As we reflect on the past year, we want to give a shout-out to our bloggers, authors, and readers! This year was challenging in many ways, and we’re thankful that you’re here to make our blog what it is. You are amazing!
On this last day of 2020, we’re rounding up the top posts from this year. Got a favorite we didn’t include? Drop it in the comments.
1. Heading to Middle School: It’s Going to Be Okay
Transitioning from elementary to middle school can be difficult, even without a pandemic. School counselor Amanda C. Symmes shares the OKAY acronym (Options, Kindness, Allow failure, Yield) to help kids navigate the transition.
2. 10 Study Habits for Student Self-Regulation in Virtual Learning
Making the switch to virtual learning was necessary, but not easy. Author Richard M. Cash, Ed.D., shares 10 ideas to help students manage themselves during virtual learning so they can stay actively engaged.
3. How Trauma Impacts Learning
Middle school counselor and author Stephanie Filio explores the impact of trauma on learning and how schools can help ease the pain of students who have experienced trauma.
4. How Teachers Can Help Students with Mental Health Issues During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Students have had a range of reactions to the lockdowns and other pandemic-related restrictions. Dr. James J. Crist offers educators advice for how they can identify and help those students struggling with mental health issues during virtual learning.
5. 3 Technology Tools to Enhance Your School Counseling Lessons
School counselor Danielle Schultz shares three technology tools that can be an excellent way to add more excitement, engagement, and interaction to your school counseling lessons.
6. Self-Care for Educators at Home
Switching to virtual learning or hybrid learning increased demands on educators’ time. In this post, Stephanie Filio offers self-care ideas for teachers and reminds them that taking care of their students means taking care of themselves too.
7. 13 Out-of-the-Ordinary Questions for More Meaningful Conversations with Kids
Yes-or-no questions can stop a conversation in its tracks. To jump-start a more compelling and meaningful conversation with kids, try any one of these 13 questions and prompts focused on social and emotional learning.
8. 8 Ways Principals Can Support Teachers During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Our resident principal blogger, Andrew Hawk, shares ways administrators can help their teachers as their workloads and stress levels increase during the pandemic.
9. Back-to-School Freebies for Educators to Use Anywhere
We shared just a small sampling of our freebies for educators in this post. If you’re looking for painless PD you can do from home, you’ll want to check it out!
10. Class Project: Creating Video Book Reviews
We invited a second-grade teacher and a technology teacher to our blog to talk about their project-based learning experience creating video book reviews.
11. Help Students Manage the Emotions of Going Back to School During the Pandemic
Even in the best of times, going back to school can be stressful. Author Rayne Lacko shares five tips for managing the emotions—both your child’s and your own—of going back to school.
12. 11 Uplifting Ideas to Try at Home or in the (Virtual) Classroom
2020 was tough! In this post, we encourage you to take time to pause, take a deep breath, and stop the doomscrolling (at least for a few minutes). Try out the ideas in this blog post to spark more upbeat thoughts and attitudes and to incorporate mindfulness into your day.
13. Movement Activities for Teaching Listening Skills
Author Connie Bergstein Dow explains three playful dance games that reinforce listening skills, impulse control, and delaying gratification. Each one can be used during virtual learning to encourage children to get up and move around.
14. Grow Through What You Go Through
Author Shannon Anderson shares how teachers and their students can practice adopting a growth mindset. Although these are challenging times, they are also times of many opportunities to teach and build resilience and compassion.
15. The 6 Characteristics of High-Quality Professional Development and Learning: Part 1
Author Richard M. Cash, Ed.D., highlights the first three of six characteristics and methods that ensure teachers and administrators are getting what they need, when they need it, to move all students toward greater success. You can also read part two of the six characteristics of high-quality PD here.
16. The Golden Hour: Dear Class of 2020
Our dear friend Barbara Gruener wrote a letter to the class of 2020 to help them find healing and hope as all those rite-of-passage traditions we have historically savored—every single one of them—has been deleted from seniors’ digital calendars.
17. Helping Children Cope with the COVID-19 Crisis
Children react to stress by looking at how adults cope. Author and psychologist Deborah Serani, Psy.D., offers ways you can help your children—and yourself—move through the COVID-19 crisis.
18. Purposeful Play: Connecting Play and Learning in Preschool
In one of our few pre-pandemic blog posts to make this list, early childhood blogger Molly Breen discusses how play is integral to learning in preschool.
19. Providing a School Counseling Practice from Home
At the beginning of the pandemic, Stephanie Filio provided information on evaluating the situation and making goals and plans for providing a school counseling practice from home.
20. Grow Your Child’s Emotional Intelligence
Guest blogger Nefertiti B. Poyner, Ed.D., from the Devereux Center for Resilient Children, shares five strategies that can help you increase your child’s EQ.
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