Volume 36, No. 3

Spring 2022

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  • No More “Normal”

    By the editors of Rethinking Schools

    Return to normal? Normal was awful. It’s time to be bold.

  • Protecting Trans Youth

    By Rethinking Schools Editors

    The Right has declared war on trans youth. Recent headlines offer a sickening taste of what reactionary governors and state legislators have been cooking up in their laboratories of transphobic […]

  • Teaching for Peace in a Time of War

    By the editors of Rethinking Schools

    Like you, we are angry and fearful about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and these are terrifying times for our students. As Ukrainian educator Igor Tsyvgintsev reminds us, “The entire curriculum of school studies comes down to humaneness.”

  • “Instead of Going to School or University, Ukrainian Children and Young People Are Hiding in Shelters, Trembling, and Shuddering from Every Noise”

    How can children feel after they have been forced to flee from their homes, live in basements or metro stations? They lost their usual lifestyle, friends, some of them lost their parents.

  • How the Attack on Teachers Threatens the Future of Public Schools

    By Sarah Jaffe

    As part of the so-called “Great Resignation,” many teachers are leaving the field or thinking of leaving earlier than expected; the impact on public education could be catastrophic.

  • Poetic Pauses During the Pandemic

    By Linda Christensen

    Christensen describes how poetry can be used in this moment to be something concrete — that can be felt, touched, or smelled — but also something to stir our students’ imaginations, allowing them to dream.

  • Choreographing for Justice

    By Emily Todras

    An elementary teacher helps her students express themselves about social justice issues like the murder of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter through movement and dance, and helps them see how dance can celebrate diversity.

  • Educators Speak Out: Spring 2022

    By Julia Putnam, Lynn Fedele, Marilyn Ricketts-Lindsay, Debra Hunter, Shalonda McGhee, Mona M. Abo-Zena, Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, Sally Stanhope, and Kawal Varpaul

    To say this year has been tough on schools and educators would be a wild understatement. We asked a group of educators if there was one moment, event, or issue that really stuck out for them — something that encapsulated their experiences during these tough times. We also asked if there was anything that gave them hope, strength, or helped them through this year. Here’s how they responded . . .

  • Action Research for Environmental Justice in the Kindergarten Classroom

    By Kimi Waite

    A kindergarten teacher helps students investigate issues of environmental justice — like access to green space — in their communities.

  • Expanding Intersectional Queer History in the Elementary Grades

    By Laura Shelton

    A 5th- and 6th-grade teacher asks her students to wrestle with what “identity” and “intersectionality” mean.

  • ZINN AT 100: Empire or Humanity?

    What the Classroom Didn’t Teach Me About the American Empire

    By Howard Zinn

    Have we reached a point in history where we are ready to embrace a new way of living in the world, expanding not our military power, but our humanity?

  • Our picks for books, videos, websites, and other social justice resources: Spring 2022, Volume 36.3

    The best picks from Rethinking Schools for resources for your classroom and for your mind.

  • As She Rises

    A Podcast Helps Students Reach Beyond Climate Disaster Statistics

    By Tim Swinehart

    I recently stumbled across a podcast that made a wonderful addition to my students’ study of the climate crisis — As She Rises.