Every so often, a book comes along that doesn’t just tell a story—it holds up a mirror. Mitch Albom’s Twice  is one of those books. Like most of his work, it doesn’t shout lessons; it quietly whispers them. The story centers on redemption, second chances, and the simple truth that we often see life more clearly the second time around. When I finished the final page, I sat in silence for a few moments. It wasn’t the kind of story you walk away from and say, “That was nice.” It was the kind...

Every October, colleges and universities across the country send out midterm grades. They don’t actually count for much — they’re a progress report, a pulse check halfway through the semester. Dr. David Dinin, who teaches a class at Duke called Learning to Fail , recently wrote about his experience giving midterm grades in a course literally designed around failure. As you can imagine, that made for some fascinating irony. His students wrote to him confused and a little hurt: “Dr. Dinin, I...

Many years ago, I graduated from college and immediately began working as a long-term substitute teacher in an alternative school setting...