Southwestern Advantage Blog

As an alumna of their sales & leadership program , I obviously loved the Southwestern Advantage products and believed in their effectiveness in reaching students.  Now, as an educator, I am even more convicted in the Southwestern Advantage products. I currently teach third and fourth grade students in a small school in the Sand Hills of Nebraska.   Most of my students have never been past a two hour radius of their home.   I try to incorporate as many “real-world” experiences to my students as possible while still reaching all the standards that are required.   I have found in my years of teaching that kids LOVE non-fiction books.   As a teacher, so do I.   Books about animals, space, and our Earth are so interesting to kids who love learning.   My students choose to use their free-time in the classroom reading the Explore and Learn and Ask Me books from Southwestern Advantage.   They are always quick to tell me the new facts they...

I grew up in a community where if you didn’t get along with someone, the advice we heard from our elders was, "Learn how to." If we had trouble working with someone, the teacher purposely assigned us to a group so that we would have to work together. My parents insisted that I learn to work my problems out. They didn’t call other parents to complain about our problems and how they could fix them. I was disciplined by my parents whenever I lacked self-discipline -- when I was disrespectful to others, when I didn't do my share of the chores, or when I got poor grades. Did I like it at the time? Nope; but now as an adult, I'm grateful for it. And now, as and educator, I increasingly see the opposite approach growing into a dangerous parenting trend. Every parent wants to see their children happy, safe, and successful. Teachers want the same for their students. However, the growing hurdle is the mindset that if a child gets upset, the parent(s) should step in and fix...

John Dryden once said, "We first make our habits, then our habits make us." Now that the school year is underway, it's a good time to rethink your personal habits and patterns, and perhaps make some adjustments. We've all heard the Biblical saying, "You reap what you sow." In other words, what you're doing today will have an impact on your future self. Everyday we are consciously (and unconsciously) planting seeds of a sort. Our seeds germinate. Most people do not live intentionally, with a purpose. Consequently they're operating in a less-than-conscious manner. Unless we are consciously forming good habits, we are unconsciously forming bad ones. What habits are you forming today -- right now? Have you noticed how easy it is to be lazy? It's easy to sit on the couch and watch re-runs of The Office. It's easy to browse Facebook until you look up and notice that four hours has passed and you missed class, lunch, and study time (and a...