BIG PICTURE Social Emotional Learning Podcast

High school junior, Enrique Alverde and I met at a day long community forum which invited attendees to build a collaborative tomorrow by participating in interactive study sessions with the local board of education and also with district leadership. There were a lot of great adults there… educators, parents, coaches, volunteers, and just 3 students… Enrique was one of those 3, and I couldn’t resis...

Ann Pelo, author of “From Teaching to Thinking,” brings potent energy and waves of intelligent insight to the profession of early childhood education. Get ready to have your assumptions and habits jostled a bit, but with true respect for you and your noble profession as an educator. Ann's publisher, Exchange Press, is offering a 20% off coupon code: FT2T.   Go to www. ChildCareExchange.com ,...

  You and I have internal navigation systems, or at least that’s how we started out in life … but maybe, by now, some of us have lost touch with our natural born guidance systems…. you know … from lack of use … which probably happened because we stopped trusting that our natural born guidance systems could actually steer us in the best directions, in the smartest directions, in the directions most...

Young children are just naturally the center of their own universes, but one of our many responsibilities, as  teachers, caregivers and parents, is to expand immature horizons of self-interest.  In this episode we make a few suggestions that sincerely hope will help you help the kids in your life grow smoothly through this dimension of their social and emotional development.

Sometimes, even when it's awkward and causes discomfort, change needs to happen for progress to continue at an optimal pace.  The newly revised name of this podcast aligns much more appropriately with the intention of this podcast, which is to deepen everyone's perception about the wide-ranging relevance, application, and inclusivity (not to be confused with exclusivity)  of social emoti...

Here's the LINK to everything you need to try out the ideas presented in this episode:   BLOG on Kids' Own Wisdom, dated 7.29.19 Even though many so-called “poor readers” can sound out words when they see them in print, they often do not comprehend most of what they’re sounding out.  Comprehension, it turns out, is a whole other ‘ball game,’ and it requires at least 2 other layers of enr...

  In addition to remembering what you’ve taught them, do your students actually transfer knowledge into new, related, but distinctly different situations and challenges? Intentionally developing those kinds of skills for your students requires less effort than you might, at first, imagine....

This is the second part of my conversation with  Lisa McCrohan, a heart-full and highly respected licensed Somatic Experiencing® psychotherapist, integrative coach, educator, author and poet who is dedicated to creating a more compassionate world for all ... one in which "mean girls" receive mindful and constructive guidance from us in the direction of becoming "includers," rather than "exclu...

Who among us doesn't have a story to share about mean girls?  Either your feelings were hurt by them when you were in school... or you have them in your classroom, or... HORRORS.... you're the parent of one.    Any one of those perspectives will be adequate motivation to listen in on this interview with Lisa McCrohan,  a heart-full and highly respected licensed Somatic Exp...

  Statistical evidence of declining moral values in our schools is attributed, in part, to the sad fact that many teachers are overwhelmed by the pressure and time demands required to deliver academic content.   Focusing on values and character development, most teachers feel, is just one more demand on their time constraints....  ... but one possible solution, one powerful sol...

  In this episode, our very special guest educator is Lani  Mednick who grew up in a family of well-respected educators in Seattle, WA.   She has taught and tutored all grades, TK - 6th, mostly at low-income schools in Denver, San Jose and Oakland. Three years ago, Lani was recruited to be coach and mentor teachers in the early literacy program in the Oakland Unified Schoo...

  The 21st century with its previously unimagined challenges and colossal opportunities is where we've landed, and I’m wondering … has it become apparent to you, yet that those previously unimagined challenges and colossal opportunities are making it absolutely essential for all of us educators to rethink not only  WHAT  we teach but, far more importantly:   HOW  we teach....

 Mistakes happen. There’s no avoiding them. They’re part of the learning process. When we understand the brain science of learning, we can be all the more skillful at using mistakes to increase and accelerate our students’ SOCIAL EMOTIONAL learning for everyone’s advantage.

There are BIG differences, and BIGGER consequences to be considered, when we compare parenting and teaching approaches.  Deborah Stewart, a highly respected early childhood educator, has noticed stark effects on young children's behaviors, and development of their potential as competent and confident individuals, when they're been 'helicoptered' most of their young lives.  

 The April 8th, 2019 issue of Education Week, was titled “4 Things Teachers Shouldn't Be Asking Their Students to Do.” Those 4 things were (1) BEING SILENT,  (2) SITTING STILL,  (3) FORCING APOLOGIES, and having  (4) ZERO TOLERANCE FOR FORGETFULNESS.   Today's interview is the Sheila Marshall, a First/Second Grade teachers. Sheila addresses a variety of challenges in ways...

Fortunately, today's educators can be even more effective than our own teachers thanks, in part, to contemporary brain science of learning which, if we implement its basic principles - which aren’t all that complicated, we can make a world of difference in our students’ social, emotional, cognitive and life skills development.  

This second episode about helping young children move through the times and the challenges that cause them to feel frustrated explores some of the not-so-obvious factors that are all part of the mix.  Wendy's insights, as always, are heartfelt, honest, and academically sound.

Frustration is a powerful emotion experienced by young children, and they need our help to navigate those choppy waters. New teachers will very likely experience children's expression of frustration as one of their biggest challenges, which is why we invited Wendy Zacuto back to share more of her insights from her decades of experience as a teacher, a principal, an academic researcher, a parent an...

The Language of Listening, with insights and inspiration from Ron Ritchhart’s book, “Creating Cultures of Thinking.”

  3 Habits that get in the way of being the kind of listener that creates real connection and mutual respect with young students:  Learn to appreciate how essential it is to be a fully present listener with your young students... even just for brief moments. .. and then consider the simple advice we share about how to break the habits that are getting in the way of your being a fully pre...

 Insights and experiences, from a kindergarten teacher with 22 years classroom experience, around the all-important topic of LISTENING … a topic some consider to be a nearly insurmountable challenge, yet which Bill Hotter and I agree warrants far more attention and respect… because it’s a worthwhile challenge that, even though it may take us out of our ‘comfort zones’ …. it will definitely br...

Wendy Zacuto has always sought to integrate the finest wisdom of her mentors and the numerous educational approaches she has studied, with her own innate instincts about how real learning is elicited and nurtured in our youngest students. She is a Master Educator in the truest sense. Wendy requested that this interview be respectfully and lovingly dedicated to the memory of one of her most importa...

Creating Cultures of Thinking, by Ron Ritchhart, is a book so rich with benefits for every classroom in the world … including, most definitely, benefits for your young students’ social emotional learning and development, that it only makes sense to create at least one episode focusing on a number of Ritchhart’s main points about the words we introduce and use in our classroom that have subtle, yet...

Learn why a facilitation approach deepens young students' ownership of the social, emotional and life skills that make life happier, healthier and better for everyone - in the classroom, on the playground and beyond ...

Learning what really matters, discovering the value of one's own particular form of intelligence, heart and courage are the benefits Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion received by taking on the challenges presented to them by the Wizard of Oz. Listen to this episode to find out what that has to do with Social Emotional Learning from the Kids' Own Wisdom perspective.