Friday, January 27, 2017

Want kids to learn well? Feed them well

"When we give our kids the nourishment they need, we give them the chance to thrive, both in the classroom and beyond."
What can we expect our kids to learn if they're hungry or eating diets full of sugar and empty of nutrients? Former White House Chef and food policymaker Sam Kass discusses the role schools can play in nourishing students' bodies in addition to their minds. His work connects nutrition and education in an effort to make sure future generations thrive.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Help for kids the education system ignores

"Let's believe in young people. Let's provide them the right kinds of resources. I'll tell you what my teacher did for me. She believed in me so much that she tricked me into believing in myself."
Define students by what they contribute, not what they lack — especially those with difficult upbringings, says educator Victor Rios. Interweaved with his personal tale of perseverance as an inner-city youth, Rios identifies three straightforward strategies to shift attitudes in education and calls for fellow educators to see "at-risk" students as "at-promise" individuals brimming with resilience, character and grit.
Based on over a decade of research, Rios created Project GRIT (Generating Resilience to Inspire Transformation) a human development program that works with educators to refine leadership, civic engagement and personal and academic empowerment in young people placed at-risk. Rios is a professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

The power of human connection

Erin Thomas-Foley is the director of education for the School of Performing Arts in Richmond City (SPARC). Over the last 16 years, she has become a major force and key teaching artist behind SPARC, an outreach program dedicated to taking arts education to metro Richmond's schools and youth centers. Her most recent achievements include the creation and direction of LIVE ART, a cutting edge, inclusive arts education program that culminates in a cross-pollinated arts concert, featuring nationally recognized musicians and students from multiple organizations and schools within the Richmond community.
-- Watch "Setting the Stage for Life"





Friday, January 13, 2017

The Power of a Teacher

Adam Sáenz serves as the clinical director of The Oakwood Collaborative, the counseling and assessment clinic he founded in 2003, and is a consultant to school districts and agencies nationally in the area of teacher wellbeing, stress management, and the dynamics of effective relationship building. He believes that educators have power to shape the future by establishing life-changing relationships with their students. VERY INSPIRING TALK.
-- Read From Jail to Harvard: Why Teachers Change the World

Friday, January 06, 2017

Becoming a Better Teacher

Dr. Mariappan Jawaharlal is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Dr. Jawa is recognized as an outstanding educator for his innovative and engaging teaching pedagogy for which he has received numerous honours and awards.
- Read ‘What Do You Think?’ - A Simple Question that can Transform Your Teaching on Huffington Post
- Read Confidence-Building Communication on Huffington Post

Wednesday, January 04, 2017

How to raise an Adult

"My job is not to make them become what I would have them become, but to support them in becoming their glorious selves."
By loading kids with high expectations and micromanaging their lives at every turn, parents aren't actually helping. With passion and humor, Julie Lythcott-Haims, former Dean of Freshmen at Stanford,  makes the case for parents to stop defining their children's success via grades and test scores. Instead, she says, they should focus on providing the oldest idea of all: unconditional love.
Great heartfelt talk.
-- Go to TED talk

Monday, January 02, 2017

The Need For A New Model In Education

"We have to go from what is essentially an industrial model of education, a manufacturing model, which is based on linearity and conformity and batching people. We have to move to a model that is based more on principles of agriculture. We have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process; it's an organic process. And you cannot predict the outcome of human development. All you can do, like a farmer, is create the conditions under which they will begin to flourish." - Sir Ken Robinson
NEW YEAR, NEW GOALS.