Michael Gaskell
(He/Him)
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My focus is on solutions to common problems, in ways that are refreshing and unconventional. I weave science with anecdotal evidence and my 25 years of experience as an educational leader
Articles by Michael Gaskell
Teaching Digital Citizenship and Literacy to Families and the School Community
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Pixabay Ensuring students’ safety and responsibility online must be a priority for schools. While educators often focus on teaching students about digital citizenship and literacy within the classroom, it is important to engage parents and the entire school community. School leaders play a critical role in fostering this.
School Leadership: How to Make Lemonade
Michael Gaskell July 23, 2024 at 2:00 AM·4 min read When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Pixabay As school leaders, we are all handed lemons during our career, for which it is easier to blame others: bureaucracy, bad bosses, politics and more. Yet, the best leaders turn a bittersweet experience to their advantage, sweetening their approach with sugar.
Lifelong Learning: Modeling for Students and Faculty
Michael Gaskell June 4, 2024 at 5:00 AM·5 min read I have tried to stay fit since my teens, and four decades later, I was still training at the same intensity until pain in my joints creeped in. Like any stubborn person in denial, I ignored it and suffered. Then I spent a weekend with my sister and her husband, who showed me an innovative approach to strength training that would put less stress on my joints and at the same time increase my strength.
Helping Adolescents Thrive in the Age of Social Media Blitz
Veteran school principal, podcaster and author Mike Gaskell has served in leadership roles across grades K-8. By Mike Gaskell In today’s hyper-connected world, adolescents face extraordinary social media distractions. Social media can negatively disrupt focus, well-being, and healthy social development in developing minds and bodies. The lure of social media is so strong it hijacks time from important activities like homework, reading, exercise, and face-to-face interaction.
Take Advantage of Peak Learning Times for Middle School Kids
Dr. Michael S. Gaskell is an education author and long-time middle grades principal in New Jersey. By Mike Gaskell In various leadership roles, I’ve had the opportunity to visit hundreds of schools over my career. During those many visits, I’ve observed that approaches to timing are as critical as the content delivered if we are to optimize success opportunities for our middle school learners.
Guiding students away from social media disruption and toward productivity
In our highly interconnected world, children are perpetually bombarded with distracting noise from social media. These platforms can adversely affect concentration, overall well-being, and the natural social development of young minds and bodies. The allure of social media is so great that it diverts precious time away from essential activities such as homework, reading, exercise, and face-to-face interactions. These disruptions not only impair focus on tasks but also hamper productivity.
Navigating AI Biases in The Classroom
navigating ai biases Generative AI offers many advantages for educators, for use in and out of the classroom. Yet understanding the unintended biases that permeate within such a massive ecosystem is critical to effectively leveraging it. As teachers and, yes, students will be using it, the question is do we want them to do so correctly, recognize bias, and navigate around it? The answer is indisputable. Here are a few examples of why biases persist, and how to navigate around them.
Here's How My Middle School Kept Kids From Failing During Pandemic Isolation
Dr. Michael Gaskell has been the principal of Hammarskjold Middle School in East Brunswick, New Jersey, since 2006. Prior to this, he was a special educator and assistant principal in Paramus, New Jersey. Dr. Gaskell achieved his doctorate in educational leadership and continues to model the pursuit of lifelong learning as he serves as a mentor to new principals in schools and districts through the NJEA Leaders to Leaders program.
Now More Than Ever, Students Need “Small Wins” to Put Big Goals in Reach - ASCD
Jess high-fived her teacher. She had just mastered the skills for Level U reading, which included demonstrating the ability to predict, summarize, and infer from text. She was ready to move onto the next level, V (critiquing and synthesizing text), but first her learning milestone was celebrated by everyone in the class. While it was just one step forward, honoring Jess’s progress mattered in huge ways.
How to influence your audience by getting them to live through your story
Rating I can remember my first speech, tethered to the rules and restrictions outlined by the lesson. As a middle-school child, I stood unprepared, nervous, and wondering if my audience was going to tear me apart. What’s more, I was being graded. My teacher was friendly, kind, and had that warm, youthful smile you see on teachers who love their work. It didn’t matter, I had no idea how to gain the interest of my audience and I desperately wanted to crawl under my desk.
Carrying ideas out of quarantine- how teachers mastered more in crisis:
As a young 20-something teacher back in the 1990s, I can remember my first workshop, charged with teaching veteran educators how to use the Internet for research and educational purposes. The first 20 minutes of that workshop consisted of me imploring strong willed teachers that they could use the Internet to their advantage.
Study Guide: Restraint, seclusion and ongoing efforts to rethink school discipline
The U.S. Department of Education's latest Civil Rights Data Collection release, covering the 2017-18 school year, showed 101,990 students nationwide were subjected to restraint or seclusion disciplinary practices that academic year. Of students restrained and secluded, 78% and 77%, respectively, were students with disabilities.
3 steps to help students' learning after the pandemic
We were all immersed in the moment, navigating our way through a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. Now we must turn our attention to how we return children to school and how we focus on students’ learning. Here’s how: 1. Start with fun: Build relationships early and often. Remember how important icebreakers are? Multiply that by 10. Remember, kids are not only returning from summer break, but from a world-altering event. It is sometimes hard to know how impacting this can be.
Institutionalizing equity through video instruction
While families have had to wait out a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, I could not help but think about our most at-risk students–those with the least resources, the biggest gaps, and the largest hurdles. Unfortunately, many of these children are already at a significant disadvantage. They are disadvantaged children without the same resources as other children. Therefore, it is not only important to help them; it is our responsibility as educators to do something about this gap.
Leveraging new parent appreciation benefits students
Michael Gaskell is the principal at Hammarskjold Middle School in East Brunswick, New Jersey. I survey parents, students and teachers all the time about their school experience. I survey them about their perceptions of our school community, how we can help students learn better and what we can do to help address student mental wellness.These surveys help me gauge my school communities' views on how we are managing our job of educating children.
Love in a Time of Distance Learning
Dr. Michael Gaskell has been the principal of Hammarskjold Middle School in East Brunswick, New Jersey, since 2006. Prior to this, he was a special educator and assistant principal in Paramus, New Jersey. Dr. Gaskell achieved his doctorate in educational leadership and continues to model the pursuit of lifelong learning as he serves as a mentor to new principals in schools and districts through the NJEA Leaders to Leaders program.
Michael Gaskell - Education Post
Guest Blogger Principal, Hammarskjold Middle School East Brunswick, New Jersey Dr. Michael Gaskell is Principal at Hammarskjold Middle School in East Brunswick, NJ. following experience as a special educator and assistant principal in Paramus, NJ. He continues to model the pursuit of lifelong learning as he serves to mentor new principals through the New Jersey Leaders to Leaders program.
The Blindside Project: How to reverse the discipline cycle with existing resources
Mike Gaskell is principal of Hammarskjold Middle School in East Brunswick, New Jersey. If you have ever seen the movie "The Blindside," you can appreciate that given the right conditions, regardless of a child's upbringing, he or she can succeed beyond all expectations.
3 ways to combat the effects of trauma on campus
The impact of trauma poses a substantial risk to students–something that is recognized more now than ever before. Increased reports of trauma and tragic circumstances resulting from trauma–such as increases in at-risk behaviors, and even suicide–are bonafide challenges schools face today. Students need adults and school communities that foster for them the freedom to make their own decisions and to learn in a safe environment while at liberty to take reasonable risks.
3 ways our school is fighting back against trauma
The impact of trauma poses a substantial risk to students--something that is recognized more now than ever before. Increased reports of trauma and tragic circumstances resulting from trauma--such as increases in at-risk behaviors, and even suicide--are bonafide challenges schools face today. Students need adults and school communities that foster for them the freedom to make their own decisions and to learn in a safe environment while at liberty to take reasonable risks.
How to tackle testing trauma in 4 effective ways
It’s that time of year again. Standardized testing is making its way throughout American schools, and with it, nerves are ramping up. Because high-stakes tests happen all year (e.g., midterms, formal assessments), you can use any or all of these strategies at any time. However, they are especially helpful during the intensity of high-stakes testing season. These strategies are quick, easily adaptable to any school setting, and work with all age groups.
How to change your school culture on the cheap
If you’ve ever been to a special event, a professional or collegiate game, or even a fundraiser, you likely observed a promoter, DJ, or other variation of a court jester launching promotional t-shirts into the crowd. Everyone goes crazy and, as the t-shirts are tossed or shot out of a cannon, people jump up to grab the items with energy and excitement. Why? Is this t-shirt a first edition made exclusive by Ralph Lauren? Made out of diamonds? Certainly not.
Feeling the midyear slump? Recharge your meetings with MicroPD
As principal of a middle school, I meet weekly with teachers and school counselors to discuss team and department progress of our students. I know that teachers—tasked with helping students achieve and dealing with adolescents—can quickly become energy depleted, even disenfranchised, seeing slow progress for the most at-risk and time-consuming among our students.
How to cut your bus disciplinary referrals by 67 percent
Several years ago, my school adopted a Positive Behavior Support Program (PBSIS) program. Solutions to persistent problems pointed school climate in the right direction, reduced disciplinary referrals, and tackled bullying incidents (suspensions decreased by four times, and bullying incidents by three times). PBSIS and programs like it are replicable, if school communities and their leaders are patient and sustained in adoption. Resources are available for free.
One small, shy child changed my school’s dress code
So often, when children attempt to advocate for something they believe in at school, adults make the mistake of getting defensive and worse, stand by the mantra that “This is the way things are,” without ever examining why they are the way they are. Last spring, as the weather warmed in New Jersey, we announced and reposted our dress code. Rather than the usual murmurs and griping about fairness we often hear among middle-school adolescents, an interesting thing happened.
Looking for a way to lower suspensions and reduce bullying?
Suspension has been a commonly used disciplinary method in schools for decades. Unfortunately, it also has no positive impact on students. What’s worse, these same children often develop a dislike for law enforcement that lasts into adulthood. This is a dangerous cycle that we have to stop to help students stay in school, develop positive relationships with adults in positions of authority, and achieve greater success. At my school, we found a solution.
Zap life into your feedback with technology
If you’re like any other teacher or administrator I know, you are busy. You need to deliver effective instruction to your students, meet the demands of your school and district, and manage your own personal responsibilities, all at the same time. You have good intentions about giving feedback that is timely and purposeful for your students or teachers. With limited time, how do you go about doing this?
Run your meetings edcamp style: The un-faculty faculty meeting
If you’re like most educators, you don’t have the time to waste on unproductive faculty meetings. That’s why administrators and teacher leaders should transform faculty meetings into engaging professional development (PD) opportunities. We did that in my school and increased faculty attendance by 10 percent on faculty meeting days! You can find out more about how we did this here. Want to take it even further with engaging, interactive professional learning community (PLC)-style faculty meetings?
Using technology to embrace the “un-faculty” meeting
I’m not sure if teachers dreaded faculty meetings more than I did, but while standing in an auditorium filled with tired-looking faculty after a long day of teaching, I sometimes had this thought: If I did a dance or paused unsuspectingly, would that gain their attention, even if only for a moment? We ask teachers to sit and focus at their lowest energy cycle of the day. It’s no wonder—as with kids—we see distractibility, disinterest, and frustration.
We used technology to increase attendance at PTA meetings
When I became principal of a middle school in New Jersey, I heard how supportive our parents were. Behind the veil, there’s always something to work on and I wanted to explore that. My first PTA meetings reassured me that we needed to find a way to improve the drastically low attendance. At the meetings, we typically see about 12 to 15 attendees, usually the executive board and a handful of parents.
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