What’s New(s)?

Ask Dr. Judy Webinar: What Neuro-Logical Emotional Interventions Promote Growth Mindset, Academic, Social, and Emotional Success?

February 3rd, 2012

Join renowned author, neurologist, and teacher Judy Willis for an exciting free webinar to learn which “neuro logical” strategies encourage information to pass through the brain’s emotional filters to reach the most powerful cognitive control centers in the prefrontal cortex.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012, 3:00 p.m. eastern time
Register now!

Discover the the interventions that reverse negativity, promote positive attitudes, increase participation, and build student confidence to persevere through challenges.

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Free Teleseminar: Improving School Climate Through a Whole Child Approach

January 31st, 2012

Join ASCD Managing Director of the Whole Child Initiative Molly McCloskey in conversation with ASCD author and Rutgers University professor Maurice J. Elias. McCloskey will share information about specific initiatives and examples of how a whole child approach ensures that each child, in each community, is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

Monday, February 27, 2012, 12:00 p.m. eastern time
Call in to 1-800-868-1123 and use code 70187505

The teleseminar is part of a series of monthly meetings of the Improving School Climate for Academic and Life Success project at Rutgers, designed to support social-emotional character development (SECD) and antibullying initiatives in schools. The format allows you to call in and listen (only), though you can e-mail questions during the teleseminar to mjeru@aol.com. On the other hand, it’s very convenient and you can listen in the car, in the office, at home, or while shopping. We will also post the audio of the teleseminar here on the Whole Child Blog within a few days of completion.

In the Rutgers University Center for Applied Psychology, Elias serves as director of Social-Emotional Learning Lab and is the academic director of the Civic Engagement and Service Education Partnerships program. He is also the coordinator of the Expert Advisory Group to the New Jersey Coalition for Bullying Awareness and Prevention and writes an Edutopia blog on SECD for the George Lucas Educational Foundation.

Feed-Up, Feedback, Feed Forward: Making Formative Assessment Come Alive

January 27th, 2012

A comprehensive formative assessment (FA) system should fit seamlessly within the daily flow of the classroom. But in many places, FA requirements signal an end to instruction so that students can be tested. In a recent webinar, Nancy Frey discussed an ongoing approach to FA that enhances the give-and-take relationship between teachers and students to promote learning and shared examples from elementary and secondary classrooms.

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A Call to Action!

January 19th, 2012

Sign for Whole Child

The We the People initiative is the Obama administration’s effort to provide citizens with a new way to petition the administration to take action on a range of important issues facing the United States. If a petition garners 25,000 signatures within 30 days, White House staff reviews it, sends it to the appropriate policy experts, and issues an official response.

Today ASCD is taking advantage of this initiative and petitioning the administration to make whole child education a national priority. We petition the Obama administration to establish a President’s Council on the Whole Child to help students be healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged, and we urge you to add your voice in support of this holistic and child-centered push for education at the executive office level.

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Supporting Development of Healthy Schools Across Canada

January 18th, 2012

Healthy School Report Card - Canadian Second Edition

Hot off the presses! We have released a second Canadian edition of the Healthy School Report Card action tool. Developed by ASCD’s Healthy School Communities (HSC), the publication was coauthored by prominent experts in the fields of health and education: David K. Lohrmann, Sandra Vamos, and Paul Yeung. But you may be asking yourself: Why did we develop a Canadian edition and why did we move to a second edition?

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Free Webinar: Effective Co-Teaching in the Inclusive Classroom

January 3rd, 2012

Teaching in Tandem

Join Gloria Lodato Wilson and Joan Blednick, authors of Teaching in Tandem: Effective Co-Teaching in the Inclusive Classroom, for an exciting, free webinar on the fundamentals of coteaching and how to address program obstacles.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 3:00 p.m. eastern time
Register now!

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Our Top 10 Blog Posts in 2011

December 30th, 2011

In the past year, experts and practitioners in the field, whole child partners, and ASCD staff have shared their stories, ideas, and resources to help you ensure that each child, in each community, is healthy, engaged, supported, and challenged and is college-, career-, and citizenship-ready. These are the top 10 posts you read in 2011.

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Playing a Game Is the Voluntary Attempt to Overcome Unnecessary Obstacles

December 28th, 2011

Last month we ran the theme of integrating movement throughout the school day (and outside of physical education classes). Obviously one place where this should be a no-brainer is recess. But it’s been scary seeing how many schools and districts have been cutting back on recess time  to either provide enrichment classes or add additional academic study time into the school day.

In fact, the reason given why many of these schools are adding “enrichment classes” into recess time is because they have been pushed out of the daily schedule by academic cuts. And this is even though there have been countless studies showing and editorials discussing the benefits of play, whether it be for physical health, social and emotional health, all of the above, and even academic development.

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Connecting the Classroom to the Capitol

December 26th, 2011

What works best for children? What must we all—educators, families, policymakers, and community members—do to ensure their success? Answering those questions pushes us to redefine what a successful learner is and how we measure success.

ASCD’s Whole Child Initiative seeks to change the conversation about education from a focus on narrowly defined academic achievement to one that encompasses a broader definition of accountability. From its inception, the Whole Child Initiative has pursued three goals:

  • Increase awareness and understanding among educators, families, policymakers, and local community members about a whole child approach to learning.
  • Promote engagement between and among our members, our partners, and whole child supporters.
  • Advocate action at local, state, and national levels that advances a whole child approach to learning.

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Bridging Disparities in U.S. Student Learning

December 23rd, 2011

Nine years after NCLB, although there have been improvements in test scores of U.S. minority students, serious gaps persist between the achievement of white students and their black and Latino counterparts.

In Creating the Opportunity to Learn: Moving from Research to Practice to Close the Achievement Gap, authors A. Wade Boykin and Pedro Noguera, nationally recognized experts in the fields of education, psychology, and equity, critically examine what’s wrong with popular approaches to closing achievement gaps in U.S. schools and discuss more potent approaches. Drawing from decades of research, they detail strategies any teacher can take to promote strong student engagement, inner orientations to learning, and in-school assets for at-risk minority kids.

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