Natalie, a nine-year-old fourth-grade girl who lives with her mother, father, and two older sisters in a small, middle class, suburban community, has some social problems. She often appears to be speaking to the other students the way her older sisters speak to her at home--exerting power in a condescending tone. This article describes a "Red Flag…

This article introduces The RULER Approach ("RULER") to social and emotional learning, with a particular focus on its Feeling Words Curriculum. Through this curriculum, RULER contributes to the ultimate goals of an English language arts education--preparing students to achieve personal, social, and academic goals and to be engaged and contributing…

For students born into poverty, grades 4-5 are a boundary where their learning needs change dramatically and in ways that have been consistently misunderstood throughout the many waves of well-intentioned reform over the past century. As a result, these needs have remained unaddressed, and grades 4-5 have become the boundary line where they start…