Blog Windows and Mirrors

Windows and Mirrors and Sliding Glass Doors: Ensuring Students See Themselves and Others in Literature

by Cathy Potter In 1990, Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop published an essay about the importance of providing young readers with diverse books that reflect the “multicultural nature of the world” in which we live. In the essay, Dr. Bishop coined the phrase “Windows, Mirrors and Sliding Glass Doors” to explain how children see themselves in…

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tree hugger

Treehuggers: Children’s Picture Books Honoring Trees

by Marsha Rakestraw Trees are mythical, magical and mysterious. We depend upon them for everything from the air we breathe to the inspiration for bad poetry to a source for the very materials that make our lives possible. Kids love trees. They love to climb them, trounce around their leaves, notice who lives in them,…

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Dr. Daniel J. Levitin

Thinking Critically in the Post-Truth Era: An Interview With Daniel J. Levitin

by Zoe Weil Daniel J. Levitin is Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities at the Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute, and a Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. He is an award-winning neuroscientist and educator, and his latest book is Weaponized Lies: How to Think Critically in the Post…

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Teach about Bees

Teaching and Learning About Bees

We rely on bees for most of our food, and bees are dying by the millions (if not billions). Use these reports, films, links and other resources to help you learn and teach more about issues related to the bee crisis.

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Overfishing

Overfishing and Industrial Fishing

Find books, articles, videos, lesson plans and more about overfishing, industrial fishing, and related issues to help you teach and/or learn more about these global ethical issues.

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Deforestation

Forests and Deforestation

Resources (books, lesson plans, videos, articles and more) to help you teach and/or learn about the issues related to our forests, deforestation, and solutions for reforesting and protecting our lands.

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kindness

14 Children’s Picture Books About Kindness

by Marsha Rakestraw Kindness seems like such a simple quality, but unless we’re taught to be kind to ourselves, other people, nonhuman animals, and the earth, it won’t become an integral part of our humanity. Reading and discussing children’s picture books is a great tool for helping children embrace kindness for others as a daily…

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father and son playing with dollhouse

11 Children’s Picture Books That Shatter Gender Stereotypes

by Marsha Rakestraw Just as we like to pretend that we live in a post-racial society, many of us want to avoid talking about sexism, stereotypes, and gender inequities. After all, women are CEOs and scientists and MMA fighters. And men can (sometimes) express their feelings (in certain cases), and can be stay-at-home dads and…

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