I was in New Mexico facilitating a workshop for a group of Navajo educators. During the lunch break, one of the teachers, Miss Augusta, offered me feedback. “Your words make us very tired, I just wanted to let you know.” I thanked her and she gave me a hug. Her feedback was an invitation to [...]

For me, cultivating self-awareness is like opening the windows and letting some fresh air in. It means allowing myself to be curious, rather than judgmental, about what I don’t yet know or understand about myself. And as Nichole Parks, LFC’s Associate Director of Programs, so wisely said: cultivating self-awareness is hard work. That’s why people [...]

When I was in my twenties, I was teaching third grade at a school in New York City. I had many close friendships among the faculty and got along with just about everyone. Early one year, the Director organized a whole-school professional development retreat at a beautiful location just outside the city. We were seated [...]

When I think back to my freshman year in college, I recall a professor returning my very first paper with a comment on the front page. It said: THIS READS LIKE THE YELLOW PAGES. His comment was humiliating and painful. It certainly didn’t offer me tools to improve the paper. Instead, the impact of his [...]

We know that young children thrive in an environment of trusting relationships with the adults who care for and educate them. All aspects of children’s development — intellectual, social, emotional, physical, behavioral, and moral — are shaped by the relationships they have with the adults in their lives [1]. Now, imagine this environment of nurturing [...]