Category: Techniques

When Your Child Doesn’t Like to Read

“I just can’t get her to read!” I often hear protests like this from parents when I suggest that their child read more for fun. Because it’s an important lifelong habit that I want my students […]

Moderate to Severe Developmental Disability: Eight Essential Skills for Living

Most evaluation tools and curricula arrange skills according to the way a typical child might acquire them. Essential for Living by Patrick McGreevy, PhD BCBA-D et al takes a different approach. They group skills into categories […]

7 Of The Best Screencasting Software Tools For Classrooms

Sometimes it’s just quicker and easier to show someone an idea or concept rather than try to say it to them. Other situations demand that you present an idea in multiple formats. I know when I was […]

“If You Could Change One Thing” – Education Experts Share Their Thoughts

As our society ages, and bureaucratic ossification creeps into our lives more often, we often need to remind ourselves change can be good. I took that to heart this month. During April, I decided to try […]

Your Chime: Helping Children Regain Control Through Mindfulness

I’m a big believer that everyone can benefit from practicing mindfulness. While there are some differences in what that means to different groups, all generally agree it involves taking time out of the day to calm […]

Student Engagement in the Digital Classroom

Growing up, our generation did not use words like ‘Google’ or ‘Siri’. We were the pioneers of the tech era. We played Oregon Trail, asked Jeeves questions for our research, and waited for hours while Napster […]

3 Ways Leaders Can Flip Staff Meetings For More Authentic Growth

We’ve all sat in those meetings wondering why on earth we are still debating what color to paint the staff restroom. So maybe not that exact debate, but something equally inconsequential in the lives of students […]

Design Thinking Adds Excitement to Group Work

As education stands at the moment, exams are part of the curriculum. While this might change in the future, for the moment we as teachers need to ready our students for the stress and slog of […]

The Rise of the Fidget Spinner: What, Where, When, and How

Anyone outside of the education realm, or who does not regularly interact with children, might assume that a fidget spinner is some sort of spaceship contraption or an obscure item found on the shelves of a […]

Appreciating What, Where and How Boys Read [Infographic]

Unfortunately for many boys, what gets in their way of reading for pleasure are very well-intentioned adults who try to steer them in the “right” direction. That’s why the greatest gift we can give boys this […]

Is The Next John Glenn or Neil Armstrong Sitting In Your Class? Encouraging The Next Generation Of Space Explorers

Within all of us, there lies a desire to explore. It can be as simple as trying a new cuisine or as complicated as diving into the depths of an ocean to see the vibrant colors […]

Fading or Thriving In Sport? The Mental Approach That Shapes Healthy & Happy Champions Of Tomorrow

Over the past few years, there has been an increase in visits to my office by parents with young athletes between 11–13 years of age. At first, this seemed like a positive movement, perhaps motivated by […]

Developing A Conceptual Understanding of Maths with GeoGebra

Teaching for conceptual understanding is one of the strong themes running through many articles on this site. There is a world of difference between students being able to “do mathematics” and students understanding the mathematics they […]

The Word of the Day Podcast—A New Way to Inspire Language Learners

To expand on a popular saying: Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll pass a fishing test and then forget how because he wasn’t all […]

Recess Rules!! And Why Kids Need MORE of It!

“For generations, recess has been considered by many students in elementary school as their favorite part of the day.” Recess is a cornerstone of childhood. For many children, it’s a breath of fresh air, an opportunity […]

Teaching the Power of Adaptability: How to be more like the Rubber Band and less like the Twist Tie

It was a weekday night much like any other in my house. Pick up the kids, arrange them at the dining room table to work on homework while I try and cobble together something for dinner […]

The 6 Reading-Habit Initiator Personalities (Hint: Only 1 Transforms Boys into Readers)

There was a time early in my 20+ year teaching career when I didn’t plan ahead or think about what aliterate preteen/early teen boys needed from me to become self-directed readers. I truly believed that if […]

How to Dissuade Your Child from Bad Habits

Kids develop many different coping mechanisms to help them deal with feelings such as boredom, fatigue, and anxiety. There are as many reasons for these habits as there are habits themselves. For example, some children develop […]

How to Create P.E.A.C.E. When Your Child Tantrums and You get Triggered…

As a conscious parent coach, I have worked with many families who find themselves “at battle” with their children. Whether it is not listening to what is being asked of them and throwing tantrums around not […]

Why Early Childhood Educators Shouldn’t Avoid Leadership Roles

When I was in the fifth grade I became the student council president at my elementary school. I had my campaign speech, with various promises for improving our student council and bettering the lives of our student […]