Developmental Designs approach

Of Teachers and Camels

by Eric Charlesworth

Time is to teachers as water to camels: we never have enough of it, so we must make the best use of what we have.

Every minute we spend at the beginning of the school year laying a good foundation will pay off tenfold in time saved as the year continues. At my school, we’ve found that understanding and including the social-emotional needs of our students in our teaching makes for excellent academic gains. With this in mind, we have doubled down on laying good groundwork early in the year.

Reflection Language and the Development of the Self

by Scott Tyink

Early in my teacher practice, I, like many teachers in my school, posted a document called “100 Ways to Praise a Child” by my desk, lest I run out of ways to say the same old thing.

Community and Trust-Building Work for Everyone

By Ann Larson Ericson

It’s very important to me to get to know my students—to build our relationships and to learn about their families, their interests, and their stories. But it wasn’t until I attended my first Developmental Designs training that I realized how important it is to build positive relationships with my adult colleagues too.

 

No Laps, No Lines, No Lectures

By Erin Klug

This summer I attended a soccer-coaching clinic and was inspired to see that the lessons educators have learned about social-emotional and brain-based learning can be applied to the field as well as the classroom. Our instructor’s theme was “no laps, lines, or lectures.” I was easily able to make direct connections between this motto and my own teaching experience.