Learning how to find peace may be the greatest gift we can give students.  In the New Year, students can gain the perspective of another person and explore the quality of empathy with a middle school exercise that helps them develop core values in video from The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values.
In this lesson plan students choose an actual shoe and imagine

its life.  As they write about the shoe — figuratively “walking” in those shoes — they reflect on how the experience helps them become more understanding and compassionate toward others.  This resource is part of the Transformative Teachers Collection at PBS LearningMedia.

You can also find out more about The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT.