Your Free Ticket to Quality Teacher Summer PD
If you have been following along with me for any amount of time, you know I do not throw the word “PD” around lightly. And quality summer PD? Forget it, truly. Most of what gets...
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Do Fidget Tools Actually Help Kids Regulate?
Walk into almost any elementary classroom right now and you will probably see at least some kind of fidget tools. Teachers often keep stress balls, tangles, Velcro strips under desks, small cubes with buttons, or...
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5 Common Calm Corner Missteps
Walk into almost any elementary classroom right now and you will probably see some version of a calm corner. A soft rug, maybe a few stuffed animals, a poster with breathing strategies, glitter jars, flexible...
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My Revelation about Oppositional Defiant Disorder
I no longer talk about Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) the same way I used to. And honestly? I am behind the times. This shift didn’t come from being “soft,” trendy, or anti-accountability. It came from...
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How SEL Can Combat Teacher Burnout
Let me guess: you absolutely love teaching, but feel oddly disconnected from it at the same time. Yep, you’re not broken. And if the idea of adding one more strategy, meeting, or initiative makes your...
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Why Childhood Resilience is Ordinary Magic
We have all heard the quip that kids are “so resilient.” Usually this is said in a meeting right after you’ve watched a student go through something genuinely hard. And while kids are wired for...
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Has Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Been Debunked?
If you’ve ever sat in a PD session about motivation or behavior, you’ve probably seen the pyramid. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is everywhere! The color-coded layers stacked neatly from “basic needs” at the bottom to...
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The Incredible Power of Play in School
Something powerful happens when play shows up in a classroom. The mood shifts. Students relax, start talking, and connect in ways that don’t always happen during a typical lesson. When we lead with curiosity and...
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Great Options for Teacher Book Clubs
This post contains affiliate links. One of my favorite parts of being an educator is learning together. We don’t just grow from PD sessions or staff meetings—we grow when we sit down with other teachers,...
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A Look at SEL for Teachers
Let’s be honest: when we hear “SEL,” most of us picture morning meetings, glitter jars, and “I statements” being practiced by 7-year-olds in a circle on a rug. And yes, social emotional learning is essential...
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