SEL & Mindset
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the deliberate commitment to including a framework of essential skills and dispositions that complement academics but historically have not been a part of curricular design. Learners acquire and effectively apply the skills necessary for self-regulation or managing and talking about emotions, forming relationships, setting goals and demonstrating empathy during their learning.
What We’ve Learned From Two Years of Piloting Formative Assessment
By: Katy Escandell and Dr. Lisa Goodnow. After reflecting on the first two years working to establish formative assessment practices in some of their district's classrooms, two Austin ISD district leaders look ahead to sustaining the culture.
Beware of Bias and Value Variability As You Promote Persistence
Tom Vander Ark explores persistence and shares ACT’s holistic framework’s value determination of “ability to sustain effort” as an important predictor for education and work success. Learn more on the blog he unpacks valuable lessons along his journey that defined the power of persistence.
Building a Kinder World: How Maker Education Can Solve Problems and Foster Empathy
By providing tools and mindsets for real-world problem solving, maker education encourages the development of essential academic skills, creativity, and empathy. Alesha Bishop delivers a powerful blog on the integration of social emotional learning that equips students to invent solutions to the problems they see in the world.
T³ Alliance: Developing “Solutionary” Mindsets
Mindset meets design thinking through project-based learning, resulting in a community coming together to solve real issues. Rebecca shares her instructor training experience with T³ Alliance and their organized collaboration between Upward Bound programs across the nation.
Creativity: The Secret to Success in the Trades
By: Dave Curry. Dave Curry, Director of Career and Technical Education shares the Milton Hershey School's approach to programming that offers students hands-on, technical training aligned with the current job market in preparation for 21st-century careers.
Improving Autism Education with Community—And Robots
By: Dr. Lisa Raiford. To give students with autism the best possible opportunity to thrive in general ed classrooms, the South Carolina Department of Education is connecting educators, parents, students, and robots.
The Educational Implications of Michelle Obama’s Becoming
Erin Gohl and Kristen Thorson share insights from Michelle Obama’s biography, Becoming, and how parents, teachers and mentors supported her education. Read as they share her mission to provide educational structures, policies, and programs that show all students that they matter.
Culture Eats Faculty Retention for Breakfast: 7 Essential Tips to Build a Strong School Culture
By: Malia Burns. Learn more as Malia Burns, founder of Summit Sierra High School in Seattle, Washington, shares seven ingredients to create a relationship fueled school culture, illustrated by a community committed to student growth.
Rise: Voice of a New Generation
Empowering student voice with a mission to disrupt for good, One Stone High in Boise, Idaho serves as inspiration for The Earth Network’s powerful Jon Long documentary, Rise: Voice of a New Generation.
Teacher Reflections on Practicing Student-Driven Formative Assessment
By: Barbara Jones. Three teachers' daily formative assessment-driven practices of transparency, modeling and support enable them and their students to shift mindsets towards greater shared responsibility for learning.