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In an era in which truth is no longer the main currency of public reason, we must prepare our students to navigate and disrupt lies perpetuated by politicians and media outlets.

Despite efforts of college and university admissions people, high-achieving students from small towns and rural areas are being left out of the matriculation process because of poverty.

Building relationships with students sometimes takes a back seat to achieving passing test scores. That doesn’t have to be the case, according to this sixth-grade teacher.

I hate sheet protectors. Those shiny, clear plastic sheaths have no place in my classroom. When my new ninth-graders hand in their summer reading logs each September, the first thing I do is remove and return all the sheet protectors. They make it impossible for me to maintain my neat stacks of student work. They don’t quite fit into the file folders I use to transport those stacks home to grade them. I have to remove them before I can write any feedback.

One Sunday morning around 6:30 a.m., I boarded the 7 train in New York City to go to Queens. Scattered throughout the car were about seven weary workers, their clothes covered in dirt. They were trying to sleep after what I imagine had been a long night of hard physical labor. I thought many were probably immigrants who had collected a day’s pay. Before the train started its journey, two very alert guys boarded wearing hoods. One stood at one end of the subway, keeping watch outside and the other immediately started going through the pockets of one of the sleeping workers. I looked around for others to step in. Most averted their eyes from the crime.

Students notice what teachers hang on their classroom walls. That’s one reason this teacher displays anti-racist and anti-sexist posters and buttons.

Nearly a week after the election, school leaders around the country are confronting increasingly volatile school environments. Teaching Tolerance Director Maureen Costello offers several suggestions for how to keep schools safe.