Laurie Santos, Yale professor and host of The Happiness Lab, has spent years studying what makes people happy. In a recent interview with the New York Times, Santos explained that happiness is not a destination but an ongoing process. She compared it to physical fitness. The activities and habits that contribute to happiness need to […]

In many schools today, teacher dissatisfaction is easy to find and just as easy to misunderstand. When frustration surfaces, leaders sometimes respond by encouraging teachers to “stay positive.”  Such statements feel like imposed positivity and sounds more like dismissal than support. It often communicates a lack of understanding and empathy. Research has consistently shown that […]

The end of a school year is often treated as closure. Yet for learners, it is also a transfer point. Students leave carrying far more than content knowledge and grades. They carry beliefs about themselves as learners, strategies that helped them succeed, habits they developed, and questions they still hold about their abilities. During the […]

How often has this happened to you? You’re listening to a teacher describe her frustration with a group of students. Halfway through, you recognize the situation. You’ve seen it before. You solved it when you were teaching. You know what will help. Even if you don’t interrupt, you’re no longer fully listening — you’re thinking […]

I’ve been facilitating a team of K-12 educators over the past several months in an exploration of teacher feedback and its impact on student learning because we all have too many examples of feedback not leading to learning. Initially we examined the need for effective feedback to be timely, specific, and aligned to learning goals. […]

I was recently asked to consult with a team organizing the plan for implementation of a new instructional program across a statewide setting. They are considering the role of instructional coaching and whether that support should be provided by staff within each school or by district or regional personnel. A long history of efforts to […]