Education
How to Help a Student Who Just Lost their Senior Year
7shares Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn Members of our team at Growing Leaders went and asked students how they’re handling the quarantine. One group of high school seniors offered the most telling insights on their final year of school: “It’s definitely not how I’ve pictured it all these years. I’m missing my senior track season,…
Continue ReadingSix Ideas for Utilizing Technology to Teach
7shares Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn When I recently spoke to a group of eight students ages 17 to 22, I asked them what the biggest surprise was that they received since returning home to finish the semester online. I got my own surprise from most of them. Their top answer? How little their teacher…
Continue ReadingHow to Embed Social and Emotional Learning During This Critical Time
14shares Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn A teacher called me a few weeks ago to talk about how to manage this stressful time. She was teaching her students online for the first time and attempting to manage her own children who were home all day. It’s quite a workload. When I suggested she find ways…
Continue ReadingIncreasing Engagement with Students Who Don’t Fit the Mold
9shares Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn Did you see the movie The Peanut Butter Falcon? It was one of my favorite movies last year. It’s the story of three outliers who didn’t fit into the mold their situation demanded of them. All three were rebels, but one of them, Zak, a 22-year-old with Down syndrome who…
Continue ReadingWhat Parents May Learn from Teaching Their Own Kids
14shares Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn One of the many viral Facebook posts spreading around the country is a note an eight-year-old boy named Ben wrote about how things were going at home now that his mom has assumed the task of being his teacher during this period of social distancing. To sum it up,…
Continue ReadingThe Six P’s of an Amazing School Culture
3shares Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn I just finished reviewing my notes on colleges and secondary schools I’ve observed since 2005. The schools are located in Singapore, Canada, England, Germany, Egypt, India, Brazil, Mexico, and the United States. I’ve listed below the “best practices” in those schools. Obviously, a key requirement when applying best practices…
Continue ReadingThe Power of “Good” Referrals with Students
6shares Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn I love the story of the 7-year old girl who grabbed her baseball bat, her mitt and a ball and asked her dad if they could go outside and play some baseball. She then followed her request with some clear instructions for him: “I’ll hit the ball, and you…
Continue ReadingNew Study: Students Who Can Manage Emotions Do Better Academically and In Life
20shares Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn It was a tense moment in the classroom, as two students saw each other’s grades after a mid-term exam. Lamar and Jason had both studied hard, so it was crushing for Lamar to see that he’d gotten 78 percent on his test, and Jason had scored 93 percent. Jason…
Continue ReadingWhat We Can Learn from the Summerhill School Experiment
5shares Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn Back in 1921, a radical experiment was launched in the United Kingdom. It was a school, if you can call it that, that was so unorthodox, it instantly created debate and controversy. It was called the Summerhill School experiment. Began by Scottish educator, Alexander Sutherland Neill, this school empowers…
Continue ReadingTeaching Students Subjects That Don’t Come Natural for Them
8shares Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn One of the most frustrating experiences for a teacher or a parent is trying to teach something to a young person—something we know will help them succeed later—and finding them unresponsive. It matters not what the subject is: Math Reading Science Changing a tire Work ethic Writing and communication…
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