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The NBA’s Golden State Warriors, educators, students and others are standing up to say, “I pledge to stand up to all forms of hate, bigotry and bullying.”

Ava, an 8th-grade student in my after-school creative writing class came to me to discuss a story she was working on. She was writing a fictional story about a gay teenager who struggles with his sexuality and coming out. Even early on in the process, I was impressed with her ability to look at this story as a complex study in understanding—giving a voice to, and respectfully exploring, the conflicts of a gay teen.

In a recent discussion about a history reading, I asked students if they understood the need to think critically about what we read, even if the reading is labeled “historical.”

The room was quiet. In our staff development session, we had just watched a short video about the best way to instruct our students in speaking Standard English. The teacher in the video explained to her students that they would be practicing the “language of the job interview.” My school director asked, “How did people feel about that?”

"When you went downtown, did you see a hobo?" The tone was mocking with a giggle at the end. I cringed. Turning around, I saw one of my students: a young girl with freckles and a polka dot bow in her hair. She was a student who always had a smile to share, was the first to offer an extra pencil if anyone lacked and was always willing to help others. The callousness of her remark was out of character. I wondered if she was repeating something that someone else had said. Perhaps she just thought hobo was a funny word.

I really should be practicing Aura Lee right now—or Merrily We Roll Along.I will soon be marching on stage, balancing my sheet music on the stand, wetting my reed, and playing the clarinet in front of parents, school board members, students, even the superintendent.How exactly did I get myself into this mess?It all started with a simple email.Pull out your instruments, Teachers, and join our Beginning Band students in their October concert….

This toolkit for “Expelling Islamophobia” outlines a six-step lesson plan using the short film American Muslims: Facts vs. Fiction. The purpose is to foster all students’ religious literacy and improve school climate for Muslim students and other vulnerable student groups.

Mindfulness a not only a great tool to help students focus, but it also helps educators to be more culturally responsive.

This toolkit accompanies the article “Serving Up Justice at School,” and provides a classroom activity that engages students in learning about the food in their daily lives through an interdisciplinary social-action project.