Happy 118th birthday, Dr. Seuss! In honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday on March 2, people across the country will be celebrating by reading good books. National Read Across America Day was established by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998 to help promote the joy of reading for children. As it turns out however, establishing reading habits early in life can provide potential lifel...
With a focus on the heart, it seems fitting that February is American Heart Month. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the first American Heart Month. In his proclamation letter he stated, “I urge the people of the United States to give heed to the nationwide pr...
January has been proclaimed National Mentoring Month - a time to celebrate and honor educators, administrators, coaches, parents, community leaders, and others who support and help individuals reach their full potential.
Marian Wright Edelman, an American activist for children’s rights, noted, “It is the responsibility of every adult – especially parents, educators,...
Lisa Xagas, District 203 Director of Student Service, said it best, “SEL is not one more thing on the plate, it is the plate.”
We understand your proverbial plate is overflowing already. We also know how much educators value social and emotional learning (SEL), so we’ve compiled another list of teacher-recommended resources and strategies t...
Sometime in September, according to my favorite holiday alert website, schools celebrate grandparents day. Darned if I don’t remember ever celebrating it. In fact, my mother’s mother died before I existed and her husband lived 1800 miles away and I remember seeing him twice before he passed when I was nine. My dad’s dad died before I existed and my grandmother on his side died...
When I enrolled at St. Augustine’s Parish school at 5 years old my pops told me “watch out for the nuns.” He said they could be mean, set off by the most minimal of indiscretions. Apparently they carried long rulers during his tenure and smacked pupils’ knuckles if their cursive was below grade. I’d been warned, but guess what? There weren’t any nuns teaching...
Steve teaches ten to twenty of our courses at any given time and emphasizes group discussion between all course participants. As he says "it's not a lecture series" that he is giving but a collaboration on teaching strategies. Feedback for Steve's courses is overwhelmingly complimentary and at least 50% use the exact phrase "Steve Novak is fantastic!" We understand w...
Teachers are a collaborative bunch with some of the best suggestions for supporting and accommodating students. Below are a few of the many valuable resources and strategies recommended by the educators in our Sheltered English Immersion (SEI): Best Practices for English Lea...
It may be observed that I tend to talk and write about plants often. I don't strike up random conversations at parties or steer to the subject during a picnic or anything. I guess I think that there are so many things on this planet that don't speak words which can teach us endless life lessons, and I really like plants. I like how efficiently they work, how they are symbiotic to breath...
Some of you may know, and some won't, that Jill is deeply integrated into so much of our program. She instructs structured and self-paced courses, she's a trusted and regular course writer, she contributes to our blog and she is always lending a hand as we explore new ways to offer insight into what we are all about. Perhaps she volunteered or maybe we nudged her, but we hope this first...