As an educator, you spend a lot of time planning lessons to impart subject matter effectively. However, the manner of your delivery and the climate of your classroom impacts achievement more than the best lecture. When students feel comfortable, they learn more effectively.

You, as a teacher, need to cultivate emotional intelligence (EI) in both yourself and your pupils. How can you develop this invaluable skill? Is it possible to impart EI behaviors to your students?

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

EI centers around the ability to introspect, reflect and manage feelings. It involves key components of social and emotional learning that educators should embrace, including:

• Emotional literacy: Consider how you react to stress or chaos. Do you check in with your feelings, or react impulsively? How accurately can you recognize the emotions of others?
• Managing emotions: Are you aware of non-verbal communication? For example, you might wrinkle your nose in disgust when a student smells less-than-fresh. Instead, check your body language and help them with hygiene tips.
• Developing empathy: Students often act out due to physical or emotional distress. Before disciplining an unruly child, do you consider whether they’re hungry or dealing with stress at home?
• Intrinsic motivation: How do you discuss events like professional development around students? Do you laud the opportunity to expand your skills, or grumble about the requirements?

Cultivating EI as an Educator

EI enables you to create a positive classroom atmosphere conducive to learning. It encourages academic success by creating a safe space where students can make mistakes without fear of ridicule– where they all have permission to feel. Studies show emotional intelligence has a profound effect on a person’s ability to create rewarding, collaborative experiences.

To cultivate this trait, begin with self-awareness. Identify your strengths and weaknesses in the classroom. Perhaps you excel at working with gifted students, but struggle when working with the developmentally disabled. Acknowledging opportunities to grow encourages you to collaborate with peers.

Keep a journal and write a summary at the end of each day. What did you do well? Where do you feel you could improve? As you ask yourself these questions, consider the students you interacted with. How could you connect with them more meaningfully? If you feel you sent the wrong non-verbal message, how can you manage your expressions to promote encouragement?

Embrace opportunities for professional development. Seek out and enroll in courses in cultivating EI. Suggest devoting in-service time to activities that build self-awareness and emotional management.

Teaching EI in the Classroom

Implementing social and emotional learning, which includes emotional intelligence, in your classroom improves classroom management and helps learners take ownership of their education. Cultivating this trait starts with raising self-awareness and empathy through engaging activities.

Create a Vocabulary

Students sometimes misbehave out of frustration because they can’t accurately identify how they feel. Create a game where students write down as many emotions as they can think of starting with each letter of the alphabet. Then, assign students to small groups and give each a feeling to explore. Ask them to design a collage on how to manage that feeling healthily. For example, if you’re angry, you can go for a walk or write furiously in a notebook.

The Mood Meter, developed by The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, provides a “language” through which students can recognize emotions and talk about their feelings.

Encourage Empathy

When selecting novels for language arts, focus on works where the protagonists overcome socially challenging situations using EI. Do you teach math? Draft word problems featuring inclusive scenarios. For example, say Alex has $200. She needs a new leg brace that costs $150. How much does she have left?

Teach Non-Verbal Cues

People say as much with body cues as they do with words. Have children mimic the expressions and postures that accompany certain emotions. This exercise helps them to recognize these feelings in others.

Once students learn how to identify and respond to their feelings appropriately, classroom management becomes natural. You can tell a student they seem frustrated, then ask what you can do together to ease the feeling. Students learn it’s okay to recognize and validate emotions. However, they must work through them appropriately. This atmosphere allows students to feel safe expressing themselves. They can also take ownership of their behavior.

EI Creates a Positive Learning Environment

Exercising EI as an educator and imparting it to your students elevates the education experience. When students feel validated and learn how to manage emotions, they can focus on academic success.

You may wish to consider a comprehensive program such as The RULER Approach, by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. This approach teaches people of all ages how to develop their emotional intelligence. Print resources, such as Marc Brackett’s books Creating Emotionally Literate Classrooms and his newly released Permission to Feel are available on our website, along with his laminated guide Implementing Social and Emotional Learning in Classrooms and Schools.

Additional resources on social and emotional learning can be found at CASEL.org.

About the Author

Alyssa Abel is an education blogger with an interest in experiential learning, educator resources, early education and higher education. Follow her updates for students and educators alike on her website, Syllabusy.

In one month, a person can forget up to 80% of the new information they’ve learned. However, students are more likely to retain information when they absorb it through multiple senses. When kids and adults alike use more than one sense to learn, they have more ways to retrieve the information later.

As an emerging, increasingly relevant method in the modern classroom, hands-on — or experiential — learning is an incredibly effective way for teachers to help students cement information on any subject. More importantly, it remains relevant throughout students’ school careers and into their adult lives.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) recognizes that learners differ markedly in the ways in which they can be engaged or motivated to learn. That’s why it’s important for teachers to offer multiple means of engagement, and provide for multiple means of expression. Hands-on learning is an approach that elicits strong engagement and learning for many students, and is a hallmark of universally designed and inclusive classrooms.

What Is Hands-On Learning?

Hands-on learning is the process of experiencing a situation first-hand. Students learn about a concept in multiple ways, both inside and outside the classroom. It’s not enough to memorize facts — it’s essential to see these concepts in action.

Hands-on experiences are equally as important to early learners and advanced students. Elementary schoolers benefit from actively engaging in experiences like art projects and science labs, but experiential learning remains just as essential to college students pursuing careers.

Some examples of experiential learning for older students include:

• Internships: An opportunity to test a career field and gain valuable experience
• Simulations: An imitation of a situation or process with real behaviors and outcomes
• Study abroad: A unique opportunity to learn about another culture with a host family
• Student teaching: A chance to put knowledge to practice with on-site experience at a learning institution

Why Is Hands-On Learning Important?

Compared to a traditional lecture, experiential learning comes with a host of benefits, including:

1. Accelerated Improvement

One of the many benefits of hands-on learning is an accelerated advancement. When experiencing a situation first-hand, knowledge becomes relatable. Students can build connections between new and existing concepts.

Experiential learning can have a positive impact on learners of all ages, including preschoolers. For example, a parent or teacher can set up a pretend grocery store where children learn to weigh and count through pretend scenarios. Perhaps a customer wants two pounds of apples at $1.50 per pound. What is the cost? Activities like these help children develop real-life skills before they step foot in the classroom.

2. Enhanced Effectiveness

Hands-on learning increases the effectiveness of a student’s education. They can develop critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills.

Many grade school students play math games to deepen their understanding and reasoning. Experts claim games reduce anxiety and help kids develop a positive attitude toward schoolwork — especially traditionally harder subjects like math and science. Students don’t feel self-conscious when playing because they’re having fun.

3. Increased Engagement

Hands-on learning increases student engagement by encouraging collaboration between learners. College students interested in a career at a software company, for example, can participate in a summer internship at a bustling firm.

This experience gives students a chance to develop their talents and strengths in all areas, including those beyond their comfort zone. A real-life environment encourages students to engage with professional peers to solve problems and meet deadlines.

4. Improved Memory Retention

Hands-on learning aids memory retention by building relationships between feelings and the thinking process. When students associate information with emotions, they can learn difficult concepts more successfully.

Hands-on learning involves multiple senses, allowing for numerous retrieval methods of the information. This notion holds true for learners of all ages, from primary age to adulthood. When students physically measure objects or collect data in the field, they experience the lesson beyond a piece of paper and deepen their understanding.

5. Lifelong Learning Skills

Experiential learning leads to lifelong learning by allowing students to gain essential skills and reflect on the next steps.

If students engage in problem solving — such as through an internship or service-learning program — before being presented with information, they can work through new challenges. Studies show students who repeatedly engage in reflection during field experience are more likely to bring strategic learning to future problems.

The Benefit of Hands-On Learning for All Students

Hands-on learning can have a positive effect on all learners, regardless of age. Whether kindergartners play a learning game or college students volunteer with a nonprofit, they will deepen their understanding of essential concepts using this helpful technique. From early education to career preparation, experiential learning increases the effectiveness of education and promotes lifelong learning.

About the Author

Alyssa Abel is an education blogger with an interest in experiential learning, educator resources, early education and higher education. Follow her updates for students and educators alike on her website, Syllabusy.

Much attention has been given recently to the importance of a growth mindset in students, but what about the importance of a growth mindset in teachers? As a teacher, how do you want students to respond when they don’t get the grade they expected? Do you want them to argue they deserved a better score, or ask how they can improve? You may focus on how your students should receive feedback, but consider how you reacted the last time you received a suggestion for improvement.

Like students, educators need to embrace a growth mindset. To teach effectively, you need to model the behaviors you want pupils to emulate. How can you cultivate this state of mind and share it with students and colleagues?

What Is a Growth Mindset?

You can choose to adopt a fixed mindset or a growth one. A static mindset says, “I know everything there is to know about teaching. I become defensive when someone suggests I can improve.” Instead of responding to a negative evaluation as an opportunity to grow, people with this attitude may feel inclined to argue or resist feedback.

A growth mindset continually seeks opportunities to improve and strengthen skills. It trusts that even if you can’t do something now, you can learn. Those with a growth mindset are likely to learn by embracing challenges and putting in the effort to learn. They know setbacks are a natural part of the process, and they bounce back by doubling down on motivation. As a teacher, such an attitude carries forward to your students.

Studies have proven a growth mindset has a positive effect on students’ academic achievement, engagement and willingness to attempt new scenarios. This outlook teaches students that intelligence is not a fixed quality. It’s malleable — something you can nurture and grow through challenges.

Developing a Growth Mindset in Yourself

The first steps towards bettering your mindset are taking negativity out of your vocabulary and staying open to ongoing learning.

Developing a growth mindset means realizing you’re not perfect and welcoming opportunities to develop new skills. It begins by taking an honest self-assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. What can you learn at your next in-service to improve your classroom performance? For instance, do you want to incorporate experiential learning into your lesson plans? You can sit with colleagues who successfully use these practices and ask them to share their knowledge.

A growing mind is a curious one. Ask a lot of questions and avoid falling into the assumption trap. If the classroom next door is noisy, don’t jump to the conclusion that poor management plays a role. Perhaps the students are acting out a scene from a novel or working on a team-building activity. If students seem engaged, ask your colleague about the lesson. You may learn valuable tips.

Practice open-mindedness, and make sure to reassess every time you find yourself thinking, “This information can’t benefit me, so I’m going to tune out.” Use this as a tangible reminder to pay attention and reframe the thought. Instead, consider what you can get out of the experience.

Cultivating a Growth Mindset in Your Students

Once you develop a growth mindset, it’s easier to impart it to your students. Children unconsciously imitate the behaviors they witness, including in teachers. Design your lessons to encourage an attitude of continuous improvement. You can:

• Encourage mistakes: Communicate the notion that mistakes are expected and provide an opportunity for learning.
• Craft individual rules: Many teachers consider a lesson complete after the final assessment. Yet this grade does not seem like a tool for improvement. Implement self-assessment procedures and help students set individualized goals for their progress. Kimberly might decide to focus on improving her word choice in her essays. D’Shawn may opt to work on perfecting sentence structure.
• Use formative feedback: Feedback should be a continual process, not a one-and-done evaluation. Give students multiple attempts to take quizzes and work one-on-one on challenging problems. Break larger projects down into step-by-step parts. If you’re teaching how to perform a scientific experiment, for example, the first step may entail setting out necessary supplies. The second step involves reviewing safety procedures. Allow students to demonstrate mastery of one before progressing to the next.
• Provide immediate, explicit, corrective feedback:  Students given grades alone or grades with descriptive comments have been shown to learn less and be less interested in working harder than students who were only given constructive comments about their work. Students must understand that feedback is not criticism but simply guidance to help with learning.
• Encourage problem solving: Like you tell your students, use your words. Instead of telling someone they’re wrong, say they’re close, but not quite there. Try to guide them to look at the problem in a new light. Phrasing feedback in a positive, forward-thinking manner tells students it’s okay to make mistakes, as long as they learn and remain persistent.
• Praise students’ effort: It is important to praise students for engaging in the learning process—not for their intelligence. Always ensure that praise is process specific, not person specific.

A Growth Mindset Leads to Educational Excellence

When you cultivate a growth mindset, you learn that even the worst setbacks provide opportunities. By modeling this attitude to students, you can improve your own career — and instill a sense of self-determination and persistence they’ll use positively throughout their lives.

For more on cultivating a growth mindset in students and teachers, view the product page for the laminated reference guide, Cultivating a Growth Mindset in Students, by Jacob Williams.

About the Author

Alyssa Abel is an education blogger with an interest in experiential learning, educator resources, early education and higher education. Follow her updates for students and educators alike on her website, Syllabusy.

Although October is bullying prevention month, sadly students are bullied year round and bullying prevention should be a priority for schools all year long. 

Everyone knows what bullying is, but it’s important for teachers and school staff to have a deep understanding of the circle of bullying. Bullying involves not only the student who is doing the bullying and the student who is being bullied, but it many cases it also involves the students who witness or are aware of the bullying. These students can choose to be passive bystanders, upstanders (who take action to try to stop the bullying), or reinforcers (who encourage and reinforce the bullying behavior). Many students may want to help stop the bullying but do nothing for fear the bully will turn on them. This may, in turn, cause feelings of guilt or shame. Furthermore, bullying also affects bystanders by making them feels less safe and more anxious at school. To learn more about the circle of bullying, access a free download of chapter 2 of Ken Shore’s book The Bullying Prevention Book of Lists on the Free Resources section of our website.

School staff should especially keep an eye out for bullying of students with disabilities, who are at heightened risk. Sixty percent of students with disabilities report having been bullied. Another vulnerable population is LBGTQ students, who are 90 more likely to be bullied than their heterosexual peers. Download more about bullying of LGBTQ students on the free resources section of our website.

Educators know about cyberbullying, but may think that there is nothing they can do about something happening online. In fact, there are many steps schools can take to prevent and respond to cyberbullying.  Anything that disrupts the learning environment is subject to discipline, and students must know that they can face consequences for cyberbullying at school. This should be spelled out in your school’s anti-bullying policy. Teach students what they should do when they are cyberbullied, including reporting it and keeping all evidence. And always emphasize social emotional learning to help prevent students from bullying in the first place.

Social media can have a detrimental effect on mental health, especially for children and adolescents, many of whom spend hours a day, unsupervised, on social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat.

Although social media can be a way of connecting a with friends, it more often than not leaves users—especially children and adolescents—feeling left out, lonely, isolated, and badly about themselves. Social media almost always leads to comparison—that all too familiar thief of joy. There is the well known  “FOMO” effect, or “fear of missing out,” in which users see photos of friends and strangers living exciting, fun-filled lives and worry that their lives are not enough… and, worse, that they themselves aren’t (pretty, popular, interesting, adventurous…) enough. Scrolling through friends’ feeds and finding pictures of friends hanging out together or at parties they were not invited to makes kids (and adults!) feel left out and sad.  They think, “there must be something wrong with me,” and in turn they focus on their “flaws” or where they fall short.

Conversely, some avid social media users make friends online, through the comments section and direct messages, yet have few friends in real life. The more time they spend on social media to feel connected to those social media friends, the less time they spend socializing with peers face to face.  When they get to school, they feel isolated and disconnected, and find it hard to make friends, which in turn may cause them to immerse themselves in their phones to escape the feelings of loneliness. This can hinder the development of social skills and provoke social anxiety.

Of course the worse case scenario with the use of social media is cyberbullying. Feeling left out and unnoticed is bad enough, but being the target of hostile posts and comments on social media can devastating.  On social media, an individual or individuals can publicly post hurtful messages, embarrassing photos, or spread ugly lies and rumors that all the kids in school can see. It’s easy for other users to pile on and join in, and for the harassment to continue day after day.

The effect of these scenarios on students’ mental health can be severe. Research has found associations between the use of social media sites and depression or anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents. Cases of suicide have even been linked to cyber-bulling on social media. A report by Johns Hopkins and other researchers, published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that 12- to 15-year-olds who typically spent three or more hours a day on social media were about twice as likely to experience depression, anxiety, loneliness, aggression or antisocial behavior as were adolescents who did not use social media. As time on social media time increased, so did the children’s risk.

Clearly this is a problem adults—parents and educators—must face head-on.

Although increasingly difficult as children reach adolescence, parents should attempt to monitor and limit their child’s social media usage and time on devices in general. More than just setting time limits, parents should set an example by making sure they are not constantly checking their own devices around their children. Parents can also mitigate the harmful effects of social media by making sure their children are involved in activities they are interested in, such as sports, music, volunteering.

Schools can take steps prevent cyberbullying by explicitly including cyberbullying in the school district’s anti-bullying policies, and clearly communicating these policies to students and parents. Schools may reserve the right to discipline students for electronic communications off school grounds that cause a substantial disruption of the learning environment or interfere with the safety and security of students. Schools should make sure to educate staff about cyberbullying including the forms it takes, the school’s policies and procedures, and the steps they must take when they find out that cyberbullying is taking place. The book The Bullying Prevention Checklist is packed with helpful information and strategies for schools, including a chapter on cyberbullying. The Cyberbullying Research Center is an excellent online resource with an extensive array of helpful tools for schools.

Educators and parents alike should know the signs of cyberbullying to look out for. These are similar to the warning signs for mental health concerns generally, and include notable changes in behavior, mood, performance in the classroom and/or attendance. A student who unexpectedly stops using his or her devices, appears nervous when using devices, and/ or becomes secretive when it comes to online activities may also be a target of cyberbullying. When educators notice these warning signs, they ought to report their concerns to mental health professionals in their school (e.g., school psychologist, the social worker or guidance counselor).

In the coming months, NPR, Inc. will publish a quick-reference laminated guide on student mental health for educators, written by Dr. Joseph Casbarro.

The world grows more diverse daily, but outdated teaching modalities prohibit full equity in the classroom. Traditional techniques — such as lecturing — engage only a small percentage of learners.

Children learn through all their senses, not only their ears. While discussion engages more than explanation, even this practice alienates kids with physical, mental or emotional disabilities that make speaking difficult or intimidating. Experiential learning engages all learners effectively, including those too often left behind otherwise.

What Is Experiential Learning?

Experiential learning refers to a process through which a learner constructs knowledge, skills and values from direct experience. In experiential learning, students gain knowledge not directly from the instructor, but rather from actions they perform and observations they make.

By its very nature, experiential learning engages young minds. When students listen to a teacher explain a difficult concept, their thoughts may wander anywhere but on the subject matter. The result? Educators grow frazzled as students ask question after question that teachers may feel they’ve already covered.

However, if a student needs to figure out how to construct a model or correct an error in programming code independently, they engross themselves fully in the task. Educators can measure student engagement through observing their active behaviors and work products. Compare this to their ability to identify whether a student is listening to a lecture or daydreaming.

Experiential learning also helps prevent misunderstandings that can occur when instructors explain concepts rather than actively demonstrate and engage students. Outdated lecture techniques and poor teaching methods tend to allow too much room for errors in reasoning or understanding, which only harms students. Conversely, allowing the students to directly experiment or participate will solidify concepts long-term and facilitate better learning.

How Experiential Learning Engages All Learners Effectively and Increases Equity

Experiential learning fulfills one of the goals of liberal education — allowing students to apply specialized knowledge to broader, more general situations. Knowledge in isolation means little to many children. Every educator has heard a student lament something like, “Why do I need to learn algebra? I want to become an artist.” However, when students grasp how algebraic principles apply to everyday tasks, they respond more positively.

The “maker movement” is an increasingly popular model for providing experiential leaning opportunities in schools (and beyond). Making involves hands-on experiences and promotes a DIY attitude that helps students develop critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Through making, students have the opportunity to brainstorm, invent, design, and build—an integrative cycle that includes time to fix mistakes, improve, test, and refine. This process instills a “maker mindset” in which students build resilience and determination by working through challenges. Although making involves working on a product (which can range from computer programing to crafts to robots), the real benefits of making in the classroom or designated makerspaces is making sense, making connections, and making meaning.

Sylvia Martinez, best selling author of Invent to Learn and Making and Makerspaces in Education, posits: “Imagine walking into a room humming with purposeful activity as students work independently or collaborate with others while the teacher moves through the class to assist, ask questions, or propose a new challenge to various students. Moving towards making envisions this kind of learning for all students.”

Another example of experiential learning is the way indigenous peoples have trained their youth throughout the millennia. Educator and Chewonki Team Development Coordinator Shelly Gibson takes note of the ancestral nature of using mentors to guide experiential learning. For example, if a village elder wished to teach a young charge how to make flour, she wouldn’t begin by explaining the history of wheat cultivation. She would teach them how to pound the wheat into flour — and throughout the learning process, add the fascinating history and science guiding the craft.

Research indicates students immersed in experiential learning enjoy long-term, transformational effects. For example, students who study abroad often take further action after their experience, traveling to less-developed regions and sharing their knowledge with others. Learning through experience also enables students of different learning styles to engage in a way that makes sense to them. 

Experiential learning accomplishes two primary educational goals — it gets all students engaged and encourages them to apply their knowledge to improve their communities.

Overcoming the Need to Lead Among Educators

To implement experiential learning, teachers need to learn to let go of their desire to lead. They need to check their egos so they can create an environment where deeper learning can occur effectively. They need to step away from the front of the class and adopt a mentor mindset.

Administrators can encourage experiential learning by understanding the transition will involve considerable effort from staff members. They can help staff discover strategies for implementing experiential learning as the meat of their lessons instead of a complementary side dish. They can exhibit understanding during classroom observations, secure in the knowledge that such environments may look and sound messier than the orderly lecture hall, but that’s more than acceptable — it is commendable and conducive to an equitable classroom experience. They can fund and implement makerspaces in schools–dedicated spaces where students can access low and high tech materials for creating and tinkering as they learn.

Experiential Learning Enhances Equity and Improves Outcomes

Experiential learning benefits all students, not only those with special needs. The individualized, engaging nature of the methodology helps children of all learning styles excel. It should be implemented as the bulwark of the lesson rather than a fashion accessory to the subject matter. In this way, all students will enjoy a broader application of their learning across disciplines — and turn their classroom studies into stepping stones toward an equitable, open-minded future.

About the Author

Alyssa Abel is an education blogger with an interest in experiential learning, educator resources, early education and higher education. Follow her updates for students and educators alike on her website, Syllabusy.

If you’re a teacher, continuing education matters for several reasons. You need to meet the minimum state requirements to keep your certificate active. But continuing ed offers so much more than legal compliance.

Continuing education keeps you abreast of best practices and assessment techniques. It arms you with new strategies for improving classroom management and academic outcomes. Investing in continuing education is a hallmark all exceptional educators share. Here’s what you need to know about how ongoing learning benefits your career — and how to incorporate it.

1. Continuing Education Helps You Individualize Instruction More Effectively

Much talk in educational circles centers on individualizing lesson plans to ensure all students enjoy an equitable educational experience. However, in reality, many teachers struggle to implement attainable strategies for achieving this aim.

Pursuing your national board certification or taking advantage of available opportunities to learn best practices aids in this endeavor. You may learn how to set up individual learning stations to assign to small student groups. Doing so enables you to circulate and give one-on-one assistance to students with different learning styles or who need additional examples. Differentiated instruction (DI) is another hot topic for which there are many continuing education resources and opportunities. DI and other strategies can help you reach diverse learners in your inclusive classroom.

2. Continuing Education Teaches You More Effective Assessment Practices

Recent advances in educational philosophy have spurred more schools to switch to an outcomes-based model of assessment. However, teams consisting of members who haven’t studied these practices often struggle to implement such measures.

Assessment matters because without accurate measures, educators cannot evaluate student achievement fairly. A greater understanding of different learning modalities reveals traditional assessment measures don’t accurately reflect the talents of kinesthetic learners, for example. Allowing such students to complete a final project in place of an exam presents a clearer picture of actual learning.

3. Continuing Education Helps You Close the Achievement Gap

The achievement gap refers to significant and persistent disparities in academic performance among students from different demographic groups. For example, students from low-income households often struggle academically as external stressors, such as wondering if they will have dinner on the table or a roof over their heads, take precedence over educational endeavors. Additionally, major racial disparities in student discipline rates have been documented for decades. Exclusionary discipline is a major factor in disparate academic outcomes. Finally, students with physical and mental disabilities face additional challenges with inclusion.

Continuing education gives you specific training on how to best help children in these demographic groups. For example, they may inspire you to advocate for more nutritious school breakfasts and lunches, so low-income students can look forward to at least two solid meals daily. Learning about alternative or differentiated discipline approaches, such a restorative practices (or restorative justice), will help you improve relationships in your classroom and school and prevent and address conflict and behavioral issues. CE also teaches you how to demonstrate inclusivity toward those with physical and mental disabilities and offer additional support without embarrassing students who fall into this category.

4. You Can Experiment With New Learning Technology Through Continuing Education

Technology changes at the speed of light, and it shows no sign of decelerating anytime soon. Children take readily to new technology. Additionally, tablets (e.g., the iPad) and laptops (e.g. Chromebooks) offer opportunities for experiential learning and provide real-time feedback on assessments such as quizzes. Students get instant feedback — and praise for correct answers — instead of having to wait for the teacher to return a test with only incorrect answers marked. Popular technology such as the iPad offers assistive technology solutions for students with autism and many other disabilities. From the earliest grades through transitioning to life after high school, technology is a game changer for all students, but especially students with disabilities.

Keeping up with advances in tech — including how to keep students safer online — demands continuous learning. Plus, it’s much easier to build upon prior knowledge over time than to try to master a new software platform in a one-hour in-service session. You can explore new apps and software in your spare time to add to your knowledge base without spending much money.

5. To Preach Lifelong Learning, You Must Embrace It Yourself

Many teachers preach the importance of lifelong learning to their students. But children can keenly sense insincerity. If you want your students to take your words to heart, you need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

Continued learning shows you take your responsibility as an educator seriously. It indicates a high degree of professionalism, one school administrators are sure to notice. Yes, they do know who does the bare minimum and who goes above and beyond.

6. Continuing Education Allows You to Share With Other Professionals

Continuing education helps you grow your professional network. When you subscribe to and read trade journals and participate in focus groups, you gain valuable insights to share with your colleagues.

Sharing valuable information on social media and blog entries establishes you as an expert in your field. If the time comes to seek another position, you’ve developed a reputation as an asset to any institution.

7. Continuing Education Makes You an Exceptional Educator

Participating in and seeking out continuing education demonstrates your commitment to your vocation — by improving your classroom performance and introducing you to new methodologies, it establishes you as an exceptional leader in the classroom.

Continuing Education Opportunities

Continuing education training opportunities are widely available, including through Comprehensive School Solutions, the training division of NPR, Inc. For educators in Florida, three upcoming full day workshops on differentiated discipline with Rufus Lott III are a phenomenal opportunity to learn more about restorative practices and alternative approaches that are equitable and effective.

About the Author Alyssa Abel is an education blogger with an interest in experiential learning, educator resources, early education and higher education. Follow her updates for students and educators alike on her website, Syllabusy.

It’s suicide prevention week. Does your school have a comprehensive, multi-tiered system in place for suicide prevention?

Youth Suicide Statistics

• Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for ages 10-24. (2017 CDC WISQARS)
• Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for college-age youth and ages 12-18. (2017 CDC WISQARS)
• More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease, COMBINED.
• Each day in our nation, there are an average of over 3,041 attempts by young people grades 9-12.  If these percentages are additionally applied to grades 7 & 8, the numbers would be higher.
• Four out of Five teens who attempt suicide have given clear warning signs.

For guidance on developing multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) for Suicide Prevention, view an excerpt from the laminated guide Multi-Tiered Systems of Support: A Flowchart for MTSS, RTI, SWPBS, Social-Emotional RTI, and Suicide Prevention & Intervention by Gary Schaffer.

Rufus Lott III Offers Three Workshops on Differentiated Discipline in Florida

Common discipline problems in schools, such as bullying, misbehaving in class, and conflict, represent at their core a fracturing of relationships. Restorative practices/RP (also known as restorative justice) is a differentiated, whole-school approach that focuses on building positive relationships and healing the relationships when harm is done, rather than resorting to punishment and exclusion. It consists of 3-phases—the connect, correct, and consequence phases—and relies on proactive relationship-building circles to build community, along with restorative circles to correct and resolve situations when harm is done. Through participating in circles, students learn valuable social and emotional skills such as patience, empathy, active listening, accountability, and impulse control.

Restorative practices is an increasingly popular alternative approach to managing student behavior that is more effective and equitable than traditional exclusionary discipline. As a school administrator, Rufus Lott III helped implement restorative practices in Edward H. White Middle School in San Antonio, TX. Driven by a passion for social justice, Mr. Lott now teaches restorative practices to teachers and administrators as an alternative method to exclusion, and as a means to build positive relationships and strong communities through dialogue using the circle process. His focus is on teaching educators real-life, applicable strategies that are essential to utilize when working with both students and teachers. 

In order to reach more educators, Mr. Lott authored a quick-reference laminated guide on restorative practices, which is also used to supplement his trainings. He also offered an hour-long free webinar on the nuts of bolts of restorative practices, which can be viewed in full on the NPR, Inc. our YouTube channel. You can also view the webinar below.

Now, Rufus Lott III is presenting three full day training workshops in various Florida locations (Jacksonville, Orlando, and Miami Gardens) in October (October 7, 9, and 11, respectively), offered though Comprehensive School Solutions, the training division of NPR, Inc. To learn more about this differentiated discipline workshop and register, visit http://css.nprinc.com/event/differentiated-discipline-workshops/. If you are outside the Florida area and interested in bringing Rufus to your school, please contact [email protected].

If you are interested in learning more about restorative justice/restorative practices in schools, this edutopia post on restorative justice, offers terrific resources.  

One of our best-selling guides this past year has been Implementing SEL in Classrooms and Schools, by Marc Brackett, Nicole Elbertson, Dena Simmons, and Robin Stern of Yale University’s Center for Emotional Intelligence.  We’ve gotten great feedback on this this 6-page, quick-reference laminated guide, which provides educators with an introduction to SEL, guidelines for effective implementation of SEL in classrooms and schools, an introduction to the RULER approach to SEL, strategies to promote social and emotional wellbeing in students and educators, and a classroom SEL evaluation tool.

What is the RULER approach? It’s an evidence-based, schoolwide program to help the entire school community understand the value of emotions, build the skills of emotional intelligence, and create and maintain a positive school climate.

RULER is an acronym for 5 key emotional intelligence skills:

• Recognizing emotions in oneself and others;
• Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions;
• Labeling emotions with a nuanced vocabulary;
• Expressing emotions in accordance with cultural norms and social content;
• Regulating emotions with helpful strategies.

Now, you can dig deeper into social-emotional learning, emotional intelligence, and Brackett’s personal history with SEL and development of the RULER approach in his new book, Permission To Feel, now available at https://www.nprinc.com/permission-to-feel/. We have been working with Marc Brackett for over a decade and are so excited to see this book—the culmination of his life’s work—come to fruition.

To get an idea of the program and a glimpse into how schools are using the RULER approach to help students develop emotional intelligence, check out this segment with Marc Brackett on Good Morning America https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/video/yale-professor-shares-tips-emotionally-intelligent-65262293

We’re so heartened to see how many schools across the country–and around the world– are now making SEL a priority in their classrooms and schools. More and more people are finally realizing that SEL is not just about feeling good, but actually helps with academic achievement and success in all areas of life.