The McKinley-Brighton Elementary School in Syracuse, New York, is experiencing positive results on student behavior and learning from a daily 30-minute opening period of meditation and mindfulness, and the establishment of a “mindful room” for students who are acting out. Read more ›
Educators are increasingly recognizing that students often have complicated lives outside of school that affect how ready they are to learn. Many students experience some kind of trauma in their lives, whether it’s a health problem, divorce, violence in their neighborhood, or a combination of experiences. Research shows these experiences affect kids’ brains and behavior — a challenge for teachers expecting to arrive in class and only focus on content. Read more ›
All youth need to develop a set of core life skills to manage school, work, outside interests, and social relationships successfully. From the perspective of brain development, these skills include planning, focus, self-control, awareness, and flexibility—also known as “executive function” and “self-regulation” skills. Read more ›
Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder characterized by writing disabilities. In children, the disorder generally emerges when they are first introduced to writing.
For kids with dysgraphia, the effort of writing can get in the way of learning. Here’s a look at some classroom accommodations from Understood.org that can help kids with writing issues. Read more ›
When students feel safe at school, they can thrive. Welcoming Schools, a project of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, offers an array of free resources designed to help educators and administrators create a welcoming school community. Read more ›
A simple way to let students and families know that your school welcomes everyone is to integrate books into your curriculum that reflect the diversity of your classroom and the world.
Welcoming Schools, a project of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, has created lists of currently available diverse books as a starting point. Each recommendation includes a brief summary and the grade and age-range the book is best suited for. Read more ›
A new game developed by Carnegie Mellon University students is helping elementary schoolers understand what life is like for kids on the autism spectrum.
Created by the university’s Entertainment Technology Center, Prism uses its animal characters as allegories for the challenges those with autism face. Read more ›
In this session for educators, executive function coach and consultant Vanessa Fasoli from Spark Focus explains how students’ executive function skills can be fostered through coaching techniques and strategies. Read more ›
A new study finds that when students experience an academic setback such as a bad grade, the amount of cortisol—the so-called stress hormone—in their bodies typically spikes. For most students it drops back down to normal levels a day later, but for some it stays high. These students remain fixated on the setback and have difficulty moving forward. Read more ›
In every classroom, teachers try to engage students who have a variety of temperaments: extroverts, introverts and ambiverts. They work with children who crave sensory stimulation and with those who are highly sensitive to noise and visual distraction.
While one temperament is not better than any other, introverted students are often “overlooked, undervalued and overstimulated in our schools,” said Heidi Kasevich, a 20-year teaching veteran and director of education for Quiet Revolution, an outgrowth of Susan Cain’s best-selling book on the power of introverts. Read more ›
