We live in an incredible era in which many young folks take it upon themselves to do community service, an activity which when I was a kid was more associated with punishment than with choice. Without going into detail, I …
One of the latest educational buzzwords floating about is ‘grit’. Angela Lee Duckworth made this term popular among educators in her widespread TED talk. In her talk, she defines grit in the following way, Grit is the passion and perseverance …
New year, new you right? We say this every January. We’re all going to lose weight, break our bad habits, go the gym, buy less junk online, etc, etc. If you’re human, you know that keeping a New Year’s resolution …
According to author and mindfulness guru Eckhart Tolle, “fear is almost always of something that might happen, not of something that is happening now.”* “Mindfulness” always sounds great on paper, but it’s never quite as easy to put into practice. …
Ah, the holidays: family, food, fun, parties, presents, decorations and…standardized tests, exams, and homework, of course! Hold on to your Santa hat, because this year, more students than ever before will be taking the ACT on February 6, 2016, and …
Observe a high school classroom, and you will sometimes—but thankfully not always— see a teacher lecturing or writing on the board while students feverishly try to copy every word into their notebooks. This mechanical, rote method of learning may be …
Dandelions can grow anywhere. You even see them popping up in between cracks in the sidewalk. They are hardy and resilient. They can withstand the harshest conditions. The orchid, on the other hand, is fragile and needs just the right …
Junior year is a crucial year. It’s the time of your academic career when everything starts to matter more. Gone are the halcyon days of freshman and sophomore years, when college seemed light years away. Suddenly, college is a real …
When I was eight years old my father had a philosophy that children should be seen and NOT heard. He would tell me time and time again that my opinions didn’t count and that my thoughts and feelings should be …
Parents and teachers sometimes become nervous when a teenage student fails to show much interest in school or in planning for the future. Fears emerge that an unambitious or unmotivated student will squander his or her potential, settling for a …