by Laura Maniglia | Mar 17, 2019 | attention & focus, cognitive skills, creativity, instruction, interpersonal relations, metacognition, mindset, SEL, soft skills, student engagement, students, teachers
Intrinsic motivation, the type that emanates from an internal drive rather than an external one, empowers an individual to persist in any endeavor. An elite athlete training for the Olympics, or a classical pianist preparing for an international competition can...
by Laura Maniglia | Apr 13, 2019 | attention & focus, cognitive skills, instruction, language, metacognition, note-taking, soft skills, student engagement, study skills
Decades ago, in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, learning cursive, (like the Palmer method), was an essential part of the elementary school program. However, with the proliferation of computers, instruction shifted from handwriting...
by Laura Maniglia | Mar 27, 2019 | Tutorial
English possesses a rich and varied vocabulary. “According to UPI’s findings, “Most U.S. adults have a vocabulary of more than 42,000 words.” A proportion of these words fall into the category of recognition rather than recall. Recognition is generally...
by Laura Maniglia | Mar 10, 2019 | instruction, students, teachers
Why does the American public school system adhere to a 180 day calendar? Why do high school students begin their day earlier than elementary students? Can changes to the school day and calendar effect substantial changes in academic outcomes? When America was an...
by Laura Maniglia | Feb 26, 2019 | active learning, attention & focus, classroom management, cognitive skills, creativity, instruction, SEL, student engagement
Specific characteristics of the creative individual appear to be disparate and elusive. Creativity takes many different forms, so attempting to define it can be an exercise in futility. Does a creative artist display the same characteristics as...
by Laura Maniglia | Feb 12, 2019 | active learning, attention & focus, classroom management, cognitive skills, instruction, learning, reading, writing
The importance of teaching and supporting handwriting has implications reaching far beyond the elementary classroom. Teaching handwriting in the early grades can stimulate small motor coordination. Virginia Berninger, a researcher and professor of educational...
by Laura Maniglia | Jan 12, 2019 | active learning, attention & focus, cognitive skills, instruction, learning, reading, student engagement, study skills
In 1946, an American experimental psychologist, Francis Robinson, published a book called Effective Study. He delineated a method to improve reading comprehension: SQ3R. His goal was to help military personnel become better learners. The abbreviation provides the...
by Laura Maniglia | Dec 30, 2018 | attention & focus, cognitive skills, Sleep, students, teachers
Quality sleep is crucial for good health. While that statement may be a truism, why do so many people underestimate the importance of good sleep habits? Not until the 1990’s did medical research focus on what appeared obvious to parents and teachers....
by Laura Maniglia | Dec 12, 2018 | cognitive skills, creativity, metacognition, mindset, non-cognitive skills, soft skills, students
Children are naturally creative. In his very popular 2006 TED talk, Sir Ken Robinson explained that children “have extraordinary talents. Unfortunately, that attribute appears to diminish with age. A NASA study found that 98 percent of preschool children ...
by Laura Maniglia | Dec 6, 2018 | academic standing, active learning, attention & focus, cognitive skills, instruction, language, parents, reading, teachers
Vocabulary refers to the words we must understand to communicate effectively. Educators often consider four types of vocabulary: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The average teenager has about 3,000 words in his vocabulary. However, in 2016 researchers...
