memories

Are Your Memories Fake?

How well do you remember the student who threw tantrums every day in your classroom? What will you remember about the pandemic of 2020 (wearing masks, social distancing, scrambling to get distance learning going)? Will you remember it as an awful, wasted year of your life? Maybe you’d like to have uplifting memories in your life instead of unhappy ones. Keep reading… it may be easier than you think.

get unstuck

Do You Have “Stuck” Colleagues or Friends?

We hardly notice it when things are going the way they are ‘supposed to go’. It is when the situation changes quickly that we notice! A healthy life requires emotional agility. You may find yourself unable to pivot, thus allowing you to occasionally get stuck. Interested in knowing how to get ‘unstuck’? Getting ‘unstuck’ is part of any healthy “Self-care” routine. Keep reading to learn how to become more emotionally agile.

Does Your Brain’s Inner Chatter Matter?

Having the ‘voice’ in your head is nearly universal. Maybe you just said to yourself, “What voice?” Yes, you have that voice. For some it is a never-ending inferno of misery and for others, it’s a daily friend and valued conscience. A quality inner voice can be a valuable asset in your life. It is literally the difference between the slippery path downhill or a solid, joyful life. Interested in knowing how to get the voice on your side? If so, maybe this month you’re willing to take a moment to find out how to run your own brain a bit better.

Teacher Anxiety Covid

The Relationship-Building Tool The Pandemic Cannot Take Away

As you start class, your alarm goes off. You wake up, panicked. It was another one of those dreams. One where you remember all the magical moments of relationship building you once had with students. Keep reading to learn the top-notch relationship-building tools the pandemic cannot take away.

Let’s Re-start Your Post Pandemic Life Painlessly

The cries of “Wagons Ho!” echoed through the morning air. It was just another day in her family’s long journey west along the Oregon Trail in 1850. Her oxen trudged along the 2,000-mile trail, following the predictable ruts left by other wagon wheels – in some places up to 5 feet deep. Traveling life in […]

Class room strategies Brain Based

Why Movement is SO Hard for Most Everyone (except you)!

In the stone age tribe (circa 10,000 B.C.) of Bedrock, Fred and Wilma Flintstone lived with ‘modern-day’ amenities such as foot-driven cars, gimmicky kitchen appliances, and suspect telephones. Those wacky, colliding worlds made the show a beloved cartoon. Yet, there’s another juxtaposition playing out daily in your brain in the year 2020. How you respond […]

Brain Based

How to Win the Attentional Game of Tug-of-War

This year, the epic match of tug-of-war is in your brain between focus and distraction. Perhaps it has never been more challenging, both for you and your students. You may have felt “pulled off-balance” more than usual. The good news is that..

In class kids

A Fresh Look at Cultural Responsiveness

How Culturally Responsive Teaching Re-Draws the Boundaries of the “In” Crowd

Why is it that so many kids crave to be part of the “in” crowd? What do they hope to gain? Regardless of what they’re looking for, being a part of the “in” crowd is a healthy desire.

Stress in school

The 3 Biggest Lies You’ve Been Taught About Stress and How You Can Go from Surviving to Thriving

Ensuring students and staff are physically safe is a top concern these days. But there is another, often overlooked, component of safety that schools must plan for as well. Ignore this and students might be physically safe in school, but learn little. Focus in on this and students’ capacity to learn opens up.

reopening school strategy

The Overlooked Element of a “Safe” Return to School (Virtual or Face-to-Face)

Ensuring students and staff are physically safe is a top concern these days. But there is another, often overlooked, component of safety that schools must plan for as well. Ignore this and students might be physically safe in school, but learn little. Focus in on this and students’ capacity to learn opens up.

Teaching from home

Attentional Mastery for the (Distracted) Teach-from-Home Educator

Now that you’re working more from home, do you find yourself distracted or scattered? Are you struggling to focus and finish a task? Your brain’s attentional system is being exposed to new challenges, both visible (looming house projects) and invisible (a global virus). With the right tools, you CAN foster skills to lock-in your attention […]

3 Powerful Tools for Brain-Powered Test-Prep

When it comes to testing, you might feel like your students experience some bizarre memory loss and forget all they have learned. Or, perhaps you question if they ever learned it in the first place? Either way, it can be frustrating for them and you. Supporting students’ brains to be at peak performance for an […]

Teaching Empathy at school

Why Empathy Matters More Than You Think (and why too much can hurt)

Why is it that we feel so much comfort when someone says, “I feel your pain,” “I get it,” “I know what that is like,” or “I’ve been there. I know it’s hard.” These phrases transform our perception from ‘I am suffering alone’ to ‘Someone who cares about me understands this pain.’ Empathy is a […]

Four Simple Steps to New Year’s Resolution Success

Is it just me, or does it seem like fewer people are setting New Year’s Resolutions these days? If so, you wouldn’t be surprised; the vast majority of them remain unachieved. Yes, there is always value in doing a life inventory and making a few course corrections. But this tradition needs an upgrade – and […]

Getting Everyone on the Same Page: How YOUR Classroom Can Experience “Brain Synchronicity”

Have you ever had a class where, for whatever reason, you and the class didn’t feel connected like you’ve experienced before? Or perhaps you’ve taught at a school where the leadership and staff were not in sync? It’s not pleasant.