I love to use Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to teach students about the happiness derived from helping and serving others. This is a great unit to teach around the holidays, if culturally appropriate, and to even include film clips …
Young readers love to experience the children’s classic “Not a Box” by Antoinette Portis as a read-aloud in class. This book provides a fun and easy-to-understand example of the value of critical thinking and creativity. I would use the Socrates’ …
Before having students read Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau (or an excerpt), I would start a discussion using the conversation about responsibility from Dr. Seuss. This discussion will get students thinking about the role of the individual and how …
In Norma Jean, Jumping Bean the main character is a young kangaroo who must learn to follow rules. When she gets in trouble for jumping, she resolves to never jump again. By the end of the story, she has the …
Many people believe that one must suffer in order to achieve success and happiness, or that people can only appreciate success once they’ve known true hardship. Before reading James and the Giant Peach, in which a young, mistreated orphan embarks …
I would use the book Walking for My Life, written by Jennifer Dewey, to teach students about the ways in which suffering can help a person become more knowledgeable and understanding. In this story, the narrator walks through the desert …
