Transsexuals, Teaching Your Children
A middle-school teacher describes how he makes his classroom safe for broad discussions of gender identity and explains why anti-bullying curriculum isnt enough.
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Learning About the Unfairgrounds
Literature and a tea party open childrens eyes to injustice and the fight for civil rights in the Northwest.
Pain and Poetry – Facing Our Fears
Poetry becomes the vehicle for students to strengthen the classroom community, think critically about their collective experience, and push their teacher to push them.
Five Years After the Levees Broke – Bearing Witness Through Poetry
A poet in the schools leads students to compare three natural disasters-Hurricane Katrina, the San Diego wildfires, and the recent earthquake in Haiti-and turn their grief and anger into poetry.
Aquí y Allá
An elementary teacher uses the poetry of Jorge Argueta to help students express their feelings about leaving one country for another.
Resources 24.1
Check out these valuable resources, reviewed by Rethinking Schools editors and Teaching for Change colleagues.
“Baghdad Burning” Heats Up World History
It’s always a struggle to work current events into history classes. A blog by a young Iraqi woman about her day-to-day life in Baghdad provides an opportunity to connect the medieval Abbasid Empire to today’s news.
Reading by the Numbers
Does Accelerated Reading really promote a love of literature, or just a love of points? Harry Potter scores 44; Hamlet gets 7.
Adding Salt to ‘Class’ Literature: Barbara O’Connor’s Books for Young Readers
Chapter books that portray working-class lives with sensitivity, humor, and respect.
Balance of Powers
Good teaching has a balance of powers: gut, heart, and brain.
Testing Kindergarten
You may not believe how many tests kindergartners take – and what they are missing as a result.
Portland to Palestine: A Student-to-Student Project Evokes Empathy and Curiosity
U.S. students talk directly with Palestinian youth and learn what it is like to live in a war zone.
Kalamazoo’s Promise: What Happens When All Students Are Guaranteed College
An exciting scholarship exposes racial tensions in a Michigan city.
Losing Our Favorite Teacher
Howard Zinn will be remembered as the historian who transformed the way we think about and teach U.S. history. He was also a brilliant teacher, a passionate activist, and a warm and generous friend.
Educating Heather
First-person narratives about climate change bridge the gap for students between theory and reality.
Teachable Moments Not Just for Kids
When parents avoid connecting, they model for children how not to talk about race and racism.
Beat It! Defeat It! Racist Cookies
How racist cookies spurred a teacher and her education students to take action.
America’s Army Invades Our Classrooms
The Army’s new high-tech strategy for winning recruits.
Teaching for Joy and Justice
An excerpt from Christensen’s new book, Teaching for Joy and Justice: Re-imagining the Language Arts Classroom.
Boycott!
Los Angeles teachers take on LAUSD’s mandated tests.
Izzit Capitalist Propaganda?
DVDs from Izzit.org follow a familiar free-market script.
Another Path is Possible: Two Chicago Principals Keep an Eye on What Matters
Two neighborhood schools find their way, thriving on collaboration and commitment to a shared vision. By the author of Holler If You Hear Me: The Education of a Teacher and His Students.
When the Gender Boxes Don’t Fit
The first day of high school is hard enough. Walking down the halls, trying to find my next class, surrounded by a sea of people who looked hundreds of years older, I felt like I had a red blinking sign over my head that flashed freshman every five seconds.
As a Mom and a Teacher
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Exile Has Its Place: A High School Principal Reflects on School Discipline
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