As I thought about the conversations of my students and the work that they have been doing throughout this time using the guiding questions provided in the texts from the PINE Project, I am just so honored to be part of this process and this experience.

Using the guides provided has proven to be so valuable to me in understanding how to answer students’ questions. Having a deeper perspective of where the text intends to lead readers has helped immensely in preparing myself with the background knowledge to be a more effective facilitator of discourse. The questions have also helped to guide students’ conversations to be inclusive of others’ experiences and emotions, which is one of the biggest areas of intentionality and specific need that I have been acutely aware of and trying to address through these learning interactions. I believe it was Albert Einstein who said “Peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be achieved by understanding”. I can see that in order to help these students to create a better world, where we treat others with the dignity and equity we should as fellow human beings, they must be given the tools to create greater understanding. They must be taught how to dig for truth, seek hard facts, look deeply into situations and into complicated and messy ways that things have been dealt with previously. I commit my energies each day to helping students to see better for their world’s future,  through eyes of compassion and deeper understanding into the universality of the human spirit. They are beginning to see not only themselves, but all people, as beautiful, courageous, and worthy of (as my fourth graders quote often)  “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.