People often seek advice and social support. One approach for seeking advice is by submitting one's problems/concerns to an advice columnist. More contemporary forms of advice seeking are seen on discussion boards (e.g. Reddit) where individuals ask questions (often anonymously) and gather responses from others. This activity makes use of…

Transitioning out of sport is associated with many changes in an athlete's life that can be distressing and difficult to cope with. As a result, it is not uncommon for athletes to struggle with a variety of issues including a crisis of identity and loss of social support. Since many artistic athletes (e.g., gymnasts, figure skaters) peak at a…

This teaching case explores the racialized administrative burdens placed on Latinx staff and students as a Latinx campus cultural center becomes institutionalized or more structurally embedded within a Predominantly White Institution. This case leverages the perspective of the center's Assistant Director to demonstrate how Latinx staff navigated…

Black students in today's classrooms face major challenges unknown to white teachers. In this article, the authors share instructional practices, mindsets, and reflective questions that teachers can implement, practice, and respond to in order to support Black students to feel safe and welcome in their mathematics classrooms. In doing so, the…

Self-directed student learning begins with self-directed educators. Teachers in Greenville, North Carolina, are training in the Habits of Mind, a series of thinking behaviors that support self-directed learning by helping students successfully tackle complex problems. The authors outline key instructional strategies that have grown from these…

Beni, Fletcher, and Chróinín examined meaningfulness in PE and suggested five common threads: social interaction, fun, challenge, motor competence, and personally relevant information. Similarly, these threads have been described using the acronym P.R.A.I.S.E. PRAISE stands for Perceived competence, Relatedness, Autonomy, Individuality, Social…

Focused on the role of school and district leaders, this brief is part of a series from the National Research and Development Center to Improve Education for Secondary English Learners that articulates concrete actions that teachers, leaders, parents, and policymakers can undertake to ensure that adolescent English Learners develop substantive and…

People who receive supportive communication when they are distressed benefit from a series of advantageous outcomes. We designed the following activity based on the popular board game Apples to Apples to provide students with an experiential understanding of different types of social support--(1) emotional, (2) esteem, (3) network, (4)…

"Falling out" of education is a rampant problem among gifted children and adults in the Netherlands. An educated guess is that one-third of the gifted adults are unhappy with where they are in their lives and careers. This article discusses ways in which parents or teachers can make a difference by seeing the whole gifted child, creating…

This brief article offers tips for parents, caregivers, and teachers on how to nurture children's gifted and high-level development together to support and enhance learning. Tips relate to four "r"s: rationale, receptiveness to change, resourcefulness, and reassurance. [Note: An earlier rendition of "R We There Yet?" by Joanne…

"Welcoming Blue-Collar Scholars Into the Ivory Tower" is the first volume in a new book series designed to explore how institutional policies, practices, and cultures shape learning, development, and success for students who have been historically underserved or given limited consideration in the design of higher education contexts.…

Youth mentoring can be an effective way of supporting troubled youth, helping them sustain positive mental health, cope with stress, and lead successful lives through adolescence and into adulthood. This book is a comprehensive guide to youth mentoring programmes, illustrating how, if managed well, they can increase the social support available to…

In this article, the author reflects on his career as he turned fifty years old. He looks back on the most significant influences upon his professional life. This includes identifying the people who had the greatest influence on his teaching. This perspective not only serves as a reflection on the people and ideas that have influenced his teaching…

An ally is an individual who speaks out and stands up for a person or group that is targeted and/or discriminated against. An ally works to end oppression by supporting and advocating for people who are stigmatized, or treated unfairly because of who they are. In this context, Allies are referred to as people who do not identify as LGBT (lesbian,…

Schools are places of learning and also miniature societies. The climate of a school has a direct impact on both how well students learn and how well they interact with their peers. Teachers and administrators work hard to make their classrooms welcoming places where each student feels included. But despite these efforts, students who are--or who…