TNP Values in Action

The Nora Project turns five this year, and over the last five years we’ve taken a lot of time to identify and focus on our organizational values - the things that drive us and direct our work in schools and communities.  The Program Staff at TNP has worked hard to ensure that those organizational values are represented and reflected in our classroom programs, and each year our programs get better and better because of it. How do we know? It’s playing out in classrooms in student work and the initiative students are taking beyond Nora Project lessons.

Allyship and Social Justice

While learning about the Voting Rights act and the history of voting in the United States in their social studies class this school year, Kim Smith’s fourth graders, participants in our Storyteller Project, connected what they were learning to ableism and barriers that disabled people face and have faced historically when it comes to being able to cast their votes. Diversity, allyship, and civil rights are values we hold dear at The Nora Project, and Kim’s students clearly understand that disability, like race, gender expression, and cultural identity, is a natural and expected part of human diversity and should not present barriers to full participation in civil society. And they understand that the disability community is a historically marginalized group that we should be learning about and taking into consideration as we make decisions and plan for the future.

Inclusion and Advocacy

Inclusiveness is another value that guides our work at The Nora Project. This fall, John Gensic and his colleagues at Penn High School brought our STEMpathy Club to students as content for their Advisory period each week. After learning about different models of disability, ableism, and best practices for inclusion during lessons, one of John’s students was moved to take action and bring school leaders and administrators together to discuss and reflect on the inclusiveness of the school environment and areas for improvement. This student developed and delivered a presentation that offered basic information about disability and inclusion, then led the participants in a discussion about the steps they could take collectively to make Penn a more inclusive place for all students. The discussion among school administrators and Nora Project students continues at Penn, as they work to create a school where everyone’s needs are met and everyone feels a part of the community.

Empathy and Representation

Of course, empathy is at the core of our mission and empathy education is an important part of all of our classroom programs. As a part of his fourth graders’ asynchronous work in their hybrid classroom, Alex Parker asked his students to write a fiction story on the topic of their choice. One of his students chose to write a story entitled “The New Elf” in which the main character, Lizzy the Elf, is disabled. The whole story takes place from Lizzy’s perspective, so the student had to really think through what Lizzy might experience. After facing bullying and ableism, Lizzy accepts and embraces her disability and demonstrates great pride, inspiring other disabled elves to action and rallying among all the elves to ensure everyone has an important role in the creation of Christmas toys.

Values infuse themselves into every aspect of children’s lives. What students learn during Nora Project lessons they take with them into other areas of study, back home, and out into the world. This is the magic of The Nora Project. Want to bring these values to your school community? Learn more about our programs here!