The Sandpaper Lesson That Went Viral and Exposed What Teens Carry Inside

sharp. It cuts fast. It makes people choose sides.

And the thing these kids needed most was the opposite of sides.

They needed a place where they could be whole.

I pushed into my classroom.

The kids were exactly where I’d left them—sitting on benches, hands on their sanded blocks like they were holding warm stones.

Nobody was on a phone.

Liam stepped toward continue reading …