Dr. Ruth Herman Wells | 04/01/2012

Whether it’s a real or virtual yawn, you may have plenty of unmotivated, half-asleep students in your real or virtual classroom. Whether the student is sleeping at the desk right in front of you, or asleep in front of a screen half a continent away, an apathetic, uninvolved youngster isn’t going to benefit very much from your instruction. For all the differences between actual and virtual classrooms, motivation is the big common denominator that can overshadow any style of instruction. If students think your class is boring, irrelevant, or dumb, they will learn accordingly. If students think that education is a joke because they’re going to b... Read More...

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LARRY BIDDLE | 11/27/2011

This simple formula enables all of us to focus on the vital balance so necessary in each of our institutions. With the tsunami of information and technology coming at us 24/7/366—next year is leap year—keeping it all in perspective is of the utmost importance. Technology is revolutionizing the world of education – replacing familiar classroom tools and changing the way we learn. MindShift explores the future of learning in all its dimensions – covering cultural and technology trends, groundbreaking research, education policy and more. The blog site is curated by Tina Barseghian, a journalist and mother of a grade-schooler. She cites The Scie... Read More...

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Dr. Ruth Herman Wells, M.S. | 08/09/2011

Teachers, you may be working in the single most difficult time period ever for K-12 educators. You may feel as discouraged and low as you have ever felt during all your years in education. You continue to be asked to do more with less, meaning that your job has been getting tougher and tougher. As someone who trains teachers all over North America, I’ve been hearing over and over again that classroom management is getting harder and harder as classes get bigger and bigger, and students seem to be more and more difficult. Many of you have told me that you’re so discouraged that you’re thinking about finding a different job. This column has imm... Read More...

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Dr. Ruth Herman Wells, M.S. | 03/21/2011

I wonder if any other industry is as prone to trends and fads as K-12 education. Every couple of years, a new model promises much, sweeps through the nation, then largely fades from view. Enter a new fad that promises much, and repeat — endlessly. The trouble with most education models is that they’re one-size-fits-all. In the real world, students come in all shapes and sizes, with all manner of challenges and barriers, and one simple approach will never fit all of them. To expect one basic model to fit all students coast-to-coast is like expecting one textbook to fit all students coast-to-coast. Read More...

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Ruth Herman Wells, M.S. | 11/19/2010

For the Facebook generation, their worlds revolve around all things electronic. As a result, the venue for student problems is shifting from the real world to the virtual one. Unfortunately, virtual world problems can often become real world problems too. At our professional development workshops all over the U.S., we’re getting a lot more requests for help with students who are facing or engaging in cyberbullying. We have also been getting a lot of questions about what to do about students who are literally trashing their own reputations and credibility by posting damaging pictures and comments about partying, substance abuse, their interper... Read More...

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Dr. Ruth Herman Wells, M.S. | 08/23/2010

As I spoke last week at a huge Iowa K-12 education conference, I noticed commotion in the hall’s front row. After my keynote was finished, a person from that row came up to apologize for the disruption. She explained that the woman next to her had been checking her phone messages while I spoke. The woman had discovered she was being laid off by e-mail, and was simply unable to control her shock and anger. The educator standing in front of me then said that she herself had been laid off last week after several decades as a teacher. Read More...

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Ruth Herman Wells, M.S | 03/31/2010

That is by far the most common comment I hear from teachers, counselors, and principals who contact us for professional development. I’ve heard this comment so much that I sometimes joke that educator training seems to prepare teachers to work with Beaver Cleaver, but Beavis and Butthead keep showing up. Throughout the country, educators report seeing growing numbers of uncontrollable students, who present increasingly serious behavior problems that are unresponsive to conventional interventions. Read More...

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Ruth Herman Wells, M.S | 11/20/2009

If your students are lost in cyberspace, it’s past time to get them ready for the High Tech Planet we live on today. So many students believe that they’ll be able to slide by without an education and skills. Here are powerful, innovative interventions that challenge this belief by revealing the new realities of our ever more high tech world. Each issue, this column includes free worksheets and this issue is no exception. Check out these attention-grabbing handouts. Read More...

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Ruth Herman Wells, M.S. | 08/26/2009

Got problem students? Here’s immediate, problem-stopping help. You’re reading SEEN Magazine’s newest column. This is your new place to turn for the best, most innovative solutions for your worst K-12 classroom management problems. Even better, each column will include at least one completely free printable worksheet or device that you can use right away to stop or prevent classroom discipline and behavior problems. Read More...

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