Articles and insights From Jeffrey Benson
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Democracy Now!
My mentors taught me much about being a teacher, principal, spouse, parent, and member of my communities. Decades ago, when I would leave a meeting with one of my mentors, he would say to me, “Go out there Jeffrey and save democracy for another generation.” “Okay, thanks. I’ll do my part,” I’d say. There’s a long tradition […]
Reforming School Sports
Change Team, Inclusion, Leadership, SEL, Whole Teen
There’s a curriculum for school sports teams to support young people’s social skills while learning athletic skills, and to hold coaches as teachers to be accountable for more than wins and losses.
An Alternative to Punitive Discipline That Really Holds Students Accountable
Challenging Students, Change Team, Fiction, Inclusion, Leadership, SEL, Whole Teen
Read original Edutopia article here. “Mike” is misbehaving in class. The teacher does not want the flow of the lesson derailed. The teacher calls the main office to remove Mike from the room. Assistant Principal “Lee” arrives, determined that Mike be held accountable for the misbehavior, and assigns Mike to an in-school suspension for the […]
Schools as Communities
Challenging Students, Change Team, Inclusion, Leadership, SEL, Whole Teen
Of all the lessons in all the years of schooling, perhaps the most enduring ones come from being a member of a learning community, preparing the next generation to function in families, work places, religious centers, and in the streets of their neighborhoods. In this short video, I discuss making the community, not the individual student, […]
The Friction of Code Switching
Inclusion, Leadership, SEL, Whole Teen
I consulted to a school with students, ages 17-23, who had dropped out of their local high school. They were poor, of many ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Some were homeless; some had kids of their own. Their choice to return to public education was a triumph of optimism and willpower over the conditions of their […]
The Having of Wonderful Ideas
Challenging Students, Inclusion, SEL, Whole Teen
In this short video, I talk about an essay that inspired me when I first read it decades ago, and continues to be a compass point in my work with people of all ages–because every one of us has a beautiful brain that generates wonderful ideas. At our best in schools, we honor each student for their […]
How To Scaffold Student Self-Advocacy
Challenging Students, Inclusion, SEL, Whole Teen
When we talk about the need for student cooperation, we usually mean we want them to obey us; i.e. the standard for cooperation is doing what they are told. If we want students to truly cooperate, co-operate, they need to know the operating manual of the class. They need to know what they can do, and […]
Epilogue from “Improve Every Lesson Plan with SEL”
Inclusion, Leadership, SEL, Whole Teen
The epilogue to my 2021 book, “Improve Every Lesson Plan with SEL” stands on its own as an essay. I ask us to ponder how schools replicate or challenge the vast inequalities in our country. I ask: “To what end, to what world view, are we relentlessly pushing students so hard?” I ask us to say the words poverty and capitalism.
Digging into the Treasures Waiting to be Explored
Challenging Students, Inclusion, SEL, Whole Teen
With so much to teach, there is constant pressure to move on to the next thing, the next lesson. Here I discuss the value of pausing to ‘dig in’ with a student, and bring their learning to a new level.
What do you want your students to do?
Challenging Students, Inclusion, SEL, Whole Teen
Here’s something different: a two-minute video on my realization that I need to be passionate about what I am teaching, versus only doing what I am told to do by a textbook in my hands. By the way, the opening music is from one of my bands.
The Art of Creating School-Wide CoherenceSchool initiatives need to allow space for flexibility and innovation
Finally, for all who have asked for years, the full explanation of “Interests, Uniformity, Guidelines and Inventions” to have a successful school initiative, including my school’s bulletin board story. A must read for leadership.
The Pressure is Cooking Us All
Most teachers get time each day when they are not with students in order to prepare—“prep period”–grading papers, responding to emails, researching for coming lessons, using the copy machine, developing PowerPoint slides, writing reports and evaluations for students with IEPs, using the bathroom, calling parents, consulting with the school nurse about a student’s medication, conferring […]
A Lesson from the Pandemic
Change Team, Inclusion, Leadership, SEL
The first year of the pandemic, when schools went hybrid and remote, was incredibly difficult—a principal said that he felt like he was juggling on a unicycle in a hurricane; teachers felt the same. Every day blew us into unchartered territory. We re-experienced the daily anxiety of being a first year professional—all new, all untested. We did our best to not crash. Kudos to all who hung in.
The Prevention Interview
Challenging Students, Leadership, SEL
What if we used the time usually spent punishing students to instead talk with them and makes plans in ways that help them succeed?
I Still Love Being In Schools
Despite the boredom and enforced pass-fail monomania of schools, I still love being in them. I see when students experience, despite all the barriers, the moments of joy for having their minds opened and their neurons firing in unexpected patterns and, in those moments, transcendence.
Schools That Work and Work and Work
Challenging Students, Leadership, Satire
Let’s agree that we are not pouring money into public education without wanting a return for our investment. We need our kids to grow up to pay taxes, enough taxes to pay the government back for their schooling, or what’s the point?
From the Introduction to “Hanging In”
Challenging Students, Leadership, SEL
There is never one thing that defines a challenging student, never one cause, never one life event, never one disability. If it were one thing, the solutions would be simple. One of my own teachers confronted me with this important and demanding advice: “Keep the complexity as long as you can.”
Lines of Thinking From the 2014 ASCD Conference
The ASCD annual conference took place in Los Angeles from March 14-17, 2014. It was consistently thrilling to be among a diverse group of 12,000 educators. Everyone had stories to tell, aspirations to share, and good work to do. You just had to sit down next to anyone and say, “Where are you from? What do you do?” and an hour later you had another colleague.
Don’t Be Bored…Or Boring
This is an exhortation, a plea, a pat on the back and a push up the hill. It is meant to inspire and unsettle, and to help you find your passion and determination. It comes as a request and a challenge: Don’t plan to go into class and tell your students, “This is the boring part.”
Math Through the Looking Glass
All too often, math teachers sit in silent complicity when it is said that math is exact and linear—humanities are not. Math is about answers that are right and wrong—humanities are not. If math teachers don’t interrupt the status quo, who will? Consider sharing this narrative from an alternate universe:
Democracy Now!
My mentors taught me much about being a teacher, principal, spouse, parent, and member of my communities. Decades ago, when I would leave a meeting with one of my mentors, he would say to me, “Go out there Jeffrey and save democracy for another generation.” “Okay, thanks. I’ll do my part,” I’d say. There’s a long tradition […]
Reforming School Sports
Change Team, Inclusion, Leadership, SEL, Whole Teen
There’s a curriculum for school sports teams to support young people’s social skills while learning athletic skills, and to hold coaches as teachers to be accountable for more than wins and losses.
An Alternative to Punitive Discipline That Really Holds Students Accountable
Challenging Students, Change Team, Fiction, Inclusion, Leadership, SEL, Whole Teen
Read original Edutopia article here. “Mike” is misbehaving in class. The teacher does not want the flow of the lesson derailed. The teacher calls the main office to remove Mike from the room. Assistant Principal “Lee” arrives, determined that Mike be held accountable for the misbehavior, and assigns Mike to an in-school suspension for the […]
Schools as Communities
Challenging Students, Change Team, Inclusion, Leadership, SEL, Whole Teen
Of all the lessons in all the years of schooling, perhaps the most enduring ones come from being a member of a learning community, preparing the next generation to function in families, work places, religious centers, and in the streets of their neighborhoods. In this short video, I discuss making the community, not the individual student, […]
The Friction of Code Switching
Inclusion, Leadership, SEL, Whole Teen
I consulted to a school with students, ages 17-23, who had dropped out of their local high school. They were poor, of many ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Some were homeless; some had kids of their own. Their choice to return to public education was a triumph of optimism and willpower over the conditions of their […]
The Having of Wonderful Ideas
Challenging Students, Inclusion, SEL, Whole Teen
In this short video, I talk about an essay that inspired me when I first read it decades ago, and continues to be a compass point in my work with people of all ages–because every one of us has a beautiful brain that generates wonderful ideas. At our best in schools, we honor each student for their […]
How To Scaffold Student Self-Advocacy
Challenging Students, Inclusion, SEL, Whole Teen
When we talk about the need for student cooperation, we usually mean we want them to obey us; i.e. the standard for cooperation is doing what they are told. If we want students to truly cooperate, co-operate, they need to know the operating manual of the class. They need to know what they can do, and […]
Epilogue from “Improve Every Lesson Plan with SEL”
Inclusion, Leadership, SEL, Whole Teen
The epilogue to my 2021 book, “Improve Every Lesson Plan with SEL” stands on its own as an essay. I ask us to ponder how schools replicate or challenge the vast inequalities in our country. I ask: “To what end, to what world view, are we relentlessly pushing students so hard?” I ask us to say the words poverty and capitalism.
Digging into the Treasures Waiting to be Explored
Challenging Students, Inclusion, SEL, Whole Teen
With so much to teach, there is constant pressure to move on to the next thing, the next lesson. Here I discuss the value of pausing to ‘dig in’ with a student, and bring their learning to a new level.
What do you want your students to do?
Challenging Students, Inclusion, SEL, Whole Teen
Here’s something different: a two-minute video on my realization that I need to be passionate about what I am teaching, versus only doing what I am told to do by a textbook in my hands. By the way, the opening music is from one of my bands.
The Art of Creating School-Wide CoherenceSchool initiatives need to allow space for flexibility and innovation
Finally, for all who have asked for years, the full explanation of “Interests, Uniformity, Guidelines and Inventions” to have a successful school initiative, including my school’s bulletin board story. A must read for leadership.
The Pressure is Cooking Us All
Most teachers get time each day when they are not with students in order to prepare—“prep period”–grading papers, responding to emails, researching for coming lessons, using the copy machine, developing PowerPoint slides, writing reports and evaluations for students with IEPs, using the bathroom, calling parents, consulting with the school nurse about a student’s medication, conferring […]
A Lesson from the Pandemic
Change Team, Inclusion, Leadership, SEL
The first year of the pandemic, when schools went hybrid and remote, was incredibly difficult—a principal said that he felt like he was juggling on a unicycle in a hurricane; teachers felt the same. Every day blew us into unchartered territory. We re-experienced the daily anxiety of being a first year professional—all new, all untested. We did our best to not crash. Kudos to all who hung in.
The Prevention Interview
Challenging Students, Leadership, SEL
What if we used the time usually spent punishing students to instead talk with them and makes plans in ways that help them succeed?
I Still Love Being In Schools
Despite the boredom and enforced pass-fail monomania of schools, I still love being in them. I see when students experience, despite all the barriers, the moments of joy for having their minds opened and their neurons firing in unexpected patterns and, in those moments, transcendence.
Schools That Work and Work and Work
Challenging Students, Leadership, Satire
Let’s agree that we are not pouring money into public education without wanting a return for our investment. We need our kids to grow up to pay taxes, enough taxes to pay the government back for their schooling, or what’s the point?
From the Introduction to “Hanging In”
Challenging Students, Leadership, SEL
There is never one thing that defines a challenging student, never one cause, never one life event, never one disability. If it were one thing, the solutions would be simple. One of my own teachers confronted me with this important and demanding advice: “Keep the complexity as long as you can.”
Lines of Thinking From the 2014 ASCD Conference
The ASCD annual conference took place in Los Angeles from March 14-17, 2014. It was consistently thrilling to be among a diverse group of 12,000 educators. Everyone had stories to tell, aspirations to share, and good work to do. You just had to sit down next to anyone and say, “Where are you from? What do you do?” and an hour later you had another colleague.
Don’t Be Bored…Or Boring
This is an exhortation, a plea, a pat on the back and a push up the hill. It is meant to inspire and unsettle, and to help you find your passion and determination. It comes as a request and a challenge: Don’t plan to go into class and tell your students, “This is the boring part.”
Math Through the Looking Glass
All too often, math teachers sit in silent complicity when it is said that math is exact and linear—humanities are not. Math is about answers that are right and wrong—humanities are not. If math teachers don’t interrupt the status quo, who will? Consider sharing this narrative from an alternate universe:
Connect with Jeffrey Benson
Want to learn more about how Jeffrey can support your school or organization? Schedule at time to meet with Jeffrey to learn more about customized workshops and other services.