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Al Jazeera estrena Documental sobre nuestra Propuesta Educativa

Recientemente, Al Jazeera English, la cadena de televisión más importante de Medio Oriente, lanzó una nueva serie documental llamada “Rebel Education” o Educación Rebelde, para presentar a “los visionarios que están rompiendo paradigmas en el mundo de la educación”.  Seis propuestas educativas fueron reseñadas, cada una en su propio documental de 25 minutos. Me siento profundamente honrada por formar parte de este grupo de “rebeldes”, y por tener la oportunidad de resaltar la importancia de la educación temprana y el gran potencial de los niños pequeños. El programa que se realizó sobre mi historia con Colegio Valle de Filadelfia y Los Institutos para el Logro del Potencial Humano se tituló “Mexico: The Power of Early Education”. Este fue el episodio elegido para inaugurar la serie, cuyo estreno mundial fue el 2 de Enero de 2017.

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El documental es el resultado de una semana de filmaciones, en las que participaron  alumnos, ex alumnos, maestros y padres, bajo la dirección de Tim Froggatt y las cámaras de Arturo Fons, ambos por parte de la casa productora británica Glasshead. Tras la filmación, un equipo de post producción se encargó de dar forma y vida a la historia. Pero el trabajo comenzó mucho antes, desde las primeras entrevistas por Skype con Dorothy Stiven, líder del proyecto, y su equipo. Con todos ellos estamos profundamente agradecidos.

Muchas otras personas intervinieron en la realización del documental. El Dr. Carlos Hinojosa y las Maestras Griselda Vázquez y Linda Carrillo de Haro, quienes durante muchos años fueron supervisores de las tres secciones de nuestra escuela, accedieron a ser entrevistados. También tuvimos la valiosa colaboración del equipo del programa Prospera, con quienes, en conjunto con Los Institutos, estamos haciendo un proyecto en favor de la educación temprana de los niños mexicanos en situación de pobreza.

Compartimos este documental en el canal de YouTube de Al Jazeera English. El programa está en español, con subtítulos en inglés.

 

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The Best Holiday Gifts for Your Students: Top Global Teacher Bloggers

Originally posted By  on Dec 24, 2016: Top Global Teacher Bloggers

2016-12-21-1482296833-4746560-cmrubinworldTGTB_December500.jpgThe Holidays are such a special time of year! Our lives take on a larger meaning as we think about our family, our extended family and our long-lost friends. It’s a time of giving and reflection.

Our Global Teacher Bloggers are pioneers and innovators in fields such as technology integration, mathematics coaching, special needs education, science instruction, and gender equity. They have founded schools, written curricula, and led classrooms in 13 different countries that stretch across every populated continent on earth. These teachers empower and enrich the lives of young people from nearly every background imaginable.

Today in The Global Search for Education, our Top Global Teacher Bloggers share their answers to this month’s question: What’s the best gift you would recommend for your students this holiday season?

“The technological gift that I wish for every student,” writes Adam Steiner (@steineredtech), “is to find a platform for giving voice to their passions and to feel that their voice is heard. When we give students the power to be creators, we give them confidence; we give students their digital voice and a source of internal strength to use it.” Read More.

“The best gift I would love all my students to have is the ability to find peace inside themselves,” writes Elisa Guerra (@ElisaGuerraCruz), “regardless of what is going on outside. Then, no matter how dark the world might get, their souls will always find a way to shine.” Read More.

“As we reflect on the year, it’s also important to reflect on exactly who we each are, our strengths, our weaknesses, our assumptions, and our truths,” writes Richard Wells (@EduWells). “A mirror might remind students to consider these points and in turn, remind their school that without formally recognising the importance of reflection and rationalised thought, learning is shallow and facts go unchallenged.” Read More.

Maarit Rossi (@pathstomath) recommends the blog of Kirsti Savikko, Headteacher in Kähäri school, Turku, Finland, who writes: “So what do I tell my students to do during the holiday? Play games? Perhaps. Get some rest? Sleep late? Forget the school? Read some extra? Reread the subjects? This list could also be quite long. But what I really would like to give them is a gift. Not just any gift or present wrapped in a silver paper. The gift of dreaming…” Read More.

“Every elementary teacher, history teacher, science teacher, and English teacher should engage learners in activities in which they distinguish between real and fake news, reputable social media posts and disreputable ones, credible author credentials and false ones, hard news or op-eds,” writes Todd Finley (@finleyt) in Greenville, North Carolina. “Democracy is humankind’s highest aspiration. Gift students with the tools to preserve it.” Read More.

“While gifts are fun, when not everybody has them,” writes Miriam Mason-Sesay (@EducAidSL), “it creates a two-tier society where some are left out and only some feel special. We will be encouraging all of our young people to do kind things instead of giving gifts and the gift they will receive in turn will be the peace of mind that comes with being loving and generous.” Read More.

“Children are our future,” writes Rashmi Kathuria (@rashkath). “We feel happy when they are happy. In India we celebrate all festivals. Here, the summer break is the longest break. In general for a holiday season we tell our students to enjoy to the fullest and spend good time with family and friends.” Rashmi’s many gift recommendations include “a lesson of empathy and humanity so that they can be a part of beautiful, peaceful, healthy and harmonious world” and “getting connected on social networking sites, sharing pictures and news.” Read More.

Warren Sparrow (@wsparrowsa) has many wishes students around the world. He says, “be encouraged to take the chance and learn something new today, do not be afraid to go against the main stream and actually be prepared to work, embrace different cultures, people and encourage diversity, do something for other people, do not just think of yourself, be proud of what you could possibly achieve, have a goal and strive to achieve it, be kind to others, you do not know what baggage they are carrying…” Read More.

“To give that “one gift” you need to know the child,” writes Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) from Camilla, Georgia. “Look at what they love and help them create and investigate. Give them a gift that stokes the flame of curiosity and sparks their imagination. When you give gifts that spur kids on from consumer to a creator, they’ll become more curious.” Read More.

“If we could learn from frost and snow and try to provide different opportunities for our kids to experience magic, to foster creativity and to simply play outside, it would be the greatest gift for them this holiday season,” writes Dana Narvaiša (@dana_narvaisa). Check out the creativity that students from Cesis New school are enjoying outdoors. Read More.

“This holiday season, I wanted presents that would last longer than a few hours and hopefully inspire the recipients throughout the New Year,” writes Blogger at Large Beth Holland (@brholland). “These seemed like fantastic options to achieve that goal.” Beth’s suggestions include “Kiwi Crate,” which aims to inspire a new generation of “scientists, artists, and makers,” and the “Extraordinaires Design Studio.” Read More.

“The average income in Brownsville is $28,000 ($11,000 in the housing projects), this can also create an emotional burden on our scholars from peer pressure when they return from winter vacation without something new and fancy,” writes Nadia Lopez (@TheLopezEffect). “I wanted to make sure that my scholars came back renewed from the holiday break and ready to invest in their learning, which is how I came up with creating t-shirt designs that would serve to empower each of them on a daily basis.” Read More.

The Top Global Teacher Bloggers is a monthly series where educators across the globe offer experienced yet unique takes on today’s most important topics. CMRubinWorld utilizes the platform to propagate the voices of the most indispensable people of our learning institutions – teachers.

(Photo is courtesy of CMRubinWorld)

2016-07-25-1469487170-9954573-cmrubinworldtopglobalteacherbloggers_headshots500.jpgTop Row, left to right: Adam Steiner, Santhi Karamcheti, Pauline Hawkins2nd Row: Elisa Guerra, Humaira Bachal, C M Rubin, Todd Finley, Warren Sparrow3rd Row: Nadia Lopez, Katherine Franco Cardernas, Craig Kemp,
Rashmi Kathuria, Maarit RossiBottom Row: Dana Narvaisa, Richard Wells, Vicki Davis, Miriam Mason-Sesay GSE-logo-RylBlu

C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland, is the publisher of CMRubinWorld, and is a Disruptor Foundation Fellow.

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Worst Christmas, Best Gift

Some years ago I almost had the worst Christmas ever.

I won’t get into details, but there were many things going wrong.

Life is not always easy and Christmas is not always merry. And when lots of things are not going your way, it’s easy to loose sight of the ones that are.

Then, just four days before Christmas, on my birthday, my 16-year- old daughter gave me a little present. I opened the neatly wrapped box to find a framed picture of both of us, a remembrance of a trip to New York in brighter times. Over the glass covering the photo she had written a message in permanent marker: “It gets better”. And included hugs and kisses: XOXO. I realized that things were gray but not pitch dark. I was fortunate in still many other ways. Annie’s gift gave me perspective.

Annie's giftThat picture, and that phrase, got me through Christmas. It did get better. Over time, much, much better. There have been other hard moments since then, of course, and the little framed picture has always worked its magic. My daughter had taught me a lesson on resilience.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! When most people say these phrases, they want to convey their good wishes for prosperity and well being. But, what happens when the world around you is dark? Difficult times do not usually take a break for the holidays. Sometimes they even get worse, precisely in December.

Did you know that suicide rates actually rise over Christmas?

This season, some of my kids from school will be mourning a lost grandparent or older sibling. Another one will be dealing with her parent’s ongoing divorce. Some families will be struggling financially.

I think about my students and all the stories I know – and the ones I don’t – and although I can’t wrap up resilience and present it as a gift to them, I wish that they, too, had a nice framed picture of themselves and precise words to remind them how special and strong they are. It doesn’t matter if most of them are not going trough a storm just right now –sooner or later, they will.

There’s something powerful about being able to see yourself at your best. Somehow, it kind of shows you the way back there. Heartfelt words like “You are able to achieve your dreams”, “Life is tough, but you are tougher”, “You are talented and bright” and “This is you, at your best” can really work wonders. At least, they did for me.

The best gift I would love all my students to have is the ability to find peace inside themselves – regardless of what is going on outside. Then, no matter how dark the world might get, their souls will always find a way to shine.

As part of Cathy Rubin’s Top Global Teacher Bloggers, this is my answer for this month’s question: What’s the best gift you would recommend for your students this holiday season?

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Sopa de Letras Filadelfia

Una mañana de trabajo en el Colegio Karol Wojtyla. Primera parada: Miss Ednna y Miss María José, con un grupo de 3o de preescolar.

Como autora de la Serie Filadelfia para el Aprendizaje Temprano del “Método Filadelfia” con Pearson, con frecuencia tengo la oportunidad de visitar escuelas que están llevando a cabo un programa de Lectura Temprana con nuestros libros. Es maravilloso poder sentarme en el fondo del salón, como si fuera una niña más en la clase, y observar a mis colegas docentes en acción.

Este mes de Diciembre estuve en el Karol Wojtyla, en Tehuacán, Puebla. En los próximos días seguiré compartiendo algunas de las muchas ideas que pude ver en marcha, y que pueden servir de inspiración a otras maestras y escuelas que estén trabajando con el método. Comencemos con una actividad que podríamos llamar Sopa de Letras Filadelfia.

Llegamos al salón de tercer grado atendido por la maestra Ednna Mariela y la auxiliar María José. La puerta del salón estaba muy bien ambientada con el país del mes para este grupo, Grecia (según el programa de nuestro libro Yo Conozco)

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yo-conozco-3oLos temas de cultura global están a la vista de los niños: Este mes conoceremos sobre Grecia, admiraremos las pinturas de Rubens y escucharemos la música de Brahms.

La rutina comienza cuando Ednna reparte a cada niño una tarjeta diferente y les pide identificar quién tiene la palabra “viernes” y “diciembre”. Posteriormente, los niños ordenan la frase “¿Cómo me siento?” en el pizarrón y dan su respuesta: feliz. Posteriormente la maestra muestra las palabras de la semana. Es viernes, y los niños ya las conocen muy bien, así es que son ellos quienes las leen.

En este video podemos ver cómo transcurrió esta rutina:

Más tarde, Ednna proyecta la lectura de la semana y la lee con los niños. Ahora ellos deberán encontrar las palabras resaltadas y emparejarlas con las tarjetas de lectura que su maestra ha dispuesto a un lado de la proyección.

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Todas estas actividades sirvieron como preparación para llegar a la Sopa de Letras con palabras Filadelfia. Ednna proyecta la sopa de letras y les pide a los niños encontrar las palabras de la semana. Cuando uno de ellos encuentra alguna, pasa al frente a encerrarla.

sopa-de-letras-filadelfiaMuchas gracias a Miss Ednna, Miss María José  y a todo el equipo del Colegio Karol Wojtyla por permitirme acompañarles en una mañana de trabajo.  ¡Muy pronto publicaré algunas ideas más, de las muchas observadas!

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Rompecabezas de palabras

Como autora de la Serie Filadelfia para el Aprendizaje Temprano del “Método Filadelfia” con Pearson, con frecuencia tengo la oportunidad de visitar escuelas que están llevando a cabo un programa de Lectura Temprana con nuestros libros. Es maravilloso poder sentarme en el fondo del salón, como si fuera una niña más en la clase, y observar a mis colegas docentes en acción.

En este mes de Noviembre estuve en el Colegio Benavente, en Puebla. En los próximos días compartiré algunas de las muchas ideas que pude ver en marcha, y que pueden servir de inspiración a otras maestras y escuelas que estén trabajando con el método. Comencemos con una actividad de “Rompecabezas de palabras”.

Miss Paty, maestra de segundo grado de preescolar, presentó con mucho entusiasmo las palabras de la semana.

lectura temprana Filadelfia

palabras Filadelfia lectura temprana

Su salón estaba muy bien ambientado con palabras retiradas de otras semanas, que los niños usan con frecuencia.

Después de la presentación de palabras, los pequeños se dieron a la tarea de encontrar esas mismas palabras en su libro “Yo Escribo”. Para ello se apoyaron de las palabras en tamaño individual. Miss Paty se aseguró de que todos los niños que necesitaban ayuda la obtuvieran. Siguió mostrándoles cada una de las palabras mesa por mesa.

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Al terminar esta actividad, Miss Paty tenía ya un sobre preparado para cada niño. Y dentro del sobre, las piezas de un rompecabezas, con una de las cinco palabras de la semana. Nadie sabía qué palabra le había tocado: había que armarla. Algunos niños requirieron de nuestro apoyo, otros pudieron armar su palabra independientemente.

armando palabras Filadelfia

 

armando palabras Filadelfia

Finalmente, conforme los pequeños lograban armar sus palabras, las identificaban con las que estaban pegadas en el pizarrón. En un corto lapso de tiempo, los niños tuvieron la oportunidad de visualizar las palabras por lo menos 4 o 5 veces, en un ambiente estimulante, con lo cual logran una mejor retención de las mismas.

Palabras Filadelfia lectura temprana

Muchas gracias a Miss Paty y a todo el equipo del Colegio Benavente, en Puebla, por permitirme acompañarles en una mañana de trabajo.  ¡Muy pronto publicaré algunas ideas más, de las muchas observadas!

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For Volatile Times – Lessons From the World’s Classrooms

5833bc12180000290c30f5bbChildren are Listening. We live in a world of infinite connectivity, and following a “global” event such as the recent US Election 2016 (the world’s No. 1 economy), many parents and other adults say they are still struggling with what to say and share with children and what not to say. Children around the world witnessed the often aggressive tone of the election’s rhetoric, and indeed, teachers across the United States have acknowledged that many classrooms are still full of anxiety and concerns. In an age of widespread digital technologies, it is virtually impossible to entirely buffer children from the constant messaging. How should educators support children in uncertain times?

Our Global Teacher Bloggers are pioneers and innovators in fields such as technology integration, mathematics coaching, special needs education, science instruction, and gender equity. They have founded schools, written curricula, and led classrooms in 13 different countries that stretch across every populated continent on earth. These teachers empower and enrich the lives of young people from nearly every background imaginable.

Today in The Global Search for Education, our Top Global Teacher Bloggers share their answers to this month’s question: How do you as teachers support children who are confused or frightened by events going on in their world?

“There has been much negative talk about Mexicans,” writes Elisa Guerra (@ElisaGuerraCruz) who teaches in Mexico. “Shouting insults back to those who insult us will not make much to dismiss the idea of the lazy, dishonest, even criminal Mexican. Instead, at our school, we have decided to celebrate and cherish our heritage by creating a collective book of “Gifts and Promises”. In writing and in art, students of all ages will showcase the people, the places and the achievements that built our country – the gifts.” Read More.

As classrooms around the world discuss the UK’s Brexit and Donald Trump’s election win, Richard Wells (@EduWells) in New Zealand is “mentoring an intensive entrepreneur startup weekend centered on new ideas for education. This is how Richard believes “classroom practice and school cultures could start to address much of the confusion children are currently expressing.” Read More.

Maarit Rossi (@pathstomath) recommends the blog of Kirsti Savikko, Headteacher in Kähäri School, Turku, Finland, who writes: “For bad things that happen in life, we have at school a sorrow box. It’s not a box of sorrow – it doesn’t contain items of sorrow. On the contrary it contains items to heal the sorrow. It has practical things like a white, clean tablecloth, candles, matches, an empty photo frame…… It also has poems, comforting words and stories…” Read More.

“This is our Atticus Finch moment, “ writes Todd Finley (@finleyt) in Greenville, North Carolina. “This calls for us to get into the muck and say uncomfortable truths. But there is a big payoff. When teachers model thoughtfulness, clarity, gentleness, generosity, empathy, and courage, their influence can lead others back from the brink.” Read More.

“I have seen the fears in student’s eyes when they roll into school asking what is going to happen and how will it impact them. Our job is to comfort, educate and support this as part of their learning journey,” says Craig Kemp (@mrkempnz) in Singapore. Teaching “tolerance and acceptance,” offering “hope and empowerment” and including “parents in the conversation” are some of Craig’s ideas for supporting confused or frightened children. Read More.

Adam Steiner (@steineredtech) recommends the blog of Brenda Maurao (@bmaurao), Assistant Principal for the Miller Elementary School in Holliston, MA, whose daughter woke up “devastated when she learned that Donald Trump was our new president.” Brenda told her daughter that “Trump ran for president because he wanted what was best for our country. While he wasn’t the one she wanted (she voted in a mock election in school the previous day), things were going to be ok.” Read More.

We need to be “providing ways for our youngsters to participate in this alternative view of the world,” writes Miriam Mason-Sesay (@EducAidSL). If you can show children examples of people “who are ‘helping’, others who are resisting the hatred and choosing love, those who are resisting prejudice and choosing respect, they have somewhere to go. It is our enormous responsibility to avoid joining in the hatred. We have to not only be a voice of reason but an example of difference.” Read More.

Pauline Hawkins (@PaulineDHawkins) in New Hampshire writes her message to students: “We have been given a wakeup call. There is no room for fear in our lives. Neither can we sit idly by and hope for the best. We have to let our representatives know what we want and what we will not accept. We have to investigate what our elected officials are actually doing with the trust we have put in them. We have to make our voices heard and back up our voices with action.” Read More.

“There are all types of children in a class,” notes Rashmi Kathuria (@rashkath), and “teachers play a significant role in the life of a child and creating an empathetic mind to deal with challenges all across the globe.” Rashmi recommends a number of different solutions, including “Individual attention by counselors, collaborative activities with partner schools and making a happiness tree that grows with gifts of appreciation and love.” Read More. 

“My school has a diverse and multicultural community which involves students speaking 28 different first languages,”  writes Warren Sparrow (@wsparrowsa).  “We are living in a time when we can expect to see many changes fundamentally in the things that we have always taken for granted.”  Teachers must create the environment where “we can talk to our students about their concerns and walk with them through the process until it is resolved.”  Read More.

“Morality. Kindness. Love. Service. Prayer. Faith. Hard work. Truth. Wisdom. Religious freedom. An unbiased press. Public servants. May these be things that become fashionable again,” writes Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) from Camilla, Georgia. “Have conversations with students that count… This is our watch and our time….” Read More.

“How are you feeling about what is going on in the world today?” is the first important question to ask your students, writes Nadia Lopez (@TheLopezEffect). “The children in our classrooms are the leaders of tomorrow, therefore we must give them voice, keep them informed, and remind them of their value in this world.”  Read More.

The Top Global Teacher Bloggers is a monthly series where educators across the globe offer experienced yet unique takes on today’s most important topics. CMRubinWorld utilizes the platform to propagate the voices of the most indispensable people of our learning institutions – teachers.

(Photo is courtesy of CMRubinWorld)

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Top Row, left to right: Adam Steiner, Santhi Karamcheti, Pauline Hawkins

2nd Row: Elisa Guerra, Humaira Bachal, C. M. Rubin, Todd Finley, Warren Sparrow

3rd Row: Nadia Lopez, Katherine Franco Cardernas, Craig Kemp, Rashmi Kathuria, Maarit Rossi

Bottom Row: Dana Narvaisa, Richard Wells, Vicki Davis, Miriam Mason-Sesay

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Join me and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Michael Block (U.S.), Dr. Leon Botstein (U.S.), Professor Clay Christensen (U.S.), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (U.S.), Dr. MadhavChavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (U.S.), Professor Andy Hargreaves (U.S.), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Jean Hendrickson (U.S.), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Honourable Jeff Johnson (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Dr. EijaKauppinen (Finland), State Secretary TapioKosunen (Finland), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Lord Ken Macdonald (UK), Professor Geoff Masters (Australia), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Shiv Nadar (India), Professor R. Natarajan (India), Dr. Pak Tee Ng (Singapore), Dr. Denise Pope (US), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Dr. Diane Ravitch (U.S.), Richard Wilson Riley (U.S.), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Professor Manabu Sato (Japan), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. Anthony Seldon (UK), Dr. David Shaffer (U.S.), Dr. Kirsten Sivesind (Norway), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (U.S.), Yves Theze (LyceeFrancais U.S.), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (U.S.), Sir David Watson (UK), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Dr. Mark Wormald (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.

The Global Search for Education Community Page

C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland, is the publisher of CMRubinWorld, and is a Disruptor Foundation Fellow.

This post was originally published by C; Rubin at http://www.cmrubinworld.com/the-global-search-for-education-top-global-teacher-bloggers-children-are-listening 

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Gifts and Promises: Supporting children who are confused or frightened by events going on in the world

Learning is quite difficult or even impossible for restless or broken souls. As teachers, we wish everything would always be right, but life is hard, and sometimes, the world around us becomes threatening.

Nature has its ways to remind human beings of their fragility, but there’s nothing more terrifying than the hand of mankind turning against their own. As hate crimes and intolerance weave a tragic dance among us, teachers struggle to educate children as global, peaceful citizens. It’s a paradox, sure. But education is our only hope to eventually respect and embrace diversity – and thus create a better world.

At times of unrest, children are especially vulnerable. Finding reassuring words to share and creating innovative ways to thrive is how we can help them overcome adversity.

It’s amazing how much anxiety we can ease up just by sharing our thoughts and concerns. By validating our feelings, we get a sense of control, not over the actual events going on around us, but at least over our emotions and reactions to them. Whatever the situation – a natural disaster, a burst of criminality or a political turmoil – children can benefit from receiving accurate information. If they don’t, they tend to make it worse in their minds -we all do. Don’t lie, but don’t dramatize either. Children seek reassurance from the adults that have gained their trust and respect. Be the mentor your students need. ‘Got fears of your own? It’s OK to show that you are human – just keep the tone upbeat and positive.

As much as we would like to, we are not able to change many, if not most, of the things happening around us. It’s not with disrespect and rage that we rise above disagreements. Still, there are ways in which we can overcome fear, lessen pain and confront injustice. And yes, sometimes we do change things.

Lately there has been much negative talk about Mexicans. Shouting insults back to those who insult us will not make much to dismiss the idea of the lazy, dishonest, even criminal Mexican. Instead, at our school, we have decided to celebrate and cherish our heritage by creating a collective book of “Gifts and Promises”. In writing and in art, students of all ages will showcase the people, the places and the achievements that built our country – the gifts. Alongside, each one of us will reflect on our own personal and collective potential to contribute to a better México and a better world –the promises.

Will this little book change the world in its crazy ways? Not likely. But it will at least remind the children that our people is hard working and creative, and our country intriguing and beautiful, in a very unique way – and just as valuable as other countries and cultures.

Trying times can either break minds or inspire them to achieve their very best. Which one of those will be is the choice we are given.

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This post is my answer to the Top Global Teacher Bloggers November’s topic: How do you as teachers support children who are confused or frightened by events going on in their world?