Teacher Talk
Navigating Back-to-School Stress: A Guide for Teachers
For most schools in the U.S., the first day of the new school year is just days away. No matter how much teachers may rest and prepare in advance, that first day feels something like a polar bear plunge into icy waters: jolting, exciting, numbing, and perhaps a little...
Teaching EQ to Our Youth: Why Emotional Intelligence Matters Now More Than Ever
“When you’re drowning in loneliness and your emotions get the best of you, everyone seems so far away…I needed a life raft. The reason I couldn’t handle these emotions was because I did not have high emotional intelligence.” These are the words of Maximilian...
Revitalizing School Environments: Creating Spaces Where Students Thrive
The Transformative Power of School Surroundings A recent TLC blog post explored the impact of strategically using a school’s physical surroundings to create an environment where students can thrive. In the article, former principal and "educational disruptor" Hamish...
Shaping Schools, Shaping Lives: Transformation Through Environment
The Power of Physical Environments "We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us," asserted Sir Winston Churchill. Andrew L. Ross, Gary Grenier, and Frank Kros, transformational education experts, echo this sentiment in their book, Creating The Upside Down...
Summer of Self-Development: Creative Ideas for Teachers to Explore Personal Learning and Discovery
Summer is just around the corner, and as your classes wind down, it's the perfect time to seize the opportunity to develop yourself. If you're not required to focus on the technical aspects of professional development, summer may be a fantastic chance for you to learn...
Unlock a Summer of Learning: Simple and Fun Ways to Prevent Academic Regression
The joy of summertime provides a much-needed emotional respite from the rigors of daily life. However, a study in the American Educational Research Journal suggests that students may risk losing substantial academic progress they made during the previous school year....
Belonging Stops the Bully: 4 Lessons from the Savannah
If you’ve ever watched a wildlife documentary, you’re familiar with some of the hunting tactics used by predators and the dynamics existing between predator and prey. Observing predator-prey dynamics can help to illustrate parallels between the natural instincts of...
Kindness in the Classroom: Kind Conflict Resolution
“If conflict is a normal, natural part of life, it’s really important to look at how we deal with it.” – Ann McKnight This final post in our “Kindness in the Classroom” series culminates with a brief look at how teachers can facilitate kind and effective...
Helping Students Master Decision-Making: 4 Simple Questions
Students often struggle with making meaningful decisions. If they lack a simple framework to help them make decisions, everyday life can become increasingly frustrating and students may find themselves making hasty choices that cause other problems and limit their...
Kindness in the Classroom: Facilitating Student-to-Student Kindness
Sixty seconds before they step into the classroom, students are gearing up to engage. How are they preparing themselves for the vulnerability required to master new skills or to make mistakes in front of their peers? To respond to challenges and critiques? To rebound...