Discussing the Stigma of Suicide and Suicidal Ideation
“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, more unashamed conversation.” Glenn Close
Category: Blog
Begin With the End in Mind
“If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow.” Alfie Kohn
A Back-to-School Checklist for Busy Teachers
Completing this list should put you where you need to be when school starts!
Building Relationships During the First Week of School
The Power of a 45-Second Investment in Relationship Building: A short, positive interaction with a student at the start of the school year can pay off all year long.
How to Balance Resting, Reflecting, and Learning This Summer
Summer can give teachers time to rest and engage in collaborative learning that reconnects them with what they love about education.
A New Perspective on Behavior
It’s no secret that outward behaviors in our students rarely tell the whole story. Instead, those verbal and physical actions often serve as clues pointing to deeper needs, emotions, and desires. Once the underlying issues are addressed, the path away from negative words and actions becomes much smoother and clearer. As he addresses fifteen key […]
Keeping Teens Safe on Social Media
A multipronged approach to social media management, including time limits, parental monitoring and supervision, and ongoing discussions about social media can help parents protect teens’ brain development.
Limbic System: Your Child’s On/Off Switch for Emotional Grounding, Fight or Flight and Meltdowns
Many systems in the child’s body deal with emotions and the sometimes complex psychological response that they initiate. Two brain systems, however, share the important task of regulating your child’s emotions. Both have distinct jobs that have differing focuses on internal and external demands, but they interconnect to reach the goal of managing and addressing […]
Regulation and Co-Regulation
Students need support more than ever. They need you. You are the strategy. You have the power to help students manage behavior and ultimately heal through co-regulation.
Why We Need to Teach Digital Citizenship to Our Students
Our students spend a lot of time on their devices. By age 11, 53% of children in the U.S. have a smartphone, and by age 16, 89% have one.1 Not only do most youth own a device, but they are on it a lot too! Since the pandemic, young people’s online time has skyrocketed, and […]
What Libraries Do
Today’s libraries are more than just books. From teaching critical literacy skills to promoting entrepreneurship and small business development to preserving and facilitating our community stories, an easier question might be what don’t libraries do! Check out some examples of what libraries of all types are doing for their communities.
10 Tips for Mental Health Spring Cleaning
Every spring, we give our homes a deep cleaning to get it ready for the coming year. Do you do the same to your mind? Decluttering your brain is just as important as organizing your home. Here are 10 tips for mental health spring cleaning.
The Dynamic Dozen
12 Tips for Helping Students with Test Taking
Why Social-Emotional Learning Belongs in School Curriculums
Social-emotional learning (SEL) helps young people acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to identify and manage emotions.
Teacher Burnout: A Growing Problem in Schools
Teacher burnout is more than just a frustrating day with distracted students, helicopter parents, or glitchy technology. It’s caused by chronic stress due to unrelenting workplace demands. The National Education Association defines burnout as “a condition in which an educator has exhausted the personal and professional resources necessary to do the job.” It’s not just about the ability to educate effectively, […]
Six Activities that Inspire a Goal-Setting Mindset in Students
When researchers from the University of Scranton tracked 200 people who had made New Year’s resolutions, they found that close to 80 percent kept their pledges for one week—but just 19 percent managed to stick to them for a period of two years.
Self-Care During the Holidays
The Holidays are meant to prompt joy, but reality is they may evoke stress as well.
Strategies to Improve Listening Skills in Students
Listening is a skill like any other—it can be improved with practice.
Learning The Flip Side of Emotions
How to not run from anxiety but embrace it.
Learning from Mistakes
Helping Kids See the Good Side of Getting Things Wrong
A Formula for Healthy Coping Strategies
Perhaps you are familiar with “coping strategies” or “coping skills,” but what exactly are they?
Helping Kids When They Worry
When kids and teens face new things, they often feel a mix of emotions.
How to Help Kids Overcome Fear of Failure
According to the research on failure, students may need more than just grit to succeed.
Hello, Anger
From a brain perspective, it makes sense. Stress has been high these past couple of years.
The Unseen Work of a Teacher
It goes unnoticed by everyone except the student who was forever impacted. But on occasion, long after the teacher has retired, the grown-up student takes the opportunity to recount his story. This one just happened to be on a national radio show.
Spring into Action with 7 Acts of Kindness
It’s the end of March, which means it’s springtime and what better time to spring into action with acts of kindness. Savvy Aunties can help our nieces and nephews give back with these simple and fun activities.
Ways to Show School Counselors Appreciation
During National School Counseling Week, take the time to let your school counselor know how much they are appreciated.
A De-escalation Exercise for Upset Students
A simple technique that takes just a few minutes can help an agitated student regain the state of mind needed for learning.
Six Ways to Find Your Courage During Challenging Times
Early in my teaching career, I participated in a series of retreats led by the Center for Courage and Renewal, inspired by Palmer’s book The Courage to Teach. Palmer reminds us that our sense of self plays out in our work every day—and living with courage and integrity means finding balance and alignment between our […]
Holiday Blues Can Hit Kids, Too
Here’s how to help them cope..
December Global Holidays: A Month of Multicultural Holiday Celebrations
Do your students celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Three Kings Day? Maybe they celebrate St. Lucia Day. Chances are your class includes students who observe more than one of those events.
7 Ways to Teach Your Kids About Gratitude
Four major elements to gratitude that children begin to learn individually around three to five years of age
Breaking Bad
Behavior Interventions: Strategies for Educators, Counselors, and Parents
Empathy Is The Most Important Leadership Skill According To Research
Empathy has always been a critical skill for leaders, but it is taking on a new level of meaning and priority. Far from a soft approach it can drive significant business results.
The Most Important Life Skill to Teach Children: Self-Regulation
7 science-backed ways to teach your child the all-important life skill of self-regulation.
How Anxiety Leads to Disruptive Behavior
Kids who seem oppositional are often severely anxious.
7 Ways To Teach Your Child About Kindness
We all want to make the world a better place. And raising kind children is part of it. But kindness for kids doesn’t always happen by accident.
Why a Focus On Mental Health Is Essential for Students Returning To School In The Fall
Mental health professionals hope the attention leads to lasting change.
15 Ways To Make Reading Fun All Summer Long
While swimming, camping, hiking, and going to the park are some of the best activities kids can do in the summertime, reading can also be included in the list of fun activities that can be done in June, July, and August.
EQ vs IQ: Why Emotional Intelligence Will Take Your Kid Further In Life
Long gone are the days of taking IQ tests. Here’s why emotional intelligence is a better predictor of your child’s success.
10 Ways to Recharge During Summer Break
Ah…summer is almost here! As teachers, we know that the job isn’t really 8:00-3:00 with summers off, but if you are like me, summer is the time when SO MUCH of your life happens.
U.S. Schools Turn Focus to Mental Health of Students Reeling From Pandemic
A Reuters survey earlier this year of U.S. school districts serving more than 2.2 million students found that a majority reported multiple indicators of increased mental health stresses among students.
5 Qualities Kids Need to Follow Their Dreams
Traits your child needs to make their dreams a reality.
15 Ways to Celebrate Your Child’s Graduation During COVID-19
Whether your child is a high school senior or moving on from kindergarten or elementary, graduation is a major milestone. But celebrations may look different this year.
The Flood Zone
1 in 6 children meet the criteria for a mental health disorder. By adulthood that number will double.
Jenny Simmons Helps Teach Children (and Adults) It’s Okay to Say No
An interview with Jenny Simmons.
Helping Children Cope with Grief and Loss
To help students cope with grief you need two important tools: your heart and high quality resources.
How The 6 Medal of Honor Character Traits Apply to Our Everyday Lives
Anyone is capable of exhibiting these six character traits, but sometimes character has to be developed.
Why “No” May be the Most Important Word in Your Child’s Vocabulary
Learning to say no has valuable repercussions in many facets of our children’s lives.
5 Benefits to Having School Counselors in Schools
School counselors are an integral element of the entire educational system. In addition to students, school counseling programs have a positive impact on several groups of people in the education system: students, parents, teachers, administrators and student services personnel.
