Why Mindfulness Instruction is Worth It
Mindfulness is a buzz word. It's also a super helpful strategy for helping students navigate this crazy world of ours. Here's what the research says on mindfulness in schools.
What is Means to Promote Self-Determination for Students with Disabilities
Students who are more self-determined, who feel more of a sense of agency in their lives, do better on many measures in the long run-- so how do we start supporting self-determination in our classrooms?
Research to Practice Tips on Making Discipline Equitable
The depressing reality is that discipline in our schools is not fair-- Black and Indigenous students are massively overdisciplined. The good news is that there are many, many different research-based solutions out there. This post goes into a few!
How to Increase Students’ Motivation
This post is on the secret sauce of student learning-- motivation-- and what the research says on how to increase students’ motivation. The bottom line on motivation is that students don’t, for the most part, roll out of bed and think “Gee whiz, I really want to learn fractions today!” And if students aren’t motivated, if they just don’t care about what you are teaching, they have all sorts of fun ways to check out or subvert it (Levin, 2000). I mean, they are almost as bad as teachers at a PD they wish they could have skipped… So how do you get there?
All About Behavior Contracts
Behavior contracts are one of the most useful tools to have in your teaching belt-- but they can be tricky to create and implement! This post focuses on demystifying contracts and how to actually use them!