Dogs are amazing creatures! They provide unconditional love, do not discriminate, judge, laugh, or criticize, and they are excellent and attentive listeners. They encourage relaxation, lower blood pressure, and brighten affect. These characteristics help to make pet-assisted therapy a natural fit for children and adolescents, and students in North Carolina's Orange County Schools will happily agree!
—One of the first pet-assisted therapy programs in schools, R.E.A.D. (Reading Education Assistance Dogs)focuses on reading and was introduced several years ago in the west by Intermountain Therapy Animals. The concept spread throughout the country and there are now a variety of programs and models that work with children at school and in libraries (See Spot Read, Tail-Wagging Tutors, etc.). Pets are now being used in many ways in educational settings and even help to relax University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students during exams.In 2007, Ella and Julius (two mixed-breed, rescued dogs who are registered therapy dogs with Delta Society Pet Partners), began coming to two of our Orange County schools to read with children in the classroom and meet with students in the school social worker's office. The results were amazing, word spread, and other schools wanted to know how they could have visiting dogs. So, in 2010, Pet Pals was born to include the additional schools and to provide a more structured program to support pet-assisted therapy and activities.
The Pet Pals program could not exist without the volunteer
Early Childhood Education Programs: Play
Thomas Armstrong, education expert, author, and Whole Child Podcast guest, just can't say enough about the importance of play. The chapter "Early Childhood Education Programs: Play" is excerpted from Armstrong's ASCD book Best Schools, which looks at not just best schools, but also best practices for teaching and learning. In this chapter, Armstrong points to early education practices th
OCT 15
Resilience: It’s a Practice
Post written by Carla Tantillo and Lara Veon, Mindful Practices Among the most heartbreaking moments as an educator is that of observing a student who doesn't believe in herself and sees a mistake—be it a social interaction gone bad or a failing grade—as a fracture of character instead of an opportunity for growth. Similarly upsetting is witnessing a student who experiences trauma and loss withdra
OCT 14
Learn. Teach. Lead. This Time with Passion!
In order for me to lead effectively in my classroom, I needed to make sure I was teaching the right things. Otherwise, what were students learning? And, why were they learning it? Students need to be personally invested in their learning in order for them to be most successful. What's taught needs to be relevant to them. The curriculum can be rigorous to the 10th power, but if it isn't taught in
