Benefit Mindset 101: A Simple Explanation for a Simply Beautiful Concept

The benefit mindset is thinking caring thoughts about all people and the whole planet. But living the benefit mindset doesn’t remain only in our minds. We can actually do things that help others and protect nature. These acts of kindness create a better world for everyone. The benefit mindset asks each person to share what …

Ten Intentional, Everyday Acts of the Benefit Mindset (No More “Random” Acts of Anything!)

I'm often asked about specific suggestions for students to practice the benefit mindset. While my new book, Teaching the Benefit Mindset, is full of practical strategies to infuse empathy, inclusion, and altruism into any content curriculum and at every grade level, I have also complied a handy list of ten ways to teach, model, and praise …

Teaching the Benefit Mindset: Class Dismissed Podcast interview

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Nick Ortego for the Class Dismissed Podcast. The subject was my my latest book, Teaching the Benefit Mindset: Moving Empathy, Inclusion, and Altruism to the Forefront of Education. Listen to the interview here. (You can fast forward to 18:00 for my twenty-minute interview.) Redefining Success What does success look …

Learning Mindsets and the Whole Child: The Fixed, Growth, and Benefit Mindset

Do we really need another learning mindset? Carol Dweck's fixed and growth mindset theories have revolutionized the way we teach students to approach their learning. Yet we must not forget that education used to be solely focused on measurable outcomes and the "what" of learning. Unfortunately, in some schools and classrooms, this rigid definition of …

Teaching the Benefit Mindset: New Book Available Now!

Student wellbeing and social-emotional development are essential to academic achievement—but these are only a beginning. Infusing learning with personal passion and compelling purpose that considers the needs of others is at the heart of the benefit mindset, an exciting new teaching perspective moving empathy, inclusion, and altruism to the forefront of education. The “why” and the …

Ten Book Report Ideas Students Love

Can teachers sustain a student’s enthusiasm for a recently-completed novel while also reinforcing that student’s understanding of the literary elements and figurative language they have been learning? Can teachers be certain a student actually read and understood a book on their own and simultaneously encourage that student’s creativity so they begin to write like the …

Teaching the Benefit Mindset to our Youngest Children

What kind of world would we create if we provided our youngest children with ongoing experiences that met their social, emotional, soulful, and intellectual needs? What kind of learners, leaders, innovators, and artists would children who were nurtured and educated in such a way become? At the forefront of this whole-child approach is Primrose Schools, …

Can’t Remember? Don’t “Just Google It”

Last night, I attended a party for a 50th wedding anniversary. At one point, my husband pointed to the lovely centerpiece adorning our table and asked me, "What's the name of that flower?" It was a natural question since, before I was a teacher, I was a floral designer for ten years, and I prided …

Education Talk Radio Interview: Trauma-Sensitive Teaching and Social-Emotional Learning

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Larry Jacobs on Education Talk Radio. In this lively 30-minute conversation, I discussed winning the SmartBrief Education Editor's Choice Content Award for my Edutopia article about Character Therapy, "Life Lessons from Fictional Characters."  Please listen to the full interview here.

Enhancing Students’ Written Responses and Conclusions with Complex Sentences

Since all essays require some type of analysis, opinion, or argument on the part of the writer, teachers of every subject must provide strategies that allow students to express themselves with both scholarship and passion. Instead of waiting until the final paragraph of their essay, however, students can also add their appropriate responses and conclusions …