| By: Kim Gulbrandson 5 Reasons Why the Second Step Middle School Curriculum Is Magnificent I must admit that once Committee for Children made the announcement that they were revising their Second Step Middle School Program in 2017, I began to feel impatient. It was hard to wait. Knowing all the time and energy that went into the progrRead More
| By: Kim Gulbrandson 13 Reasons Why Teachers Are Appreciated May 9th is National Teacher Appreciation Day, a time to show our thanks to teachers for all they do. In honor of this day and of teachers in general, I asked others about why they value teachers. I interviewed children, parents and grandparents, including Joan Duffell, Executive Director of Committee for Children, a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering the safety and well-being of children through social-emotional learning and development. Of course, I added in my thoughts too. In total, 13 of us share why we appreciate teachers, and we mean every last word!Read More
| By: Kim Gulbrandson Tools to Keep Kids Safe—Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Two of the biggest safety topics among parents of young children are how to keep children safe from predators (both people the family already knows and strangers) and how to ensure that friends’ home environments are safe to visit.Read More
| By: Kim Gulbrandson How and When to Have Conversations About Child Sexual Abuse Child sexual abuse is prevalent but silenced. It’s crucial to have conversations with kids of all ages and adults to help prevent it and respond to it when you’re told. Here you’ll find where, when, and how to start the conversation.Read More
| By: Kim Gulbrandson Tap Into Empathy and Respect and You Can Connect Communication is the key to many aspects of life. By teaching important social skills like listening and empathy, educators give students the tools to respectfully interact with their peers and the adults in their lives. Read More
| By: Kim Gulbrandson Preparing Students for Tough Conversations From childhood to adulthood, conversations have an impact on daily life. We communicate every day, many times a day, and the skills we use to talk with others determine whether the outcomes of these interactions are good or bad.Read More
| By: Kim Gulbrandson Make Motivation Easy Motivation is a mediator for academic and social success, so what can we do as adults to foster motivation in students? We can provide conditions that facilitate motivation through a strength-based perspective. My colleague often says, “People are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole”, which speaks to why we need to support students and not try and “fix” or blame them for not being motivated.Read More
| By: Kim Gulbrandson 5 Strategies to Accomplish Your 2017 Goals It is that time of year again—the time when we start to aim for improvement! There is something about the new year that makes us feel renewed and gets us thinking about change. I remember the first new year I truly started thinking about my goals. I asked someone who had achieved the success I hoped for someday, what the secret was to realizing my long-term goals. She told me, “There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs. Read More
| By: Kim Gulbrandson Embrace Grit Through Social-Emotional Learning and More In my last blog post I talked about grit and having the passion and perseverance for achieving long-term goals. The first step to building grit is knowing what it looks like, but because grit is partially fostered by experience (see Angela Duckworth’s questions and answers about grit), in this post I also consider the “how to” of building tenacity and perseverance.Read More
| By: Kim Gulbrandson A Look at Grit Humans are creatures of habit. If you quit when things get tough, it gets that much easier to quit the next time. On the other hand, if you force yourself to push through it, the grit begins to grow in you. —Travis Bradberry It happens time and time again, often without notice. Successful people spend years overcoming challenges and difficulties before they reach their biggest accomplishments. Read More