TL;DR: Learn to teach kids that failure is a process and never a final state. Mistakes are opportunities to learn, to fail forward, and keep growing. Use picture books to teach resilience and grit. Growth Mindset: No More Giving Up! So often, kids say, “I can’t” or “It’s too hard.” So how do we instill the notion that failure is … Read More
Balancing Self-Care and Learning
TL;DR: It’s important to balance self-care and learning. Understand that it’s okay to take a break. Strategies to make your time for yourself include choosing one thing to start, celebrating, having a routine, finding time to relax and recharge, and disconnecting. Balancing self-care and learning: It’s okay to take a break. We’ve all heard about how nice it must be … Read More
The Heart of Education: Feeling Safe
TL;DR Emotional safety is just as critical as physical safety. Creating safe spaces in our classrooms starts with understanding our own safety needs. Build hands-on tasks with students and colleagues to break down complex emotional ideas. Using mood meters provides learners with a language to describe their emotions. Feeling safe is a fundamental need. Learners’ attention in our classes depends … Read More
The Gift of Love: A Piece of Our Heart
TL;DR: We give our students many things but the greatest gifts we can give are our love and our heart. Give students a piece of our heart by giving them a visual reminder as a gift. Put your heart into what you do and share your love with students. There can be a lasting impact. Speak life through the words … Read More
Mental Health: We Are the First Line of Defense
TL;DR: COVID impacted our students in different ways. Find ways in the classroom to be authentic when it comes to supporting students’ social-emotional learning. We’ve all heard it. Within the last two years, educators have been focusing on the health of the social-emotional learner. In a previous blog, I wrote about the SEL of an educator. In order to be … Read More