Mike Anderson

A Calm Start to Monday Morning Monday mornings set the tone for the rest of the week at school. Read on for practical strategies to have a calm start to Monday morning.

A calm start to Monday morning sets a tone of safety and productivity for the rest of the week. Start thinking ahead to next week with some ideas from this article: leadinggreatlearning.com/a-calm-start...

Foods that Fuel Attention, Good Behavior, and Learning As parents, we all want to help our kids succeed in school. Let's pack them foods that fuel attention, good behavior and learning.

Teachers, here's a blog post to pass along to parents about how to pack foods for kids that help them have a great day at school: leadinggreatlearning.com/foods-that-f...

We can design writing rubrics with intrinsic motivation in mind.

Let's be careful not to diminish kids' self-motivation for writing through rubrics that use extrinsic motivators.

Kids will be more motivated to write when writing helps them meet basic psychological needs.

10 Important Reminders for the New Year Here are 10 important reminders for teachers as we all begin a new school year. Which ones seem especially important to you?

leadinggreatlearning.com/10-important...

10 Important Reminders for the New Year Here are 10 important reminders for teachers as we all begin a new school year. Which ones seem especially important to you?

leadinggreatlearning.com/10-important...

Here's the conclusion from What We Say and How We Say It Matter (amazon.com/dp/1416627049/). It's a good reminder as we head into the school year.

I had a blast with you all!

Prioritizing conformity over creativity is holding back our best teachers - SmartBrief Teachers should have the freedom to treat students as individuals with different learning needs, writes George Philhower.

www.smartbrief.com/original/pri...

Just had this comment posted in one of my online classes. I see this kind of reflection a lot. It's so true. We don't mean to demotivate with incentives, but that's just what happens in the long run.

Reflections on Final Exams After a Half Marathon Race One test shouldn't try to capture a semester's learning any more than one race should define a season of running.

I ran a half marathon race this past weekend, and it got me thinking about final exams. Should one big test really have much (if any) bearing on how we evaluate a student's learning from a semester or year? leadinggreatlearning.com/reflections-...

I'm working on a writing project about kids who struggle in school. I'd like to tell stories of famous/successful adults who struggled in school. Does anyone have suggestions of people whose stories I should explore--famous people who had a hard time in school?

Rekindle Your Professional Fire: Powerful Habits for Becoming a More Well-Balanced Teacher Amazon.com: Rekindle Your Professional Fire: Powerful Habits for Becoming a More Well-Balanced Teacher: 9781416633037: Anderson, Mike: Books

School leaders, are you looking for a book for faculty to read over the summer? This book is packed with small steps teachers can take to refresh their spirits, recover their swagger, recharge their batteries, and rekindle their professional fires! www.amazon.com/Rekindle-You...

Looking for summer learning for teachers? Many schools use these courses to support self-paced teacher learning. Popular courses are Hugging Porcupines, Tackling the Motivation Crisis, and What We Say and How We Say It Matter.

Check them all out here: courses.leadinggreatlearning.com

Three Ways to Rekindle Teachers' Professional Fires Here are three strategies school leader can use to create a more vibrant, healthy, and engaged school climate. Rekindle your teachers' fires!

Teachers get run down and burned out when their needs for autonomy, belonging, competence, purpose, curiosity, and fun (not to mention basic good health) are in deficit. Here are some ideas generated by school leaders for how to meet those needs. leadinggreatlearning.com/three-ways-t...

YouTube video by Dana Goodier "Out of the Trenches" podcast episode #340: Mike Anderson

View the latest #podcast with @balancedteacher.bsky.social Mike Anderson, #author of nine books about great #teaching and #learning @danagoodier.bsky.social youtu.be/IBXnXcYhNXY?...

The Perfect Breakfast for Teachers We know how important breakfast is, but it's so easy to skip. Enter the humble bowl of oatmeal--perhaps the perfect breakfast for teachers.

What if there was a perfect breakfast for educators? I've got a new favorite for you to consider... leadinggreatlearning.com/the-perfect-...

What a blast yesterday! I got to teach a half-day workshop (Hugging Porcupines: How to Build Relationships with Kids Who Have Challenging Behaviors) to paraeducators from across southern NH. Here is a contingent from Manchester!

Be Curious, Not Judgmental How might we follow Ted Lasso's advice to be curious, not judgmental? And how might this help us be better educators?

It's so easy to make assumptions, react emotionally, and slide into judgment when a student says or does something hurtful, isn't it? When that happens, try to channel your inner Ted Lasso. leadinggreatlearning.com/be-curious-n... #tedlasso

Yes! I often encourage students to try to turn off their "inner censor" and just write. As a writer, it's not helpful to try to write well...that just increases anxiety. Remember the old adage: perfect is the enemy of good.

Could rewards and incentive systems make kids more self-centered? What if we spent more time teaching higher-level values? leadinggreatlearning.com/what-about-k...

12 Routines to Revisit in January - by Mike Anderson Students have been away from school for the holidays, and you'll need to help them regain their school groove. It's time to revisit key routines!

It's January 22 (and may feel like January 38th), but it's not too late to revisit routines with students! leadinggreatlearning.com/revisiting-r...

Here's a great idea from a teacher taking one of my online courses.

Be kind to others. Help those in need. Absorb others' negative energy and don't radiate it back out into the world.

Let Them Eat Books: A Modest Proposal to Fix American Education (Opinion) We certainly can’t risk letting students read their textbooks. Who knows what questionable ideas they might find?

Brilliant. www.edweek.org/leadership/o...

Be Curious, Not Judgmental How might we follow Ted Lasso's advice to be curious, not judgmental? And how might this help us be better educators?

When a student in your class is struggling--shutting down, being combative, etc.--remember to channel your inner Ted Lasso. Be curious, not judgmental. leadinggreatlearning.com/be-curious-n...

I facilitated a staff meeting today about supporting kids who often get "in trouble" in school. We had a cool discussion about why kids break rules. Some reasons: a need for autonomy, peer approval (belonging), boredom, and being distracted. What are some other reasons that come to mind?

I had such a blast presenting at The Learning & the Brain conference in Boston a couple of weeks ago. This conference always draws such engaged educators from all over the world. My sessions were Teaching SEL Through Literacy and Hugging Porcupines.

I saw your post the other day. Thanks for the nudge!