There comes a time in everyone's life when they are just about at wit's end. Teachers have certainly experienced this. Helen Mrosla remembers teaching a ninth grade class "new math" a number of years ago. Her students were working hard, but she could tell that they just didn't understand the new concepts. And they were growing more frustrated and edgy with each passing class. Then one Friday afternoon Helen decided to depart from her lesson plan. She instructed each student to list each person's name in the class on a sheet of paper and then write something nice about each one. The unusual assignment took the entire class period for them to complete.

The next day, Saturday, Helen took those papers and compiled a list for each student of what others in the class liked about them. On Monday…