Book: The Beginning Teacher’s Survival Guide

By Dr. Jane BluesteinAugust 13, 2021April 27, 2023 Assessment and Testing, Avoiding burnout, Avoiding power struggles, Beginning Teachers, Behavior Management, Behavior Management, Body and Brain, Books, Building responsibility, Classroom management, Creating community, Cultural Changes, Culture and Community, Discipline, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Feedback and encouragement, Health and Safety, Homework, Increasing Positivity, Intervening negative behavior, Leadership, Learning, Learning styles, Life Management, Mentorship, Modeling positive behavior, Motivating cooperation, Non-traditional learners, Parent-Teacher relationships, Problem solving, Professional growth, Recognition and reinforcement, Relationships, Rules and Boundaries, School climate, Schools in Society, Self-care and Inspiration, Social and Emotional Growth, Special Needs, Taking care of yourself, Teacher Appreciation, Teacher retention, Teaching, Teaching, Tolerance and Respect, Win-win authority avoiding power struggles, beginning teachers, boundaries, challenges for new teachers, creating community, difficult students, discipline, emotional safety, emotionally safe classroom, learning differences, parent-teacher relationships, positive consequences, professional development feedback, professional growth, professional identity, school culture, self-care, student behavior, student self-management, teacher retention, teaching

Win-Win Strategies for Success by Dr. Jane Bluestein At the start or your career or at the end of your rope… Get your teaching career off to a winning start—or recharge your passion for your work! The new & revised edition of Dr. Jane Bluestein’s pivotal guide for your teaching career! A great gift for new…

Bouncing Back

By Dr. Jane BluesteinJune 4, 2016June 9, 2022 Creating community, Culture and Community, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Health and Safety, Increasing Positivity, Problem solving, School climate, Schools in Society, Social and Emotional Growth, Tolerance and Respect asset-building, bouncing back, emotional safety, emotional support, emotionally safe classroom, prevention, protective factors, resilience, resiliency, response to stress, risk factors, school failure, school success Leave a comment

The art of resiliency Excerpt from “Emotional Safety: Personal and Character Development,” from chapter 15 of Creating Emotionally Safe Schools by Dr. Jane Bluestein © 2001, Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, FL. This excerpt was extracted from the manuscript for this book and may be slightly different from the actual printed copy. The entire bibliography of Creating Emotionally Safe Schools is…

The Saber-Tooth Curriculum Revisited—A Brief Walk in Time

By Dr. Richard BiffleJune 3, 2016April 30, 2022 Cultural Changes, Culture and Community, Educators, Schools in Society 27 Comments

Abstract Objectives and Purpose of Proposal In his 1939 book, The Saber-Tooth Curriculum, Harold Benjamin (aka J. Abner Pediwell) sketched a parable of stagnate curriculum reform. The book is a metaphorical and historical account of the development of an educational system. This paper addresses, through Pediwell perspective, the critical need to examine the foundations of…

The Problem with Zero Tolerance and Push Out Strategies

By Dr. Jane BluesteinMarch 16, 2015May 2, 2022 Behavior Management, Classroom management, Counselors, Creating community, Discipline, Educators, Increasing Positivity, Intervening negative behavior, Leadership, Motivating cooperation, Rules and Boundaries, School climate, Schools in Society, Tolerance and Respect, Win-win authority Leave a comment

How these programs are making things worse On March 4, 2015, I had the privilege of keynoting the National Youth At Risk Conference for the second time. In meeting with many of the participants who attended the keynote and my follow-up session, as well as what I’ve observed in my visits to schools around the country and…

Back to the Future?

By Dr. Jane BluesteinAugust 21, 2013May 31, 2022 Cultural Changes, Culture and Community, Educators, General Interest, Schools in Society Leave a comment

Not so much, thank you! I’m out of town this week for several speaking engagements in New England. As usual, I have a rental car, a brand new Toyota with all sorts of bells and whistles that didn’t exist when I bought my last car 13 years ago. As I sat in the parking lot…

Bullying Podcast with Stan Davis

By Dr. Jane BluesteinJanuary 31, 2013May 7, 2022 Counselors, Creating community, Cultural Changes, Culture and Community, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Health and Safety, Podcast, School climate, Schools in Society, Social and Emotional Growth, Tolerance and Respect Leave a comment

Learn what kids say works best, and what makes things worse Episode Summary: Dr. Jane Bluestein talks with author and retired therapist Stan Davis about the true value of the advice kids receive and the interventions they experience when they experience mistreatment at the hands of their peers.

Staying Positive in the Face of Negativity and Horror

By Dr. Jane BluesteinDecember 15, 2012May 9, 2022 Blog, Counselors, Creating community, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Health and Safety, Increasing Positivity, Parents, School climate, Schools in Society, Social and Emotional Growth Leave a comment

Staying positive in the face of negativity and horror I am, by nature, a positive person. For my own sanity, and for the sake of maximizing my potential contribution to the world, I try to look for the good in all things. That said, I am also extremely sensitive to violence and cruelty, and seem…

Industrial Age vs. Information Age

By Dr. Jane BluesteinDecember 4, 2012May 13, 2022 Counselors, Cultural Changes, Culture and Community, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Parents, Schools in Society 4 Comments

Two very different classrooms On this page you will find a comparison between traditional classrooms established according to the demands of an industrial-age or factory economy, and win-win classrooms adapted to the needs the information age, particularly as these differences correspond to classroom values, priorities, motivators, authority relationships, desired (encouraged) student behaviors, and discipline goals….

Test Time

By Dr. Jane BluesteinNovember 28, 2012May 18, 2022 Assessment and Testing, Body and Brain, Counselors, Differentiating Instruction, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Learning, Learning styles, Non-traditional learners, School climate, Schools in Society, Teaching Leave a comment

Bringing balance and sanity to our schools How often do you hear yourself urging a student, “Come on, you have to learn this. It’s going to be on the test!”? I hear this appeal in classrooms all the time, and am certainly guilty of having uttered it myself. Still, I have to laugh, because after…

Rules and Beliefs of Unhealthy Systems

By Dr. Jane BluesteinNovember 26, 2012May 20, 2022 Counselors, Cultural Changes, Culture and Community, Educators, General Interest, Parenting, Parents, Relationships, School climate, Schools in Society, Win-win parenting authority Leave a comment

Foundations of unhealthy adult-child group systems For much of my recent career, I have referred the following two lists (“Rules” and “Beliefs”) as the basis for the paradigm in which many of our current practices and polices exist. The information comes from Alice Miller’s work (cited below) and represents destructive, if common, ideas which cumulatively…