We don't really care about your grades. We're more interested in seeing the important things from you: Your kindness and generosity Your effort and persistence Your ability to pursue things that matter How you walk through your own resistance and avoidance How you take healthy risks How you embrace your "failures" and use them for growth Your capacity for things like gratitude, authenticity and integrity Your personal best Life ain't a dress rehearsal - you have many gifts … [Read more...]
The Homework Continuum Deluxe (why homework isn’t just one thing)(Video)
Please CLICK above to share. Odd as this may sound, students who struggle with homework aren't just struggling with homework. They're struggling with many things that have a lot to do with "executive function." Executive function refers to the brain's ability to "execute" a complex task. In the case of homework, which sounds like 1 single task, there are actually many subtasks that must be done in order to successfully complete it. This series of subtasks is what I call The Homework … [Read more...]
Unmotivated kids
Procrastination. Dragging your feet. Putting it off. Avoidance. Resistance. Motivation is overrated We like to think that if we can just figure out how to motivate our kids properly, a mental switch will flip and they'll realize how much easier it is. But it doesn't happen that way with a lot of kids. Learning how to walk through resistance tends to happen painfully slowly. Our children often want to convince us that they need to wait until they feel motivated. They claim they … [Read more...]
Parents, Trust Your Gut
Gut feeling Your gut. Also referred to as the heart, soul, inner voice or intuition. Regardless of what you call it, it’s very different from your mind. It carries a significantly quieter voice from deep within. The mind is LOUD. It chatters incessantly, always trying to ‘figure things out’. Although it has great ideas, we can’t always rely on them. In fact, the mind often tells stories that don’t serve us at all, but it tells them so loudly that it can drown out the gut feeling. The gut … [Read more...]
“Runnin’ Hot” How to work with Stress in School
School is an emotional experience For many students, school is an especially emotional experience. This is critical to remember during transitions. The students I work with are often sensitive to begin with. Their baseline of stress is already a bit high and they can be easily triggered, therefore experiences often feel more intense than they might really be. These students are often sensitive to other distracting stimulus, which further complicates matters: sounds, touch, light, color, … [Read more...]