A Whole Child Approach: Balancing Learner Agency and Mental Health

Academic performance and mental health are inextricably linked: students who struggle to regulate their own behaviors also struggle academically. Inversely, learners display disruptive behaviors when grades drop.

This pattern begins in early years. We often observe disruptive behaviors around the time when students realize they're being compared with peers... and they're not fairing well. Self-regulation challenges that lead to expulsion further compound the issue of low academic performance; students who aren't present during instruction (for any reason) are less equipped to demonstrate mastery. We know that students who struggle with mental health usually do not receive adequate treatment making truancy inevitable. It's truly a vicious cycle that spirals into abject poverty, substance abuse, and prison.

Unsettling trends were published by the Child Mind Institute and Association for Children's Mental Health.

• Being at risk for mental health problems in first grade leads to a 5% drop in academic performance in just two years.
• Half of all mental illness occurs before the age of 14; 75% occurs by the age of 24.
• High school dropouts are 63 times more likely to be jailed than four-year college graduates.
• Over 50% of students with emotional and behavioral disabilities ages 14 and older drop out of high school - the highest drop out rate of any disability group.

We want children to be positive statistics: successful workers, managers, business owners. It follows that we must identify cracks in society (outside learning environments) and cracks in how we respond to learners with academic challenges (inside learning environments). We must work diligently and with tenacity to repair, not patch, these cracks before they become potholes - or worse, sinkholes that swallow our youth. We want to ward off disengagement from the lifelong learning process.

Consider the proposal below as a framework for reflection and action planning. You're invited to keep the conversation going by sharing the content, leaving a comment, or submitting a guest blog post.

Examine the Approach

Educators take a course in graduate school called instructional theory. During this course, I was charged with developing a personal instructional philosophy (or educational philosophy). Though generally referred to as expectations, parents have instructional philosophies as well. We all have a set of beliefs that govern how we approach and experience the task of educating others.

• Engagement. Are you hands-on and enjoy guiding students to the finish line? Do you prefer to serve as a guide on the side?
• Voice. Are you open to researching student interests to answer questions and provide supports? Do you listen and leave students to their own devices?
• Participation. Are you solely exposing learners to quality workbooks, e-books, worksheets, and activities? Do you carve out time to discuss learning expectations and outcomes?

Promote Learner Agency

Specialized instruction becomes an option only after we provide adequate instruction; this is the status quo that results in many overlooked drop-outs. Still, there's a reason students with mental health disorders are not eligible to receive the accommodations they need when there's lack of appropriate instruction. This reasoning further supports our responsibility to examine how we're approaching instruction and learning. How are we providing adequate instruction?

Does your approach limit or promote learner agency? Is there a healthy balance of student freedom and adult control that's age-appropriate? Are we considering how our approaches impact mental health?

Consider the Impact

There's value in reflecting on how we engage students. When leading activities, adjust feedback and answers to student questions with rigor in mind. We want to provide just enough support for the student to demonstrate maximum independence.

Consider a student that you know has background knowledge in long division; you know the student is capable, but she's forgotten steps to complete a long division item. Showing work - the problem solving process - for the student isn't an example of giving feedback with rigor in mind. Instead, we achieve an appropriate level of rigor through questioning... by asking guiding questions that lead the student to uncover logical next steps. Another approach that maintains rigor involves reminding the student to look at her notes on long division, where she's recording the story that helped her demonstrate mastery on previous items.

In these ways, we promote learner agency. The student feels a sense of accomplishment; she's empowered. She gets to participate in the learning process as opposed to passively watching a leader-centered approach. Meta-cognition and meta-learning take place; she's thinking about her own thinking as well as learning how she learns best.

Humanism is a school of thought that suggests students learn when their affective (feeling) and cognitive (thinking) needs are met. When giving feedback with rigor in mind, we affect learning in ways that motivate the learner. By the end of our scenario, we've improved how she feels when thinking about long division.

Teaching and re-teaching in ways that accommodate student anxiety about making mistakes and failure, faciliates stability, strengthens character, and improves relationships.

Schedule educator professional development and parental engagement training today. You're also invited to keep the conversation going by sharing the content, leaving a comment, or submitting a guest blog post.

Back-to-School Secrets You Need Now

My clients learned a lot last school year: accomplished goals, demonstrated mastery, passed exams, earned promotions, increased engagement. I also learned a lot by joining forces with clients to help them confidently transition into more challenging environments. I've served as a coach, consultant, private tutor, and trainer. This year has been my most exciting and productive one yet.

My educators developed skills to reach more students and earn better pay. My students overcame the stress of high stakes learning environments to earn more credits and complete degrees. My adult clients achieved the personal and professional growth necessary to secure higher paying jobs and launch business ventures. My parents stayed the course in dealing with the challenges of children's learning disabilities and behavioral challenges. This post highlights one way educators, learners and their families can make the most of summer months.

Education Professionals
Self-care is the back-to-school secret for education professionals. Your commitment to self-care is inextricably linked to taking your role as an administrator, counselor, educator, or support staff member seriously. What do you enjoy doing? Which activities protect your peace? How do you re-energize? Really think about your answers to these questions. Write them down.

Now, check your calendar. How many of the things from your list are on your calendar? More than half? Less than half? All? None? Is your summer schedule just as hectic as it is during the school year because you're busy pouring into other people, wearing hats that actually belong to them (e.g., chauffeur, housekeeper, babysitter)?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with helping out family or friends in need. Kudos to you for being self-less. However... you thank me for this reminder by November if you analyze your schedule for opportunities to spend time with yourself. Get to know the new you. Read books. Listen to audiobooks. Write a book. Start the side hustle you've been mulling over. Take the trip you've been planning in your head. Do something for you every single day of the summer!

Adult Students
Establishing new habits is the back-to-school secret for adult students. Planning to be enrolled in classes during Fall Semester? On break for the summer? This is the time to establish new habits. The top two reasons students fail involve wrong people and wrong time.

Time management is a big one. Procrastination causes us to earn fewer points on assignments and exams. When we don't use our time wisely, when we set a schedule and fail to stick to it (or worse, when don't bother to plan at all), we forgo opportunities to develop deep understanding of content.

Avoiding peer pressure to engage in unproductive activities is the common approach to avoiding the wrong people. Another approach involves protecting our time and energy so as not to invest in others when we should be investing in ourselves. Some study groups may not be beneficial for you. In life, we want to give more; in study groups, we want to our gifts to be matched. Everyone must bring value to the table, or you're at the wrong table.

Parents and Caregivers
Investigating last year's pitfalls is the back-to-school secret for parents and caregivers of school age children. Last year's pitfalls include un-mastered content. What are your child's weak areas? Math is too general a response. Could he divide fractions, perform long division using decimal numbers, solve capacity conversion items, translate phrases to algebraic expressions? Reading is too general a response. Did she master the concept of theme, main idea, inference, summarizing? Is she weak in fluency, vocabulary, text complexity?

This high level of understanding of your child's (or children's) learning challenges comes from spending time with performance data. Studying last year's online grade book and testing reports, flipping through newsletters and graded papers, having candid and low-stakes conversations with students.

Parental engagement is one of the most important determining factors of student success. Stack the deck in your child's favor by addressing achievement gaps over the summer. Fall semester will be easier, family relationships will improve.

Every day counts. Every hour counts. If you commit to adopting the recommendation for your demographic, starting the new year will be easy peasy. If you struggle with commitment and accountability, if you're not sure where to begin in implementing the back-to-school secrets, then working with a professional ensures success over the short-run. You don't have to go it alone. Visit the website to learn about how I help clients confidently transition into more challenging environments.

You're invited to keep the conversation by sharing how you plan to make the most of summer months in the comments. Guest submissions welcome as well.

Equanimity Update: Student behavior goals

Can you believe it's already April?! Here in Jackson, Mississippi, spring isn't in full swing yet. Still, it's nice to have more sunlight and warmer days. It's also exciting to bring this semester to a close. I'm eager to see my clients' hard work manifest as higher scores, better grades, improved performance, and greater confidence.

What is equanimity anyway?

Recall, our working definition of equanimity: a noun that expresses what it means to experience life events with mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper - especially in difficult situations. Prior to writing January's blog, I studied the work of Dr. Tara Brach which highlights the restorative health benefits of learning how to sit in uncomfortable situations.

In reflecting on the concept of equanimity as it applies to professional development, I've spent a lot of time reviewing The Year of Equanimity in Education blog post.

1. Have I purposefully stood with children or left them to their own devices?
2. Did I recognize root causes of misbehavior or punish students who lack skills I haven't taught?
3. Am I accepting learners as they are or judging unorthodox pleas for support?

As oppose to shining a light on the bright moments, it's more effect to unpack the cloudy ones.We want to finish this semester stronger than we began, so I challenge you to write about one situation when you missed the mark. Sit with this exercise long enough to uncover one example for each question.

Here's my truth moment.

A student experienced three melt-downs in an hour. He is a lower elementary client with severe behavior challenges; self-control often requires more effort than he can muster.

The task was to write interrogative (asking) sentences. Given his history, I anticipated the task would be a challenge. His initial resistance was expected, so I left him to his own devices. The expectation was that he'd struggle as he'd done before, write the sentences, and we'd move on. So much for expectations...

The first scaffold involved writing asking words on the whiteboard; these are words we use to begin asking sentences. Still, the student opted to start sentences using his own words even after reviewing our list of asking words a few times. Surprisingly, this support failed miserably as well.

Via questioning, I learned that the student wanted to write declarative (telling) sentences instead of asking sentences. I smiled, said I understood, and confirmed that we had to write the asking sentences to move on; this response escalated the situation to self-harm. I was flabbergasted and hurt for him.

My spirit of perseverance took over. We were going to finish writing these six (or seven) sentences. Today. So, I dug deeper.

As I'm brainstorming strategies to end the session on a high note, he's throwing writing utensils, crying loudly, and kicking on the floor. The noise and distractions made it difficult to think, so I picked him up and sat him on my knee. He fought and struggled. I wrapped my arms around him and rocked him. I'm not sure why; I'd never done this before with a client. But, it worked.

He quieted himself during this time and his breathing returned to normal. I read over a document, and we remained in this position until he asked to write the interrogative sentences. Go figure!

I was pleased that he eventually completed the task. It wasn't good enough to complete the task. Next time, we'd need to complete the task within a much shorter time period.

Here's how I plan to end stronger.

Days later, the potential of a similar challenge swelled under the surface as we learned to sort spelling words in ABC order. I promised to end the session if he didn't choose to stay on task. Immediately, he cried that he wanted to stay and finish his homework. (My heart melted.)

I decided to incorporated my trusty star system to keep the student mindful of his behavior. He'd earn a star for unproductive behaviors. Three stars signaled the session would end. This client also had the opportunity to get rid of stars by choosing one of a few productive behaviors I'd explained and modeled for him.

Deep down students want to learn; they also want to demonstrate mastery. During our most recent session, the same client struggled with self-control and didn't give up on the task at hand. I was so excited for him, and his huge smile showed proof he was proud too.

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You're invited to clap back in a guest post, share feedback privately, and invite me to facilitate your next educator or parent training. Academic and character development training opportunities available. Schedule today: je411.com/schedule.

Early Academic Intervention: Should the Classroom Teacher Tutor?

Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Doing more of an ineffective thing doesn't qualify as a genuine attempt at becoming more effective, right? That's not how any of this works.

I want to preface this message by showing gratitude for how hard classroom educators work. Their commitment and sacrifices are not sufficiently acknowledged nor rewarded.We shouldn't expect them to do it all alone...

I raise this question - should the classroom teacher tutor? - because tutoring sessions held by classroom teachers are failing so many students. As a nationally certified professional tutor, it's disheartening that the majority of my clients believed they couldn't learn because of how the classroom teacher unpacked learning material. All too often, learners become frustrated because the multiple representations strategy is missing in many classrooms.

As practitioners in the education community, we tend to present concepts in ways that make sense to us. This approach makes sense. Deconstructing complex ideas and re-packaging them into lessons is challenging. Figuring out multiple ways to present complex ideas to students is even more challenging and requires a level of time commitment that's scarce given the work load of classroom teachers.

Here's what to look for...

First, we have to be willing to look around us to see that an issue exists. Then, we have to name it and look inward to see how we've contributed to the issue. Finally, we have to commit to removing the culprit: environmental influences, preconceived notions, unproductive behaviors.

• If he's not learning in the classroom, stop expecting the classroom teacher to tutor the child. Using the same teaching strategies for tutoring sessions isn't likely to improve performance. For a few, this approach works. For most, it's a bust.

• If she attends class regularly and is failing, stop expecting the classroom teacher to tutor the child. Showing up is half the battle; still students need to receive equitable instruction during class time. Evidence of inadequate instruction shows up early on: inability to complete homework independently; and low daily grades and quiz scores.

• If they don't like being in class, stop expecting the classroom teacher to tutor children. We are reminded by Rita Pierson quotes that building relationships with students is mandatory. Click the image below to learn why it's important for kids to like classroom teachers and how you can facilitate this transition.

Students don't learn from teachers they don't like. Forcing a student to try to learn something from someone they don't like has the potential to strengthen character; but, it's unlikely that academic performance will improve in a timely manner. We want to look for opportunities to match learners with professionals who are best equipped to reach them... and transform performance quickly.

Next steps...

When students are struggling, investigate. Resist the blame-game and finger-pointing. Stressful times are opportunities for parents and educators to show compassion, to follow the student's lead, to seek early academic intervention from a professional experienced in identifying and addressing the root causes of poor performance.

Jackson Education Support exists to develop more independent learners by implementing personalized services and supporting engagement efforts. Both low-performing students and gifted students benefit from intensive academic intervention. Early academic intervention is always best; nonetheless, commitment to a personalized learning plan results in dramatic improvement in performance as well as noticeable increase in confidence.

Here's the secret to Jackson Education Support's 96% success rate among private tutoring and exam preparation clients of all ages.

1. Make content accessible to students through equitable instruction.
2. Engage students in meaningful and rigorous learning opportunities.
3. Encourage multiple means of expression (not only teaching to the test).

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If you have a student or know a student

who could benefit from academic intervention,

visit je411.com/schedule to explore support options.

The Year of Equanimity in Education?

The beginning of each new year prompts many of us to reflect on trials and triumphs of previous years. Maybe you passed a test that's been holding you back at work? Or, you overcame a challenging personal situation? During reflection, it's also common to choose a new way of being, a new way of interacting with the world around us. If you're into making New Year's Resolutions, consider adding equanimity to the list.

Before last month, I'm pretty sure I had never heard nor seen the word: equanimity. If it's not already part of your vocabulary, I'm excited to share what I've recently learned: equanimity is a noun that expresses what it means to experience life events with mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper - especially in difficult situations.

Though this isn't a new concept, I enjoy learning new words to better articulate goals, to keep my cup full. Educators and parents are charged with the responsibility of facilitating positive change in learners, so we have to wake up and show up with a mindset that is ready for everything all the time.

I'm talking about changing behaviors and changing performance. Practicing mindfulness happens to be an effective strategy for coping with the expectation that we feel to do it all; it's a strategy for adjusting when a wheel falls off the wagon and the neatly placed pieces of our lives become strewn all over the place.

Curiouser and Curiouser

It was the definition of mindfulness I mentioned initially that pulled me to 'equanimity'. I wanted to learn more. Then, the more I learned, the more I wanted to introduce this concept to educators and parents.

During my Character and Content training, I talk about an instructional strategy we call incidental feedback. In short, incidental feedback may be described as our unprepared responses to students. Giving this idea a fancy name makes it easy to discuss, but educators and parents give incidental feedback to children. The language we choose when responding to them influences character development which influences learning outcomes. So, the gears in my brain began to turn...

Tara Brach defines equanimity as a heart that's ready for anything. (I love it!) Dr. Brach is a  psychologist who's approach to living a more positive life combines Western science with Eastern principles. She gave a talk that's available on YouTube (video below) that takes listeners deep into what it means to embody equanimity. She also highlights the restorative health benefits associated with building affect tolerance, learning how to sit in uncomfortable situations, giving ourselves space to have an open focus - as oppose a narrow focus.

When you think about an open focus, consider how much more effective people could be as educators, as parents, if we created space to brainstorm the best solutions even under pressure. How could we use this super power to improve our relationships with young people, with colleagues and family? How has unawareness, lack of mindfulness influenced student performance?

When we lack mindfulness, when we aren't intentional about abandoning the visceral responses and underlying thought processes that prompt us to react rashly toward others... students suffer.

It doesn't have to be this way. Dr. Brach gives us three elements of mindfulness: purpose, recognition, and acceptance. Adopting these elements requires rewiring of the brain; we're learning a new skill. As with any significant positive change in our lives, it's imperative to embrace the process. Think journey, not destination. We can move through the three elements via what Brach calls Duck Meditation; play the video to hear her simple yet powerful explanation of the origin of the name of this exercise.

P.R.A. or Pretend

There are times when I find myself facing resistance from a client. It's mind-boggling that people will invest in a service, seek advice from a professional with a proven track record... and not follow through. I'm equally puzzled that the value of free K-12 education seems undervalued (or inaccessible depending on the student). There's a disconnect.

Effective teaching and tutoring involve leveraging character development to affect cognitive development, and dealing with unproductive emotions is an unavoidable responsibility of educators and parents alike. Students' unproductive emotions have the potential to incite the same in us. When chaos spins out of control in the classroom or at home, it's contagious. If we aren't intentional, we may find ourselves sucked up in the tornado.

As we seek strategies to deescalate misbehavior or cope with uncomfortable circumstances, there's an important choice to make: P.R.A. or pretend.

1. Will we purposefully stand with children, seek help to get them through difficult circumstances... or will we leave children to their own devices, pass the buck for someone else to initiate intervention? 
2. Will we recognize the misbehavior or root cause of an issue... or will we blame and punish students for not having learned skills we haven't taught?
3. Will we accept learners as they are, where they are while supporting their growth... or will we judge and dismiss unorthodox pleas for love and support?

These are the questions I've reflected on since discovering Dr. Brach's work, and I hope you will too. When embracing equanimity, we position ourselves to become better leaders in our communities, classrooms, and homes.

You're invited to clap back in a guest post, share feedback privately, and come back to read about my equanimity journey.

Happy New Year!

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I'd love to facilitate your next educator or parent training.
Schedule today: je411.com/grit. 

Harvard Bound: One Student's Passion

During a private tutoring session, one of my middle schoolers made a public service announcement: he's going to Harvard! This announcement was actually posed as a question initially. We were developing an approach for a math project when he asked if I thought he could get into Harvard. Usually, off-topic questions are tabled until the end of sessions since our time together is limited. One pitfall of being a business owner is the temptation to focus on the business and not on the people, to value outcomes over individuals. This time, the decision was easy.

It was how the student posed the question that prompted me to shift gears from tutoring to coaching. He was apprehensive, hesitant... as if attending Harvard was this far fetched notion for a young black man from Mississippi. I can't say the student's mindset was surprising. There are so few opportunities for young people to learn about academic pioneers in the black community. The fruits of HBCU's (historically black colleges and universities), prominent civil rights activists, and sports icons are more widely acknowledged than Ivy League Black History and today's Ivy League Black Reality.

I aim for two outcomes for each client - preK, K-12, adult populations, parents, and educators. I aim to help clients increase confidence and improve performance. My instinct, after hearing the way this student questioned the possibilities for his life, was to seize the opportunity to affirm his ability to not only attend, to graduate from Harvard University. In that moment, I decided that nurturing confidence in his ability to make this dream a reality weighed significantly more than making the grade in math.

What's more, choosing the person over the outcome continues to pay dividends to this day. The student earned an A on the math project by following the plan that we developed together when he returned to school. More recently, he scored 110 as a science test grade on a chemistry unit project. There's no doubt his confidence is manifesting as out-of-the-box ideas and above-average execution of course requirements.

We don't want his growth to stop here. During the holiday break, we're going to spend time researching the life stories of Black Harvard and Ivy League graduates from Mississippi and around the world. Between the lines of his innocent question lies an opening to making reading and research both relevant and meaningful.

During my Character and Content training for educators, we emphasize the value of the words we choose. We discuss the importance of language, how the language of our self talk becomes our actions, how our questioning techniques influence student self talk. You're invited to schedule an in-person or virtual training; options for educators and parents available. 

Cultivating Grit: An approach to increasing confidence is a tool for exploring this concept as well. Learn more by visiting the website: je411.com/grit.

Student Strategies for Less Stressful Testing

It is almost that time of the year when Mississippi students begin state testing. Classrooms can become very intense, because teachers have administrators on their backs... and administrators have central office staff on their backs. This pressure can cause tension between teachers and students. 

Students in high schools really have it tough because state testing solidifies graduation. Consider a four tips designed to improve assessment performance.

Review information daily. Daily review periods minimize test anxiety. Many students get nervous on day of test, because they don't feel adequately prepared. If learners review learning material on a daily basis, they will not have the added pressure of getting it all in at the last minute. Students who feel prepared on test day generally experience less anxiety and are better equipped to demonstrate skills mastery.

Clarify gaps in learning. Many teachers review testing standards with students. Teachers connect preexisting skills as they introduce new concepts. But, students are encouraged not to let a teacher proceed with the lesson if the lesson is unclear, if questions remain. Test takers regret having not asked questions for clarity in class when they get to the test and run across a familiar topic that they do not fully understand. Avoid this stressor and improve performance by asking questions and following up with more questions.

Change daily habits. Many times students want to continue to stay up late, hang out with friends, or  try to remember things without writing them down.  As students enter testing periods, transition in focus is mandatory. Their focus should be on mastering the test, on exceeding expectations. Accomplishing this goal may require a few changes in daily habits. I would always tell students that those same friends will be there after testing, if they are your true friend.

Build endurance. Often, students find themselves falling asleep during testing. Sometimes, sleepiness will over power the mind and body, and students begin marking any answer choice just to finish the test. Prepare the extended testing periods now by getting a good night's sleep. By resting the body, students build up more energy that can be leveraged to practice testing endurance over the next few weeks.

My final thoughts: I understand that testing can be stressful. Let's work on ourselves to facilitate less stressful testing.

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A very special thanks goes to
guest blogger, Darein C. Spann, Ed.S.
Darein is a public school teacher and
board director for the National Education Association.