The following article is contributed by Penny Cunninggim, co-founder of NEARI. Peggy will also be speaking at our INSPIRE 2014 conference.A teacher recently told me about this wonderful multipurpose activity for creating structured patterns that she used as part of student journaling: it is called zentangles. The website she found is: What Do We Do All Day. This activity blew me away. Thank you, Liz!I think this is the perfect, light, enjoyable, and easy yet creative technique to … [Read more...]
Education Philosophy Becomes Practice
This post was originally published at the Partially Examined Life: A Philosophy Podcast and Blog and is contributed by Gary Chapin, Senior Associate for Quality Performance Assessment at the Center for Collaborative Education . ________________________________________________________________Over the past hundred years Constructivists and Traditionalists have enjoyed an uneasy truce in the world of education practitioners. Constructivism “says that people construct their own … [Read more...]
Mindfulness in the 4th Grade Classroom
Contributed by Kate Clark. Kate is an elementary school principal on the North Shore of Massachusetts, and has used mindfulness practice in a variety of classroom situations over the course of her 30-year career as an educator. Kate will be a speaker at INSPIRE 2014, and her session is titled Theory into Practice: Preventative Strategies for Students with Anxiety.Fifteen quiet minutes...time for our fourth grade students to breathe, to hold off on all thoughts of the future or the past. … [Read more...]
Why Educators Need to Develop Leadership Skills
The following post is contributed by Bill Bryan, co-founder and vice president for Leadership and Organization Development, Center for Secondary School Redesign. Bill will be presenting at INSPIRE 2014.Five Reasons Educators Need to Focus on Developing Leadership Skills 1. To Lead Successful Major Change Efforts: A recent headline reads, "Early Results Indicate $4.6 Billion in School Turnarounds a Waste." Most efforts at significant change in education practices fail, but not for a … [Read more...]
Flying Below the Teachers’ ADHD Radar Screen
The following blog post is contributed by Dr. Anthony Rao a nationally known expert in child psychology, and author of The Way of Boys. Dr. Rao will be a speaker at the INSPIRE 2014 Conference in October 2014.Getting noticed or standing out is usually a good thing, but not for American boys in school. Their diagnoses for ADHD continue to be too high. What drives this? In my practice, it seems to be coming from teachers. They don't realize it, but over the last few years they have been … [Read more...]
Standards, Not Standardization
The following post was contributed by Diana Laufenberg, and originally posted on Living the Dream, in December 2013. Diana is one of the Keynote speakers at INSPIRE 2014: Engaging Today's Students. I said this phrase, standards not standardization, in a conversation with the ever thoughtful, Jose Vilson… and he has brought it up with me a few times … which makes me think that I need to write through my thoughts on this and will then be leading a conversation on this same topic … [Read more...]
Five Ways Traditional Education Has to Change
The following post is contributed by Will Richardson. Will Richardson is a speaker, educator, blogger and author of four books, most recently Why School? How Education Must Change When Learning and Information are Everywhere (September, 2012) published by TED books. Will Richardson will be the opening Keynote for the INSPIRE 2014: Engaging Today's Students conference in October 2014.1. From Answers to Questions - In a world where we have access to the sum of human knowledge (almost), 2.5 … [Read more...]
Will Richardson and Diana Laufenberg to Speak at Education Conference: Inspire 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TED Speakers Selected for Keynotes at the Second Annual NISCE Conference on Student-Centered Education -- INSPIRE 2014: Engaging Today's Student Winchester, MA, May 7, 2014—TED Speakers, Will Richardson and Diana Lefaunberg, will be the keynote speakers at INSPIRE 2014: Engaging Today's Student, NISCE's second annual conference on student-centered education.The two-day event hosted by the National Institute for Student-Centered Education (NISCE) is open to education … [Read more...]
The Impact of Nutrition on Learning and Behavior: A No Brainer
This post focuses on the impact of good nutrition on behavior and learning. After spending only an hour researching the topic I found hundreds of studies and articles focused on the positive connections between well-fed students and their abilities to focus, self regulate and succeed in school. Given the volumes of evidence, it is astounding to me that most students are still given foods that are high in simple carbohydrates and filled with chemicals.Well, maybe not astounding. It makes sense. … [Read more...]
Three Ways Educators Can Support Girls
Contributed by Dr. Rachel Kramer* Research shows that there is a strong link between a girls socio-emotional competence and their chance of success and performance in learning, and educators must equip themselves with methods that they can employ in the classroom to encourage and support this type of development in girls. The following are strategies that can be employed now by educators to support girls: 1. Build a sense of self-efficacy, encourage problem … [Read more...]
