Parents and educators are encouraged to participate in a series of free webinars provided by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) that help to educate on the effects of prejudice and bullying on children.
The ADL belives that by educating parents and teachers about anti-hate values, children can be more educated and open-minded when it comes to living their lives. By learning about the difficulties schools face with religious holidays, the types of literature your children are reading, and how bullying affects kids in the electronic age, parents can help their children understand and comprehend the effects that prejudices have on their behavior.
The first webinar takes place on Wednesday, November 6, 2013, at 2 p.m. EST and is titled Using an Anti-Bias Lens to Examine Early Childhood Children's Books in Your Program. The second webinar takes place on Wednesday, November 20, 2013, at 4 p.m. EST and is titled Bullying on Campus in the Electronic Age.
Participate in the webinar series and view past webinars at www.adl.org/educationwebinars.
The Samurai were fierce warriors of Feudal Japan (we’re talking 1100 to 1800s). They lived during times of constant fighting, whether between warring lords in Japan or against invading enemies, such as the Mongols.
Samurai had to be incredibly sharp, focused, centered, calm, and ready to leap into action at any moment. This explains why they were drawn to the practice of Zen Buddhism and training the mind through meditation.
Today, the enemy or constant threat isn’t so much...
Mindfulness in the k-12 classroom has been shown to improve school-related skills, such as executive functioning, social-emotional skills, working memory, sustained attention, and self-regulation (see Mindfulness in the Classroom).
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Educators, you have probably heard the term, mindfulness, thrown around a lot at this point. You...
I have recently retired as a school administrator after 51 plus in education. I have been reading about a lot of new administrators who are all ready burning out, feel overwhelmed, overworked, and under compensated. I was fortunate to have worked in more than a dozen schools and similar number of other educational positions. I worked in seven states and two countries. My point in saying this as I changed jobs, I had to thoroughly investigate each one before accepting the new assignment. ...
Back to school—it's here!
There are many emotions and thoughts about returning to school: excitement, joy, pressure, sadness, and anxiety, to name a few. How you feel depends on your role—whether you're a first-year teacher, a veteran teacher, or maybe it's your last year; a new student in a district; a graduating senior; or a parent dropping your child off for the first time. Returning to school means...
As you begin your new school year, I wanted to share with you something that I did to involve, engaging and build relationships with families----I call them “Family Forums”. I decided that Family Forums would not only become a normal part of building a successful reciprocal relationship with the families in my classroom but also a time to teach and learn from one another. My forums were a party for my families, not a meeting but a place to come and have fellowship with others. It was also a...
As we begin the new school year, stop and reflect on what new things you want to try. Ask yourself how you can make your lessons more engaging or hands-on. Do you need to try new ways of differentiation? What about researching engaging ideas online or observing colleagues? Is there a professional development you have been wanting to attend?
At the beginning of each new year and after each teaching day, I...
It is the most exciting time of the year as teachers start returning back to school. Teachers and administrators are looking forward to the new school year. Many administrators think that this is a time for team building and professional development in the short time before students arrive. As a former principal, I learned that teachers are anxious to get into their classrooms and prepare for school to start.
What I was told was that our teachers appreciated how I approached the...