Thrivapy: Live, Learn, Have Fun

T his slideshow, from the Pew Research Center, highlights the findings of a survey they did on modern parenting.  For educators, the findings are important because they provide insight into the time demands on parents and the potential implications those demands might have on students. If you want to see the slideshow on the Pew Research Center's web site and read more about the findings, click here .

The lesson you never got taught in school: How to learn! The above article not only summarizes a number of popular learning techniques, but also rates their effectiveness according to a recently published research project.

T eacher burnout, especially among new teachers, is a real challenge for many educators.  This is especially true for administrators who spend plenty of time recruiting and retaining talented faculty members. Angela Maiers  recently published  this post that includes some excellent reminders about how to avoid new teacher burnout. Three Ways to Avoid New Teacher Burnout

I n July of 2010, I launched The Art of Education in hopes that my ideas, thoughts, and insights would be of use to someone with an interest in education and educational leadership.  What I did not realize at the time was that the one person who would benefit most from this blog was me. As I write this, I am reflecting on how much I have grown in the past few years.  Not only the upkeep here on The Art of Education , but also: Starting the American Society of Independent School Educators LinkedIn discussion group Creating and Founding THRIVAPY Starting The Thrivapy Blog Writing and self publishing 3 books Now, 500 published posts and over 100,000 visitors later, I find myself at a metaphorical fork in the road.  With the launching of THRIVAPY and preparing to begin a new chapter of my educational leadership career at a different school next year, I have some decisions to make about the future of The Art of Education .  These choices come from my decision to write more oft

 I f you haven't done so recently (or ever), it may be a good use of time to ask your students about their learning team. Learning team? Yes, you know; the people who are tasked with supporting, guiding, directing, and inspiring them. Oh, Dr. Roddy, you mean their teachers? Yes and no. Certainly, a student's teachers are an important part of the learning team, but they do not make up the entire group. Here are some other possibilities to consider. parents and/or other family members the principal counselors coaches academic advisers former teachers with whom the student stays in touch tutors friends Ask a student to name the people that are tasked with helping them and see how many they can name.  Do you see a potential relationship between success in school and the number/diversity of students' learning team members?  

The following post was also published on The Thrivapy Blog S tudents who set goals have the advantage of knowing what they want to accomplish, which usually includes a clear vision of success. However, simply setting goals is often not enough. Students need help with setting appropriate goals and aligning those goals with an action plan on which they can follow through. Therefore, it is very helpful to provide useful guidance to students about setting goals. In Thrivapy, I spend quite a bit of time helping students set goals. Once set, we use those goals to evaluate progress and as a foundation for the student's developing vision of success. This post identifies 3 qualities I look for in good student goals. 1. The goal is challenging. A challenging goal is one that requires some higher level of focus, concentration, and effort. 2. The goal is specific. A specific goal can be measured in some way to check for progress. 3. T he goal is flexible. A flexible

  W hen using a treadmill, one can take two basic approaches. Run (or walk) for distance. Run (or walk) for time. Going for distance means you move until you cover a set distance.  How long it takes you to go that far is not important.  What is important is that you covered a specific distance. When you go for time, the distance doesn't matter.  You set the workout for a specific amount of time and move until time runs out.  How far you went doesn't matter. Students are busy.  There is often a great deal of activity in their schedules and, like many people, their lives are managed by a list (written or remembered) of things to do.  There is value in living by lists.  They can help  organize and remind you to do important things. However, there is also a downside to ONLY living by the list.  Doing so can reinforce a habit of getting things done for the sake of doing them.  In other words, get it done/cross it off the list/move on to something else.  In the case of