This article discusses the importance of teachers validating a student's feelings and helping them find a voice to express those feelings. When teachers play that role, they are offering that student the chance to cultivate deeper social-emotional skills and close the gap between the intent of their words and actions and the resulting impact on…

In the last 50 years, research in psychology has informed educational practice, and recently educational neuroscience has also become a source of research-based guidance on education. The authors discuss four significant examples of how combining findings from psychology and neuroscience gives us insight into which approaches are most effective in…

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…

The research confirms that students across the country are--and will be--struggling in different ways. A March 2021 survey of parents of younger elementary school students found that more than 25 percent of the respondents' children were hiding mistakes, struggling to adapt, and giving up after failing once (Morin, 2021). Another survey of more…

What matters more--grit or gratitude? University of Pennsylvania professor Angela Duckworth's research on the importance of "grit" to academic success sparked a new area of focus in K-12 education--as well as its fair share of criticism. But Duckworth, founder and CEO of the Character Lab, believes that the concept is often…

During an age when many adults struggle to hold civil discussions about contentious issues, authors Kristina J. Doubet and Jessica A. Hockett argue that educators are in a prime position to teach civility. In this article, Doubet and Hockett outline three approaches for teaching students to take part in civil discourse, each approach with its own…

In this article, Carol Ann Tomlinson, an English teacher of 20 years is asked from time to time, what her favorite book is. Her response, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince" (Harcourt, Brace & World, 1943), the story of a little boy who is trying to find his way in a confusing world. At one particularly dismaying moment in…

Difficult conversations--we've all experienced them, both in and out of school. Instead of procrastinating, or sidestepping them, or, worse, botching them up entirely, we can thoughtfully and effectively address conflict when the stakes and tensions are high. The author, a school counselor and practicing marriage and family therapist, lays out 10…

In addition to excelling in subjects such as science, math, arts, and social studies, students must also develop skills like resiliency, adaptability, and collaboration in order to truly succeed in the world. But how do schools effectively measure those skills when they so often rely on standardized assessments? This article provides a thorough…

People use various terms to refer to traits and tendencies connected to social-emotional behavior and ways of thinking or approaching problems--from 21st century skills to mindsets to habits of mind. Such traits are also often called soft skills or non-cognitive skills. The authors contend that these latter terms imply that these traits and…

Most English language learners are from families that have recently immigrated to the United States-and many of those families traveled here at tremendous risk to seek better education for their children. It's important for classroom teachers to make building relationships with the families of ELLs a priority. Breiseth asserts that the most…

When teachers strive to help a student with serious behavior challenges, they often feel at a loss and seek guidance from a problem-solving team of counselors, administrators, and other colleagues. But too often such team meetings fail to provide concrete ideas for things the teacher can do. Rather than simply discussing the mounting challenges,…

As a new wave of unaccompanied minors flowed across the border between Mexico and the United States in 2014, educators began to scramble to educate students who came to them with little or no English, having survived traumatic and arduous immigration journeys, and often with significantly limited formal schooling. Many of these children were…

"I was planning on doing a lot of work today during your presentation, but I couldn't get anything done. I just had to pay attention!" The author received this unexpected feedback from a teacher at the end of a presentation he gave, and although he considered it a compliment, it made him reflect on the dire state of presentations in…

U.S. high school graduation rates have risen steadily for the past decade, hitting an all-time high of 82 percent in 2013-14 (Rich, 2015). Yet there's a dark cloud behind this silver lining. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education (2015), only 59 percent of students who enter four-year colleges complete their…