How Making Sand Mandalas Is Like Teaching

How Making Sand Mandalas Is Like Teaching

Have you heard of sand mandalas? They are created by Buddhist monks. It takes years of study for a monk to learn all that needs to be known about creating sand mandalas. Groups of monks work together to create them. A group chooses a design and sketches it out with...
Reading Opens Hearts, Minds to Change the World

Reading Opens Hearts, Minds to Change the World

Interactive reading is one way I engage my fourth graders in learning about new people and places. Recently, we’ve used this approach with books by Malala Yousafzai and Jane Goodall. “Have you heard of Malala?” I asked my students when introducing them to her book...
Be Kind: A Simple Practice to Change the World

Be Kind: A Simple Practice to Change the World

Alex Kotlowitz is one of my favorite non-fiction writers. He wrote a remarkable book in 1992 titled There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America. It’s the story of Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, 11- and 9-year-old brothers...