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When my daughter was a toddler, I regularly spilled milk in front of her during meal time. “Oops, oh well, no big deal, let’s clean it up!!” I would say in my high-pitched, goofy mom voice. Before she could speak, I sensed that she was wired for perfectionism (something very familiar to me), so I attempted to normalize day-to-day mistakes and to show her how easy it was to bounce back from them. We’re in the thick of the spilled-milk journey right now—learning to accept and embrace mistakes...

When educators learn about the devastating impact of ACES and toxic stress on a child's developing body, brain, and behavior, they often remark, "well, now what?" In this interactive workshop, participants learn to create a classroom that generates psychological safety and invites emotional and behavioral regulation via the nervous system. Co-presented with a seasoned educator, participants take a deep dive into a regulated learning environment; and they learn by doing. Participants will...

Below is the text of an article appearing in Forest of the Rain Productions with a special thanks to Dr. Michael Robinson. Link to piece is: https://forestoftheraineducation.weebly.com/we-donrsquot-teach-educators-enough-about-trauma-we-should-do-more-karen-gross.html TEXT: Hardly a week goes by without some trauma in the US. Some events are nature made; some are human-made. There appear to be fewer and fewer “safe” places and spaces. The usually “safe” places – schools, universities,...

As a professor of education, Rod Ogawa spent 30 years studying public schools, trying to figure out how to improve student performance. In retirement, Ogawa is getting high marks for a new approach. The answer lies in sharing information among educators and social service agencies, said Ogawa, now a research professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the higher-education leader of a major new data-sharing initiative called the Silicon Valley Regional Data Trust (SVRDT). The...

Yoga is a great activity for children and adults and is easy to do just about anywhere! Children need to have multiple healthy ways to express their feelings and have opportunities for mind and body awareness. Yoga is beneficial because it is... Non-competitive Gender neutral Enhances motor skills and balance Improves listening skills in a fun approach Children can focus on what is happening in the moment A healthy way to express feelings Supports social and emotional learning and...

Busloads of high school students and parents from organizations statewide have trekked to State Board of Education meetings for two years, clamoring for changes they believe will improve school climate. In moving testimony, students described schools where they feel disconnected, misunderstood and often under-challenged. “If you are serious about closing the achievement gap, and bringing equity to our most vulnerable students, don’t continue to neglect school climate,” Armon Matthews, a...

This time last year, the top three most misbehaved boys at Equette Jones' elementary school were from the same family. As assistant principal, it fell to Jones to figure out how to solve the problem. Other educators might prescribe detentions, suspensions, extra tutoring help, or even a doctor’s appointment to be evaluated for an attention-deficit issue. But Jones sensed that the problem ran deeper — and she had a solution. That's why Jones' school worked with an organization called First...

There’s been a fight at Marrero Middle School. Two sixth graders traded insults during football practice, someone threw a punch, and soon enough they were on the ground with a ring of students egging them on. A few years ago, a fight like this might have ended with someone being suspended, or even arrested. But over the past year and a half, the New Orleans-area middle school has rebuilt its entire approach to discipline. Now, the two boys are sent to John Kulakowski, a teacher who splits...

Participation in high-quality early childhood education has persistent effects on academic performance and might save a lot of money for school districts, according to a new study out Thursday. The study, from the American Educational Research Association , found long-lasting payoffs in three areas: increased high school graduation rates, reduced special education placement and reduced instances of grade retention. "Those are important outcomes," said Greg Duncan, professor of education at...

Alysia Ferguson Garcia remembers the day two years ago that ended in her making a call to Child Protective Services. One of her students walked into drama class with what Garcia thought of as a “bad attitude” and refused to participate in a script reading. “I don’t care if you’ve had a bad day,” Garcia remembers saying in frustration. “You still have to do some work.” In the middle of class, the student offered an explanation for her behavior: Her mom’s boyfriend had been sexually abusing...

Picture this. Its 10:00 am and you have had to evacuate students from your class. There are posters on the floor, several of them ripped up. Pens and markers thrown across the room. You have one student, Carly, standing in front of you, with a chair raised over her head, threatening to throw it at you. Carly’s eyes are glazed over, she keeps calling you “mum” and you’re worried she is going to step onto a shard of your favourite coffee mug she broke a few minutes back. What are you going to...

As California’s housing shortage intensifies, the number of homeless children is expected to climb. Since 2014, the number of homeless youth in California has jumped 20 percent, to more than 202,329, and accounts for nearly 4 percent of the overall public school population. Homeless children are enrolled in nearly every district in the state, according to the California Homeless Youth Project . An EdSource special project explored the issue in detail, and includes a map showing the number of...