Whole Child Education

Establishing a thriving learning environment is instrumental in students obtaining personal success. We must be strategic in how we develop our classroom communities at the beginning of a new school year. The setting must support the whole child, adapting to the needs of the group as everyone settles in for the yearlong learning journey. The environment must specifically be designed to support the health and safety of our students, strengthening the emotional well-being of each individual. Providing an atmosphere that supports learning endeavors from every angle offers students many opportunities to be truly engaged and challenged.

But how do we guarantee that we WILL develop a solid foundation that supports the whole child?

Read more »

Post submitted by Whole Child Blogger Matt Swift

During Baruti Kafele's ASCD Summer Conference session,"Motivating Black Males to Succeed in school and in Life," the former principal grabbed the audience's attention with his commanding presence and no-nonsense discussions about how to help struggling black students. He started the session by asking members of the audience to share their classroom stories to create a conversation and point out common themes the educators shared.

"You guys selected this session because you are having trouble with black male students," Kafele stated. "So, tell me some of these problems."

Read more »

ASCD conducted its second Whole Child Virtual Conference in May. This free conference showcases schools, authors, and research about implementing a whole child approach for a worldwide audience. View and share archived session recordings, presenter handouts, and related resources at www.ascd.org/wcvirtualconference.

Gain further insight into ways to support a caring and positive school climate through these presentations:

Read more »

Post submitted by whole child blogger Caroline Newton, a sophomore at Temple University. Newton is studying journalism and writes for Jump: The Philly Music Project magazine.

"The goal is to create an environment that is meaningful, challenging, and in which the students' minds are actively engaged," said Rick Smith, author of Picture This! and Conscious Classroom Management.

Smith not only presented his teaching style, but he also used that approach to lead his ASCD Annual Conference session, "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lecture." He encouraged the crowd to applaud whenever they felt the urge, especially because movement increases circulation to the brain, making you smarter.

Read more »

To many students, school is just a place they go. How do we create engaging learning experiences that make school more personal for them? Students need to be motivated in their learning before they can apply higher-order, creative-thinking skills and, ultimately, be prepared for their future college, career, and citizenship success.

Read more »

Over the past decade and a half, I've seen how well-executed project-based learning (PBL) can provide a joyful learning experience for students. Joy is not our number one standard, I realize, but when projects offer the right mix of challenge, engagement, and personalized support, blended with a motivating, meaningful learning experience that reaches deep into the soul, joy is the outcome. You can see it bubble up in the animated faces, big smiles, body language, and open-hearted response of students at the end of a good project. In other words, we've reached the whole child.

Read more »

In this month's Educational Leadership magazine, McREL's Bryan Goodwin shares research that shows when students are engaged in learning and can connect it to real-world interests and goals—intrinsic and extrinsic motivation—both standardized curricula and child-development needs are being served. As teachers, we can personalize curriculum standards to student interests and tap into their need for autonomy.

Read more »

Post written by Fiona S. Baker, a teacher educator with an interest in responsive classroom professional development. She has more than 25 years of experience as a classroom teacher, workshop presenter, school consultant, and faculty member at universities and colleges, and she currently teaches at the Emirates College for Advanced Education in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Connect with Baker by e-mail at fbaker@ecae.ac.ae. This post was originally featured in ASCD Express.

Why is it that after all the teacher's diligent lesson planning, classroom learners are often disengaged and have little desire to apply effort? There may be myriad reasons for this, but lesson-planning principles and strategies can help draw in learners.

All learners implicitly ask four fundamental questions:

Read more »

Post submitted by Whole Child Blogger Matt Swift

At ASCD's Fall Conference in October, educator Mary McDonough used a variety of techniques while explaining the importance of formative assessment in standard-based grading. During her session, "Formative Assessment: Linchpin for Standards-Based Grading," McDonough had attendees share their own experiences and discuss the topic amongst themselves and presented a slide show with everything from detailed instructions to cartoons that related to her presentation. The discussion was lively, and the audience was engaged with the large amount of information they were receiving, but it all came down to one important point:

"It's good for learning," said McDonough of using formative assessment and standards-based grading. "And it's good for the students."

Read more »

Post submitted by Whole Child Blogger Carole Hayward

Adora Svitak, ASCD's youngest member at 14 years old, became involved in classroom teaching when her first book was published when she was 7. As a current high school student, Svitak has a truly unique perspective on both sides of the classroom.

At a general session at ASCD's Fall Conference in October 2011, Svitak began by talking about her class schedule, which involves four online classes and two traditional classes taught at a brick-and-mortar school. She showed her tablet device that contains everything she needs for her online classes and her traditional binder, which is bulging with papers from her face-to-face classes.

Read more »