Education Blog
Greetings from Palm Springs!
Hello and happy Friday!
I’m in Palm Springs, CA today to speak at the Best out of School Time (BOOST) conference.
Later this morning I’ll be doing a session around my workplace climate and job satisfaction work. Almost exclusively I’ve shared this work with classroom educators and school counselors, so I’m curious to see how these themes affect after school professionals.
I’m guessing that the conversation will show that while they have different pressures and strains they don’t have fewer! In fact, in many ways I’m sure their pressures will be even more taxing.
This is one of those engagements where I’m looking forward to learning more than teaching. Add in sunny California and little a learning and it’s not a bad day at all.
I’ll let you know how it goes. Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend.
Read More >>The Class Size Quandry
It’s always instructive when topics that usually cross our paths in a theoretical way or only in headlines actually enter directly into our own experience. I’m smack dab in the middle of one of those moments right now. My third grader’s school just announced that due to budget cuts his class sizes are increasing to 33 next year.
My reaction to this news is wide and varied. First, going from 31 to 33 is sort of like finding out your car blew up but at least they were able to save the hubcaps. Let’s face it – anything in the 30s is much higher than the ideal.
But my reaction to this runs even deeper. Class size is one of those issues most apt to raise the ire of community members and parents. And rightfully so.
Read More >>Asset building and PBIS
For those of you on the listserve, you probably know that we’ve been working for the past few months to research and guide the potentially powerful links between the assets and PBIS (and RTI amongst others).
This work has finally landed as our next Insights and Evidence which I’m co-authoring with Dr. Pat Seppanen. That means within the next couple of months we’ll release our findings that can help schools across the country better merge these two frameworks.
One of my main tasks is to find examples of schools who are already making this merger so that we have strong narrative pieces to the article. So if you’re one of those leading edge schools who have already moved from theory to practice, I want your story!
I’ve talked to a few schools already, so don’t be surprised if some of you are re-contacted.
Drop me a line if you’re available for a conversation. Search Institute needs YOU!
Read More >>Soul in the classroom
I taught a class last night at the University of Minnesota around the general topic of “spirituality in the classroom.” As usual, it’s always a joy to be around college students who are eager to debate, discuss, and engage. We had some interesting conversation.
I started the class by asking them to list their favorite song, movie, book, band, person in the world, and k-12 teacher. And by favorite, I meant “important.” Not their favorite song they have right now, but the one they’d like played at their funeral. THAT kind of important.
Then I had them look at that list and see if they could create a common denominator amongst the separate items. The answers were enlightening.
Read More >>
Why Baseball Might Be Important
For those of you turned off by the over-importance given to sports in our culture, give this post at least a paragraph or two before discarding.
Last night marked one of my favorite days of the year: opening day of Minnesota Twins baseball. An eternal optimist and avid fan, I look forward to opening day because I believe (really) that each year the Twins might win it all. Barring that, I’m happy because I know that opening days marks the beginning of listening to games on the radio while I mow the lawn or sitting with my two sons and my wife at the game, eating hot dogs and having four hours together. What’s not to like?
But this year, baseball might even be important. Frankly, it seems as though our collective default mode has turned to stress and worry. And for good reason. We’re living through a peculiar time, a time that thwaps us on the head and tells us daily that we’re in the midst of something historical and generally scary.
Read More >>
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As a former teacher, I’ve seen first-hand the issues that educators face every day. I hope that by writing this blog, I can share some insights (as well as a sense of humor) on teacher job satisfaction and school climate, and spark conversation about how to improve our schools.
—Nathan Eklund, M.Ed
Senior Education Consultant
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