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Affirming Many Variations of Family
When I was growing up, most of my friends’ families had a mom and a dad. A few parents were divorced and that meant stepdads and stepmoms were also in the picture. That was about the extent of family diversity in my experience. During my teaching credential program, I learned about children having two moms or two dads. I made a mental note to remember this. I have discovered that family configurations are limitless and I now work to be inclusive, aware and respectful.
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Political Discussion Belongs in Our Classroom
I was excited by my lesson plan about the presidential elections. I planned to help students research issues and form opinions by guiding them through a variety of perspectives. Then my student teacher asked a question that surprised me. “Do you ever have parents complain about elections being discussed in school?” he wanted to know. “Why would they?” I asked.
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Breaking Down Stereotypes
As new generations come along, we hope the old beliefs mired in hate and separation will die out. The lines that once separated us continue to fade. We have evidence. Our society is more accepting now than it was decades ago of multiracial relationships, multiracial families and multiracial children. Blogger Pamela Cytrynbaum says the new generation is “rejecting the color lines” that once constrained them. The New York Times writer Susan Saulny poignantly describes the younger generation as having a “more fluid sense of identity.”
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Helping Hunter Spanjer Keep His Name
Grand Island Public School District (GIPS) in Nebraska wanted 3-year-old Hunter Spanjer to change his name because they said it violated the school's weapons policy. I am outraged. But more than that, I realize that students like Hunter need advocates.
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Eagle Scouts Honor Integrity Through Protest
In the years since they graduated from middle school, several of my former students earned the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout. I was proud of them. I read their stories in the local paper and was inspired by the various ways in which these young men improved our community. Each time, their accomplishments and selflessness impressed me. Earning the highest rank in Boy Scouts of America is an admirable achievement.
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The Study of Racial Representation via Television Commercial Analysis
In my Latino/Latina literature class, my primary intent is to help my students see the inequities created in our society by pervasive racism and discrimination. This project asks that the students watch two hours of
August 30, 2012
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Who Will You Inspire Today?
Bill Gates said there would never have been a Microsoft were it not for his teachers, Fred Wright and Ann Stephens. I have to wonder if, at the time, they realized what influence they had. Was the year that they taught Gates one that stood out above the rest, or was it a school year in which they did what they always did—taught to their best ability?
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Toolkit for 'You’re Not From Around Here'
Most of us hold stereotypes about our country’s different regions—and even individual states. These biases, writer Carrie Kilman points out, originate in, or are shaped in part by, the media. And we are being exposed to