We started in a single classroom with a toothpaste tube, a list of cruel words, and a toothpick. The exercise: Squeeze a small blob of toothpaste out of the tube each time you repeat one of the harmful words.  Now take the toothpick and try to insert the toothpaste back into the tube. The kids quickly realize you can’t. Watching their faces make the connection that the toothpaste, just like their words can never go back to the way it was.  This was the moment we knew this needed a curriculum, a method, and a name.
Three pilot schools underway and now we’re building toward a future where every 5th grader graduates elementary school with a working compass for hard conversations.