Monday, September 2, 2013

Monday Mash-Up: Character Education Edition

The first few days of school kicked my butt, y'all.  And of course, teaching comes first-- so my apologies, but I missed my Monday Mash-Up last week.  So to make up for it . . . I lumped all my favorites from last week in with this week's.  Take a look!

1. An Open Letter to Parents from Your Child's Teacher, from A Hundred Affections, tells it like it is.  Honestly?  It should be required reading for all parents.  Every August.  

2. 23 Things I Want My Kids to Know, from Finding Joy, is a poignantly written piece about teaching kids what's really important in life.  Although it's written by a mother (and probably for mothers), it made perfect sense to me as a teacher.  Some key "things" that stood out:  
           7. Help others. Volunteer.  Give of               your time.
           14. Seek to understand.
           18. Always be willing to learn.

Character education at its finest: this is one mom who doesn't need to read the Open Letter.  She already gets it.

3. Lord, Miley Cyrus caused a bit of a stir this week with her VMA performance.  Parents (and teachers) shuddered across America.  And the internet exploded.  Dear Students, Never Feel Like You Have to Be Miley Cyrus, by Eat.Write.Teach., speaks to our kids about self-respect.  I love that this post doesn't focus on the negative, but goes on to name a long list of celebrities who do set a positive example.

4.  And finally- a different view.  The beautifully named She isn't a hurricane. reminds us all that Ms. Cyrus is indeed a human being.  Kudos to the talented Hannah Brencher for gently and poetically shaming me out of my mean-girl judgment and into the compassion Miley probably really needs from the world right now.  


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