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Teaching Tolerance director Maureen Costello looks back on our 20th birthday.

A 9th-grade English unit helps students analyze legacy behind Native American mascots.

This piece accompanies the Teaching Tolerance article "Opening Doors on the Border."

Today, I got a laptop. Not for me. For Aeesha. Let me flash back to about six weeks ago. A team meeting took place around a table in the science classroom, completing the annual discussion about Aeesha’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP). In eighth grade, Aeesha still struggles with basic mathematics, with written expression skills and with decoding text. In many ways, she is an elementary school student trapped in a middle school student’s adolescent body.

Mark your calendar! These free PD opportunities, about 45 minutes each, will address topics like home visits, implicit bias and building empathy. We’ll also embark on part two of our popular Black Lives Matter discussion.

A group of technology-loving eighth-graders at Georgetown Day School combined their digital skills with a passion for helping others. It was community service in a computer lab. As part of the school’s service learning program, we asked the Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry (NOVAM), a local health organization, if students might interview staff, record the interviews and produce podcasts about its work and mission. NOVAM educates the public about HIV and AIDS and provides support to people and families coping with the disease. The eighth graders hoped their mini-radio programs might be posted on the organization’s website for clients to download.

Greg arrived at my art room after school to pick up a bulky project. He seemed down. “Is everything ok?” I asked.

Middle school teachers struggle to find ways to respond to bullying, teasing, name-calling and exclusionary practices among students. We tread lightly sometimes, afraid of saying the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time thus making conditions worse for a bullied student. Being heavy-handed almost never works. Students also know how to say the right thing to adults and then act in a completely contrary way towards peers.

Teaching Tolerance director Maureen Costello considers the lack of understanding of rural schools.