I stood outside of his hotel at 6:00 am (in his first trip to DC post release). The guard told us he was out for his morning walk. There was a Howard U. student and I -- and he waved at us as we cheered. That's him in the NY Yankees hat. After we took our pictures they closed off the entrance.

When I was the sole adult supervising 145 fourth graders for cafeteria duty, I knew I had to think of something good to keep everything running smoothly. Here's how I survived.

Pop-up challenges.

Halfway through the lunch period, I would circulate around the room and ask each table if they(1/7)

Parent Collaboration Tip:

When communicating with a parent, balance is crucial.

It could be a character trait, an act of kindness from last week, or the effort shown on a challenging task, but every student has something positive that a parent not only wants to hear, but needs to hear. (1/3)

What do you look for when doling out praise to students? If praise results only from a narrow list of traditional achievements, such as being on the honor roll or scoring the highest in the class on a quiz, who may you be missing? One morning after I chaperoned a dance, I took a student aside (⅓)

When you need to address a student during hall duty, the best opening line is “Hi, excuse me, could you do me a favor?” Why does this work?

1. It is not threatening. 2. You are being polite. 3. The student doesn’t know what you are going to ask. (1/3)

Why do we reduce the workload for the day or two leading up to holiday breaks, but we don’t often do the same thing when students return from these breaks? Student stress is often higher returning from break, due to factors such as lack of sleep, parent demands during a busy holiday (1/3)

Parent communication tip of the day: When in doubt, don’t delay.

When you need to contact a parent with negative information, your initial instinct may be to postpone it to avoid a negative interaction. If you do that, however, that may very well exacerbate the situation. (1/3) #EduSky