Blog
How to Keep Kids Off Their Phones While Homeschooling
By: Scott Wilson | Sep 2, 2026
The most reliable way to keep kids off their phones while homeschooling is to agree on a spot where the phone goes during schoolwork, out of reach and out of sight. Set a clear return point, keep the work surface phone-free, and switch off notifications before the session starts.
Teachers have been working on this problem for a long time. Now it's your kitchen table.
Eyes down ...
5 Teacher Professional Development Trends From a Principal
By: Jon Konen | Aug 23, 2016
Principal Jon Konen identifies five teacher professional development trends from his own schools: bottom-up edcamps, teacher leaders, school culture, problem-solving, and multiple delivery formats. Each one, in his experience, shifts some control toward the staff doing the learning rather than the office scheduling it. In my experience, professional development of a ...
The Power Of Positive Thought
By: Maury Cook | Aug 22, 2016
Michael Jordan was cut from his basketball team around his sophomore year of high school. Imagine if he had listened to the person who told him he was not good enough and decided to play baseball instead. What would the outcome have been? Would Air Jordan exist? I wonder…. As ...
212 Degrees of Customer Service in Education
By: Jon Konen | Aug 17, 2016
Customer service in education is how everyone in a school treats the students, families, and colleagues who walk through the door. Watching five interactions gives you an initial impression of a building's temperature: student to student, teacher to student, teacher to staff, administration to teachers, and administration to families. Dr. Bill ...
Teaching Patience in the Classroom: 5 Strategies That Work
By: Jon Konen | Aug 8, 2016
Teachers build patience in students the same way they build any skill: model it, name it, and give students repeated chances to practice. Wait time, unhurried listening, and positioning yourself alongside rather than over a student, where that suits the student, all teach patience by demonstration rather than instruction. Can you ...
A New Normal – Explaining Loss to Child with Special Needs
By: Mary McLaughlin | Aug 1, 2016
Last week I enjoyed the best kind (in my mind) of vacation: a beach vacation. The opportunity to sit and watch the waves crash to shore in a pulsing, cacophonous, capacious rhythm which makes my heart happy, my mind relax, and my body become serenely placid. Ahh…the joys of getting ...
How to Be a Team Player as a Teacher
By: Tricia Koechig | Jul 29, 2016
Being a team player as a teacher means treating your colleagues as your first resource rather than your competition. Lean on a mentor or veteran teacher, share what works in your classroom, and show up for the people who share your hallway. Schools run on grade-level teams and professional learning ...
Not 400:1, But 400 1:1s – 21 Tips to Form Strong Kid Relationships
By: Jon Konen | Jul 29, 2016
Ratios can be valuable pieces of data, if used correctly. Math gets in our way sometimes of seeing what truly is meaningful in education. We track assessment data, individual education plans, and even formative data on how students respond in science classes. The data we can’t track are the intangibles, ...
Caring Communication
By: Tricia Koechig | Jul 8, 2016
Communication has been defined as “the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc. to someone else (Merriam-Webster).” Communication takes place from the time of your birth and throughout your entire life. There are many ...
Free Professional Development for Teachers: How Sweet It Is
By: Mary McLaughlin | Jul 7, 2016
Free professional development for teachers is easier to find than most of us assume. State-run platforms, university centers, and educator communities all offer courses at no cost. Many issue certificates of completion, though whether those hours count toward licensure depends on your state and district rules. Verify before you enroll. I ...
Sleep vs. ADHD: 21 Questions to Ask
By: Jon Konen | Jun 13, 2016
As a teacher or parent have you ever sat and watched a kid buzz around like a bubble bee and wonder where that kid gets all his energy? I think about all the renewable resources our state of Montana is trying to tap: wind, solar, water, and more. How can ...