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Powerful Ideas, Practical Actions         June 2011  “Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”—Albert Einstein Photo courtesy Heifer International/Darcy Kiefel. © All rights reserved. :: SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER WITH YOUR NETWORKS Dear Educators, The essence of YES! Magazine is inspiring action for a better world. That better world includes not only us humans, but also all animals. We are pleased to feature classroom resources from Heifer International. For over 65 years, Heifer has taken the simple idea of providing livestock and training to families all over the world as a long-term pass out of poverty. We also share stories and curriculum on how horses can teach us about ourselves, and the importance of sleep. May you be in the moment each day with your students as the last few days of school swiftly comes to a close. Best, Jing Fong Education Outreach Manager, YES! Magazine P.S. Inspired by YES! Magazine stories? In addition to Learn as You Go (Fall09), we have FREE copies (as many as you want!) of Health Care for All (Fall06), A Just Foreign Policy (Summer08), and Purple America (Fall08) for you and your students. Just email me a request and they’re yours. Limited supply available.   Your Stories   Horses as Healers What do you do with a teenager who’s angry, depressed, disconnected, or all of the above? Lorna Shepardson knows a magical gift horses possess that can help bring young people from the depths of darkness to a glimmer of self-confidence. This is Lorna’s story. MORE OF YOUR STORIES: Teaching Asperger’s Students. Meeting the Parents. Our School at Blair Grocery. Teens Care for River, Their Way. ¡Hola! The Future is Now. Race Has Everything To Do With It. Growing Good People. Beauty of Teenagers. Free to Be Me. Chicken Soup for the Soul. SEND US your own story to share with our growing network of YES! educators.   YES! Recommends   Photo courtesy Heifer International/Jake Lyell. © All rights reserved. Heifer International is perhaps best known for its offerings of livestock and trainings to families and communities in the developing world. You and your students will be inspired to put their ideas into action not only with Heifer’s stories of families lifted out of poverty, but also with their Get IT! Curriculum for middle and high school students. Get IT! explores global trade and its social, economic, and environmental impacts, and includes service-learning and investigative journalism activities. Heifer also offers free, downloadable videos, global education resource kits for elementary students, and service-learning projects, such as “Farm to Plate.”   YES! Classroom Tools   Just the Facts: Should We Eat Animals? Can your students eat cheeseburgers sustainably, and with a clear conscience? These YES! facts show that we can feed the world and still eat meat. But only a little. Photo essay: "Domesticated" Do your students isolate themselves from the natural world or long to connect with it? Use this photo essay as inspiration for student writing on their relationship with neighboring wildlife, such as coyotes, deer, and bears. What’s the Harm in Hunting? A YES! intern shares her personal experience to answer a heavily debated topic: Can you be moral and a hunter too? After reading the article together, ask your students if this is possible.   YES! National Student Writing Competition   Now is the time to think about including the YES! National Student Writing Competition in your fall curriculum. The competition is your students’ chance to write for a real audience and get published by an award-winning magazine. For fall, students will read and respond to the YES! article, Why My Dad’s Going Green. Click here for more details. Read our recent featured essays: The Scapegoat of Terrorism by Bradley Stone, who responded to YES! article, Poverty, Global Trade Justice, and the Roots of Terrorism by John Perkins. Balance of Responsibility by Jana Lockie, who responded to YES! article, Words Matter: How Media Can Build Civility or Destroy It by Sarah van Gelder and Brooke Jarvis. Perkins and van Gelder and Jarvis also offer their personal commentaries on Stone's and Lockie's essays. Winners of our spring competition will be announced in the next newsletter.   Curriculum and Resources   With final exams under way, many students and teachers are undoubtedly getting little sleep. And, what’s the buzz about bees? The following teaching resources dive into the science and psychology of the importance of sleep, and why bees are critical to our food supply. National Institutes of Health (NIH): Sleep Lessons Do people really need eight hours of sleep each night? Your students will be fascinated by the NIH website on sleep and how it connects scientific research with real-life scenarios. Lessons cover topics such as sleep stages and disorders, and discuss good/bad sleep habits. Students also keep a sleep journal and analyze their personal data in lessons. The Buzz About Bees: Resources from the Pollinator Partnership The massive death of honeybees captured the world’s attention in 2006. Rightfully so. When bees suffer, so does our food supply. The Pollinator Partnership offers a bounty of free learning resources—posters, curricula, fact sheets and more—emphasizing the importance of pollinators (like bees) and the issues they face.   Words That Inspire   Akaya Windwood’s Life After Worry an excerpt from “Life After Worry,” by Akaya Windwood A number of years ago, my sister was diagnosed with MS … I remember a week when I'd been traveling, when we'd not talked for several days, and I called her saying: "I've been worried about you! How are things going?" To my surprise, she bristled and said, "Please don’t worry about me. You can pray, or send me good wishes or think about me, but worry doesn't help—in fact, it makes it harde r for me.” I was stunned. Here I was, trying to tell her how much I cared, and she got short with me … So, I made a decision not to worry. Ever. Think of the many things that you and your students worry about: money, grades, fitting in, getting into college, war, climate change, injustice. What is your relationship with worry? Do you worry a lot? Or just a little? Click here for Akaya Windwood’s complete story and an activity that explores how your students deal with worry.   INDEX: in this issue  YOUR STORIES YES! RECOMMENDS CLASSROOM TOOLS WRITING COMPETITION CURRICULUM AND RESOURCES WORDS THAT INSPIRE   How to Get More YES!   10 BEST THINGS WE CAN DO FOR ANIMALS Get this YES! Poster with tips from Jane Goodall. RENEW: SPECIAL OFFER Renew your teacher subscription today at special discount rates. DONATE and help support our education program.   Are You a Teacher?   Get a FREE Year of YES! Apply for a free one-year introductory subscription to YES! Magazine.   Recommended Resource   Planning to Change the World The new fourth edition of this indispensable plan book for social justice teachers is designed to help teachers translate their vision of a just education into concrete classroom activities. Learn more and take advantage of this special advance order discount: order by June 30, 2011, through Rethinking Schools and pay only $14.   YES! Web Picks   PHOTO ESSAY Creating beauty from trash One kilometer of beach. Thousands of pounds of plastic. One couple turning it all into stunning works of art. VIDEO A Graduation Speech Like No Other Eric Duquette has autism. He was told he would probably be institutionalized, never graduate. In his own heartfelt words, listen to how Eric beat the odds. What’s so special about YES! Fifteen years ago, YES! Magazine’s founders wondered if, amidst the doom and gloom, there was a place for journalism about hope and possibility. Learn how YES! is impacting your world and classroom today.   Visual Learning   “Who’s that swimming in my pool?” Use this photo to ask your students what they notice and are wondering. Then share the surprising facts behind the image to connect to greater understanding and discovery. DOWNLOAD :: Visual Learning Lesson Plan YES! is published by the nonprofit Positive Futures Network   ::  www.yesmagazine.org 284 Madrona Way NE, Suite 116, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110-2870, USA  ::  Phone: 206-842-0216

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