Namrata Kulkarni returns to talk about the important and meaningful discussions she has with her students. -Ed.

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As an Early Elementary teacher, a lot of my day is spent having very long ethical and moral conversations with kids of different ages. One such recent conversation left me smiling and in awe of these amazing human beings who I teach every day. Our classroom consists of a daily schedule that we use to help us transition from one thing to another. This schedule is put up by the teachers every morning and is a great reference tool for all. For a couple of days in a row, our schedule was being hampered with! Our cards were mixed up; recess was put at the end of the day and read aloud was first thing in the morning. We were baffled at what was happening and who was sneakily changing these schedule cards! We decided to have a class meeting about our hearts. We talked passionately about how our hearts and brain work, and how our hearts will always tell us the truth no matter what. We took a moment to go around the circle and talk of a time where we listened to our heart to prevent us from making a not so good decision. Finally, we addressed the elephant in the room and said “Let’s all look into our hearts and ask did I move those schedule cards? If your heart says yes, then you know you’re sorry and if your heart says no then you know that you made the right decision” All the students in the circle touched their hearts and had a minute of introspection before a young 3-year-old sitting right next to me said “Namu, I think my heart is confused”.  Of course, the truth all came out and the problem was solved but it surely left me thinking are we not all confused at some point? As teachers, especially, we hold high responsibility of helping and shaping these individuals and it’s so important that we stay true to our hearts at all times.