Empathy is Foundational During Our Current Uncertainty

By Allison Zmuda, Bena Kallick and Art Costa Empathy is a foundational part of healing from the political and social issues we are currently facing. Empathy can also be a response to a joyful experience. This newsletter focuses on the powerful experience people have experienced when they have been listened to with understanding and empathy. […]
How to Listen with Understanding and Empathy: Who Is the Spotlight Shining On?

By Arthur L. Costa, Bena Kallick, and Allison Zmuda “To listen fully means to pay close attention to what is being said beneath the words. You listen not only for what someone knows, but for what he or she is. Generative listening is the art of developing deeper silences in yourself, so you can […]
Keeping Students With Learning Disabilities Motivated at Home

This post was first published on Edutopia and is reprinted with the author’s permission. The things that used to be routine in schools—morning announcements, bells ringing, classroom interactions, hallway gatherings, lunch chats, and peer bonding—are temporarily gone with the wind. As virtual learning continues with no end in sight here in New Jersey, staying on […]
Co-Creation Readiness: Tapping Different Perspective to Deepen Understanding and Inform Decisions

by Giselle O. Martin-Kniep and Bena Kallick “What we see depends mainly on what we look for.” ― John Lubbock “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are” – Anais Nin What might we learn from tapping the experiences and perspectives of parents, students, and teachers related […]
Stepping to the Upstairs Brain with Habits of Mind

So often we find students in an over-stimulated state of mind. Some of the most telltale signs and symptoms show up via inappropriate behaviors, outbursts, negative comments, and anxiety-ridden stares and actions – such as fidgety body movements, leg shaking, and clenching of fists. These visuals should raise concern and worry, putting educators in […]
Building Community with the Habits of Mind

Daniel Vollrath (@HabitsofMindInc) is a special education teacher at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in New Jersey, and a United States Professional Development Trainer for the Habits of Mind Institute, with a strong passion for developing curriculum, classroom culture, and mindfulness based on the Habits of Mind. Over the past five years, Daniel has […]
Why Habits of Mind and Special Education?

Daniel Vollrath, Ed.D. (@HabitsofMindInc) is a special education teacher at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in New Jersey, and a United States Professional Development Trainer for the Habits of Mind Institute. As a current educational leader within the classroom, Daniel’s best practices, strategies, goals, classroom culture, and interactions with students with a learning disability […]