The purpose of this article is to share Coach Vermeil's foundational commonsense coaching principles for youth sports coaches, and more broadly health and physical educators, to help create a more positive culture for their team.

Self-regulation is a set of skills that a person develops to manage their thoughts and feelings to support tasks such as setting goals, solving problems, and making decisions. Adults can support the development of youth's self-regulation skills through a process called co-regulation. Co-regulation integrates three key types of support from adults:…

We observed three children with autism spectrum disorder during structured play dates in which play partners displayed interest or disinterest in the toys with which they were playing. We then taught subjects to identify play partners' preferences and to make appropriate toy offers using a multiple-exemplar training package consisting of rules,…

This article challenges coaches to address the more personal, human elements of coaching--the HEART of coaching. While there is much research on numerous aspects of coaching, this article provides ideas that make a lasting impact on the hearts of athletes. Using HEART as an acronym, five elements of effective coaching are presented: Humility,…

Discover the teaching practices that make the biggest difference in student performance! The new edition of this practical, research-based book gives leaders and teachers an even closer look at instructional practices from top award-winning urban schools. With refreshed examples from high-performing teachers and detailed analyses of these…

The AISD student climate survey provides the opportunity to monitor students' opinions regarding topics such as behavioral environment, adult fairness and respect, student academic self-confidence, teacher expectations, student engagement, and social emotional learning (SEL) skills. [For "Student Climate Survey Results: Spring 2017,…

Rolling with Resilience (RwR) provides a springboard for developing strategies that build strengths and supports to foster developmental assets in children and youth (Benson, Scales, & Roehlkepartain, 2011). In Circle of Courage terms, resilience is strengthened by opportunities for Belonging, Mastery, Independence, and Generosity (Brendtro,…

As social creatures, humans relate to one another in environments that are created through interactions with one another. Because these environments are created through one's communication and interaction, they may be called verbal environments. With a renewed interest among educators in children's self-perceptions and the development of social…

Historically, behavior management in treatment settings has focused on external controls such as points, tokens, and level systems. This article describes one program's transformation where troubled youth develop internal controls and become active participants in their own change. The authors describe their program's journey to help troubled and…

Perhaps one of the fastest ways to improve the quality of out-of-school time programs would be to replace practices that individuals know do not work with practices that appear to be more effective. In this brief, the authors highlight lessons from an expanding body of knowledge about specific program practices that should be avoided or minimized…

Children have been taught since birth to believe they can do anything they choose, from starring in the school play to mastering long division. All that self-confidence, however, has not produced more capable students. The Brookings Institution 2006 Brown Center Report on Education finds that countries in which families and schools emphasize…

As children approach adolescence, they often experience confusion and uncertainty as they attempt to appear more grown up than they really feel. Research on both girls and boys has documented that the buoyant self-confidence of younger children often gives way to self-consciousness as young adolescents become aware of the complexity and difficulty…

In this article, the author describes the one 50-minute lunch period for all students, teachers, and staff members at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. The one lunch period, which began in 2000, allows students to eat in certain areas of the school, including classrooms, hallways, and resource areas. Teachers use the lunch…

A report is presented of the changes and developments in the relationship between an experienced elementary school teacher and the university supervisor assigned to observe and critique his classroom performance over a period of 15 weeks. Each kept a weekly journal of private thoughts and reactions during the course of the supervision. These…

After 41 years of a varied and exciting career in Miami-Dade County (Florida) Public Schools, the author recently retired as a middle level principal. Although he also served as a teacher and a counselor, more than half of his career was spent as an administrator in more than a dozen schools. As he reflects on his role as a school leader and…