Pre K - 12 Teachers October 15, 2018

What Every Teacher and Student Needs to Know About Memory

In a recent article, Stephen Chew and William Cerbin claim, “Teaching and Learning are lost in a buzzword wasteland.” Teachers struggle to figure out what works and what doesn’t, some quickly adopt any new strategy while others are stuck on worn out ideas that long ago ceased to work. Our students don’t recognize the buzzwords, but they’ve been subjected to numerous educational innovations in various classrooms leaving them with no uniform understanding of how their learning actually works. We certainly don’t know everything, but we can start by making sure that all teachers and students understand the basic processes behind encoding, storage, and retrieval of memories.

Parents, Pre K - 12 Teachers October 8, 2018

Helping Students Deal with Academic Stress

Students are heading back to school, which can be a source of stress for many kids and teens. Whether they feel overwhelmed by the amount of work a project requires or they feel anxious about taking a test in a subject that they struggle with, academic stress can be a challenge. Luckily, there are lots of ways to help your children manage their school work without overwhelming anxiety or stress.

Pre K - 12 Teachers October 1, 2018

Filling the Mental Health Training Gap Educators Face

In the December 2017/January 2018 edition of Educational Leadership, Sandy Merz highlighted the mental health training gap educators face. Sandy’s key argument is that “To support students, today’s teachers need better training in mental health issues”. I couldn’t agree more with this statement! With the high percentages of students struggling with a mental health issues, educators will sooner or later be faced with a student in distress and the ripple effect it can have in the classroom.

Undergraduate Teachers September 24, 2018

Academic Advising Posters: A New Method to Deliver Academic Advising

The National Academic Advising Association’s guiding principle is “Advising is teaching” (Appleby, 2006, p. 85).  Academic advising enables students to identify, clarify, investigate, prepare for, and accomplish educational, career, and personal goals by providing them with opportunities to identify resources, understand options, and enhance self-awareness.  Academic advice can be delivered in many ways (Gordon, Habley, Grites, & Associates 2008), including in-person (one-on-one or in groups and classes), online (websites, podcasts, or instructional platforms), or in print (books, handouts, or brochures).  The purpose of this article is to describe a recent addition to this set of advising delivery methods—the Academic Advising Poster (AAP)—and to offer readers a set of online AAPs from the authors. 

Pre K - 12 Teachers September 3, 2018

Changing School Culture by Working to Change Existing Beliefs About Schooling

On the first day of school, my sister walks into her child’s second grade classroom to find that there are no desks. There’s one table with four chairs off to the side. A high-top table with a couple of chairs is near the front of the room, and on the other side is a table with no chairs, perfect for standing and doing projects. The rest of the room is dominated by a comfortable couch, an ottoman that can seat four kids, and padded chairs arranged facing different directions. It feels like an activity room, not a classroom, and the students are thrilled with the arrangement.

Pre K - 12 Teachers August 20, 2018

The Truth about Teacher Burnout: It’s Work Induced Depression

In the past couple of months I’ve come across many articles as well as entire magazines dedicated to educator burnout, and rightfully so. Burnout, extreme work-related stress categorized by emotional, psychological, and physical exhaustion, is a modern-day epidemic in the teaching profession (as well as other professions). According to the American Federation of Teachers’ 2017 Educator Quality of Work Life Survey, 61 percent of teachers indicated that their jobs were always or often stressful. Just as alarming, if not more so, 58 percent of respondents cited poor mental health as a result of that stress. Although articles on educator burnout vary in their approach, they tend to focus on the causes of burnout, how to assess the signs of burnout, strategies to prevent burnout, and/or next steps for administrators and teachers. The one key element most, if not all, articles have missed is the true nature of what it means to be burned-out.

Undergraduate Students August 13, 2018

One Tip for Choosing the Right Graduate Program

Towards the end of the Fall semester every year, faculty in my program review applications for entry into our doctoral program in counseling psychology. It’s a fun experience – on our end at least – because we see so many aspiring psychologists who are talented and poised to do great things. As an applicant, each stage of the process is filled with doubt. Where should I apply? Will I get interviews? Will I get an offer? Will I get more than one offer? Will I be able to succeed wherever it is I end up?

Pre K - 12 Teachers August 6, 2018

Technology Tools for Psychology Teachers: How to Take Back your Time

Target is rolling out those giant red bins of school supplies, which can only mean one thing…school is coming! I’ll be honest, as much as I love summer vacation, and cling to every last minute of relaxation and freedom, once August hits I start to get excited for the fantastic potential of the new school year.

As I’m heading into my 11th year in the classroom, I’m grateful for the techniques, routines, and rituals that I’ve managed to acquire over the years.  From classroom set-up, to opening day activities, I’ve honed down what works best for me and for my students–and figured out ways to do them in a timelier fashion.  Saving time is a big deal–teaching is a demanding enough job as it is, any tool or routine you implement should help to reduce or even remove some of those responsibilities.  I’m excited to share some of the technology tools that help me to take back some of my time.