There’s more room to make changes within the current education system than many people think. Schools operate as they do not because they have to but because they choose to. They don’t need to be that way; they can change and many do. Innovative schools everywhere are breaking the mold of convention to meet the best interests of their students, families, and communities. As well as great teachers, what they have in common is visionary leadership.

via What Happens to Student Behavior When Schools Prioritize Art | MindShift | KQED News

Teachers on Tech: Good for Student Learning, Bad for Student Health

via Teachers on Tech: Good for Student Learning, Bad for Student Health – Digital Education – Education Week

Table: 19 Behaviors Listed in the Positive School Culture Inventory

Showing pride in school

Collaboration

Organization

Taking pride in one’s work

Cooperation

Being prepared

Love of learning

Helping others

Using time wisely

Perseverance/resilience

Caring

Making good choices

Self-reliance

Kindness

Active listening

Leadership

Using appropriate communication

Making an insightful comment

Going above and beyond

via ASCD Express 13.14 – Focusing on the 19 Behaviors Most Essential to a Positive School Culture

Self-directed learning destabilizes traditional models of learning and that can be scary. I teach my students that failure is an opportunity for growth and that they shouldn’t be afraid to try new things, but sometimes it’s hard to take my own advice.

In reflection, I realize that the “at risk” label was hindering me from trying self-directed learning with my students, and it was stunting their self-confidence. By letting my assumptions get in the way, I came close to becoming another adult who was giving up on them.

I know every lesson I tweak and every new practice I use may not go smoothly, but encouraging all of my students to develop more autonomy is critical to their success so I owe it to them to try. My students need to practice being independent thinkers and learners like all other students, and they deserve to know what it feels like to take pride in their own learning.

via Why Self-Directed Learning Is Important for Struggling Students | EdSurge News

Math makeover: Colleges swap lectures for active learning

via Math makeover: Colleges swap lectures for active learning – CSMonitor.com

via For Teenagers, Praising ‘Effort’ May Not Promote a Growth Mindset – Inside School Research – Education Week

via How a growing number of states are hoping to improve kids’ brains: exercise – The Hechinger Report

The aim of generational study, however, is not to succumb to nostalgia for the way things used to be; it’s to understand how they are now. Some generational changes are positive, some are negative, and many are both. More comfortable in their bedrooms than in a car or at a party, today’s teens are physically safer than teens have ever been. They’re markedly less likely to get into a car accident and, having less of a taste for alcohol than their predecessors, are less susceptible to drinking’s attendant ills.

Psychologically, however, they are more vulnerable than Millennials were: Rates of teen depression and suicide have skyrocketed since 2011. It’s not an exaggeration to describe iGen as being on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades. Much of this deterioration can be traced to their phones.

via Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? – The Atlantic

The purpose of education is not to sort kids—it’s to grow kids. Teachers need to coach and mentor, but with grades, teachers turn into judges.

via Will Letter Grades Survive? | Edutopia

The seven top characteristics of success at Google are all soft skills: being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including others different values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues; being a good critical thinker and problem solver; and being able to make connections across complex ideas.

via The surprising thing Google learned about its employees — and what it means for today’s students – The Washington Post

via ASCD Express 13.09 – Creating a Positive Feedback Culture

This multipurpose approach is at the heart of the Compassionate Schools Project. It seeks to integrate the development of a student’s mind and body, combining fitness with health education, social and emotional learning and support for academic achievement.

via When yoga becomes a respected part of the school day – The Hechinger Report

via Seth’s Blog: Your soft skills inventory

The annual review is a waste. It’s not particularly useful for employee or boss, it’s stressful and it doesn’t happen often enough to make much of an impact.

If you choose to, though, you can do your own review. Weekly or monthly, you can sit down with yourself (or, more powerfully, with a small circle of peers) and review how you’re shifting your posture to make more of an impact.

Some of the things to ask:

What am I better at?

Have I asked a difficult question lately?

Do people trust me more than they did?

Am I hiding more (or less) than I did the last time I checked?

Is my list of insightful, useful and frightening stats about my work, my budgets and my challenges complete? And have I shared it with someone I trust?

If selling ideas is a skill, am I more skilled at it than I was?

Who have I developed?

Have I had any significant failures (learning opportunities) lately, and what have I learned?

What predictions have I made that have come to pass? Am I better at seeing what’s going to happen next?

Who have I helped? Especially when there was no upside for me…

Am I more likely to be leading or following?

The implicit lesson for parents is that we need more nuanced parenting. We can be close to our children and still foster self-reliance. We can allow some screen time for our teens and make sure the priority is still on in-person relationships. We can teach empathy and respect but also how to engage in hard discussions with people who disagree with us. We should not shirk from teaching skills for adulthood, or we risk raising unprepared children. And we can—and must—teach teens that marketing of new media is always to the benefit of the seller, not necessarily the buyer.

via How Teens Today Are Different from Past Generations | Greater Good Magazine