Great post on the MindShift blog. During a student’s advisory time, she sits with a group of her peers and has the opportunity to discuss everything from current school assignments to dealing with stress. This practice would be great to introduce on the first day of high school (or any K-12 grade) because the students start to develop a sense of community and hopefully understanding and awareness of their other classmates concerns before they get too caught up in their own high school life. More importantly, it turns the attention from what a student does/doesn’t know to what she needs to express. Students are in school five days a week, eight hours a day. At some point in their school, they should have a moment to slow down and work their projects and concerns out in that same environment, so that the school environment becomes a place where support, on multiple levels, can occur. This kind of group practice acknowldegs that students are more than their school work and that other students have similar concerns but dont know how/if it’s okay to express them. The school should act as a facilitator because teenagers are still growing into themselves. Schools should lead by example and understand that This kind of positive atmosphere, I’m sure, gets carried over to other classes, if only for a few students.