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When school starts, highlight student excitement, not poverty.

By the 171st day of school, even a dedicated and enthusiastic teacher like me is pretty sure I am immune to being moved or motivated in any sort of way. I am mechanically and somewhat maniacally moving toward the soul nurturing, patience restoring and creativity refueling station we know as “summer vacation.” My fuse is short. I have an overwhelming need for order, structure and control in the classroom. Final exams, deadlines for grades and year-end papers are due.

A Mix Model School coordinator explains why her school participates in Mix It Up at Lunch Day and how she extended it beyond one day with an in-depth social experiment.

New concepts of PE and sports programs are making it more fun for everyone to play.

After reading a Teaching Tolerance Facebook post asking how we would be marking the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, I started to think about how I would address this in my classroom. My new group of sixth-graders will be 10 and 11 years old. What they know about these events will not be from their memories but from what they have learned from their parents and teachers. And given the proximity of our school district to New York City, it is quite possible that I will have students who lost a family member on that day. However I decide to approach it in the classroom, it isn’t going to be easy.

Classroom discussions are usually dominated by a few “alpha” students eager to participate. We can all envision those students. Hands stretched high, fingers waving, literally or figuratively saying, “Ooh, pick me, pick me.” But how do you get that student who is desperately trying not to make eye contact with you—or anyone else in the classroom—involved in the conversation?

Poet Adrienne Rich once asked: How can we connect the process of learning to write well with [a] student’s own reality, and not simply teach her/him how to write acceptable lies in standard English? The question appeared in her 1979 essay, “Taking Women Students Seriously.” Last week, Adrienne Rich passed away, leaving today’s educators to ponder alone a question that remains as pertinent as ever.

In the wake of the Philadelphia Eagles' Super Bowl LII win, this South Jersey teacher looks past the celebration to talk with his students about how some players use their influence to create positive change and to challenge his students to do the same.

One teacher explains how she turned “Thanksgiving Trivia” into an opportunity to share under-taught history with her colleagues as well as her students, regardless of the time of year.

This bill calls for “mutual cooperation and respect” concerning interactions with police—and it misses the point.