The modern classroom is an incredibly diverse and dynamic place. Traditional lesson design focuses on creating instructional presentations to a group of students, in one static way for everyone involved in the lesson. The students have to shift and adjust to fit into the expectations of the presented lessons. Asking the students to adjust their learning to fit the lesson is counterintuitive to the learning process. Effective teachers put the students’ needs first and desi

As children develop, they learn how to “live” inside their skin, but that development varies in each child. Through each stage of growth, children emerge by overcoming angst, frustration, and uncertainty. Managing their bodies against their emergent abilities can create a great deal of unrest within them and that can result in difficult behaviors. By acknowledging that behavior is a form of communication, parents and teachers can address behavior by helping them to find a

We live in a fast paced, constantly changing society with ever increasing demands on our time. Voicemails, e-mails and text messages demand our immediate attention. As everyone rushes just to keep up, our children are watching. All of that “rushing” limits our abilities to use one of our most powerful tools, the “pause”. What would happen if we took the time to think and reflect on our next course of action? Pausing can provide that moment of reflection, but to use it to