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Talking To Students About Current World Affairs

It’s no secret that the United States is going through some historical times right now. A historical election, storming the capital, Black lives matter movements, and all during a global pandemic. 

It’s vital for us as educators and parents to talk with our kids about these events as they happen so that they can understand what is going on in the world around them. But it can be daunting to bring these conversations up in a classroom setting, especially in classrooms with older kids where conversations can run deeper and you never know where they will end up. 

Here are a few tips to be able to bring these conversations up in a civilized way in your classrooms. 

  1. State facts only, no opinions. It’s not our job to sway our students in a political direction, it’s our job to foster a learning environment for them to decide their own political beliefs. 

“Some individuals that identify with the republican party made the decision to riot and storm the U.S. Capitol.” 

“People in the Black community felt like they have not been treated equally with those in the White community, so protests are happening around the nation.” 

Yes, there is a lot of emotion in both of those statements, and your students will likely dive deep into them. However, just remember that your job isn’t to sway their political stance, but foster their education on both sides. 

  1. Be clear about what happened. Especially in the younger grades, they don’t need a lengthy background on what is going on. They need clear, cut-to-the-chase points. 
  2. Validate emotions. Again, emotions will come up and be high in a conversation regarding these events. Their emotions are valid and a natural reaction to the situation, validate them! Even if you disagree! 
  3. Set expectations for discussion and stick to them. Give a gentle reminder if needed. 
  4. Don’t be afraid! It can be daunting, but you never know where the conversations may go! Your students may surprise you with their insight and ability to regulate a conversation. 

Do you discuss political happenings with your kids? What other tips would you include? 

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Handling Senioritis

Hey seniors! It’s that time of the year again. The time when Christmas break is over and you’re heading into your last days of school before graduation. Anytime between now and the spring, senioritis is going to hit. It happens to everyone! As someone who has been through senioritis twice, once in high school, once in college, here are my tips for you to make it through your last months as a student! 

Take breaks. Work hard and get those assignments done, but also, take breaks! It will help you be more productive in the long run. Plus, you deserve a break! 

Make lists and prioritize what needs to be done. 

Fill those lists with exciting to-do’s as well! Such as “pick up senior packet” or “Finish last paper.” 

Grab a friend to do homework with, study, and check off those to-do lists with! It can be easier to stay motivated if you’re both working towards a common goal. 

Remember that you didn’t come this far to only come this far. The end is near, you can make it! 

You’re a great student and have the potential to go so far, so keep going! We believe in you! 

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The Winter Holiday Book List Roundup

The past month I’ve been writing articles on picture books for winter holidays beyond Christmas. I realized that a Christmas book list was always on my mind come December, but I was being one-track-minded and not recognizing that there are plenty of people in the nation and the world that celebrate many other holidays during the winter season.

It was fun to put these different book lists together and learn more about each holiday. I’ve been able to teach my own children more about different holidays as well! Here is the full list of each holiday I covered.

Diwali
Christmas
Hanukkah
Las Posadas
Chinese New Year
Winter Solstice
Kwanzaa
Three Kings’ Day

What picture books do you like best to teach your children about different winter holidays?

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Picture Books For Three Kings’ Day

I am a day late on Three Kings’ Day, I apologize! I was hoping to get this article up on January 6th, the day the holiday is celebrated. However, a mental health day was much needed, so therefore this post is a day late. However, I still feel it is an important one and should not be put off another year! So here it is! Picture books to read for Three Kings Day. 

Celebrate Christmas and Three Kings’ Day with Pablo and Carlitos 

The Story of the Three Wise Kings 

Hurray for Three Kings’ Day!

What other books do you like to read to your class about Three Kings’ Day? Is this a holiday that is represented or celebrated in your classroom? 

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A List Of Our Best Interview Tips

supporting teachers

Let’s talk interview tips! A lot of you students out there are most likely going through some sort of interview process over the next year, whether it’s for a job, getting into a college program, or something else. Here are our best tips for you! 

  • Research the company or program before the interview. Specifically, search for their mission statement. Having a decent knowledge of the company can give you an advantage in the interview. It can also help if they pose the question, “do you have any questions for us?”
  • Wear professionally appropriate clothes. 
  • When asked about your biggest weaknesses, don’t do the cliche “turn your weakness into a positive” by saying something along the lines of “I care too much.” Interviewers know this trick and are often turned off by it. Instead, own your weaknesses and let them know it’s something you’re working on. 
  • Be personal and approachable. 
  • On the way to the interview, turn on your favorite song, and jam out! It’s good to let loose for a little bit before going in, it can help you stay calmer and be yourself. 
  • Follow up the interview with a thank you card or email. 

We would love to hear your tips on interviews! What do you do before, during, and after to prep? Good luck with all of the applying and interviewing you’ll be doing over the course of the year, we believe in you! 

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My Review On “Busy Toddler’s Guide To Actual Parenting”

I recently bought the book Busy Toddler’s Guide To Actual Parenting and want to share my honest review with you. If you’re thinking about purchasing her Playing Preschool guide, you can see my review here.

Please keep in mind that this review is not sponsored or endorsed in any way, these are all my own thoughts and opinions. 

Overall: This is a great parenting book! I feel like Suzy and I are old friends in another life, we are so similar! So that did sway my opinion in ways. However, I loved that she began the book with a preface that she didn’t really like parenting books, so she wrote one of her own! And did it beautifully by the way. The overall feel of her book is that parenting is hard and comes with a lot of challenges, but these challenges are manageable and she has tips to share to get us all through them. 

Things that particularly stood out to me:

*The pictures she includes of her family and kids, which make the whole book feel more relatable. It’s not as much a “preachy” book full of “I-know-more-than-you” type of wording, it’s full of her real-life experiences and how she managed as a mom. 

*She advertises it as an “activity” book as well because she includes 50+ activities to do with kids. I was worried this wouldn’t be applicable or helpful for me because I could just follow her Instagram account. Or I didn’t want to read one big list of activities and be overwhelmed by different things to do with my kids, making it not actually helpful. 

However, this wasn’t the case! They are strategically placed throughout the book where they made sense and lined out exactly what you need, how to do it, and even a picture to show the setup! For example, after a whole chapter on taby’s (not quite a baby anymore, not quite a toddler yet), she finished the chapter with a section of taby activities. 

They aren’t activities you will be doing right at that moment, obviously. But it does make it easier to flip through quickly and pull up an activity to do with your kids, and they are especially easy to find since there are pictures of where the activities are! 

*There is a whole chapter on tantrums that completely changed the dynamic of our home. It was so good! 

*A lot of her ideas were just little steps to get you through parenting. There wasn’t anything huge you needed to understand or accomplish, she just teaches simple ideas like, “teach your child to use a code word when they are struggling to avoid tantrums.” 

As far as cons go, I honestly could not find any. It is organized well, the activities are doable as a parent, and the whole book feels very relatable. The only minuscule thing I might be able to think of is that it’s very directed at parenting young kids, and won’t help as in-depth with parenting pre-teens/teenagers. However, it does really niche down the book to make it very applicable instead of having a broader perspective. 

Susie Allison wrote a great book, one I would recommend to any parent in the early stages of parenting. I have gifted this book to many friends that all agree, it is a great parenting book! 

If you’ve read it, what do you think about it? 

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A 2020 Year In Review For Honors Grad U

This may be a little cliche, but I think doing a year of review at the end of a year is not only fun, but important to look back on the growth and experience that came.

2020 was quite the year for everyone, it will be a year read about in history books for years and years to come. As far as 2020 goes for the Honors Grad U blog, it was a great year! It started by writing a series on using MBTI in the classroom, one that I loved researching and has helped many to learn more about how knowing personality traits in yourself and your students can make a vast difference.

In March, a global pandemic was declared, and a lot of my posts started revolving around COVID-19 and virtual teaching. One of my most popular posts came from this period of time, a letter to our 2020 graduates and part two.

Into April/ May I started up Feature Friday, which was so eye-opening to me to interview so many educators across the globe and learn more about them, as well as learn from their experiences teaching.

I started teaching preschool to my daughter, which led to a big chain of posts regarding early childhood education and some resources for all of the educators out there teaching this age group.

Books. I wrote about SO. MANY. BOOKS.

I became scholarship chair for the Design A Better Future Scholarship

School started in the fall in various different ways- in person, online, hybrid. Teachers were teaching in ways that have never even been attempted before! But also, students were learning in ways they’ve never had to learn before. They deserved a letter dedicated to them.

I started researching and writing about Enneagram in Education and how it can help us as students.

To end the year, I did a series of picture books for winter holidays beyond Christmas. This little research project has been very educational for me in learning more about different holiday celebrations and the history behind them.

It has been such a successful year of blogging and looking back I am grateful for those that made it that way. I’m ready to close this chapter called 2020 and excited to see what 2021 has in store for this site!