And Most of All – Be Kind
What advice would you give to your 18-year-old self? When my son graduated from high school in June, I wondered what advice might
Topic: Student Well-being
Messages Matter
I believe that what we say and how we say it matters, and that we need to provide more stories of ways that students can succeed that aren’t within the conventional norm.
Dear My Freshman Self
I recently read the letter you wrote to me, your senior self, when you were about to start high school at Menlo. You were long-winded, idealistic, and, yes, very nervous. You included two pages of motivational quotes, a long list of goals including a 4.0 GPA and a desire to start on the water polo team, and even predictions about the four years that lay ahead.
A New “Normal”
I recently spent time with some friends who are sending their 6thgrade son to farm school. Their son is a bright, engaged student and young person. He isn’t going to farm school because he can’t do “real” school. His parents aren’t conspiracy theorists, or off-the-grid enthusiasts, or Luddites.
Summer Camp: A Unique Environment for Social and Emotional Learning
In fall 2015, Challenge Success launched a research-practice partnership with three northern California camps. These camps believed deeply — like many of you — that summer camp provides kids with long-term benefits and essential learning experiences, but they wanted to better understand if and how this was true.
Unsolvable Love: Alternative Visions of Parenthood
Over the years I have offered countless lectures, workshops and seminars for parents on the wonders and woes of childrearing. Invariably, during the question-and-answer phase, an attendee will make an inquiry along the lines of the following: “If you could leave us with just one piece of advice, the most important takeaway from your presentation, what would it be?”
Overriding the Game:A student’s perspective on creating school policy change to improve engagement and well-being
(Some) parents felt as if our proposal was lowering the standards to make it “easier” for students in high school. But we aren’t lowering the standards: we are redefining them. We are “challenging” what they define as a child who is “successful.”
Fostering Health and Well-Being in Student-Athletes
Student-athletes at Head-Royce School face stressful challenges balancing the demands of school and sports. As an initiative to improve student-athletes’ health and well being, Challenge Success Club members decided to host a student-led H block discussing the issues and struggles of being a student-athlete in November 2017.
All Stress is Not Distress
At Challenge Success, we sometimes get the question: can’t some forms of stress be okay, or even helpful for students?
Class Rankings
Denise Pope shares why eliminating class rankings can reduce undue student stress without decreasing engagement.
Calling Into Question
We are all familiar with the adage, “Ask a silly question, you’ll get a silly answer.” The questions that parents ask children are worth considering because the depth of the questions that we present to them correspond closely with the depth of self-awareness and understanding that will be engendered by those questions.
Don’t Forget To Bring a Doorstop
The most important piece of advice my oldest daughter and I heard when she was packing for college was: Don’t forget to bring a doorstop.