Stories

Teaching

Our Job as Educators Is to Help Our Students See Good in the World. This Is What Our Country Needs Right Now.

When I became a history teacher, my job was to help students think for themselves: to look at multiple perspectives and to make sound and reasoned judgements based on evidence. Today’s political...

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student achievement

I Traveled Across 14 States and Every Student Told Me the Same Story About Why They're Not Motivated in the Classroom

Recently I was in Dodge City, Kansas, at Red Beard Coffee on Gunsmoke Street. I walk up to a guy with a red beard—the owner—and I ask if he knows any kids I could talk with about apathy and...

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student achievement

The Best Way to Fight Fake News Is With Real Teaching

A couple months ago, I heard a student at my school shout “fake news!” at friends down the hallway. It’s actually a pretty common occurrence at my Chicago school when students are told something they...

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Teaching

Poor Curriculum Is a Recipe for Disaster, Here’s How Schools Can Help Teachers Find and Use High-Quality Materials

Lately, I’ve seen a meme that keeps popping up on social media: “Telling a teacher to use a boxed curriculum is like forcing a chef to cook hamburger helper.” I was tempted to like it at first; it...

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Teaching

Families of Color Have a Lot to Worry About, Teachers Doing Stupid, Racist Things Shouldn't Be One of Them

If you’re anything like me, you’ve found yourself looking at your social media timeline recently and muttering “what in the world is happening?” In late October, a teacher in Davenport, Iowa, decided...

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Charter Schools

History Is Not a Spectator Sport and It's My Job to Engage My Students

In March 2007 I was finishing my second month of student teaching at Charters Valley High School in suburban Pittsburgh. I had completed drafting a lesson on the early effects of the Cold War in...

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