In more than 20 years of teaching students ranging from as young as 12 to as old as 70, I have found one thing to be verifiably true: Humor positively impacts the learning environment.
This professional development activity gives ideas for developing narrative empathy: using the power of story to step into another person’s shoes in the name of justice.
I decided not to leave a phone message. As my mind began racing through what I wanted to say in an email instead, I thought about my dual roles in school. As a teacher for more than 20 years, I have confidence that schools and teachers are there to help, support and build a relationship with parents. But as a parent, faced with having to speak to my child’s teacher, I froze.
In almost every public school in the United States, attitudes and behaviors in the classroom presume an unacknowledged, yet pervasive, Christian norm. How does this affect students who are not Christian?
This toolkit for “Joseph’s Castle in the Sky” includes lesson plans, book lists, games and data to help teachers in K-12 classrooms give their students a deeper understanding of Haitian culture and history.
Doreen Rappaport tells the story of a young Suzie King Taylor and her brother who attended a secret school for black children in Georgia in the mid-1800s. Later on, Taylor would become the first black woman to teach openly in a freedmen's school.
Shrinking there on the stool in the science classroom, I just want to gather my ungraded quizzes and my dignity and flee to freedom. But, I don’t. I sit there, paralyzed by the assault. “We are not your enemies,” I finally counter. “We are not Blake’s enemies.”
How do you teach current events in a highly politicized climate in which facts have alternate versions and newspaper editors have worn out the thesaurus looking up synonyms for lie?