Self-directed student learning begins with self-directed educators. Teachers in Greenville, North Carolina, are training in the Habits of Mind, a series of thinking behaviors that support self-directed learning by helping students successfully tackle complex problems. The authors outline key instructional strategies that have grown from these…

When teachers strive to help a student with serious behavior challenges, they often feel at a loss and seek guidance from a problem-solving team of counselors, administrators, and other colleagues. But too often such team meetings fail to provide concrete ideas for things the teacher can do. Rather than simply discussing the mounting challenges,…

Teachers have a lot of frustrating things to deal with in school--obdurate administrators, inane work rules, and ham-fisted policies, to name a few. Instead of speaking up for change, many teachers have just come to accept all the dysfunction and take refuge in their classrooms. But teachers have it in their power to bust out of that classroom…

Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder believed to be genetic. The most visible symptom is the presence of tics. These involuntary movements or sounds can range from simple (sniffing, throat clearing, blinking) to complex (words or phrases, hopping, body contortions). They may be frequent for a few weeks, then fade away almost…

Ten percent of kindergartners show behavior problems or disrupt their class. This number triples for at-risk children. And children with self-control problems rarely succeed academically. With all a teacher has to accomplish during the kindergarten year, having students who lack the skills to "do school" is a real challenge. Other students are…

Promoting socioemotional literacy and learning to detect social problems early are among the most powerful tools educators can use to prevent youth violence. Educators can head off signs of trouble by developing their reflective capacities and by establishing caring, responsive, and supportive relationships with their students. Contains 13…

The Martin Luther King School in Boston and nine other Massachusetts public schools used a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Education to expand their school days by at least two hours. Each school lengthened the time students spent in reading and math instruction. Farbman focuses on the Martin Luther King School's foray into an extended…

Open meetings are regularly scheduled times when all class members and the teacher sit together in a closed circle to discuss important topics, such as name-calling. Such meetings are structured, moving from reviewing ground rules to posing a warmup question, encouraging numerous perspectives, personalizing the topic, and challenging students to…

Educational practices involving emotional intelligence should be based on solid research, not sensationalistic claims. There are two emotional-intelligence models based on ability and an ability/social-competence mixture. Emphasizing cooperative behavior could stifle creativity, healthy skepticism, or spontaneity. Teaching emotional reasoning pays…

Describes the Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Program developed to help Chapter 1 students learn better thinking skills that improve basic skills and social confidence. (MD)

Compared to home life, schools resemble crossroads, village squares, marketplaces, and cities. Increasing deliberative interactions among diverse students helps instill habits of behavior necessary for public life: the courtesies, manners, tolerance, respect, sense of justice, and knack for forging public policy with others. This article explains…