The First Step to Reduce Challenging Behaviors

The first step to respond to challenging behavior has nothing to do with the student. It starts with me.

Imagine A New Way of Doing School

In a developmental approach to education reform, we must dismantle outdated and ineffective systems and rebuild from the ground up with a structural shift in our teaching and learning.

When the World is a Trigger: Understanding Children with Trauma

"For abused children, the whole world is filled with triggers." ~Bessel Van Der Kolk

A Quote and a Note: Two Lessons I Learned from Teaching

Wherever I go, I keep with me two pieces of paper. A quote clipped from the calendar of my first year of teaching, and a note from a student's mother. The quote, by Wendell Berry, says, "A teacher's major contribution may pop out anonymously in the life of some ex-student's grandchild."The note expresses a mother's …

From Systems to Structures Part 2: Four Models for Learning

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com In From Systems to Structures Part 1, I discussed the importance for a new guiding metaphor in the world of education. We call education a system that requires reform. Instead, we can transform education when we build a structure. To build a solid Education Structure we need a blueprint, a model from which to start. …

From Systems to Structures Part 1: A New Metaphor for Education

The Education System. Many people today discuss our education system, how it is failing, and what to do to fix it. But the simple fact that we use the word "system" implies a metaphor that may be contributing to education's failure and the ineffectiveness of reform strategies. Metaphors unconsciously guide our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors. Metaphorical …