PurpleBunnies

• Self Awareness- the individual has the ability to identify their emotions, personal assets, areas for growth, and potential external resources and supports. 

The Purple Bunny Model helps students ‘see’ their sense of agency as a resource.  Sometimes this supply has more assets. They can talk about the feeling of earning Purple Bunnies.  They can ‘check-in’ to recognize areas where they feel less agency. Like “I have a lot of Purple Bunnies when I am doing math.  But at PE, I feel like I can’t do things right. "

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• Social Awareness- The individual has the ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures. 

The model allows students to see that individuals, no matter their background or culture, individuals each have a need to feel accomplishment.  They each need to feel accepted and each person has a different capacity to handle struggles. When we use this model, the students can see that some people do not have as many Purple Bunnies.  Since everyone needs them, and some people do not know how to get them, they try to take them from people. It gives students a way to see that their peers who have communication or emotional issues, and may be acting mean or selfish, comes as a result of the troubled student’s struggle to earn Purple Bunnies.

 

• Self Management- the individual has the ability to regulate emotions, thoughts, and behaviors

It ‘costs’ Purple Bunnies to regulate behaviors.  When a person is low in Purple Bunnies, it is easier more difficult to regulate emotions.  It helps students to see that sometimes it is easy to regulate, and other times it is difficult depending on our ‘Purple Bunnies’ level.

• Self Efficacy- the individual has the ability to motivate themselves, persevere, and see themselves as capable.

Part of the Purple Bunnies brings up a problem-solving tunnel. The problems solving tunnel is an excellent tool for teaching how to ‘persevere’ through the problem.  The length of the tunnel can fluctuate. A teacher can make it longer to represents problems that are too big. Shorter to represent not having enough of a challenge to earn Purple Bunnies. The tunnel can also multiply.  This happens when INSTEAD of solving a problem...a person creates a new problem. For instance, a person does not know how to solve a math problem. So he copies off another paper. The first problem is not solved. . . and now the problem is compounded by cheating. 

 

• Social Engagement- Individual has the ability to consider others and show a desire to contribute to the well-being of school and community. 

The other way to earn Purple Bunnies is to help others.  When a person helps others, they get Purple Bunnies, and so does the recipient.  Also, humans get Purple Bunnies when we watch other people get Purple Bunnies.

(More to come)