Building Compassion Under Duress

Imagine you’re a neurosurgery resident.  It’s your first time in the operating room with a world renowned surgeon.  You’re sweating profusely, and as it happens a bead of sweat drips down off of your face into the cavity of the man being operated on.  It, of course, contaminates the area.  The surgeon simply needs to…

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Quick and Smooth Transitions Within the Classroom

Transitions in the classroom can be difficult for both students and teachers.  Sometimes students don’t want to leave what they’re doing or don’t know they are supposed to stop and a mad dash results when they realize the time for the activity is over.  For teachers transitions can be a time of chaos, shouting, and…

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Well Families

From the desk of Carol C. . . Ahhh…the perfect family…all smiles and laughter  This is called fantasy land, and since perfect families just don’t exist, let’s aim for having well families.  This means making your family the best they can be.  We know healthy students make healthy learners, so it is important to think…

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The Bigger Picture

From the desk of Carol C…   When you look into your children’s future what do you see?  Successful individuals? What does that mean? Chances are, you are not just thinking about your child’s past educational record.  More than likely you’re also imagining them as self fulfilled individuals with positive relationships with others. You are…

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Pigeonholing Children

From the desk of Carol… I’m a reader all the time and a mathematician when necessitated.  So it was clear to me when my great-niece, Madyson, reached the toddler stage she was going to be a reader.  After all, she loved to look at and listen to books.  She couldn’t seem to get enough of…

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Best Laid Plans

From the desk of Leigh Ann . . . One thing we as teachers need is the confidence to be flexible so we can deal with the unexpected things that inevitably take place during the learning day.  We busily plan for the needs of our students and map out long range goals for a wonderfully…

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Context Matters

From the desk of Alice… Somewhere along the way I read about research that showed people can dramatically change their actions based on context.  I think the particular study I was reading about had to do with prisons and I came across another one that looked at the influence your highschool friends have on your…

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Owning Behavior

From the desk of Keela… I have a big job to continue to do to the next 150 some days of school.  The best gift I can give my students is teaching them how to think critically.  And not only in areas like math, science, and language arts, but also when it comes to discipline. …

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