When I was a building principal, we had a group of boys who were consistently getting office referrals during lunch for aggressive and disruptive behaviors. In the past, these behaviors had led to increasingly severe consequences that did not reduce the negative behaviors (and caused some students to be sent home and to miss instruction). I sat down with the group and we worked together to come up with a plan on what to do during lunch. One of the boys asked if we could start a knitting club, since his Auntie had recently taught him how to knit. Since he was a leader of the group, the other boys agreed. I asked them to come back tomorrow with some ideas of what to knit. The next day one of the boys said that he wanted to knit little hats for the preemies at the hospital, since his little cousin was there and that a nurse mentioned that they had run out of the little hats. The boys knitted daily and we delivered the hats to the hospital. We received many heartfelt thank you notes from families, nurses and doctors (and even an in-person visit with a personal thank you and cookies from a newborn's mom). This group continued to grow as did our ability to create knitted hats for preemies. This became a huge success for the participating students. There was significant improvement in the students’ behavior, attitude, achievement, and attendance. It is so important to think outside of the box for “win-win” solutions. It really isn’t the WHAT you do that is important, it is the WHY you are doing it! Our knitting group become a team, family, and community. #maslowbeforebloom

Boston University study finds gun assault rates roughly doubled for kids in 4 large cities during the covid-19 pandemic. Black children are now 100 times more likely to be victims than white children. @GunResearch @NJGVRC @jonjaytweets 📝: @SammyCaiola kffhealthnews.org/news/artic…

Well folks we did it! #Nashville officially reached 100° at 344pm this afternoon 🥵 This is the latest ever in the year that #Nashville has reached 100° on record (weather records date back to 1871) #hot #tnwx

I want to say something more about this piece on immunocompromised people, and how I’m thinking about journalism in this moment. 1/

Congratulations to @Meigs_Magnet - one of six schools in Tennessee named a 2021 @NatlBlueRibbon School School by U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. mnps.org/news/featured-stori…

SCOOP: Tennessee Department of Health halts all vaccine outreach to kids – not just for COVID-19, but all diseases – amid pressure from GOP. Staff ordered to remove the agency logo from any documents providing vaccine info to the public, per internal dox. tennessean.com/story/news/he…

Here’s where my son’s organs went. He saved four lives. ❤️❤️

I mailed a picture of me delivering twins to the OBGYN who delivered me 26 years ago and said hey, a baby you delivered is now delivering babies! He googled me, called my residency program coordinator, and then we talked on the phone as colleagues for almost 40 min. #obgyntwitter

Death, taxes, Dolly being awesome, and this map: