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Susan Kruger Winter, M.Ed.

How to Manage Your Time in Virtual (Self-Directed) Learning

January 7, 2026

 The landscape of virtual learning is radically different from in-person/seated instruction in a thousand ways, but nothing may be more significant than the expectations of students to manage their own time! With in-person/seated instruction, students had: A strict schedule, Lots of routines, and Lots of external cues, such as: bells, different classrooms, teachers, and…

New Year. New Semester. New Homework Solutions.

January 1, 2026

The start of a new year means it’s the perfect time for a new outlook on homework: homework systems! As a parent or a teacher, you know just how much of an energy drain (to put it lightly) homework can be for your students (and you)! Let’s start from the top. The first question you…

How Does the Brain Really Learn?

December 29, 2025

One of the biggest problems with education is most educators are not taught how their students actually learn. You’ve probably heard about “left vs right brain” learning, or “visual, auditory and kinesthetic” learning. But, today we are going to peel that all back and go a layer deeper… into something far more universal that applies…

College and Career-Readiness for Special Education

December 17, 2025

“My students think they are ‘broken,’” lamented one special education teacher. “They don’t have dreams because they don’t think their dreams matter.” The truth is, our education system is not equipped to help any student explore their dreams and options beyond high school. But special education students have an even greater disadvantage; they don’t think…

THE Right Way to Teach with Student-Led Software

December 10, 2025

Teaching with student-led software raises many questions for teachers… Should I introduce the lesson before having the students jump into the software?  Or, should I let them explore the software, and then discuss the content with them? What if students want to progress farther ahead in the software on their own?  Should I let them?…

How to Teach a SOAR Workshop

November 26, 2025

It was almost-summer of 1998. I was wrapping-up my first year of teaching… at my alma mater. Just five years before, I was sitting in those desks. Now, my desk was at the front of the room. From this new vantage point, I could see that nearly all my 9th & 10th graders struggled with…

How I Almost Forgot the Meaning of Thanksgiving…

November 19, 2025

I sent this out Thanksgiving of 2019, in the midst of a lot of chaos. We received so many wonderful comments, I thought it would be worth sharing again. Although I’m very blessed to be hosting family members at my home for Thanksgiving, I almost forgot to be thankful… The plan was to move my husband,…

Happy Halloween!
My Grandma’s Eternal Halloween Departure

October 22, 2025

Happy Halloween! On this peculiar holiday that celebrates death, I thought I would share a very crazy, but 100% true story about my Grandma’s Eternal Halloween Departure. Hey, I’m not the one who invented this holiday! So, if it sounds a little weird to celebrate this story, well… it is. But, death is a natural part of…

Processing Emotions: Why Facing Tough Stuff Hurts and Helps

October 15, 2025

This website is primarily dedicated to optimizing the process of learning. However, learning has no greater roadblock than negative emotions. For that reason, I am planning a series of articles on “emotional intelligence.” Frankly, I’m long overdue to address this topic. But as they say, “hindsight is 20/20.” Several recent situations keep bringing this topic…

How to Study for a Math Test

October 8, 2025

When I was a student and teachers would say, “Study for your math test!” I would think, “How do I study for a math test?” I now realize that study is the wrong verb. You really need to ‘practice’ for a math test. You not only need to KNOW material for a math test. You…

Six Steps
Conquer the Chaos


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