Understanding how students achieve goals is critical knowledge for today’s teachers. This involves more than simply imparting information about goal setting. It’s about fostering skills in planning, organizing, decision-making, and problem-solving. These skills are foundational for developing resourcefulness in students, the ability to use available resources to achieve goals and […]
Resourcefulness
Whether your child is playing sports now or considering participating in a sport, you likely have an opinion about the value of sports in children’s lives. You may have your own positive or negative experiences with sports as a child. The social, emotional, and physical benefits of playing sports in […]
Resilience
Most educators agree that academic integrity plays an essential role in learning. Will artificial intelligence (AI) destroy or facilitate academic integrity? How do teachers create a classroom culture of integrity, despite fears that AI and programs like ChatGPT (“Generative Pretrained Transformer”) can encourage plagiarism and dishonesty? While we do not […]
Integrity
Do you describe your sons, daughters, or students as caring children? In today’s divided political climate, does it matter if children and teens find meaningful ways to connect with and care about others who are different from themselves? The importance of educating and raising caring children was brought to national […]
Empathy
When I was a teenager, we didn’t have a term for service-learning. There were opportunities to volunteer in our communities but not many people thought about the lifelong value of such experiences. As I reflect on my early volunteer experiences, I know for certain that my life was changed as […]
Empathy
Over 100 years ago, the great African American educator Booker T. Washington spoke about building resilience: “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles overcome while trying to succeed.” Research has since established […]
Resilience
Positive youth development is the practice of nurturing core internal strengths and abilities in children and teens. It is about providing opportunities for youth to believe in themselves and their abilities to influence their lives and the world around them. As families, schools, and communities, we share one goal. We want […]
Compass-Inspired
Social emotional development is nurtured by teaching social skills early in life, creating shared social norms, and engaging students in cooperative learning. What helps children engage in learning? According to studies on the social nature of how we acquire knowledge, one answer is clear: Children engage in learning through their cooperative capacity […]
Sociability
Curiosity and learning are intricately connected. According to research, the three pillars of academic performance are intelligence, effort, and intellectual curiosity. Did you know that curiosity and effort rival the influence of intelligence on student success? Like the Mars rover Curiosity is designed to explore the details of the Gale […]
Curiosity
Student success is a deceptive term in today’s educational environment. It is also a concept being challenged by parents and teachers who want more focus on whole child development and wellbeing. Teachers who foster student achievement not only understand how to teach curriculum, but they also understand that student success […]
Compass-Inspired
As teenagers grow to young adulthood, who are their role models? Who do they emulate? Why? One of the most popular articles at Roots of Action is What is a Role Model? Five Qualities that Matter to Teens. Collected from my research on highly successfully, civically-engaged young people, it describes […]
Resourcefulness
Positive words are not always easy for parents to speak, especially during moments when they wish their child were behaving differently. Yet the power of positive words from a supportive parent is undeniable. During these unprecedented times, the importance of raising resilient children is more important than ever. Research at […]
Resilience
