Strong Spirits, Kind Hearts

Book excerpt: Strong Spirits, Kind Hearts is the first practical teacher resource to provide comprehensive coverage of all aspects of developing strong spirits and caring young people. It is focused on middle years’ students but most lessons can be adapted for older and younger students as well. This resource describes ways to incorporate emotional and spiritual supports into daily routines and interactions with students and provides ready-to-use activities, lessons and units that can be integrated into subject area teaching. This book helps teachers to: understand the importance of strengthening students’ spirits and how this support improves students’ learning and classroom morale build resilience and hope through their interactions with students distinguish between the development of strong spirits and religious education use approaches that are respectful of religious and spiritual diversity as well as more secular views implement a wealth of strategies, lessons, and units that develop students’ compassion and sense of connection to others and the natural world integrate a focus on meaning and purpose within subject area lessons.