On the outside, I am a pillar of grace. A colleague complimented me on my patience, and I smiled, nodded, and accepted the praise. On the inside, however, I was screaming. The collision of anxiety and ego. I had a coworker who lived in a perpetual state of "the sky is falling." She was a modern-d...

This past week, I opened a cardboard box sitting on my porch and found ten years of "yes" staring back at me. Inside were author copies of my three newest books—two concluding our cross-country journey through American monster legends, and one sharing the true stories of people persecuted during ...

Over the last two weeks, we’ve journeyed back to my early days in the classroom. I told you about my tradition of calling parents just to find one true, positive thing to say about their child, and how holding up that positive mirror completely shifted the environment. If you missed those message...

Last week, I reflected on my early days teaching, and the tradition I started of calling every single student's parent or guardian within the first three weeks of the semester just to share one genuine, positive thing I noticed about their child. If you missed that message, you can read it here. ...

This is the first installment of a three-part series about the transformational power of one simple shift in perspective. It's inspired by something I realized early in my career as a teacher—one small change that didn't just transform my classroom but gradually changed the way I moved through th...

Stop trying to think your way through everything. The answer you're looking for might already be hanging out quietly in the background of your thoughts. If you've ever told yourself, "I just need to think about it a little longer," this one's for you. A few weeks ago, I found myself completely pa...