Bryanna Kolja
Bryanna has worked for Morningside Center since 2013. Soon after graduating with a B.A. in Philosophy, Bryanna started working as a kindergarten group leader in Morningside’s after-school program in the Bronx. She soon became program administrator and ultimately program director of our K-8 after-school program. During her six years as program director, Bryanna focused on enabling students and staff to work together to create project-based culminating events where students artistically and collaboratively explored themes such as: self-identity, goal-setting, managing conflict, building healthy relationships, diversity, anti-racism, the school-to-prison pipeline, and the African Diaspora.
In 2021, Bryanna became the full-time program manager for all after-school programming for Morningside Center. She currently co-creates and facilitates workshops and provides coaching in social and emotional learning and equity for after-school staff from across New York City as part of Morningside’s partnership with NYC’s Department of Youth and Community Development. In addition, Bryanna co-created and facilitates Morningside's SEL and Equity in After School Program, which trains and coaches staff from middle school after-school programs throughout NYC.
Nine suggestions for supporting students and strengthening your classroom community in these challenging times. Some are quick and easy, to calm the mind and body, keep in your pocket and have at the ready. Others are more complex for a full- or half-period lesson, and can build on one another.
In the wake of the 2024 presidential election, educators are looking for ways to address students' anxieties, build the classroom and school community, counter bias and harassment, and address political issues raised by the election.
CONTACT: Laura McClure, Communications Director
A collection of self-care and community care lessons and guidelines for adults and children.
Students reflect on their feelings about standardized tests - and consider strategies to handle stress.
Looking for ways to engage your students in environmental issues and the climate crisis? Here are some of our latest lessons.
Looking for engaging activities on amazing women and their movements? Here’s our collection!
In honor of Black History Month, consider these lessons on everything from the story of Black farmers to the history of voter suppression.
Some suggestions to give your students space to share their thoughts and feelings about the events surrounding the death of Tyre Nichols.
A collection of TeachableMoment activities for exploring holiday feelings, finding joy, and more.
The shooting in Colorado Springs is on the minds of many young people - and adults. How can we create space for students to reflect on such upsetting news?
Lessons to explore gratitude and American history surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday.
Educators learn about the neuroscience of storytelling and experience for themselves a storytelling activity they can use with students. The activity is the first session in our new guide, Teaching as an Act of Solidarity: A Beginner’s Guide to Equity in Schools.
If you're looking to honor Labor Day and working people in your classroom, consider these lessons from our collection.
We offer guidelines and activities for discussing upsetting events and for supporting students in their aftermath.
Collected lessons and resources for increasing knowledge and awareness during AAPI month - or any time.
The attack on Ukraine is on the minds of many young people - and adults. Here, we share some resources for discussing upsetting issues in the news.
A selection of activities, in honor of Respect for All Week, to help you and your class appreciate each other, promote respect, and stop oppressive behavior.
A collection of ideas and links for teaching on the anniversary of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Indigenous People's Day and Native American Heritage Month (in November) are an opportunity to learn about Indigenous peoples' history, culture, and perspectives.
A collection of community building activities, SEL Tips, games, and lessons on self-care to get your year off to a good start.
Congress has passed and President Biden has signed a new law making Juneteenth a federal holiday. Students learn about and discuss Juneteenth.
The year is coming to a close! Here are some activities & tips to consider for the final weeks of school.
Building an equitable future for public education is a collective effort. It requires connection, care, and co-creation.
Build classroom community by making a practice of sharing appreciations.
Students share their thoughts and feelings in response to the conviction of police officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd.
Black history isn't just for February. Here, some perspectives on teaching Black history - and suggested activities for any time of the year.
Students watch videos with Martin Luther King III and Rev. William Barber, co-founder of today’s Poor People’s Campaign, and discuss the continuing fight for economic and racial justice.
Here's a collection of online lessons and resources to help you talk with students about the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
We’re so excited to share with you our hopeful new video about the future of education and Morningside Center!
As a new school year begins, Paloma, a fifth-grade star goalie, is feeling sad and anxious. She tries ignoring her feelings, but as they start to show at school, her classmates single her out. Will Paloma find the strength to share her secret? This video read-aloud of the book Paloma's Secret can open up important conversations with our young ones.
Students read about and discuss three key policy debates as a new administration prepares to take office.
Students review and reflect on the news that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been declared winners of the 2020 presidential election.
Students share their thoughts and feelings in the wake of Election Day, reflect on the news, and take part in self-care activities.
Students reflect on the Election Day news, discuss a video about youth voting, and begin creating a self-care plan.
Guidelines for facilitating meaningful conversations with students during Election Week 2020, plus, updated daily lesson links.
Invite students to take a pause to listen and share as Election Week begins.
Dear Morningside Community,
We have some appreciations and some news to share with you.
Students consider four key issues discussed by Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the October 22, 2020 presidential debate: the Covid pandemic, healthcare, racism, and the climate crisis.
Students learn about the growing effort to acknowledge the Indigenous people whose lands we inhabit - and create their own land acknowledgment statement.
Nineteen classroom activities and guidelines to help you and your students get your virtual school year off to a good start.
This activity invites students to hear the words of Jacob Blake’s mother and sister, and to reflect on their own thoughts and feelings about the police shooting in Kenosha Wisconsin, and its impact.
Join staff developer Nicole Lavonne Smith for a discussion on equitable classrooms.
In this webinar, staff developer Victoria Cheng-Gorini will share strategies for encouraging social and emotional learning and self-care in our students through remote learning platforms.
The police killing of George Floyd has ignited outrage, grief, and protest across the country. Here are some suggestions to give your students space to share their thoughts and feelings about these events.
The coronavirus crisis has thrown our nation’s economic disparities into stark relief. In this activity, students use a set of interactive charts to investigate the current state of economic inequality in the U.S.—and make their own charts showing how they would like to see that data change.
Both teachers and parents may find these basic social and emotional learning (SEL) practices, from deep breathing to self-talk, helpful during this stressful time.
It's helpful to create community guidelines for our online gatherings of staff - during the coronavirus pandemic, or at any time. Here are some sample guidelines from a recent online gathering of Morningside staff.
Join staff developers Dionne Grayman & Marieke Van Woerkom
In schools across the country, Black students are suspended and expelled at a rate three times greater than white students – and that tragic reality drives the school-to-prison pipeline.
The poem Yes, by William Stafford, is a timely one to share with students and colleagues, either face to face or virtually. Here, a reading and suggestions for how to reflect together on the poem.
How can we foster a classroom climate where every student feels supported - and where we can talk about the issues that are upsetting us? Here are some ideas.
Watch students brainstorm problems in their classroom and come up with solutions as part of a 4Rs lesson.
Watch third-grade students role-play "I-messages" - and learn how they are different from "you-messages."
This simple process gives young people—and adults—a chance to express their feelings about events of the day.
This video encourages us to rethink discipline policies in school to break the school to prison pipeline and be more equitable in our response to student (mis)behavior.
This video outlines three tiers of Restorative Practices: 1. Community and relationship building, 2. Community and relationship repair and conflict resolution, 3. Reintegration after a removal or other kind of absence.
Administrations and school staff talk about their experience rolling out Restorative Circles in their school over the course of the year.
In this video staff and students at a West Philadelphia High School talk about the transformation the school has undergone as a result of participation in restorative circles.
The holiday invites exploration of everything from American history to gratitude.
In this video school staff, resources officers, county probation department staff and students talk about their experience with restorative practices.
After another deadly shooting, how can we help young people and adults process the news and find comfort?
What does it take to create equitable schools where all students thrive?
In this video staff and students talk about the impact of class meetings on them and on the school community. They talk about what happens in class meetings.
In this video staff and students talk about, and then show, how the school Justice Committee, practices mediation as part of an alternative approach to school discipline to resolve conflict and address issues.
Atlanta Public Schools has made Social and Emotional Learning a district priority because these life skills are a foundation for the academic successes of our students. This video outlines the social and emotional learning foundation needed for restorative holistic discipline to be successfully implemented in school.
In this video the teacher and her second graders use the class meeting process to collaboratively problem solve an issue in which one student was being bothered by other students.
Kansas City Public Schools Superintendent Mark Bedell is approaching discipline reform with a three-part plan focused on restorative practices, meditation and mentorship.
This video shows a high school that provides Safe Spaces for students to remove themselves from challenging situations, de-escalate their feelings, make different choices about how to move forward and transition back to class.
This video showcases a school that is implementing Restorative Discipline to address student behavior and resolve conflicts collaboratively, using restorative circles in a collaborative space they call “the zone.”
This video shows the power of a student-facilitated restorative circle to build community through storytelling. The circle is implemented with fidelity, according to the key restorative circle components found at our Introduction to Circles.
In this video students talk about restorative circles in the academic classroom and the impact circles have had on them and their school community.
This video shows the power of restorative circles to build community and address harm. Circles are discussed and implemented with fidelity, according to the key restorative circle components found at our Introduction to Circles.
In this video the school to prison pipeline is explained and connected to how punitive discipline in schools disproportionately targets African American students, pushing them out of school at much higher rates than their White peers for the same behaviors
This video looks at taking the implementation of Restorative Practices in Chicago Public Schools to “the next level, the community level, to the parent level to expand best practices that we’re seeing taking place in our school so that we truly have a restorative community wrapped around our students.”
This video shows the various stages of a restorative conference between two young men, their families, friends, and other community members to address a situation of harm doing—Part 1: Dialogue: opening introductions, establishing guidelines, responsible youth incident summary, person harmed shares impact, family of responsible youth shares impact, community member perspective, Part II: Creating the Restorative Action Plan, Part III: Closing of restorative conference
This video shows a restorative conversation between a student and her ELA teacher to address an incident a few weeks earlier that escalated to the point of the student leaving the classroom.
This video discusses and shows the steps of a Restorative Pre-Conference (separately) with participants on different sides of an incident in which harm was done. The pre-conference aims to get participants comfortable and familiar (enough) with the conference to be willing and able to participate effectively when the parties are brought together to repair the harm and make things right. In this particular pre-conference the student who inflicted harm and his parents come together with the conference facilitators.
RP Video Library: This video shows a powerful Welcome and Reentry Circle that welcomes a student back to school after an absence. The circle is implemented with fidelity, according to the key restorative circle components found at our Introduction to Circles.
RP Video Library: This video shows a peer facilitated restorative circle to problem solve around lateness in school. The Circle is implemented with fidelity, according to the key restorative circle components found at our introduction to circles.
RP Video Library: This video shows the power of an effectively teacher facilitated circle to build community and address issues. The circle is implemented with fidelity, according to the key restorative circle components found at our introduction to circles.
RP Video Library: This video shows the power of an effectively student facilitated restorative circle to build community through storytelling. The circle is implemented with fidelity, according to the key restorative circle components found at our introduction to circles.
RP Video Library: In this video, administration, staff and students talk about the school’s transition from punitive practices to restorative practices and how the shift in mindset and practice impacted relationships at the school and school culture overall.
Dear friends of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility,
RP Video Library: In this video, administration and school staff talk about what restorative practices are, why we use restorative practices and what they look like implemented holistically in a school.
Register for our webinar to learn the basics of conflict resolution from a social and emotional learning standpoint (free & available on demand).
The student-led March for Our Lives was one of the largest demonstrations ever in Washington, D.C. Youth activists across the country are in the spotlight.
In her new piece on Edutopia, Morningside Center senior trainer Marieke van Woerkom notes that restorative
When we first heard the news of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, we felt sickened, heartbroken, and exhausted. Here was yet another tragic scho
Collected lessons for teaching Black History Month, primarily for high school and middle school.
Register for this webinar to learn concrete SEL strategies to improve classroom climate (available for free and on demand)! Included in AFT & Share my Lesson's Top Resources of 2017.
During 2016 (winter-spring of the 2015-16 school year and throughout 2016-17), Morningside Center supported 13 NYC expanded-day programs in piloting our C Squad curriculum – which was t
Collected lessons for teaching Black History Month, primarily for high school and middle school.
In this activity, students share their feelings about the election, have a listening circle, and then participate in a community-building activity.
Updated: The presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on October 9, 2016, raised some important but difficult issues about sexism and sexual assault. In this activity, students learn about and discuss the controversy, hear and discuss Michelle Obama's comments about it, share thoughts and feelings in a "listening circle," and brainstorm ways we can increase our respect for each other.
Here are some basic questions to help students share thoughts and feelings about an upsetting event, and additional guidance.
This listening circle on the tragic shooting in Orlando on June 12, 2016, gives young people a chance to share what they are thinking and feeling, encouraging mutual understanding and support.
Consider giving students a few moments of silence and calm by asking them to focus on an object. If students respond positively to the experience, repeat it.
A short activity has students consider President Obama's proposal for free community college.
In this brief activity, students consider Oxfam's finding that the world's richest 1% will own half of global wealth by 2016.
Our lessons and guidelines on Michael Brown and Eric Garner have been used in schools across the country. Here they are, all in one place.
In this brief activity, students share their thoughts and feelings about the grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer who killed unarmed black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
In this circle activity, students share their thoughts and feelings about events in Ferguson and reflect on a quote about protest from Martin Luther King Jr.
Eleven suggestions to help adults address oppressive behavior by students.
Students work in small groups and as a class to decide on what policies they would recommend to the President to deal with threats posed by ISIS.
Lupe, a 12th grader from Brooklyn, talks about why she decided to become a Circle Keeper and the impact it has had on her interactions with other students.
I know that we are all exhaling a huge sigh of relief because June is within our reach, but I encourage you to press on; keep teaching how you know is right, every day that you have kids sitting in front of you.
Maya, Peer Mediator, PS 116
In this activity students propose actions for addressing social injustices and look at ways that other young people have responded to injustice.
Some preliminary ideas for remembering the life of the remarkable folk singer and activist Pete Seeger, who died on January 27.
Students learn about the Affordable Care Act and the debates surrounding it; read and consider different points of view about the legislation; consider their own point of view in small group discussion, and consider taking action on the issue.
The 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement's 1963 March on Washington is a great teaching opportunity. We offer some helpful resources.
This activity aims to facilitate classroom discussion of President Obama's remarks on July 19 about race and the Trayvon Martin case.
Some initial suggestions for educators regarding the Trayvon Martin case.
Our guidelines for talking with children about sensitive issues and suggestions for countering anti-Muslim or anti-Arab bias may be helpful in the wake of the Boston Marathon attack.
This activity uses a 6-minute video about wealth inequality that has gone viral on the internet with small-group activities to help students explore what they think U.S. wealth distribution currently is, what they think it should be, what it actually is, and what they might do about it. (For a non-video lesson addressing the same data, see our lesson Wealth & Taxes: What's Fair?)
See our three recent classroom lessons aimed at helping students grapple with both the personal and political sides of high-stakes testing:
Classroom lessons to foster respect for diversity, a concrete way for schools to mark Respect for All Week.
A selection of activities to help you and your class mark Respect for All Week.
A conflict resolution word-find game!
Students talk about the 2012 election and President Obama's statement in his acceptance speech that "democracy does not end with our vote." Students then consider the issues that are most important to them, research the issues, and figure out how to take action on them.
We offer suggestions to introduce the topic of Hurricane Sandy in the classroom and ideas on ways to teach about it, with links to helpful articles and resources.
IRAQ WAR 9th anniversary See our index of the many lessons TeachableMoment has offered on the war since 2003.
Classroom lessons to foster respect for diversity, a concrete way for schools to mark Respect for All Week.
The first lesson introduces students to the concept of conflict; the second has students practice coming up with "win-win solutions." See our conflict resolution programs.
In this lesson, students practice active listening by paraphrasing what they hear.
Students reflect on a time when they were angry. They describe the ways people communicate and physically react when they have strong feelings and consider what choices we can make when we are angry.
Uses puppets to introduce young children to the concept of escalating and deescalating conflict.
Students consider stereotypes, beginning with stereotypes of "teenagers."
Uses a student role play to help young people consider the choices of assertiveness, aggressiveness, and passivity.
Students interview and learn about one another.
Working in small groups, students categorize coping strategies as positive, negative, neutral, and time-out behaviors.
Students work individually to create a "cultural banner" expressing values, traditions, and activities important in their families.
Students work in small groups to create a group "machine."
Students examine how feelings are expressed in a poem, and then use metaphor to write about their own feelings.
Students explore anger using similes.
As controversy grows over military recruitment in high schools, we offer a set of rigorous, inquiry-oriented and student-friendly readings and activities that explore many aspects of the military, the draft, and the war:
After two puppets discuss how a bully at their school, youngsters analyze what they've seen and consider how to respond to the bully.
In these two fun classroom activities, students practice sending and receiving messages and consider what communication is.
Encourages students to consider the effect of "put-downs" and to think about how to express "put-ups."
In this activity for grades 3-6, students practice the skills of good listening.
Well-structured small-group discussion can help students discuss issues of the day that concern them.
A series of classroom activities culminate in students interviewing a peacemaker in their school or community.
Through an exercise and roleplays, students consider the importance of understanding another person's point of view in solving a conflict.
Students observe that even friends may disagree in their opinions. The lesson includes an "opinion continuum" exercise that encourages students to respectfully express and listen to different opinions.
In a group and one-on-one, students consider their similarities and differences and see that it's okay to talk about diversity.
This pdf booklet, produced by the City University of New York's Murphy Institute, includes lots of facts and figures (and cartoons) about issues such as government spending and public sector wages, providing rich material for a HS or college social studies or economics class.
This 20-page PDF booklet includes lively classroom activities to get students thinking, learning and talking. Grades K-1, grades 2-5, grades 4-8, and grades 6-12.
This 20-page PDF booklet includes lively classroom activities to get students thinking, learning and talking. Grades K-1, grades 2-5, grades 4-8, and grades 6-12.
This 38-page PDF booklet includes great activities to get your class (grades preK-12) off to a good start in the new school year.
This fun activity is a good one to use at the beginning of a course. It's a quick way for students to connect with one another and overcome shyness.
Presidential Election 2004 Series