With the pandemic and incidents of harsh police brutality now filling the news (and many lives), how can teachers help young children make their way through a period that, if it were a movie, might be rated R for violence and harsh imagery? With examples from his own classroom, Minkel shares four ways we can be there for kids: teach them to…

The research confirms that students across the country are--and will be--struggling in different ways. A March 2021 survey of parents of younger elementary school students found that more than 25 percent of the respondents' children were hiding mistakes, struggling to adapt, and giving up after failing once (Morin, 2021). Another survey of more…

Using the Teach to Lead process and drawing on their own study of how teachers can lift their social-emotional skills, three elementary teachers in Connecticut created a plan to work with fellow teachers to increase everyone's camaraderie and regularly problem solve together. When their school closed to in-place learning, they pivoted to find ways…

Miguel A. Cardona, the former commissioner of education in Connecticut, became the U.S. Secretary of Education on March 2, 2021, taking office in the midst of an historic pandemic that had profoundly reshaped the nation's schools. In his initial months on the job, Cardona- also a one-time public school teacher and principal--has focused closely on…