Thoughts

Educators must take the time to take care of themselves.

Parents must take the time to take care of themselves.

It’s important that every student and staff member feel safe coming into school.

Rebuilding trust and making public schools feel safe for her family, both physically and emotionally, will take time and effort.

Learning looks different in each classroom.

Forcing, scolding, and punishing are often ineffective ways to teach intrinsic motivation.

Social and emotional learning is gaining traction in schools across the United States as educational organizations and inquisitive teachers rethink, adapt, and reinvent traditional classroom practices.

If teachers understand state learning standards, the skills that students need to master, and effective teaching strategies, there is room for creativity.

We must make sure that all students feel supported.

Let's create school environments that embrace differences and diversity.

Kids must understand respect is a two-way street.

It's important for classmates to learn to get along.

At the end of the school year, it can be hard to keep students calm.

Students need time to brainstorm.

Choose digital tools with the students in mind.

The classroom isn’t the only place students can learn.

Being outdoors relieves stress and anxiety, gives students the freedom to move, and helps them focus.

Listening to a story while gathered outside together makes it feel like an adventure.

You can use a scavenger hunt in the classroom to help with a couple of different skills.

Every teacher can create an environment that supports inclusion and gives students space to make mistakes as they learn.

Safe spaces are environments where students feel the freedom to make mistakes without lasting judgment or ridicule.

We can’t treat topics like bullying and racism as if they are taboo.

You often don’t know what your students are dealing with at home.

Hexagonal thinking is a creative mode designed to get kids thinking critically, making novel connections, debating, and providing evidence to support their reasoning.

Hexagonal thinking is a really creative way to give kids a chance to think about concepts in a whole new way.

Studies suggest that people who face discrimination at a young age are more likely to develop behavioral and mental health problems.

Young people who faced frequent discrimination, which was defined as at least a few times per month, saw a roughly 25% jump in their likelihood of being diagnosed with a mental illness.

Kids are really open, accepting, interested, and curious.

Being able to listen to your kids is one of the things that we must promote.

Many students are still a bit overwhelmed at being around their peers, though they’re also a little excited.

Our schools are being asked to return to some type of normalcy even as we move through the third academic year of a global pandemic.

The TikTok challenges that have gone viral in many of our middle and high schools, accompanied by defiance and destruction of school property, are behaviors that demonstrate how distorted students feeling often are.

We need to harness students’ energy and attachment to each other and follow their nature.

Helping students with focused attention practices help the connection with others as they help prepare the nervous systems for a state of calm alertness.

Despite its drawbacks, Wikipedia has some value, particularly for those just getting started with research.

Even if Wikipedia is not typically an acceptable citation, it’s a fantastic starting place for students to ground themselves in a topic.

The next generation won’t stand a chance if they don’t learn the value of kindness and respect.

The family unit should always remain strong.

Research shows that reading aloud to your students, even long after they’re reading independently, has benefits.

Read-alouds continue to benefit learners beyond the elementary years by demonstrating advanced reading techniques, encouraging them to engage with the materials more deeply, and reducing reading-related stress.

Showing readers how to reconstruct the information and connect it to prior learning makes learning specialized materials more digestible.

As educators and parents, we can’t ignore our emotions yet we also can’t let them overwhelm us.

The importance of checking in on students' families can’t be overstated as it’s important to see if they are okay.

Checking on families may be difficult but is something we need to do every once in a while.

Students are so much more than their data.

Let’s not forget about the family.

Some of the accommodations we make for those with IEPs can be helpful for the whole class.

There are times we need to let kids speak up for themselves.

Parenting isn't nor will ever be easy.

Try not to discipline when everyone is upset.

It's important to deescalate behavior issues with kids before getting to the heart of what happened.

After so much time out of school, middle and high school students may need multiple refreshers on classroom procedures.

Students should have a clear set of guidelines regarding the procedures in the classroom.

Giving students insight into our experience as readers helps them to connect the social and emotional elements of writing.

Pointing out the choices and writing moves that students make helps them feel that we see their efforts.

Students need us to be there as a sounding board sometimes.

We can’t fail our students and their families.

Students need educators that enjoy their job.

Many kids don’t respond to scolding.

Students need a shot at experiences that’ll help them determine their interests.

Let’s help kids find their courage.

We must hold kids accountable for their actions.

Bleary-eyed learners may find the relief they need from staring at screens in a note-taking method called sketchnoting.

Sketchnoting doesn’t just help in keeping students engaged, it’s a useful way for learners to organize and retain information.

Sketchnoting is non-linear, creating different opportunities to identify connections between topics and themes.

Sketchnoting allows both teachers and students to see the nuances in how people process the same information.

Mental health struggles in teens can manifest in many different ways.

It’s important we listen to teens when they say they are struggling.

By ensuring a grading method that accurately reports content knowledge, teachers can promote and reward student growth.

Every student learns at a different pace.

Strategies for combining physical, nutritional, and mental health goals in early grades can improve student engagement and productivity.

Whole-child wellness is a team effort.

Active SEL strategies help students not just talk about social and emotional learning topics but also physically embody ideas and skills.

It’s important students see the connection between physical/health education activities and their overall happiness and success in school.

Let's keep kids away from trouble for as long as possible.

There comes a point when things go from shielding kids to lying to kids.

Students deserve a seat at the table.

We shouldn't pass laws about educational matters without talking to those whom they'll affect.

When students help each other in the classroom, they gain confidence and independence.

When students encounter a roadblock they can try to help each other.

Students need to develop a little autonomy.

Students come to our classrooms with the burning need to be seen and acknowledged for their unique personalities, life experiences, and talents.

Offer choices of what students can say if they’re called on and aren’t sure of how to respond.

Draw or write keywords frequently as they come up during instruction to help students.

You've got to make sure the work you give students is on their level of understanding.

We'll never be able to help kids if we don't take a little time for ourselves every once in a while.

Take the time to build understanding with kids.

We must find that thing that sparks interest in our students.

Look at what’s important to your students and their families.

In every child, there is creativity ready to let out.

Let’s help kids find adventure in the mundane.

Motivating students starts with knowing what you want them to take away from the lesson and finding a way to incorporate their interests.

To keep students motivated, we need to engage them in work that’s relevant to their lives.

Asset-based teaching starts from the idea that every student has something to share.

Every student has something to learn, share, and contribute to the classroom.

An asset-based approach to pedagogy means being intentional about getting to know our students as learners and building with them an engaging classroom community.

It’s time we truly start caring about the mental health of kids.

Sadly, kids have to deal with a lot of adult issues nowadays.

Allow kids to develop their talents.

It's important to really take a look at student loan debt.

If we don't get more comfortable talking to kids about difficult topics, change will continue to be slow.

Burnout will continue in education and childcare until changes are made within the fields.

Let's get kids writing. Whether it's their own thoughts and feelings or something more in-depth.

It's important that we show interest when a kid tries to tell us something.

Kids often get off track but when we are there for them they won't go too far.

Allow students to tell their stories.

We mustn't forget how the changes happening in the world impact students.

Don't forget that kids have emotions, goals, and hopes for their life and the world.

Talk to kids and teens about what's going on in their life.

Try not to have unrealistic expectations for kids.

Let's help kids understand the importance of committing to something.

Trauma often affects a child's social-emotional development.

Kids need chances to stretch their imaginations.

Students deserve to be heard.

Let's show kids that working together is an important skill to have.

If students have difficulty memorizing material, have them familiarize themselves with finding relevant information.

A scaffolded approach to teaching and learning is important for many students.

When students make observations, they learn how to describe what they see, interpret the images, and then make deeper connections with the content they are learning about.

When students are able to fully observe images, they can understand beyond the text and delve deeply into the author’s message.

Visual literacy can open the door for other language arts standards.

Visual literacy can often be used to help students decode the text within a story.

To help offset the stress of teaching and make it a viable career, new teachers need a plan.

Teacher sustainability involves teachers identifying, pursuing, and being intentional about things that help them further in their careers and develop self-care routines.

Reframing our ideas and expectations about what learning needs to look like in early childhood can help preschool teachers feel better about what they accomplish with students.

Reframing the idea of what learning needs to look like and celebrating the small successes that happen every day, can help teachers connect to the joy and purpose of teaching again.

Trying to work with students who have emotional and behavioral issues isn’t easy.

To work in education you’ve got to have a passion for it.

Alternative communication devices can be a game-changer for special education students.

Many families benefit from various support services yet don’t know they are out there.

We shouldn’t take away services from kids as a punishment.

Keeping a class engaged will look different in every classroom.

Kids often deal with far more than we think.

Bullying is unacceptable behavior for everyone.

Kids need clear boundaries set for them to know what is acceptable and what’s not.

The classroom must be a safe space for students.

Education can't fall to the wayside due to political chaos.

We must make sure all students, parents, and educators are heard.

Math class can feel overwhelming, unwelcoming, and stressful for some students.

There are many ways math teachers can work to shift students' mindsets, one easy way is to infuse joy into math lessons through games.

Visuals combined with short blurbs in the target language make infographics a valuable tool for both beginners and more advanced students.

Infographics offer bite-sized pieces of information with visual supports in place.

Reading an infographic allows students to comprehend the main idea and some supporting details without overwhelming them with excess information.

Educators deserve more respect.

The pressure put on educators is almost unbearable at times.

Educators and parents need to find common ground.

Going off on kids when they are disrespectful won't help the situation.

Though being patient with kids isn’t easy we've got to do it. 

Opportunities for expanding their horizons are important for kids.

Building strong relationships with students is vital for an engaging classroom.

Let's set up various opportunities for students to develop their skills.

Students need connections within the classroom and school.

Kids develop leadership skills when we let them take the lead every once in a while.

Reading is a vital skill for students to develop.

There are various fun ways to get kids to enjoy reading.

Teaching kids problem-solving and communication skills can help them choose different ways to express their feelings.

It’s important to understand that a child's behavior is a form of communication.

The impact of the pandemic on kids’ health and fitness won’t be known for quite some time.

Physical education has long fought to be taken as seriously as its academic counterparts.

Despite hurdles, transferring is a popular route to a four-year college and can be a great way to save money or move from a school that isn't a good fit.

A lot of people don't know exactly what they want to study when they begin college, however, deciding on a major is very important to the transfer process.

The college transfer process has a lot of moving parts to keep track of.

While working on tasks that have been carefully designed to require collaboration helps students develop interpersonal skills.

It’s important to reignite the power of cooperative learning.

Cooperative learning skills are crucial for students especially as globalization, as well as technological and communication advances, continue to increase the quantity of accessible information and deepen the need for collaboration.

Cooperative learning opportunities aren’t new learning tools, but they have never been more valuable.

Interactive and interdependent components of cooperative learning offer emotional and interpersonal experiences that boost emotional awareness, judgment, critical analysis, flexible perspective taking, creative problem-solving, and innovation.

Good connections between classrooms and families can boost young students’ success.

When teachers create connections between their classrooms and their students’ families, they are opening and investing in lines of communication that can aid in their student's success.

When middle and high school students listen to each other tell their stories, they build stronger relationships.

Oral history creates space for the lived experiences of students and their communities to become a central part of what their learning about.

Oral history is a practice that can be integrated into many subjects or used as the foundation for a larger project.

Focusing on these students’ experiences and skills can contribute to their success as well as foster an inclusive classroom environment.

Educators of multilingual students can develop learning communities that use a student’s primary language as the basis for new academic learning, as well as a tool for building their cultural and social knowledge of the world around them.

Student greatness only happens when stakeholders within the learning community take the initiative to invest in their success through innovation and love.

Kids need to know the importance of good nutrition.

Students don’t need to be entertained but they do need to be engaged.

It’s important that we begin to address educator burnout.

It’s important that families get connected to quality health care.

We help students, and their families, who have gone through trauma.

Kids need to have a connection to others.

We can’t have bias within education.

Districts must strip away the barriers that favor families with money and know-how.

Any school system can fix inequity if they believe that all children deserve to learn in an environment that matches their talents and abilities.

Research shows that early help from experts in the form of speech, physical or occupational therapy, and support from pediatric specialists can have profound results for children and often help them meet milestones.

Some students find physical education activities to be a bit difficult.

For students with disabilities, completing tasks that require movement, strength, or endurance can be difficult and overwhelming.

Students can aid in their critical thinking and communication skills by answering a couple of focused questions on their reading.

The Socratic method is a way of teaching in which questions are asked until either the student gives a wrong answer or the teacher is satisfied with the student’s responses.

Students need to clearly understand our expectations of them, especially when it comes to assessing their learning.

The pursuit of clarity requires teachers to allow their students space and opportunity to collaborate.

To truly learn, students must be active, doing things such as searching for patterns, refining their ideas, reflecting on how they arrive at their answers, and, most of all, collaborating with others.

Staffing challenges in schools have made a rhythm hard to find.

It’s important to remember to be courageous and creative in how to help students learn amid a staffing shortage.

It’s important to stay calm when a kid is upset.

We should talk to kids instead of at them.

When kids push limits be careful of how you react.

We must help kids develop their critical thinking skills.

When teachers give their all, they often end up depleted and drained of physical and emotional energy.

Not prioritizing ourselves as educators or parents makes us vulnerable to regrettable mistakes.

Students are expected to learn how to study, schedule their time and complete sizable assignments without procrastinating yet these skills often aren’t taught explicitly.

Achieving goals improves self-esteem, allowing students to feel positive about their abilities.