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The Blog


5 Ways to Celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month in Schools
Here are five impactful ways schools can celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month.
Dianne McKinley
Apr 1, 20243 min read


7 Ideas for Relentless Book Matching
Teachers everywhere know that the only way to increase the reading volume among students is to hook students into reading on a regular and routine basis. It has to become an unbreakable habit, almost ingrained into your daily existence. Harper Lee said this best, “Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
April Connelley
Feb 29, 20243 min read


8 Ways Schools Can Support Students With Depression
Schools play a pivotal role in shaping young minds, making them an ideal setting for addressing and supporting depression.
Tiffany Creager
Feb 2, 20246 min read


6 Reading Resources for the Teachers of Tweens and Teens
Lately, there has been a big push for early foundational reading skills. I love all the attention the early grades are getting. Nothing is more important than setting kids up for success in the early grades. However, that doesn’t leave much time and attention for the next level.
April Connelley
Jan 29, 20243 min read


Discovering Values: A Guide to Personal and Workplace Connection
Through the activities below we’ll learn how to reconnect to ourselves and how to guide organizations to do the same. Whether you are seeking connection to self or leading a team who could benefit from a unified purpose, please read on to learn how to identify our own values, how to collaboratively operationalize an organization’s values, and how these activities might empower us. As a special addition for my educators and parents out there, I’ve also included some tips for w
Tiffany Creager
Jan 15, 20248 min read


Boosting Staff Morale in Schools: Introducing Our Staff Appreciation Solution
In the world of education, the well-being and motivation of teachers and staff play a crucial role in the overall success of our schools. A positive and supportive atmosphere can significantly impact the quality of education and the happiness of educators. It’s no secret that motivated and appreciated teachers are more likely to go the extra mile to create a thriving learning environment for their students. That’s why, at INcompassing Education, we are thrilled to introduce o
Dianne McKinley
Nov 16, 20233 min read


Boosting Student Attendance: How Schools Can Make a Difference
One of the most critical aspects of a successful education system is ensuring that students attend school regularly. Improved student attendance leads to better academic outcomes and overall student well-being. However, in recent years, absenteeism has been on the rise, posing a significant challenge to both school leaders and teachers. This blog will delve into the causes of increased absenteeism and provide practical strategies for school leaders and teachers to address thi
Tiffany Creager
Nov 15, 20234 min read


6 Tips for Retaining Teachers
Let’s face it. Recruiting, hiring, on-boarding, and training new teachers is time consuming, expensive, and exhausting. Schools with a high turnover rate struggle to maintain a healthy culture. Additionally, the inconsistency in staff leads to gaps in programming, curriculum, and common language and understanding across the building. Teacher retention should be at the top of our to-do list as educational leaders. To help you achieve this goal, we’ve put together some top tips
Dianne McKinley
Sep 5, 20233 min read


Get the Students Talking and Doing!
As I have visited classrooms and observed teachers teaching their classes, I am noticing a very common trend. The learning their students are doing is very passive and somewhat compliant. In a quote attributed to many different sources from Confucius to Benjamin Franklin says, “Tell Me and I Forget; Teach Me and I May Remember; Involve Me and I Learn” and it has been proven many times and, in many ways, to be true. It used to be the standard norm in a classroom in rows all
Dianne McKinley
Jul 31, 20236 min read


Empowering Teachers: Four Must-Read Books for Social Emotional Learning
I’ve listed four books below that I believe address some of the biggest struggles I’ve seen in the areas of social emotional learning this year. From student apathy to educator burnout, these are great resources for creating positive change!
Dianne McKinley
May 23, 20235 min read


Decodable Text 101
As educators begin to shift practice, it is important to build a common understanding among each other. Then when we partner with others we are speaking the same language and have the same understanding.
This month’s post is going to help you get started by answering three important questions: What is decodable text? Why is decodable text important? And Where can I find decodable readers?
Dianne McKinley
May 8, 20233 min read


Conflict Resolution Strategies in the Classroom
Conflict resolution is an important skill to teach students. It’s important to teach children how to communicate effectively, how to problem solve, and how to manage their emotions when they have a disagreement. There are many strategies that can help with this. One strategy is to have students brainstorm a list of conflict resolution steps. This can help them become aware of the options they have when they are dealing with a disagreement.
Dianne McKinley
Feb 3, 20235 min read


6 Ways to Support Social Emotional Learning at Home:
Strategies for Caregivers Students flourish in environments that are predictable, safe, and consistent. One way to ensure this remains steady across settings is to support the parents and caregivers who are in our students’ homes! Caregivers play an important role in teaching and helping with social emotional learning. They support and encourage habits that promote mental wellness; however, understanding how to do that can be difficult! That being said, this one’s for you,
Dianne McKinley
Feb 3, 20237 min read


7 Simple Ways to Practice Gratitude in the Classroom
What if someone offered you a FREE 5 minute per day strategy that boasted the following benefits for you AND your students? Would you take it? Read on to learn 7 simple ways to practice gratitude in the classroom.
Dianne McKinley
Jan 25, 20236 min read


Encouraging Lifelong Learning - Employability Skills: Learning Strategies
Employability skills are a set of skills outside of technical or academic competencies that are considered imperative to being a successful employee and team member. In an effort to ensure these skills are integrated into academic settings, the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) has arranged these competencies into four categories: mindsets, work ethic, learning strategies, and social emotional learning.
Tiffany Creager
Jan 4, 20236 min read


Employability Skills: Mindset
Employability skills are a set of skills outside of technical or academic competencies that are desired by potential employers and considered imperative to being a successful employee and team member. This set of skills might include things like: communication, teamwork, initiative, problem solving, planning and organizing, self-management, and more. You may have heard them referred to as “soft-skills.”
Tiffany Creager
Dec 9, 20228 min read


7 Picture Books to Use with Older Readers
Picture books aren’t just for preschoolers and younger children, readers of all ages enjoy and learn from picture books. I LOVE picture books! They are full of rich language, beautiful illustrations and photographs, and bonus, you can typically read them in one sitting.
April Connelley
Jul 4, 20223 min read


Goal Setting Through Self Reflection
By William Reed Right now, teaching, and basically any job in education, can seem overwhelming. There are so many things we could be doing. It is very easy to lose sight of the big picture and not see the forest for the trees. One of the best ways to keep everything in perspective is to self-evaluate and set goals. You need to write some Professional Goals and some Personal Goals . Yes, it is important to have both professional and personal goals. Professional goals impro
William Reed
Jun 20, 20226 min read


Fostering Life-Long Reading Habits: THE POWER OF A READING STACK
The routines and rituals that put books in our hands are important. They aren’t just crucial for personal growth, they are critical lessons that we need to teach students of all ages. Students need us to be transparent about when, why, and how we keep reading a priority. Leading a reading life means purposefully thinking about reading and how to fit it into our daily comings and goings. Our lives are busy and there is a lot of competition for each moment. Readers navigate
Dianne McKinley
May 2, 20224 min read


Cultivating Hope in the Classroom & Beyond
This past year has certainly been traumatic for some and I think it’s safe to say that it has been stressful for most. It has me wondering how might this global experience and its many layers affect us as we reach this one-year anniversary? I posed this question to a group of teachers recently. Upon reflection, they discovered they were holding frustration, grief, resentment, and ongoing uncertainty in their minds as well as in their bodies.
Tiffany Creager
Mar 12, 20218 min read
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