Teach Different

Do we control our own happiness? Teachers and parents alike espouse the value of focus. With focus, children appreciate the value of the moment and can learn to control their mind. Yet, phones and social media conspire to make focus difficult. The undisciplined mind, split from its foundation, shifts and drifts in different directions leaving tasks undone, leaving students feeling inadequate and p...

How do you stay happy in a cruel world? When bad things happen, students have to make choices about how they'll protect themselves. Some choose to fight back against the people or events which caused them pain, thinking that they have the power to change the world into something better. Others recoil and focus on changing their internal attitude, hoping that by doing that they can maintain happine...

Do humble people make good leaders? To most students leadership is about confidence, being in front of the crowd, setting the example, and showing the way. Some assume that to be good leader you have to act the part, maintain that confident edge and undying belief in your own abilities. Another way to secure that edge is to be humble, and convince yourself that you haven't succeeded yet, there's m...

Should we worry about our future? It’s no secret that most kids tend to ‘live for the moment’ rather than planning for their futures. Living in the now has its benefits; instant gratification, less anxiety, and a sense of freedom. Worrying about what happens tomorrow ruins the present. But, maybe a little worry over the future is a good thing and makes people carefully consider their options in th...

What is the purpose of school? Most teachers agree that skills and content are important components for a quality education. Debate erupts over which is more important. Some argue that teaching a person how to think should be the primary focus. Others argue that teaching content knowledge is more worthwhile. In the middle of this debate are the students who have very passionate ideas of what the p...

When is going against the crowd the right thing to do? Peer pressure is real. Many students choose to follow the crowd to avoid the repercussions of not following. They feel safer, less alone. It doesn’t mean the followers fully "buy in" to the crowd beliefs or actions, but the act of standing outside the crowd feels scary. Is there a good time to face that fear and go against the crowd? How...

Are role models healthy for us? The old adage "Just be yourself" looks good on paper, but gets pretty scary in the real world when we must rely on our own instincts to make decisions. Dangers abound. What if we make a mistake and hurt somebody? These fears - fueled by lack of confidence - cause us to look to other people to do the thinking and acting for us. Our role models inspire us to be better...

What in life is actually in our control? The power of self-awareness isn't obvious to us. We may feel ourselves at the mercy of life, that life just happens to us. When things don't go our way, we may throw our energies into changing other people and events to make things right. But, maybe our efforts to change the world are futile. Maybe what we need to do is change our attitude about what happen...

What makes somebody a hero? Everybody respects heroes because they rise above and do extraordinary things. Common wisdom sees heroism as something you attain from serving others. Think of the firefighter who saves lives, or the patient who fights off illness. But, maybe heroism doesn’t require such remarkable effort. Maybe if we put trust in who we are and emanate confidence, then that will make u...

What is the best way to overcome our fears? Fear is a force that can be debilitating for kids and adults alike. Fear obstructs clear thinking and fuels anxiety in a way that makes it hard to work and be successful at anything. Uncertainty is often behind our fears. When we don’t know what to do, we become afraid of what the future has in store for us. Yet, sometimes knowing what to do actually ins...

Can we really make a difference in the world. When students are told they can change the world, many don't believe it. They think making the world a better place is for the people who are in power, not the average person, but doing small things can make a big difference.  What a person does in the classroom at his/her school, or in the community, can provide the soil for real change. It's har...

Should we strive for perfection? So many of our students feel pressure to be the perfect athlete, student, or friend. This feeling is accompanied by a pervasive fear of failure and the possibility that they might let others down. When we fall short of perfection, students have important decisions to make about whether to keep pursuing it or be okay with something less. The decisions they make shap...

Do you have to go through bad experiences to be a strong person? Everybody experiences struggle. Sometimes the struggle ends up making the person more self-confident, stronger and better able to move forward to the next challenge. But other times adversity breeds fear and inaction. Every struggle is an opportunity for students to make an ethical choice on how to respond in a way that helps them co...

How do we know when to trust other people? Trust requires that you must set aside your feelings of suspicion and agree to work with people in good faith. Sometimes trust is difficult to attain, yet to live and solve problems with other people, we need to trust them. Trusting others will sometimes lead us into grim disappointment, but it can also restore our faith in people. Trust is a skill and mu...

Do you have influence over the world? Students are in the midst of figuring out who they are and how they can influence the world. Some feel helpless because it seems that they were born into a difficult situation or have experienced an unfair share of pain and heartache. Others feel almost superhuman and think they have the power to change anything they want. The truth of self-determination is re...

Is sacrificing yourself for others always the right thing to do? Sacrifice requires that we do things today that don’t have immediate benefits for ourselves; but help others instead. Students have generous hearts but, for the most part, are focused on their own successes and sometimes resist the moral obligation to sacrifice for others. Join Steve and Dan Fouts for a conversation about sacrifice u...

What is the best way to raise your self esteem? All students know at some level what it feels like to be humiliated. When this happens, the person who is hurt has a decision to make, he/she can either buy into the criticism and be made to feel small and insignificant or he/she can resist feelings of inferiority and defeat the criticism through positive thinking. It takes energy to build and mainta...

What's the best way to deal with negative people? Negative people are everywhere, in the classroom, at home, or at the workplace. We often feel trapped and forced to be patient with people who bring us down. Sometimes we have the option of fleeing these situations, especially when negativity turns to hate. Escape from negative people can preserve our integrity and save our energies for people who...

Does a confident mindset guarantee success? There's no denying that confidence plays a role in success. What's harder to determine is just what kind of role. Some say that a confident mindset going into a task is the most important ingredient for success. Others say the only way to be confident is to actually achieve something first. Students must determine for themselves how to gain confidence in...

Do you have to have critics to succeed? Taking constructive criticism can be difficult. It requires a person to resist the emotional need to lash back against people who point out flaws. Many people would rather hear words of encouragement because they carry with them the feeling of unconditional love and acceptance. Yet, being able to listen to suggestions for improvement is a really important li...

Can people learn no matter how old they are? While it is true that education is valuable to all of us at any age, it is also true that our energies and resources are limited and must be used wisely if we want to change the world into something better. Some say that children should be the focus because their minds are more easily shaped and influenced; others suggest that adults, who are actually i...

Do we control our own actions? Life throws unexpected events at us which take us by surprise. When crisis happens, we feel out of control. We are left to react in the best ways we can to protect ourselves and improve our situations, but we often feel like our actions don’t matter in the face of an indifferent world. Join Steve and Dan Fouts for a conversation about stress management using the Teac...

Do you control your future? If there is one message we send consistently to our kids, it's this: your choices matter. We want them to see the world as a place where they are in control of what happens. If they make the right choices, happiness awaits them. If they choose the wrong path, life is unforgiving. What this simple admonition misses, though, is that sometimes life makes decisions for us,...

Do you need loyalty to fight injustice? Sometimes doing the right thing means that you will face scorn and ridicule from other people. This opposition may take the form of angry words thrown against us. As much as these words hurt us, there is a different kind of pain we feel when those in whom we place our trust end up letting us down. Friends and enemies have the power to injure us and so we mus...

Do we have control over our own success? Setting aside the 19th century gender-biased language and applying the wisdom to all students, Thoreau is saying something important about success and positive thinking. If students believe they can succeed, then they are halfway home. The power of positive thinking is undeniable.  But, failure is also crucial for human development. Students must find...