‘Use Another Word’
One school’s campaign against put-downs.
Inclusive Schools
The Morning After The Morning After
Michelle Fine describes the issues faced by U.S. Muslim-American youth following not only 9/11 but the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
On the Question of Mexicanidad
Encouraging prospective teachers to examine their cultural heritage.
Editorial: White Supremacy Is Not Color Blind
Supreme Court rulings affecting Louisville and Seattle could wipe out the last vestiges of the 1954 Brown decision.
Students Galvanize for Immigrant Rights
Viviana, who had only lived in the United States for two years, walked nervously to the speaker’s podium at a press conference on the steps of her high school. Although […]
Playing with Gender
Three 4-year-old boys sat in a circle, each with a doll tucked under his shirt. “It’s time to have our babies!” Nicholas* declared. One by one, the boys pulled their […]
Youth Take the Lead on High School Reform Issues
Sistas and Brothas United.
No Child Left Untested: Closing the Door on Our Kids
I was rummaging through a desk drawer the other day and came across an old Polaroid picture from two former students. The handwritten caption on it read, “Unsuspected picture to […]
‘Is This Just Regular English?’
They were in their seats before the bell rang: 28 spit-polished 10th graders waiting silently in their chairs. In my four years of teaching, I had never encountered a room […]
Tackling Tracking
A teacher finds that small school reform presents opportunities to teach about tracking and inequality.
Holding Nyla
Nyla* came into our Head Start classroom wheeled by her special aassistant and surrounded by three early intervention (EI) specialists. I could barely see her for the equipment, adults, and […]
Strawberry Fields Forever?
When I was a child, my mother couldn’t help us with our homework. She had gone to work as a maid in a Mexican hacienda at age 11 and hadn’t learned to […]
Welcoming Kalenna
When I was a child, our home was filled with the sounds of Spanish, mariachi music, and boisterous conversations. At home, my Nana cooked enchiladas, menudo, and tamales. During family celebrations we broke piñatas, danced, and […]
Framing the Family Tree
My seven-year-old daughter came home from school with a handmade calico tie for her dad for Father’s Day. The oversized tie was carefully cut from the blue and orange fabric […]
Heather’s Moms Got Married
Last spring, my second graders gathered on the rug, discussing the impending 50th anniversary of the historic Brown vs. Board of Education decision. I asked how their lives would have […]
Dressing Up
A principal deals with a student’s unusual request.
Beyond Pink and Blue
A unit on gender stereotypes inspires students to take action.
When Showing Up Isn’t Showing Up
A language arts teacher describes a school board debate in which she merely showed up, instead of showing up and fighting for communities of color.
Women of the Day
A high school teacher looks at how a daily activity focusing on the representation of women helped transform her classroom.
How We Failed Nigel Shelby and Allowed the Abuse He Endured
A writer interrogates school culture and our collective role in the suicide of a gay 15-year-old 9th grader in Alabama.
Our picks for books, videos, websites, and other social justice resources 33.3
Check out these valuable resources, reviewed by Rethinking Schools editors and Teaching for Change colleagues.
How Should We Sing Happy Birthday?
A kindergarten teacher looks at birthday celebrations in her classroom and whether all of her students’ home languages and rituals are being uplifted.
Honor Their Names
Students’ names are the first thing teachers know about the young people who enter our classrooms; they can signal country of origin, gender, language. Students’ names provide the first moment when a teacher can demonstrate their warmth and humanity, their commitment to seeing and welcoming students’ languages and cultures into the classroom.
Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action
In an era when a U.S. president calls Haiti and African nations shithole countries; a time when hate crimes are on the rise; a time when Black students are suspended at four times the rate of white students; and a time when we have lost 26,000 Black teachers since 2002, building a movement for racial justice in the schools is an urgent task. Black lives will matter at schools only when this movement becomes a mass uprising that unites the power of educator unions and families to transform public education.
Science Language for All
Oogenesis? Heterozygous? Science vocabulary can be difficult for students, especially English language learners. A science teacher describes how she reorients science classrooms to make vocabulary accessible.