Coming Home to Ourselves

In her new book, The Spirit of Our Work: Black Women Teachers (Re)member, Cynthia Dillard (now dean of the College of Education at Seattle University) provides language for what occurs when Black women teachers discover their spiritual wisdom and identities that are part of a long historical continuum of Black women’s resistance, creativity, and ultimately, their healing.

Reproductive Justice and Our Classrooms

There is no end-point in the fight for justice and equality, no moment when the argument is finally settled. As Angela Davis has said, “Freedom is a constant struggle.” Although that proposition seems exhausting, it is also hopeful. If our wins are never wholly secure, then neither must our losses be permanent. The struggle for reproductive justice continues, and our curriculum must nurture our students’ capacity to envision and participate in its next stages.

Educators Speak Out: Spring 2022

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 . . .

Choreographing for Justice

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.

“I Saw Eyes Begin to Widen”

Role plays can offer students engaging ways to learn, but require careful contextualization and follow-up. This article offers some cautions and guidance about using them. 

“Take These Nametags Off!”

A doctoral student tells the story of her experience with a dangerous role play — poorly conceptualized and taught — when she was an undergrad.

Sin Fronteras

Alexander and their middle school students use the powerful poem “To live in the borderlands means you,” by Gloria Anzaldúa, to explore the borderlands of their own lives. 

Big Reactions to Small Steps

Harrington Pangallo describes pushback for reading a book to answer a student question — “What does gay mean?” — and her response.

What I Wish I Had Said

An elementary teacher stories her struggle to speak up to a colleague about a racist nickname.

Reading, Writing, and Rising Up

The Read-Around

Raising writers  By Linda Christensen The read-around is the classroom equivalent to quilt making or barn raising. It is the public space—the zócalo or town square—of my room. During our […]

Shape-Shifting Segregation Policies

A teacher educator helps preservice teachers understand the history of how Mexican Americans have been racialized as Black and white at different times to keep them out of white schools.

How Google Classroom Erases Trans Students

There are so many voices right now grieving what we have lost with the school closure — our relationships with students and co-workers, the laughter and energy that echo down […]

My Grades Will Not Be Instruments of War

How we grade students — or whether we grade students — has always been contested terrain. The pandemic has brought new attention to the politics of grading.  In the 1960s, […]