A STONE OF HOPE/in honor of MLK
While I occasionally visit schools to discuss my books, I’ve been out of the classroom for a long time and no longer have the opportunity to offer kids that safe space where a closed door shuts out the noise of the world and together we create our own classroom culture, a place of acceptance, kindness and twizzler moments. (see earlier post ;) A classroom gradually becomes a kind of family, a unit of shared values and experiences. From the beginning of my teaching career I was aware that what I'd be teaching was far more than important nouns, verbs and how to diagram a sentence. Though I certainly did love diagramming sentences, I always hoped I'd give my students something more essential to remember than proper sentence structure. I’ve been thinking about classrooms and students a lot lately. Worrying about kids growing up surrounded by the abject cruelty surrounding us. I wish there were something more I could do to help them navigate a world that seems to be crumbling. I h...
