Does the current drive to incorporate social and emotional learning (SEL) into the K-12 curriculum represent a positive reform that will lead schools to educate the "whole student" and ultimately boost young people's academic success? Or is it a distracting fad that comes with high opportunity costs? Common sense and considerable…

Finding a sense of authentic self as an institution, a true sense of mission, and the means to live that mission were the central focus of a strategic planning process addressed by the University of Central Oklahoma about fifteen years ago. As the institution grew within a metropolitan-serving mission, the goal to transform students from…

Many new teachers are concerned with how to respond appropriately when preschoolers make statements that can be considered rude, hurtful, or socially inappropriate. This is particularly true for comments related to children with disabilities. New teachers are often afraid that negative and unkind comments will be made by young children in their…

An examination in the classroom of well-chosen tweets not only illustrates how social media engages citizens in participatory democracy, but can spark enriching debates on current events.

The key to the success of any online program is dedicating attention to student satisfaction. Student satisfaction with what and how they learn in an online classroom is an important variable to understand and can help instructors and course designers create an environment that fits students' needs. This can be achieved with adequate course…

The purpose of the "Implementation Support Practitioner Profile" is to identify the skills and competencies needed by implementation support practitioners to support effective implementation and scaling of evidence-informed practices, programs and policies to improve outcomes for people and communities. The integration of implementation…

The world in which students are learning is unique. Technology is progressing rapidly, and this is having a direct impact on teaching and learning. Teachers have the choice to embrace this or not. The instant access to information has the power to change pedagogies and students' experience of mathematics learning. Hence several questions arise: Do…

Gifted individuals have unique social and emotional needs that often manifest as challenging interpersonal behavior. Chief among these needs are the fact that gifted students tend to be quite emotionally intense and that they tend to be quite cognitively rigid. Emotional intensity is defined as having stronger, more frequent, more complex, and…

Developing character strengths such as kindness and perseverance are just as crucial as academics for today's learners. This article describes how the author and the classroom teacher worked one-on-one with a third grade class to teach such attributes. Approximately once a month the classroom teacher and the author taught lessons on kindness,…

Based on Ben Franklin's project to develop his virtuousness, we present an assignment that provides a structured process to facilitate students' virtuousness in their day-to-day lives. Students determine four virtues they wish to develop. Each week, students focus on behaving consistently with one of these virtues. At the end of each day, they…

The article explores the concept of wicked problems and proposes a reinvigorated application of this concept for wider educational use. This recommendation stems from the contributions of a number of scholars who frame some of the most contentious and recalcitrant educational issues as wicked problems. The present authors build upon these previous…

Naturally humans strive to do their work. But when it exceeds a limit, it becomes neurotic and also not healthy perfectionism. Perfectionism is always not pleasurable, and people typically confuse their talents and capabilities with their perfectionism. In fact, perfectionism interferes with a person's ability to do well (Hummel, 2000). This paper…

Susan Mayclin Stephenson tackles a large subject, Cosmic Education, which Montessori defined as a "unifying global and universal view[s] of the past, present and future." Stephenson takes the reader from birth to the end of the elementary age with examples of how the child grows into an understanding of Cosmic Education through their…

Augustine's training in pagan rhetoric, his classical education, and the productive tensions he experienced between pagan and Christian exemplars played a formative role in his spiritual journey. An examination of the generative aspects of these encounters with otherness yields insights for our own understanding, not just of the importance to…

Over the last 30 years, Robert Evans and Michael Thompson have been called to consult with more than 2,000 schools independent and public, in the United States and internationally. These school visits have given them a deep appreciation for the range and complexity of challenges schools face and for their capacity to master evolving problems. With…