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Susan Kruger Winter, M.Ed.

Why We Can’t See Our Own (Writing) Mistakes

November 3, 2024

Just a few weeks ago, we ordered some new return address labels. See anything wrong?  About 100 went out before we caught the mistake. Oops! And, every so often, we publish an email or blog post with a typo or two. Oops! In our company, we all live and breathe the content we publish. Every single…

Processing Emotions: Why Facing Tough Stuff Hurts and Helps

October 20, 2024

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 Does the Brain Really Learn?

October 12, 2024

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…

October Is “Shakedown” Month!

September 29, 2024

October Is the Most Difficult Month… Are things getting a little “intense” in your classroom? Are your kids stressed out at home? Several years ago, my daughter’s 1st grade teacher, Robert, sent an email update: This week was something of a challenge. Tears and arguments cropped up on several occasions. By Thursday, I was fairly exhausted. Then…

How to Use a Digital (or Paper) Planner

September 22, 2024

When it comes to using a planner, you really should go “back to the future.” We get lots of questions from our clients about how to use a digital planner. To be successful with a digital planner, it’s critical to employ the basics of a paper planner. Paper vs Digital Planners We still stand by…

How to Build an “Anxiety-Free” Environment in Your Classroom

September 15, 2024

Previously, I wrote about How to Help Your Students Manage Anxiety. If you haven’t read that article yet, I suggest you start with it, here. It explains what causes anxiety, which is key to understanding how to manage it. Today, I want to share some strategies for building an “anxiety-free” environment in your classroom. Obviously,…

How to Help Students Manage Anxiety

September 8, 2024

The key to helping students manage anxiety is to understand what’s happening in their brain. “Emotions are the on/off switch to learning,” says Priscilla Vail, author of Smart Kids with School Problems. You and I both know this is true. We know from our own experience that it’s pretty hard to learn geometry theorems when…

The Challenge of Executive Function:
What’s the Antidote?

September 2, 2024

“Students Greatest Need Is Executive Function!” This year, in the SOAR® Learning Laboratories, we challenged ourselves to discover “What do students in special education need the most?” We interviewed special education educators from across the country, expecting to make a “top ten” list we could narrow down to the “top three things” students need. However, we were stunned when one response came…

The Motivation Circuit: How Motivation Works

August 25, 2024

The Motivation Circuit Video Transcription “Motivation” is the term we use to describe a power surge from the emotional region of the brain. When the emotional region of your brain is happy, comfortable, and engaged, it makes a lot of brain chemicals. This provides a hefty power boost the rest of the brain, making learning…

21 Days to Back-to-School Bliss

July 28, 2024

Tips for getting your school-year off to a relaxed and productive start. Gearing up for back-to-school can be a bit overwhelming; there is a lot to do, a lot of transitions to navigate, and often a sense of blues as the realization that summer has, once again, gone by too fast. However, you can easily…

Six Steps to
Conquer the Chaos

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