Students receive coaching in the strategies of analytical reading, thinking, writing, and discussion, and benefit from a more thoughtful engagement with the events of the day. The existence of differing points of view is a pervasive aspect of life in a complex, muti-cultural world, and one which is important to students' understanding of the meaning of truth, objectivity, mutual respect among people, and fairness in resolving or accommodating differences of opinion and social conflict. Interns have used this successfully as a theme to explore through a variety of readings and classroom activities. A popular theme among both interns and students has been the ethics of students' daily lives. Interns work with students to explore issues of personal responsibility and freedom, hard choices, human rights, problems in the school and community, and environmental responsibility.
Students learn the value of thinking things through logically.
Interns develop activities around the theme of life plans to engage students in thinking about their futures, what they will do with their lives, and how to get there. A special merit of this unit is that it allows the intern to build on his or her presence in the classroom as someone in college, preparing for productive adulthood.