Proof that Positive Acknowledgment Increases Motivation and Performance – March 2016
This Bright Spot comes from staff at the School for Adaptive & Integrated Learning (SAIL) at Ferncliff Manor, a residential program for students with severe disabilities.
Improving All Students’ Mental Health Outcomes: Start with Why & Remember Learning to Ride a Bike
I knew my purpose for learning to ride a bike and it was so compelling that I was going to do whatever it took to get there. Long before reading Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (2011) or watching his “Golden Circle” TED Talk (third most viewed TED talk ever!), I learned to ride a bike because I started with my “Why” – my goal, my purpose, my motivation, my belief. We all did. We learned to ride bikes because we wanted to go someplace. We endured and triumphed over the litany of details that comprise riding a bike because we were excited about our Why. We didn’t persist in our attempts to ride our bikes just to not fall off and not get hurt; we persisted so that we could achieve our Why— independence, exploration, going someplace.Does Teaching Social Skills Really Work?
Long-term life outcome studies like the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Study (2011), in which 1,000 children in New Zealand have been followed from birth to age 38, demonstrate the critical importance of self-regulation and social skills in attaining positive academic, career and health outcomes. Wouldn’t it be great if we could teach students these critical behavioral and social skills in the same planned and systematic way we teach academic skills? Well, we can, can’t we? Isn’t social skills instruction an evidence-based practice proven to produce positive social and academic outcomes for students?