Bringing Mindfulness to the K-5 Classroom “Imagine that your mind is a television,” I told the small group of students I was visiting at the rural Oregon school where I worked as a counselor. “And you have a remote.” I then asked them to change to a sad channel and...
Stories can do a lot of things – soothe, entertain, enchant, even teach. And it’s not just the content of the story itself that teaches. It’s what stories require of us: the use of our imagination. Imagination lays the groundwork for critical social skills such as...
This post was originally published on Parent Herald. It’s a big developmental step when a child begins to realize that they can control their thoughts and feelings. They begin to understand how what we think affects how we feel and what we do. This is a skill I’ve...
When I was a young teacher, I was given some good advice by a mentor: Start off the year firm. You can always loosen up. But if you start too loose, you will have a hard time getting the classroom under control later. It took some practice to become very precise and...
You know the feeling…you’re floating along on a lazy late summer day, then suddenly hear the rumbling of rapids ahead. The frenzy and chaos that accompanies the beginning of the school year are dead ahead! But instead of just plowing bravely ahead, like...
