Have you ever prepared to go to work in the morning and wondered how you will ever get through the day? Perhaps you’ve felt weighed down by stress, trials or traumatic events that are occurring in your life outside of school, or maybe your role
In honor of Mental Health Awareness month, I encourage all educators to take self-care off their to-do list. This may sound counter-intuitive, yet, for many educators, the idea of self-care often resonates with feelings of frustration at one more task we are expected to “do.” As
The Buddhists are right. Life is filled with adversity, injustice, loneliness, disease, suffering, and death. These experiences are not new, a sign of the times, or evidence of maladjustment—they have always been an integral part of life. What is new is the frequency with which
During the COVID-19 pandemic, households became homeschools and we saw how connected life and learning really are. As a former teacher and school leader, I experienced this every day. If students had a rough night, it impacted their behavior in my classroom the next day. When
When dealing with concerns about learning loss, teacher shortages, and growing stress and anxiety levels in schools, most leaders' first reaction is to seek out and adopt new ideas and programs. Thus, as administrators struggle to balance various demands and concerns, schools tend to operate
Roberto’s fifth-grade year was life-changing. Entering the year, he was a likable, bright, energetic boy with some attention issues and a history of being the class clown. However, early in the year, his father was laid off and his parents began to have conflict. As
“In my 20-plus years working in this district, no one has ever held space for my own SEL skill development like this. I’m so grateful for this work.” A principal in one of the nation’s largest school districts shared this with us and her colleagues near
A Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Coach is a relatively newer type of support position in K-12 schools. An SEL coach helps to organize the people, resources, and tasks that must take place during SEL implementation. Schools need SEL coaches or lead implementers to help with
As May comes to a close, we’d like to acknowledge that it is Mental Health Awareness Month. We know that it’s not only students who need urgent mental health support—with teacher burnout and mental health crises on the rise, it is critical that students and
It happened pretty fast. Almost without warning, two students were at a breaking point. In this case, it started when Samantha and Ariel traded mean comments on social media late in the evening. The next day, their hostility seeped into the classroom. They stared each