Learn how to coach students more effectively by using the Triage vs. Proactive Coaching framework. This summer, deepen your executive function toolkit with flexible, brain-based PD inside the Anti-Boring Learning Lab—designed for educators who want to help students build sustainable academic habits.

Finals season is here—and if you're an academic coach who also runs a business, you know how intense this time of year can be. In this behind-the-scenes look at the Rock Your Biz community, we explore what real-life coaching entrepreneurs are talking about: intake calls, tricky client dynamics, ethical marketing, and building a business that actually feels good. If you're craving business support that’s thoughtful, heart-centered, and aligned with how you serve students—this is for you.

Discover common finals prep mistakes students, teachers, and academic coaches make—and how brain-based strategies can help fix them.

I recently got this email from a mom about how to get her 2e son to double-check his work before he turns it in.

A quick definition, for those who don’t know: “2e” is a shortened form for the phrase “twice exceptional.” This is a descriptor often used for intellectually advanced students, otherwise known as “gifted,” who also have a learning disability such as, but not limited to, dyslexia, ADHD, or autism.

When we hear the phrase 2e, we don’t know exactly what this student’s combination of strengths and challenges is, but we do know that he is both extremely gifted in some cognitive domains and extremely challenged in others.

So what’s the exact question? Let’s hear it in the mom’s own words:

“Hi Gretchen, I am a mother of two neurodivergent children, age 11 & 12, and have truly appreciated your Study Cycle to share with my kids. My daughter has inattentive ADHD and these tools will really help her. 

However, my son is twice exceptional.  He definitely doesn’t need repetition most of the time to retain material and until this year almost received 100% on all of his assignments and tests and scores 99% on standardized tests. 

This year though he is starting to make mistakes.  He will get back his work and be so mad at himself b/c there are “silly mistakes.” We have told him many times to double-check his work, and he says he is.  I’m sure this story doesn’t surprise you in describing a neurodivergent kid. 

Do you have “tools” for teaching students how to best double-check their work so they don’t make mistakes on material they actually know well?”

Oooh. Such a great question that I bet a lot of parents, coaches, tutors, and educators of neurospicy students have. In this article we dig into several action steps to take including: digging deeper into the student’s experience, making a checklist, conducting a mistake analysis, creating a homework and test-taking routine, and, maybe most important, unpacking internalized ableism.

Recently I received this email from a school-based teacher who is helping her students prepare for final exams:

“I recently switched jobs, and I teach high school (I used to teach early childhood). I am teaching in small groups and supporting students who have learning disabilities and/or ADD/ADHD etc. 

In your videos, you’ve mentioned the importance of their working memory, and I understand the value of it. However, when I Google to find some activities to practice working memory with high school students, the ideas are too elementary and wouldn’t work in my small group setting. 

Do you have any good ideas/games/activities to help me practice working memory with high school students?”

What a great question!! At first glance, it seems pretty straightforward. There must be fun games to help students practice working memory, right?!

Well… sort of. The answer is more complicated than you think, though. And the best way to reveal this complexity is to narrate blow-by-blow what happened next…

It’s graduation season here in the United States… and in the Anti-Boring Learning Lab, as well.

We opened the new-and-improved Learning Lab in March 2024, and the first cohort of coaches is wrapping up their learning of the Anti-Boring Toolkit and submitting their applications to become Certified Anti-Boring Coaches.

Congratulations! Today I thought it’d be fun to celebrate some of our newly minted Anti-Boring Coaches, in their own words.

As a part of their application for certification, we ask coaches to submit:

• Hone It Notes. A set of “Hone It Notes” where they consolidate all their learning onto one graphic organizer (this is a process we teach them to teach students how to do, so, of course, we ask the educators to do it for themselves!)

• Reflection Paper. A paper where they reflect on their main takeaways from this training, and how it has impacted their work with students.

• Testimonial. If they found their training to be transformative, they are invited to share a testimonial that we can share with the public.

Let’s take a look at some of excerpts from these incredible educators’ final reflections about how their coaching and teaching has improved with the Anti-Boring Toolkit.

When I originally designed the Anti-Boring mini-lectures, I created the video series intentionally for 6th grade and up. I had been a middle school teacher back in the day, and so it seemed right to talk directly to that age group.

However, I’ve gotten word through the years that many of the Anti-Boring Certified Coaches who have gone through my training use the mini-lectures with students who are much younger than 6th grade, with only slight adaptations. So let’s explore this topic in more detail!