What did you do as a junior high and high school student during your summers? Camp? Summer job? Nothing? I was a life guard, and a camp counselor at the park near home in L.A.. It was the most exhausting, but fun job I’ve ever had. These days the summer options for junior high […]
growth mindset
Routine & Consistency
I celebrated my birthday last week in Tahoe with famiy and friends and I’m not going to lie, reentry was a challenge when Monday rolled around. Monday is usually my day to set goals for the week, reset, and prioritize my to-do list. However, this week I found myself procrastinating (yes I watched Lady Gaga […]
Goodreads Best Books of 2018
Goodreads released their annual readers’ choice awards today. One of their categories is YA fiction and there are so many great books on their list, I wanted to share some of my favorites here. Becky Albertalli, who wrote Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda has two books on the list, the #1 YA readers’ choice is Leah […]
benefits of mindfulness and meditation for kids
Jim Wiltens, who teaches fabulous leadership classes for elementary and middle school students is one of my favorite resources for students. As he says,”extraordinary people are ordinary people with extraordinary habits”. Jim teaches leadership in a tangible way to students; giving them tips and tricks they can implement immediately. Meditation and mindfulness are high on […]
Lessons from Ira Glass
This American Life might be one of my favorite podcasts/radio journalism formats of all time. I am dating myself, but I remember listening to NPR and timing drives so I could catch the show when it aired. It’s a weekly public radio program and podcast; each week they choose a theme and put together different […]
Say what? Listen to your kids
I had the pleasure of attending the Challenge Success event at Stanford a few weeks ago. If you are not familiar with Challenge Success, they are doing groundbreaking work in the areas of student support and success at the high school level. They work with schools, students and families to come up with strategies for […]
Calling all artists
Do you have an interest in art? These competitions for high schoolers are a great way to get recognition for hard work, show demonstrated interest in art and also have scholarship money tied to them. We often hear students protest competing because they don’t think they’ll win. But, there is a benefit to submitting work […]
Supporting the Quiet Student
I attended a great parent ed event last week at a local high school with Heidi Kasevich, who runs the Quiet Schools Network. The focus of the lecture was how we can support quiet, or introverted students. Our society has a strong cultural dynamic around an extroverted ideal. Susan Cain writes about this […]
organization and growth mindset-the struggle is real
Last week I was on the other side of the table and attended my daughter’s middle school conferences. She’s in 7th grade and this year has definitely been an adjustment; higher expectations by her teachers, more work, more responsibilities, and puberty. That doesn’t even touch on the social distractions of friend groups, social media, etc. […]