When They Tried to Steal Our Classrooms
Teachers learn that the district’s plan for a desperately needed school renovation is based on “100 percent utilization” — teachers will rotate through classrooms, losing the home bases students depend on. They organize to change the plan.
What Happened to Spanish?
How high-stakes tests doomed biliteracy at my school
A 3rd-grade bilingual teacher describes how administrators’ anxiety about standardized test results erodes both a school’s commitment to Spanish literacy and students’ love for learning.
¿Qué le pasó al español?
Cómo fue que las pruebas de alta exigencia condenaron a la educación bilingüe en mi escuela
Una maestra bilingüe describe cómo la ansiedad que sienten los administradores escolares con respecto a los resultados de los exámenes estandarizados disminuye el compromiso de la escuela con el desarrollo de la lectoescritura en español y el amor de los estudiantes por el aprendizaje.
Passion Counts: The “I Love” Admissions Essay
Seniors write admissions essays based on something they feel passionate about, discovering at the same time that they are “college material.”
Space for Young Black Women: An Interview with Candice Valenzuela
The story of the development, challenges, and successes of a support group for Black girls at an Oakland, California, high school.
Who’s Stealing Our Jobs?
NAFTA and xenophobia
As a way to deal with racial tensions between his Black and Latina/o students, a high school teacher examines the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
My So-Called Public School
School foundations and the myth of funding equity
A teacher uses her own school to illustrate how school foundations perpetuate inequality within districts and states.
Lead Poisoning
Bringing social justice to chemistry
Building on the lead-poisoned water scandal in Flint, Michigan, a Chicago chemistry teacher helps her students explore lead poisoning in their own city.
Ebola: Teaching Science, Race, and the Media
Two teacher educators encourage their students to think about the impact of racial and colonial biases on media coverage of science issues—and on scientists.
Racism, Xenophobia, and the Election
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Fighting to Teach Climate Justice
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Mexican Teachers Fight Corporate Reform
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Our picks for books, videos, websites, and other social justice education resources 31.1
Check out these valuable resources, reviewed by Rethinking Schools editors and Teaching for Change colleagues.
Saul Alinsky Lives!
People Power: The Community Organizing Tradition of Saul AlinskyEdited by Aaron Schutz and Mike MillerVanderbilt University Press, 2015 Fifteen years ago, I was part of a community organizing effort that […]
