Cable's Leaders in Learning: In Their Own Words

Linda Coates created a literature curriculum, To Know Me You Must Walk in My Shoes, which exposes students to novels and memoirs with topics such as racism, prejudice and intolerance. Her students interact with and “become” literary characters, allowing them to learn respect and empathy for different generations, cultures, religions and races.

Coates explains in this podcast (MP3, 8.5 MB) that the success of To Know Me You Must Walk in My Shoes stems from its curriculum being out of the classroom, in the real world and hands-on. Although she has taught at St. Margaret Mary School for 35 years, Coates constantly strives to keep her lessons new, fresh and flexible in order to fit the specific needs of each year’s class. She encourages other teachers inspired by her curriculum to apply anything they teach to real-world events.