While we are increasingly aware of the need to address racist, sexist, homophobic, ageist and classist language, ableist language is too often disregarded.
Elizabeth Birr Moje is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture in Educational Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Moje teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in secondary and adolescent literacy, literacy and cultural theory, and qualitative and mixed research methods. Moje also serves as a Faculty Associate in the University’s Institute for Social Research, and a Faculty Affiliate in Latino/a Studies. Her research interests revolve around the intersection between the literacies and texts youth are asked to learn in the disciplines (particularly
David O’Brien’s scholarship and teaching focus on the literacy practices of adolescents. He has studied how adolescents use literacy to learn content across the disciplines and also how their teachers learn to integrate literacy practices into various disciplines in middle and high school instruction. His research is collaborative, conducted within a community of practice with the intent of improving adolescents’ literacy skills and practices concurrently with improving their teachers’ abilities to meet the needs of a range of learners. In a recent project, he collaborated with colleagues at
Dean Hamer is a National Institutes of Science scientist emeritus, a New York Times book-of-the-year author, and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker with a long history of communicating complex and controversial ideas to diverse audiences. He formed Qwaves with partner Joe Wilson to produce films that emanate from the voices of those on the outside and compel viewers to question and to act. Their Sundance-supported PBS documentary Out in the Silence was used as a tool for grassroots anti-bullying advocacy in small towns and rural areas communities across the country. They moved to Hawai'i in 2011 to
Ijeoma Njaka is a writer and education professional committed to social justice. As an undergraduate student, she spent summers teaching art, mathematics, and Swedish classes to bright, urban middle schoolers at LearningWorks at Blake: A Breakthrough Program in Minneapolis, Minn. She graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in Public Policy and American Institutions. She created U.S. history curriculum with a people’s history approach at Teaching for Change in Washington, D.C. Most recently, she worked at a Boston nonprofit to mentor first-generation college-bound, low-income
Teaching 'The New Jim Crow' Introduction to the Teacher's Guide In many ways, this is a dream come true. I have long hoped that a set of materials would be created that would support high school teachers who want to
In this lesson, students will see how statistical data can tell a larger story, understand numbers in various contexts and explore different points of view in relation to data. They will also consider how—as future voters—they will help determine how the political process can serve everybody.
A simulation of an auction during a fifth-grade lesson about slavery last week is just the latest illustration of why we need better ways to teach hard history.