Volume 28, No.2

Winter 2013/2014

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  • The Problems with the Common Core

    By Stan Karp

    The rollout of the Common Core has seemed more like a marketing campaign than an educational plan. A look at the funders, origins, and uses of the new standards shows why the pushback is building.

  • La problemática de los Estándares Comunes Estatales

    By Stan Karp

    La introducción de los Estándares Comunes se ha parecido más a una campaña publicitaria que a un plan educativo. Un análisis de los fondos, orígenes y usos de los nuevos estándares demuestra por qué la resistencia en contra de ellos está creciendo.

  • Martin Luther King Jr. and the Common Core

    A critical reading of close reading

    By Daniel E. Ferguson

    The chief architect of the Common Core created a model lesson of a close reading of King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” A teacher from Birmingham compares that to King’s own critical reading of the “word” and the “world.”

  • Trayvon Martin and My Students

    Writing toward justice

    By Linda Christensen

    President Obama’s speech about the Zimmerman acquittal in Trayvon Martin’s murder and Cornel West’s response are rich sources for students learning how to analyze, evaluate, and critique.

  • Sex Talk on the Carpet

    Incorporating gender and sexuality into 5th-grade curriculum

    By Valdine Ciwko

    Instead of leaving “the puberty talk” to the nurse, an elementary teacher incorporates age-appropriate discussion into her regular classroom routine.

  • Hablar de sexo en el salón de clases

    Incorporar el género y la sexualidad en el currículo de 5to Grado

    By Valdine Ciwko

    En lugar de dejarle “la charla” sobre la pubertad a la enfermera de la escuela, una maestra de primaria incorpora a las rutinas de la clase discusiones adecuadas para la edad de sus alumnos.

  • Looking for Justice at Turkey Creek

    Out of the classroom and into the past

    By Hardy Thames

    High school students embed themselves in a community’s history and people when they study the impact of “development” on historically African American Turkey Creek in Gulfport, Mississippi.

  • Greed as a Weapon

    Teaching the other war in Iraq

    By Adam Sanchez

    A high school teacher uses a role-play to explore the economic dimensions of the war in Iraq.

  • Connecting the Dots

    By Editors of Rethinking Schools

    The 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom this past summer produced some brilliant commentary about the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. One of the […]

  • Letters to the Editor 28.2

    In response to critiques of the Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), I’d like to share some perspectives as a teacher educator (“High-Stakes Test for New Teachers,” summer 2013). At Alverno, our […]

  • Awareness of the Natural World

    By Herbert Kohl

    Publishers carefully manicure the list of books they publish, and slot them into categories by age as well as genre: young adult, beginning reader, adult romance, and so on. However, […]

  • Our picks for books, videos, websites, and other social justice resources 28.2

    Check out these valuable resources, reviewed by Rethinking Schools editors and Teaching for Change colleagues.