A significant amount of research has been devoted to class size, in relation to student achievement. Success in the classroom is not only about increases in attainment. Fulfilment, and well-being, for teachers and students alike, is a more complete evaluation of improved achievement. The cost of reducing class sizes seems to be prohibitive, so…

With the current provincial government intent on making changes to education in Manitoba, teachers need to know how this will affect their classrooms. It is today's reality that programs directed at managing student behaviour are being closed. Without these programs, classroom teachers will need to use several strategies to support a greater range…

Failure is a common experience in the lives of musicians and educators that is frequently seen as a negative attribute for performances in music education. By shifting from a negative, destructive approach to a positive, constructive orientation to failure, music educators can help their students learn and advance forward from experiences of…

Exposure to trauma--which many experts view as include ongoing life stressors like poverty, parents divorcing, death of a family member, or drug abuse in the home--is prevalent among school-aged children. Teachers know that facing trauma impedes students' ability to focus and learn, but it can be challenging to keep responding caringly to a…

This article posits that the restorative practice of community circles offers middle school students a safe, empowering space where moments of social and emotional strife can be addressed and possibly prevented. It also recognizes that by creating a safe and empowering classroom community, students who have or are experiencing trauma can find…

The death of a student, especially to gun violence, is a life-changing experience that occurs with more and more frequency in America's schools. For each of these tragedies, there is a classroom and there is a teacher. Yet student death is often a forbidden subject, removed from teacher education and professional development classes where the…

Teachers are essential partners in addressing the needs of English learners (ELs), yet most professional development fails to mention the specific needs of such students who have experienced trauma and exhibit signs of toxic and post-traumatic stress. Such students are not readily identified and even so, are often hesitant to seek the professional…

Travis Wright presents an important understanding of trauma that leads to a new perspective of "challenging" behaviors in the classroom. "Trauma is not an event in itself, but is instead the reaction to extremely stressful life circumstances... When children operate in overwhelming states of stress, the stress response system may…

Statistics on K-12 students with mental health challenges almost guarantee that teachers will encounter these students in their classrooms. Educators will be more prepared and successful if they have feasible strategies to promote student well-being and avoid exacerbating existing problems. This article presents research-based classroom practices…

This article considers the very real issues many of us face in the classroom when we, and our students, confront difficult or depressing issues, situations, or materials. Working with topics such as human rights abuses, environmental degradation, racism and xenophobia, and poverty among many others, students and faculty can experience compassion…

The first step in providing support to children and teens exposed to trauma and adversity is helping them to feel safe at school and demonstrating alternative working models of relationships. By spending time in a supportive classroom, students can learn that school can be a safe place, and that teachers and peers can be caring, thoughtful people…

As sociology instructors increasingly include materials on sexual violence in their courses, both instructors and students express anxieties over how best to handle such sensitive conversations. This article critically examines the conventional advice to offer a trigger warning, which can interfere with student education (e.g., requiring survivors…

Part of the Center for Education Equity, Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium's (CEE's) "Exploring Equity Issues" series, this paper discusses social and emotional learning (SEL) and the special challenges faced by immigrant students in this area. For immigrant students, the challenge of SEL is compounded by their simultaneous navigation of…

Overexcitabilities (OEs) are part of a larger theory, the Theory of Positive Disintegration (TPD), postulated by Polish World War I and II survivor Kazimierz Dabrowski. Simply put, an OE is a stimulus-response that is different from the norm; it is a heightened ability to both receive and respond to stimuli. Originally translated as…

It is self-evident that, given a group of very active young children and four walls within which to contain them, certain decisions have to be made fairly rapidly: what happens, where it happens, and when seem to be the most obviously pressing. When and how does differentiation come into play? Is it only when making decisions about grouping the…