Composing their very own three-lined poems stands out as one of the all-time favorite activities for philosophers of all ages and interests. Everybody has poetry within! Grab a pad and pencil. Go outside if you can, look out a window perhaps, or dig into memory’s treasure box. Take a deep breath, exhale, you know…. Rhyming words at line’s end—who cares?! Getting it right—who knows?! How? Your 3 lines present a snapshot, capturing a moment in time.
Read MoreThen, in 1993, Maya Angelou stole Michael Jordan’s star power. I happily picture the young philosophers as they watched rebroadcasts of her reciting her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” at the Clinton Inauguration—their eyes wide, bodies completely still, posture growing more erect, big smiles when she included “children” in her invitation to a new day. A rocking celebrity poet! Dr. Angelou was the cool one now. I repeatedly used her poem to discuss the concept of Justice with them and I also suggest an activity based on it in Little Big Minds. Quite a delight it was to witness the children’s first tiptoes into poetry—from Virginia to Chicago to California.
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We’re present—together now.
Post a sign. Ask a question. Run for office.
When Sarah Inama started teaching world civilization four years ago at an Idaho middle school, she hung a sign in her classroom featuring hands of different skin tones with hearts in their palms, highlighted by these words scripted in varying colors: “Everyone Is Welcome Here.”