Editor's Note: From higher ed best practices, to multimedia lessons, to a compassionate educator's end-of-life gift, these stories stir up compelling reminders of our simple, shared humanity. --Daniela

Pew Research finds today's students are more likely to offer up their emotions than earlier generations. John R. Swallow explains why college teaching is most effective when presented with both rational argument and emotional insight.

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"When I recall my favorite teachers, I think about how they reflected back to me a basic humanness," reflects Cleary Vaughan-Lee, who weaves together this stunning resource of 20 multimedia lesson plans on universal values.

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Before elementary teacher, Tammy Waddell, passed away last month from a longtime illness, "she asked her loved ones to remember her not with bouquets of lilies and baskets of mums, but with backpacks bulging with school supplies" to give students.

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Be The Change Idea

Today, appreciate the simple humanity in a stranger or acquaintance.