There is a fable about a man who fell from the edge of a cliff. As he tumbled through the air, he desperately grabbed and clung to a branch that grew from the wall of the cliff. He cried out, “Is there anyone out there who can help me?” “I can help...
“We do not tolerate racism at our school,” said Mrs. Kurt, a fifth-grade teacher. “We ignore skin color and only see our students,” agreed Mr. Tucker. I wondered how it was possible to see children, but not the color of their skin. All of us enrolled in the...
I posted short journaling activities for my seventh grade students on the board every morning. Students responded to each statement or question in their writing notebooks when they entered the classroom. I designed the journaling activities to serve as springboards...
“I want to do something splendid … Something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead,” wrote Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women. I read Little Women in 1968; 100 years after it was first published. “A significant emotional event can be the...
