All Blog Posts (208)

Who is the teacher who had the most positive impact on your life?  Would you say you ever had a teacher who could be described as a compass - pointing you to the truths of life you needed to learn?  What was that teacher's name?  What was it about that teacher that would cause you to name them as your answer to these questions?

I have had the privilege of working with thousands of educators across the country.  Often I will ask groups of teachers the following: "If given the…

Since psychology is a very popular college major, I thought I'd post a link to Volume 2, Issue 1 (January, 2014) of the Psychology Student Network, a series of articles for undergraduate students thinking about a career with a psychology degree.    The information may be helpful to some high school students beginning to think about possible careers. 

Note: I wrote one of the articles,…

While doing a Google search yesterday I located an article in the Jackson Sun (TN) describing how the faculty, staff and students at University School of Jackson organized a surprise parade to honor Danielle Boyd, a staff member departing for six months of military service.

I thought that the parade provided a unique combination of honoring a colleague, staff member and friend, educating students about military service and…

There are several blog posts on this site related to using music in the classroom to inspire and motivate kids.  Each has included a list of specific songs that can be used. Here are links to the previous 3 posts:

Part 1, Part 2, …

Readers of this blog are familiar with the emphasis placed here on Going Beyond the Content.  There is so much more to teaching than just mastering content - although that is definitely an exciting part.  Teaching content is a privilege, but we educators have the opportunity to do far more than that.  We have opportunities to change lives.  We have opportunities to slightly alter the direction of young person's path.  And changing a path by even a few small degrees can lead to a world of…

I recently wrote an article titled Do Your Sons and Daughters Understand Your Work? Probably Not! which appears in the current edition of the Rhode Island Creative Magazine (RICM).

While the article is designed for the artist community, the concepts and the activities are relevant to parents, teachers and students transitioning to high school (as well as at other grade…

Having recently joined the Freshman Transition Network and introducing myself here, Scott suggested I elaborate on the ninth-grade Peer Advisory program I was fortunate enough to be a part of when I was still teaching:

Overview

Groups of 12-15 ninth graders would meet every Wednesday morning from 8:00am-8:33am…

I had another blog post published on the NASSP's Ignite Blog.  

This one - What's the Matter with Freshmen? Part 2 - is a sequel to an earlier…

I'm very excited to have an article on Freshman Transition published in the latest edition of the NASSP's Principal Leadership Magazine.  

To read the article, visit http://www.nassp.org/tabid/2043/default.aspx and then click on the link for The Ninth-Grade Challenge.  

You can also download a pdf version of the article by visiting …

Members of the FTN know that I strongly encourage teachers to use the story-centered ideas found in A Million Miles in a Thousand Years and Storyline by Donald Miller as a way to teach students to live lives of meaning and purpose.  My friend, Mike Petty, has recently written a blog post on his blog…

I had another blog post published on the NASSP's Ignite Blog.  Here is a link to that post:

http://nasspblogs.org/ignite/2013/02/01/whats-the-matter-with-freshmen-part-1/

I will be presenting on the topic of Freshman Transition at this month's NASSP Conference in Washington DC.

Dissertation on Ninth Grade Transition to High School

A STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF A SUMMER SCHOOL INTERVENTION PROGRAM ON NINTH GRADE TRANSITION TO HIGH SCHOOL

Dr. Hasan Abdulmalik

This is my Dissertation that is a quantitative research study of how an intervention program can help ninth graders to transition to high school.

Research has…

Hi,

My article Games to Illustrate Human Performance: Perfect for Your Class was published in the Connecticut Journal of Science Education, Volume 50, Issue 1, Fall - Winter 2012 - 2013, pages 2 4 to 31.

If teachers belonging to The Freshman Transition Network would like a copy via email (no charge) please…

A year or so ago I had the opportunity to make a couple of trips to Portland, Oregon to work with the faculty and staff of David Douglas High School, Oregon's largest high school.  They wanted to build a Freshman Transition program.  Some of their faculty members had joined this site and had also read my book, The Ninth Grade Opportunity.  They decided that they wanted to build a transition program that utilized a…

I recently wrote a guest blog post for the NASSP's Ignite Blog.  Here is a link to that post:

http://nasspblogs.org/ignite/2013/01/02/why-do-freshman-academies-sometimes-fail/

I have yet to meet a teacher who doesn't say he or she loves his or her students.  What I have noticed, though, is that some do a better job than others at expressing that love.  Love is only as powerful as it is felt.

Last night I was talking with my daughter, Kaitlin, who has been home sick the past several days leading up to Christmas break. I told her that her German 5 teacher, Frau Fowler, had sent home a quiz that I could proctor over break.  I mentioned that I had told Frau…

Gathering dissertation materials...any feedback on books, articles, data, etc....for Freshman Academies, 9th grade transitioning programs that anyone has to share will be greatly appreciated - Wendy !

Sometimes as a parent you're not paying attention and suddenly your child reaches a milestone that completely snuck up on you.  This happened to me just last week.

My 2nd child, Kelsey Grace, is a freshman at Salem High School, where I serve as an Assistant Principal.  Last week she came home and asked my wife and I if we would be willing to donate money to her freshman service project -…

Let's get something out of the way here at the start.  I, Scott Habeeb, am a proud parent.  My 4 children keep me in a state of constant amazement, and I don't mind occasionally letting people know about who they are and what they do.  This will be one of those occasions, as I plan to use this blog to boast with a purpose about my oldest child, Kaitlin Ashley.

I use the term "boast with a purpose" because the point of this post isn't really to let folks know how proud I am of Kaitlin…