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Back to School: 5 Articles Worth Sharing

by Kirsten McHugh

The “back to school” season is always a busy time of year for teachers, parents, and students. The load seems particularly heavy this September. Many of us believed the pandemic would be subsiding by now, and yet the Delta variant has left us in much the same spot we were in at this time last year. 

Thankfully, there are a lot of amazing folks out there lending their professional wisdom and perspectives to support good work in education---and to help us push through the not-so-good things happening in the world. Take a look below for some particularly insightful resources and reads from the last few weeks. 

  1. The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham in the UK is well known for their work on character. This fall, their team of researchers has put together two free workbooks on Character Education. One workbook is intended for primary schools, and the other for secondary (link here). You may also wish to listen to their podcast, “Conversations on Character” (link here). In particular, Series 2, Episode 6 focuses on going back to school. 

  2. The discussion of mental health on college campuses is hardly new, but COVID restrictions and the threat of closures brings a new level of stress and anxiety. Last week, The Chronicle of Higher Education published a piece examining the impact of COVID on the mental health of college students (link here).

  3. The mix of students teachers will welcome into their classrooms at the start of school is never entirely predictable, although experience gives seasoned educators a general sense of what to expect. However, due to the pandemic, students’ educational experiences over the last year and half are all over the map. How are teachers planning to assess their students’ progress and get everyone up to speed? The Atlantic explores this predicament and offers suggestions about how teachers might think about the topics they choose to cover, and which to let go of, as they move through this unprecedented academic year (link here). 

  4. Without federal mandates in the US, states and school districts are left to make their own decisions about how to best manage COVID restrictions at school. Superintendents and school board members are finding themselves in the political crosshairs. Facing backlash and sometimes fearing for their safety, many are questioning whether they want to remain in these positions. NPR shares the experiences of board members in two recent articles (links here and here).

  5. Many kids have missed out on key social interactions (and growth) due to COVID. It’s safe to say that, in going back to school and interacting with many more peers and adults, big and small mistakes will be made. Instead of resorting to punishment, how might we respond more effectively to difficult situations? Greater Good Science Center suggests a different approach (link here).

June Wrap Up: 5 Articles Worth Sharing

It’s hard to believe that summer is already well underway and that we are about to celebrate the July 4th holiday in the United States. We hope that many of you are gearing up for a relaxing holiday weekend. 

We would like to share some of the articles that we’ve been circulating amongst our team over the past few weeks. We hope that you are able to check out some of these links as time permits and that you find them as interesting and thought provoking as we have. 

  1. Cintia Hinojosa and Evan Nesterak explore “The Intersection of Behavioral Science and Advocacy” in their recent series in The Behavioral Scientist. Hinojosa and Nesterak reflect on the events of the past year and explore how to integrate personal values, responsibilities, and biases with professional roles as social scientists. How do the personal and the professional come together, and how does the interaction dictate advocacy actions? The pair put out a call to their fellow colleagues to gather data on these ideas. Read what they learned in the series on The Behavioral Scientist website (link here).  

  2. It seems like everyone is talking about burnout at work, but is this a new phenomenon or just a natural part of being human? Read (or listen!) to Jill Lepore as she explores “modern burnout” in her piece from The New Yorker (link here). 

  3. We know that social media creates “bubbles” and that we can get caught in these echo chambers of perspectives and opinions that mirror only our own thinking. George Packer takes a step back and explains what he sees at “the Four Americas,” and how the fault lines between these visions originated, in his latest article in The Atlantic (link here). 

  4. Fields like education are more and more being “run like businesses,” but what about when business is being run like science? Learn how science and experimentation is making its way into the operation of businesses today in a recent piece by Elizabeth Tenney, Elaine Costa, and Ruchi Watson of The Harvard Business Review (link here). 

  5. Are you on summer vacation right now and just want a good laugh? Check out this cartoon from The New Yorker on how to “expand your imagination” (link here).