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…

Dream Big!

By Dr. Jane BluesteinNovember 16, 2017June 10, 2022 Counselors, Educators, Feedback and encouragement, Feedback and encouragement, General Interest, Increasing Positivity, Modeling positive behavior, Motivating your kids, Parenting, Parents, Problem solving, Social and Emotional Growth "i can", creativity, dream big, dreaming, emotional support, encouragement, fantasies, inspiration, listening, modeling, positivity, protectiveness, supporting children, unconditional love Leave a comment

Encouraging your children’s fantasies—and their future! It’s something a child hears often: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” A simple, even rhetorical question. But for children, this is a serious inquiry that can also be a great opportunity to share their ambitions, dreams, and creative longings. Even if the answers vary…

Presentation: Motivating the Unmotivated

By Dr. Jane BluesteinJune 25, 2016June 1, 2022 Avoiding power struggles, Building responsibility, Classroom management, Counselors, Creating community, Differentiating Instruction, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Feedback and encouragement, Increasing Positivity, Learning styles, Motivating cooperation, Motivating your kids, Non-traditional learners, Parents, Recognition and reinforcement, School climate, Social and Emotional Growth, Win-win authority classroom climate, consequences, difficult students, effective instruction, motivating students, reduce indifference, student engagement, student success, unmotivated students Leave a comment

Getting past defenses, disinterest, and disengagement Presentation by Dr. Jane Bluestein Of all the challenges teachers face, the one mentioned most consistently over the years has been, “How do I engage kids who aren’t motivated and just don’t care?” Few things are more frustrated that having your planning and enthusiasm met with groans, shrugs, or eye…

Checklist: Characteristics of Positive Teacher-Student Relationships

By Dr. Jane BluesteinMay 15, 2015May 2, 2022 Avoiding power struggles, Behavior Management, Behavior Management, Building responsibility, Classroom management, Counselors, Creating community, Discipline, Educators, Feedback and encouragement, Intervening negative behavior, Leadership, Modeling positive behavior, Motivating cooperation, Parent-Teacher relationships, Problem solving, Recognition and reinforcement, Rules and Boundaries, School climate, Win-win authority 2 Comments

Evaluate your relationships Use this checklist to evaluate patterns in your current relationships with your students. If you have implemented a specific discipline or motivation approach, does it encourage relationships in which the following are true? (Click here for a description of each category.) Proactivity: ___ I focus on prevention–not reaction. ___ I attempt to…

Respect, Reflection, and Resources

By Dr. Jared ScherzOctober 23, 2014June 13, 2022 Avoiding burnout, Educators, Feedback and encouragement, Leadership, Mentorship, Professional growth, Taking care of yourself Leave a comment

Tips to Improve Teacher Efficacy Guest blogger, Dr. Jared Scherz, offers some ideas for teachers to enhance their professional growth and their experience as a professional educator. Respect Teachers need to be treated like professionals, offered meaningful feedback but allowed and encouraged to provide input of their own. If adjustments are needed, they are informed…

Playing Well With Others

By Dr. Jane BluesteinJune 14, 2014May 2, 2022 Creativity and independence, Feedback and encouragement, Feedback and encouragement, Learning styles, Mentorship, Non-traditional learners creativity, friendship skills, independence, learning preferences, learning styles, non-traditional learners, play well with others, SEL, social and emotional learning, social skills, student social skills, working alone Leave a comment

Not all it’s cracked up to be When I was in second grade, I got a minus next to “plays well with others.” In my family, this was a terrible thing, worse even than getting a bad grade in the content areas. (This also wasn’t allowed, but somehow getting a “B”—the equivalent of failure in…

Presentation: Bouncing Back: Resiliency

By Dr. Jane BluesteinOctober 24, 2013May 3, 2022 Behavior Management, Building responsibility, Counselors, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Feedback and encouragement, Feedback and encouragement, Motivating cooperation, Motivating your kids, Parents, Problem solving, Recognition and reinforcement, SEL- Social and Emotional Learning, Teaching Leave a comment

Building Resiliency and Persistence in Our Students Presentation by Dr. Jane Bluestein How often do we see students struggling with a new challenge and just give up? Some don’t even try, and can invent all sorts of excuses—sometimes with their parents’ support—to avoid the risk we all need to take when we’re learning something new….

Thumbs up, thumbs down

By Dr. Jane BluesteinMay 31, 2013May 4, 2022 Feedback and encouragement, Feedback and encouragement, Increasing Positivity encouraging growth, encouraging success, grades, guiding children, instruction, meaningful feedback, reviews, valuable comments 4 Comments

The importance of meaningful feedback My husband just came in to read a bit of consumer feedback on a product he was researching. The book received rave reviews but the reviewer gave the author three out of five stars because “the box was dented.” We’ve all seen this kind of feedback. Excellent restaurants downgraded because…