只有一个重点的课程计划，
allowing kids to engage, and continued to incorporate these movement breaks,
让孩子们参与其中，并持续整合这些休息活动，
allowing kids to jump up and down in class and dance for two minutes straight,
在课堂上腾出整整两分钟时间，容许孩子跳上跳下以及跳舞，
because we learned that taking breaks helps the learner retain new information.
因为我们学到，稍微休息一下能协助学习者保留新吸收的信息。
And might I add that the "Cha-Cha Slide" provides a perfect short dance party.
让我补充一点，“Cha-ChaSlide”这首歌就很适合做短暂的舞会。
I saw teachers say, "What happened to you?" instead of "What's wrong with you?"
我发现老师们会说：“你发生了什么事？”而不是“你有什么问题？”
or "How can I help you?" instead of "Get out."
或者，他们会说：“我能怎么协助你？”而不是“滚出去。”
And this investment in our kids made huge differences, and we continue to see rises in our academic scores.
在孩子身上做这些投资，造成了很大的不同，我们学校学生的学术成绩持续在提升。
I'm happy to say that when D got to fourth grade, he rarely got into trouble.
我很高兴能跟各位说，当D升四年级时，他已经很少惹麻烦了。
He became a leader in the school, and this behavior became contagious with other students.
他成了学校中的领导人，并且这种行为可以感染其他学生。
We saw and felt our school climate continue to improve,
我们看到也感受到学校中的风气持续在改善，
making it a happy and safe place not only for children but for adults, despite any outside influence.
让学校成为快乐又安全的地方，不仅对孩子来说是如此，对成人亦然，就算有外界影响也一样。
Fast-forward to today, I now work with an alternative education program
快转到现今，我现在参与了一项替代教育方案，
with high school students who struggle to function in traditional high school setting.
对象是难以适应传统高中教育的学生。
I recently reviewed some of their histories.
最近，我检视了一些学生的历史记录。
Many of them are 17 to 18 years old, experimenting with drugs,
当中许多人的年龄是17--18岁，在尝试吸毒，
in and out of the juvenile detention system and expelled from school.
进进出出少年辅育院，被学校退学。
And what I discovered was that many of them exhibit the same behaviors that I saw in six-year-old D.
我发现，这些学生当中有许多人都展现了我在六岁的D身上看到的行为。
So I can't help but wonder: if these kids would've learned healthy coping strategies early on when times get tough,
所以，我忍不住想：如果这些孩子能早点在艰难的时刻就先学到健康的情绪处理策略，
would they now be able to survive in a regular high school?
现在他们有没有可能在一般的高中里生存？
I can't say for sure, but I have to tell you I believe that it would've helped.
我无法肯定，但我得告诉各位，我相信那会有帮助。
And it's time for all of us to take the social and emotional development of our kids seriously.
该是我们认真看待孩子的社会发展和情绪发展的时候了。
The time is now for us to step up and say what we need to do for our kids.
我们现在就该站出来，说出我们该为孩子做些什么。
If we teach kids how to read and write,
如果我们教导孩子如何阅读和写字，
and they graduate but yet they don't know how to manage emotions, what will our communities look like?
并且他们毕业了，但他们不知道如何管理情绪，那我们的社区会变成什么样子？
I tell people: you can invest now or you will pay later.
我告诉人们：你要么现在投资，要么是以后付出代价。
The time is now for us to invest in our kids.
现在我们就应该投资在孩子身上。
They're our future citizens, not just numbers that can or cannot pass a test. Thank you.
他们是我们的未来公民，不只是考试及不及格的数字。谢谢。