Perfecting the Practice

By Dr. Tim Young
Posted on 9/25/2024 - 7 minute read

Recent research highlights the importance of developing a strong sense of belonging to enhance and improve student educational outcomes (Patrick et al., 2023).  A sense of belonging refers to the ways students feel personally accepted, included, and supported at school.  Belonging includes all school-based experiences and student relationships with teachers and peers (Allen et al., 2018). Through the lens of belonging, some students experience the academic environment as welcoming. These students are often highly engaged and involved in school. When a student experiences a strong sense of belonging, achievement and retention increase. Most educators understand that students thrive when they are part of a community, and research confirms this (Passano, 2021).

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By Dr. Rebecca Stanton
Posted on 8/29/2024 - 5 minute read

‬ Six years ago, I wrote on Perfecting the Practice about my family’s experience in K-12 with my‬ Twice-Exceptional son‬‭. During the intervening years,‬‭ he attended college, struggled to find‬ meaningful work and purpose in life, and started to find his way toward reaching his life’s‭ dreams. Back then, I posed this question: How can you convince the schools that your child‬ needs help when they are so accelerated in the things that the schools seem to care most‬ about? That question can now be updated to this: How do you convince society to give your‬ Twice-Exceptional (2E) young adult a chance when they are capable but quirky?‬ ‭

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By Briana Dewees
Posted on 7/31/2024 - 10 minute read

 Currently, there exists a gap in which pregnant and teen mothers are not equally or equitably served through support in public schools when looking at systems as a whole. Many school sites will describe their experience working with pregnant students as minimal- only a couple of students (Dewees, 2024). Considering school counseling interventions explore innovative strategies and support systems to help all students navigate social, emotional, academic, and career development, ensuring teen mothers have the opportunity to thrive academically and personally is ethically fundamental for school counselors (ASCA, 2019; Stone, 2017). Research suggests that school support can be paramount in student success for pregnant and teen mothers (Dowden et al., 2018; Peterson et al., 2022; Rabia, 2017). Literature can be stratified into these main topics: foundational information, significant impacts, and comprehensive care. Through analysis of the literature, the conclusions deduced articulate the sincerely productive methods that can support teen mothers through pregnancy and postpartum as they seek educational attainment.

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By Dr. Tanya Tarbutton
Posted on 7/1/2024 - 4 minute read

Higher education institutions across America have experienced declining enrollment since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (Fischer, 2022) and the lingering enrollment cliff suggests greater challenges are looming (Bauman, 2024). Declining enrollment is of concern for all higher education institutions, including Concordia University Irvine, for several reasons, most notably the financial implications associated with student attrition and vacancies. In an attempt to strengthen and bolster existing graduate level programs universities must be committed to increasing student retention rates by way of elevating student satisfaction.

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By Dr. Sara Morgan
Posted on 6/18/2024 - 6 minute read

Now that we walk with our heads up, ready to examine, engage, and explore, we must be aware of our posture as we enter communal spaces. A former colleague shared a story about how her district superintendent would walk onto a school campus gracefully and purposefully. She described the woman walking with her head up and shoulders back. This description created a visual image of a person who entered every situation heart first. To this day, I still consider what it means to walk into the space of others with my heart first. I am a task-oriented person. I make lists, and during exceptionally busy seasons, I make lists for my lists. However, I am learning that exceptional teacher-leaders prioritize heart work to facilitate genuine connection, leading to task completion. Fortunately, I have exemplary models who have taught me how to slow down my task-oriented posture (head first) and enter shared spaces with my heart guiding the interaction. Three important lessons I have learned are that heart-out teacher-leaders are good at reading the room, recognizing the whole person, and responding compassionately.

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By Dr. Sara Morgan
Posted on 5/2/2024 - 5 minute read

It’s hard to see what is happening around you when your head is down. As a matter of fact, keeping your head down is one way to appear isolated in the presence of others. As teacher-leaders, we should aspire to keep our heads up and look for opportunities to examine, engage, and explore. Examine our surroundings to identify what is happening, engage with those in our proximity, especially those whose presence can easily go unnoticed, and explore what is working, what needs to change, and what alternative options are available. Keeping our heads up in our classroom or outside lets others know that we are interested, present, and available.

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By Dr. Sandy Mercier
Posted on 8/17/2023 - 4 minute read

Yet there is more good news for educators who are struggling, and it entails realizing the power of self-compassion. According to Neff (2023), “self-compassion involves acting the same way towards yourself when you are having a difficult time, fail, or notice something you don’t like about yourself” (para. 2). Self-compassion demonstrates the notion that one is kind and gracious to themselves, even when faced with hard feelings and personal failings. It is the realization that we are not perfect as we honor and accept our humanness. Life is full of frustrations, losses, mistakes, and tragedy. This is the human condition. However, the more we open our hearts to this reality instead of fighting against it, the more we can truly feel compassion for ourselves and all fellow humans we encounter in this gift called life (Neff, 2023).

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By Dr. Gómez de Cervantes
Posted on 7/11/2023 - 6 minute read

For nearly four decades, research has documented the importance of metacognition in the learning process, however little attention has been devoted to providing a means for students and teachers to access tools that explicitly teach metacognitive skills. “Metacognition is an essential, but often neglected, component of a 21st-century education that teaches students how to learn” (Wilson & Conyers, 2016, p. 7). Coined by Flavell (1979), metacognition can be defined as “one’s knowledge concerning one’s own cognitive processes or anything related to them” (p. 232).  Put more simply, it involves thinking about thinking as one plans, monitors, and evaluates their learning (Baker, 2002; Schraw & Moshman, 1995).  As a lifelong learner and passionate educator, I believe metacognition is the greatest gift you can give your students; it allows them to take ownership of their learning journey.

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By Dr. MaryAnn Seng, Professor, School of Education
Posted on 2/13/2023 - 6 minute read

The devastating images of the Russian invasion of Ukraine may appear distant as one watches the tragic scenes of war and hears the number of deaths on the news.  The consequences of this war may not be felt by the average American in their daily lives.  However, international strife is quite often felt by American educators as the innocent, young victims of international conflict enter their schools as students.  While this article focuses on the Ukrainian refugees, it is not my intent to ignore refugees from other nations who are suffering from comparable hardships.  My hope is that the recommendations offered in this article will be used to support all K-12 refugee students.

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By Heather Vezner, Dean of the School of Education
Posted on 2/7/2023 - 5 minute read

The student teaching experience has been noted as one of the most stressful experiences for a pre-service teacher (Izadina, 2017). They have invested significant time, money, and effort into their dream of becoming a teacher. Now in student teaching, their proficiency as a teacher is tested.

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