What makes Asa Berg such an effective third-grade teacher is that he is not quite 11 months old.
It's an ideal age for the subject he's been teaching for more than half his life. The course is called Roots of Empathy. Asa is teaching the students about emotions, and his are right on the surface, easy to observe.
In 47 classrooms around Puget Sound, in seven public-school districts and seven private schools, babies are part of the learning experience.
The idea, which began in Canada and is spreading in the United States, is that children need to learn more than letters and numbers, they need emotional and social literacy in order to learn well now, and to grow into good parents and constructive citizens.