Are you cultivating the real-world creative problem-solving skills today's diverse learners need for future success? Or have we leaned so far into test preparation that we have left no room for developing our students' unique talents, leaving them disengaged and unmotivated? With the new brain-based Talent-Targeted Teaching and Learning model…

Mathematical modeling, a key strand in mathematics, engages students in rich, authentic, exciting, and culturally relevant problems and connects abstract mathematics to the surrounding world. In this, article, the authors describe a modeling activity that can be used when teaching linear equations. Modeling problems, in general, are typically high…

Productive struggle leads to productive classrooms where students work on complex problems, are encouraged to take risks, can struggle and fail yet still feel good about working on hard problems (Boaler, 2016). Teachers can foster a classroom culture that values and promotes productive struggle by providing students with challenging tasks. These…

Intelligence is not fixed. While many of us may not be innately talented in all areas of learning, all of us are capable of learning anything. It is important that teachers help communicate this concept to students and help students to develop this growth mindset. This article first compares growth and fixed mindsets, discussing some of the…

Imagine a mathematics classroom in which students engage in sharing ideas and reasoning through solutions to interesting mathematical problems. They are excited about mathematics and working on challenging problems that encourage collaboration and critical thinking. These are things that teachers want, but sometimes they do not know how to achieve…

During the author's eighteen-year tenure as a high school mathematics teacher, there has been one question that she has yet to answer: "Why don't students do homework?" On the basis of research, many factors may lead to a student leaving homework undone. A student may lack the drive to complete work out of school. Or a student may choose…

In the first years of life, as children observe, imitate, and interact with people and their environment, the brain is structuring a foundation for vocabulary, values, cognitive processes, and social skills. Educators, you can help influence that development by teaching the skills and dispositions of intelligent, creative, effective decision…

Anne Roche and Doug Clarke discuss the importance of developing students' persistence in relation to problem solving during the use of challenging tasks. They provide a useful list of strategies that teachers can use to encourage persistence amongst their students.

In this postmodern era, artists have gone far beyond traditional and technical skills. In her own teaching practices, the author looks to implement practice of a twenty-first-century art educator that inspire students to develop creative and innovative thought processes while relating to the world around them. In this article, she encourages…

Over the course of the past decade, the state of Louisiana has developed several documents to articulate expectations for children's learning and development and provide guidance for early childhood educators. The experiences and skills that children develop during the early years are critically important to their success later in school. What…

Process Improvement (PI) is an approach for helping organizations to identify and resolve inefficient and ineffective processes through problem solving and pilot testing change. Use of PI in improving client access, retention and outcomes in addiction treatment is on the rise through the teaching of the Network for the Improvement of Addiction…

Ten mildly handicapped preschool children were taught to use problem-solving strategies to complete fine motor tasks. Qualitative and quantitative data indicated that the intervention had a positive impact on the task persistence of some children and that some children became more systematic in their approach to solving tasks. (Author/JDD)

Presents three problems that help students develop a repertoire of heuristics and persistence in problem solving: the water-jug problem; the missionaries-and-cannibals problem; and the census-taker problem. Discusses methods to encourage students to persist. (MDH)

Teacher retention has been the subject of much study, yet recent estimates of teachers who choose to leave the profession within the first three years to pursue other careers remains at an unacceptably high level of 33.5 percent. These figures are alarming in light of the fact that schools desperately need qualified teachers. Several authors…

This book shows teachers how to empower themselves to face the challenges of teaching, avoid burnout, and maintain their enthusiasm for the profession. Based on common characteristics of many high-performing teachers, each chapter explores one of these attributes and shows how each of these can be learned or acquired. The chapters are illustrated…