My dad taught for 38 years. He would always joke, “Summer break, Christmas break, and spring break are the three best reasons to become a teacher.” ???? I hope you’re enjoying your summer break. It’s a great time to relax, refocus, and recharge. TEEN TRUTH has...
Do you want to make an impact? Join the TEEN TRUTH Team – Become Our School Counselor – >>> Watch this short 1-minute video to learn more <<< Loading... JC Pohl, LMFT-A President & CEO, TEEN TRUTH FollowFollowFollow Contact Us Name...
Building School Culture From the Inside Out Book >>> Click here to download <<< TEEN TRUTH’s School Admin Group on Facebook >>> Click here to join <<< Dr. Robert Brooks – Charismatic Adult Article >>> Click...
School Shootings: What You & I Can Do! School shootings are one the hardest things to digest because they fly in the face of everything we believe. We love kids. We love our schools. We love the work we do. I’ve been in this fight since we first made the TEEN...
“Your school is too diverse for this to work.” “Your teachers are too dumb to pull it off.” “Your time, funding, and testing practices will stop you from making it happen.” As you might have guessed, I call total B.S. on those notions! Click here for this CNN article...
When building school culture it’s very important to understand WHO your activities are reaching and HOW often you are reaching different groups of people. Often times our activity programs are only reaching certain groups over and over, while neglecting...
Today’s teens are feeling increasingly overwhelmed, stressed and anxious, warns the American Psychological Association. In fact, many adolescents actually experience more stress than adults. Studies report that common reasons for this include high parental...
While searching for One-Eyed Willie’s Treasure, the Goonies hit all kinds of crazy obstacles: lethal traps, nasty gangsters, and bizarre riddles. But they carried a powerful motto: “Goonies never say die!” The Goonies emboldened millions of Generation X’ers with an...
You want to build school culture. You want to extend guidance. You want to improve grades and attendance. But you’re already working through lunch, balancing a razor-thin budget, and hacking through miles of red tape! What if I told you there was a solution to all...
Are you ready to start your year off right? If you are like me, the sight of a disorganized office or classroom is overwhelming and disorienting! And the knowledge of an unorganized counseling or teaching program is worse! For that reason, I have compiled a list of my...
Texas school counselors are outnumbered 500 students to one counselor. Where I grew up in California, the ratio is 900 to one. Your school probably faces the same challenge, which is overwhelming by itself. But when you add the… Social-emotional issues Career...
TEEN TRUTH is heading into our 12th school year, and over that time we haven’t spoken much on politics. However, with recent education related changes coming down the pipe, and some of the frenzy that I see on Facebook amongst my educator friends, I feel the...
My dad, a teacher of 30+ years, once told me, “The three best things about being a teacher are winter break, spring break, and summer break.” Congratulations! You made it through another year! In a profession that suffers from so much burnout, it’s so cool to...
I know cost is a major issue for schools, and that you are working within razor-thin budgets. That’s why I want to save you $1,800 in your school guidance efforts. The RISING UP Trainer Certification Course is ideal for school counselors, after-school...
Last year, my friend Pete told me, “School culture is the first thing on every admin’s list. The problem is we have so much &@#$ to deal with, we never get the time to focus on it!” Those words struck me. They made me recall all the exhausted principals I’d...
I enjoyed my time in school and it troubles me deeply to see students in pain. In my work with TEEN TRUTH & RISING UP I have met suicidal students, and I have seen so many overcome negative thinking and adversity. So all this talk about Netflix’s 13 Reason’s Why...
In the new Netflix show “13 Reasons Why,” teenager Hannah Baker dies by suicide. Before she takes her own life, she makes a series of tapes expressing the reasons she did it. In her tapes, Hannah highlights bullying, rumors that were spread about her, and ways other...
She had the plans. She had the weapons. And judging by her journal, she had the motivation to commit the biggest school shooting since Columbine. Luckily someone stepped in and notified the authorities, neutralizing the threat and avoiding our next massacre. I can’t...
“Don’t do for students what they can do for themselves.” This philosophy was taught to me by one of my mentors, the great Kathleen Bethke, a wonderful educator and veteran after-school professional. Each time I’ve applied it, I’ve seen students grow in profound ways....
Nearly one-quarter of junior high school students and more than 15 percent of high school students reported being cyberbullied in 2015. And, since 2007, the number of people who have at some point in their lives experienced cyberbullying has almost doubled as of 2016....
I have often mentioned how visiting over 1,000 schools has helped me to develop our Student Ownership M.A.P., which is a time-tested theory that school culture can be easily built through your message, your activities, and your people. So I want to take a few moments...
The first time I attended CADA was about 10 years ago. The great Turbo Garcia asked me to come speak in a breakout session. I’d never been to CADA before, but boy did it leave an imprint on my soul. It was an amazing conference with the best educators and...
Every school has a slogan. I assume your school has one as well, but is it working? In my book, Building School Culture From the Inside Out, I highlight the importance of a school slogan and discuss how just a few simple words can drive school culture and create...
In 2017 we will be visiting schools and communities across America, offering several opportunities for you to attend TEEN TRUTH and RISING UP events. While most of our trainings are closed events, the programs listed below are open to the public. They’ve been...
