Record Yourself to Improve Your Practice

by Joe Gaston. Originally posted on Edutopia.org. “I took a speech class one semester when I was in undergraduate school. For our first assignment we had to give a short speech that the teacher videotaped. Our extended assignment was to watch the recording and critique our performance. That proved to be a very eye-opening experience […]

Raising My Children Using the No-Nonsense Nurturer® 4-Step Model

Often, while supporting coaches and principals in schools across the country, I am asked the question, “Kara, do you use the 4-step model at home with your own children?”  My response is an overpowered and elated “YES”!  My oldest son now tells me when that I can’t give him a consequence or reward when I […]

Guest Blog: How do Students Know You Care?

Building relationships with my students is the crux of the culture in my classroom. My students know that I love them deeply, and because of that love, I will accept nothing but their absolute best and I will push until we both feel like they have reached their best, and then perhaps a little bit […]

We Don’t Wait, We Narrate!

A short time ago, I had the privilege of supporting a Real Time Teacher Coach (RTTC) as she was conducting a Baseline Observation in a middle-school classroom for an upcoming RTTC session. During our time in the classroom, when pressing for 100% of her scholars’ attention, I remember hearing the teacher say, “We have almost […]

Guest Blog: One Classroom, One Teacher

I’ve previously written that student behavior is not personal. This is true. Pressure from students’ outside lives can erupt in class. Unprocessed grief can become disruption. Unfelt anger can become a refusal to participate. It’s important that we as teachers recognize the many external factors that can influence behavior inside a classroom. While students do […]

Guest Blog: It’s Not Personal

“There’s a fight in the library!” It’s 2 pm, and Chelsea is standing on the faded asphalt, yelling. Our principal, Ms. Benjamin, shoots up from her desk and pops out her door onto the quad, wondering how a fight could possibly be happening in our “library,” a bookshelf-lined freight container with barely enough room to […]

A Paradigm Shift to Transformative Coaching

During my tenure as a special education teacher and district coach, I thought I’d seen almost everything. I was an instructional manager supporting the special education reform in New York City public schools for 1.1 million students. I then supervised the implementation of a coaching credentialing program for over 300 coaches in Broward County Public […]

For What?

When I am brainstorming ideas about how to support educators or youth… one of the questions that is simple, sometimes infuriating, but always important is “For what?” While simple, this question always takes me back to purpose and objective. Why am I doing this? Will it support our associates better at CT3? Can we make […]

Why I Quit Special Ed…and Am Proud of It.

As a special educator, I dedicated my career to advocating, supporting, and loving my students. Students who not only needed someone to believe in them, but someone to help others see just how much they had to offer.  I began my career as a special education teacher, behavior specialist, and diagnostician. I eventually progressed to […]

The Complexity of Nurturing and Showing We Care

Effective educators profoundly understand that “nurturing” scholars means demonstrating “care.” Many teachers may misunderstand “care” as unconditional praise, downshifting expectations for scholars…