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The undercurrent affects my classroom. I can feel its tug and see its effects but can rarely locate the source or the exact flow. Cruel taunts and gossip are the culprits behind my students’ tears, stony faces—their anger and their fear. The ferociousness of the few vicious communications I have been privy to as a high school teacher caught me off guard. High school can be a shark tank and the blood flows with every passing class period, thanks in part to the popularity of online social media. I feel helpless to save the victims because I don’t even know who they are half the time.

The 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq marked my first year of teaching. When one of my students referred to Iraqis as “towel heads,” I told him he had to do extra homework researching turbans and present a report to me the next day. It took him a week to complete the assignment, and instead of gaining insight and compassion for a different group of people, he probably just became more resentful. I now see this as a lost opportunity. As a precursor to our social studies unit on conflict in the Middle East, I taught a unit this year on world religions. We started off studying seven of the world’s major faiths and then narrowed it down to the three Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

This teacher had the information she needed to decode a student’s tough behavior…but what if she hadn’t?

Deaf and hard-of-hearing students can effectively miss class, even if they attend every day. Learn to spot this phenomenon and help reverse it.

An educator reflects on her commitment to building a just and equitable society.

The 2008 election showed us that true progress in the struggle for equality is possible. Yet there is still much work to be done.

Experience the benefits of play with these five activities.

An after-school teacher uses trivia to get her elementary students thinking about the world around them—including civil rights history.