Portraits from a Public School in Harlem
What happens when a vibrant community school is undermined by district policies? A story in text and photographs.
English
Our picks for books, videos, websites, and other social justice education resources 29.2
Check out these valuable resources, reviewed by Rethinking Schools editors and Teaching for Change colleagues.
Short Stuff 29.2
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Strike!
A teacher educator introduces her students to labor history and makes a case for its centrality to U.S. history.
Testing Assumptions
High school students creatively and successfully organize against high-stakes testing in Rhode Island.
When Emma Goldman Entered the Room
When misogynist stereotypes emerge during a role play, a high school history teacher must decide how best to raise the issue.
“I Am a Feather”
A 5th-grade teacher uses N. Scott Momaday’s brilliant imagery to inspire his students to write metaphoric “I Am” poems.
A Tale of Two Districts
A comparison of corporate reform strategies and popular resistance in two very different districts in New Jersey—Newark and Montclair—reveals the flexibility of the privatizers and the potential of solidarity across communities.
Black Students’ Lives Matter
We’re at a tipping point. The killings of Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Renisha McBride—and far too many other African Americans—have put to rest the myth of […]
Celebrating Skin Tone
An early elementary school teacher combines a science lesson and poetry to encourage children to celebrate their own skin tone and that of their classmates.
Fairy Tales Retold
Although many versions of “Little Red Riding Hood” exist, children’s picture book authors and illustrators most often reproduce a version of “Little Red Cap” drawn from the 19-century collections of […]
Short Stuff 29.3
Long Island Teacher Boycotts Common Core Tests Beth Dimino is an 8th-grade science teacher and president of the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association in New York. She announced in February […]
La biblioteca que construyó Target
Cuando Target le donó a una escuela primaria en San Francisco la remodelación de su biblioteca, la política del distrito en contra de las marcas no fue suficiente para impedir que los estudiantes fueran bombardeados por mensajes corporativos.
Our picks for books, videos, websites, and other social justice education resources 28.4
Check out these valuable resources, reviewed by Rethinking Schools editors and Teaching for Change colleagues.
Singing Up Our Ancestors
Students learn some cultural history, “raise the bones” of a biographical poem, and then write their own.
Targeting Books and Films
The privatization of public schools comes in many guises, as San Francisco teacher-librarian Rachel Cloues shows in her article in this issue, “The Library that Target Built.” We live in […]
The Library That Target Built
When Target donated a library “makeover” to a San Francisco elementary school, the district’s anti-branding policy wasn’t enough to keep the students from being engulfed by corporate messaging.
“Aren’t You on the Parent Listserv?”
A kindergarten teacher tries to change the power imbalance between Spanish- and English-speaking parents in her classroom and school.
Black Like Me
A poem—and the history behind it—about being invisible, yet stereotyped, as an African American student bused to a predominantly white school.
Dear White Teacher
An African American middle school teacher calls on white teachers to think before they routinely send black children to black teachers when there is a problem.
Our picks for books, videos, websites, and other social justice education resources 29.1
Check out these valuable resources, reviewed by Rethinking Schools editors and Teaching for Change colleagues.
Restorative Justice
Misbehave, get punished. That pretty much sums up the approach to “disciplining” students that educators through the decades have taken in schools and classrooms. The most extreme form of this […]
Rocketship to Profits
Rocketship Education, a rapidly expanding charter school chain, shows what happens when the rich control our schools.
Teaching the N-Word
A white high school teacher prepares her students to read August Wilson’s Fences by leading an exploration of the n-word.
The Children of Gaza
Like millions around the world, Rethinking Schools editors have been horrified and angered by Israel’s assault on the Palestinian people of Gaza. Of the more than 2,100 Palestinians killed, the […]