Volume 34, No. 1

Fall 2019

The fall issue of Rethinking Schools has a special section devoted to the 2020 Presidential election and includes the thoughts of 11 different educators and education activists on what should be part of any candidate’s platform. It also includes a special editorial from the editors of Rethinking Schools on the 2020 election and the world our students deserve. In the fall issue there are also, as always, several great articles about classroom curriculum including a wonderful piece by a math teacher who uses Barbies and action figures to teach proportional reasoning and other skills — and to help students think about society’s expectations of our shapes and sizes. The issue is also packed full of great social justice resources and so much more!

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  • The 2020 Election and the World Our Students Deserve

    By the editors of Rethinking Schools

    The central tasks of the 2020 campaign are to defeat Trump and to strengthen the impact of grassroots social movements on the U.S. political system. If we pursue these goals with energy, hope, and passion, we will win a chance to build the world our students deserve.

  • The 2020 Presidential Election: Educators Speak Out

    By Julia Torres, Camila Arze Torres Goitia, Carla Shalaby, Thomas Nikundiwe, Emma Teng, Brian Jones, Leigh Patel, Arlene Inouye, Denisha Jones, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Ashana Bigard, Eric Blanc, Suzanna Kassouf, Ivelis Pérez

    We asked a group of radical educators to weigh in on what they hoped would be part of any 2020 presidential candidate’s education platform.

  • Welcome Poems Trump Hate

    By Jaydra Johnson

    A teacher creates a welcome poems lesson to celebrate the diversity of students — and with students.

  • “Do You Have Batman Shoulders?”

    Middle school math students explore the disproportions of their favorite childhood toys

    By Flannery Denny

    A math teacher uses Barbies and action figures to teach proportional reasoning and other skills — and to help students think about society’s expectations of our shapes and sizes.

  • Walk the Line

    On the ground during the historic Los Angeles teachers’ strike

    By Lauren Quinn

    A Los Angeles teacher paints an intimate self-portrait of what it was actually like on the picket line during one of the most important public sector strikes in recent years.

  • Jesse Hagopian talks with Gillian Russom: How Los Angeles Teachers Organized and What They Won

    Rethinking Schools editor Jesse Hagopian interviews Gillian Russom, a teacher and leader with UTLA, about how the Los Angeles teachers’ strike was organized, what it won, and what it could mean for the future of the #RedForEd movement.

  • Why I Don’t Teach the Hero’s Journey

    By Michelle Kenney

    A high school English teacher deconstructs “Hero’s Journey” curriculum, shows its patriarchal prejudice, and talks about teaching collective rather than only individual transformation.

  • Diversity Is What Makes It Interesting to Study Living Things

    Teaching gender diversity in biology

    By Sam Long

    A biology teacher focuses on how rethinking classroom language around gender and reproduction can impact inclusion.

  • Sharing Our Real Selves

    By Katy Alexander

    A special education teacher talks about the importance of sharing her own stories — and complexities — with students.

  • “Who Made History? We Made History!”

    By Fred Glass

    Fred Glass reviews Eric Blanc’s Red State Revolt: The Teachers’ Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics

  • Vivian Gussin Paley: An Appreciation

    By William Ayers, Rick Ayers

    She was most at home in the company of little ones, exploring and questioning, checking things out, conducting everyday experiments arm-in-arm and shoulder-to-shoulder with the young. Children recognized her as a fellow traveler, took to her naturally, and invited her to join them on their endless searches and excursions. She never refused them, and willingly followed along — their magical, luminescent teacher. On July 26, 2019, the light went out, and Vivian Gussin Paley passed away.

  • Our picks for books, videos, websites, and other social justice resources 34.1

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

  • Teach the Fossil Fuel Industry — Our Students’ Enemy

    Column: Earth, Justice, and Our Classrooms

    By Bill Bigelow

    “Climate justice” education means a lot of things. But one key aspect is that we involve students in probing the social and economic roots of the crisis.