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article

How Do You Bring Islam Into the Classroom?

In recent weeks, our country has been treated to an ugly reflection of itself. The controversy over the Islamic community center in New York City has been followed by a spate of anti-Muslim acts. They include the stabbing of a Muslim cabbie, attempted arson at a mosque in Tennessee and teens harassing Muslims at worship in upstate New York.
Topic
Religion
article

To See My Students As Grains of Sand

Every school year, my incoming students receive a welcome letter. Included in their packet is something a little different: a snack-sized baggie of sand. One student may receive some black volcanic sand from Japan; another gets green sand from Hawaii; still another receives the silky sand from Florida’s west coast; while another may get the pink sand found on Bermuda’s pristine beaches.
article

Happy Birthday, 19th Amendment!

“I have been watching to see how you stood, but have not noticed anything yet. Don't forget to be a good boy… .”Tennessee state lawmaker Harry Burn received that note from his mom in August 1920. And like a good son, he subsequently changed his vote from “nay” to “yea,” breaking a 48-48 deadlock in the state’s general assembly. “I knew that a mother’s advice is always safest for her boy to follow,” Burn commented afterward, while noting it wasn’t often that a man had a chance “to free 17 million women from political slavery.”
Topic
Gender & Sexual Identity Rights & Activism
article

The Pages in the Book Go Flip, Flip, Flip

My elementary school is a Title I school. About 95 percent of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch and Medicaid. Research shows us that many children raised in poverty struggle to learn to read. Common sense tells us that children who don't learn to read can't read to learn. They often reach a frustration level with school by the time they're in the third grade. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 70 percent of low-income fourth-grade students can't read at a basic level. I often wonder, "What can I do in my day-to-day work as a teacher to help?"
author

Trevor Barton

Trevor Barton received his BA in English at UNC Chapel Hill and his MAT at Converse College. He teaches at an inner-city elementary school in Greenville, S.C.
article

Summer School: Punishment or Second Chance?

This spring, my principal asked who would be interested in teaching a two-week summer session for our own students. I found myself saying, “I’ll do it.” I had previously sworn off summer school as something I would never teach no matter how much I needed the money. But then “summer school” was something I’d only seen in the movies: large groups of unmotivated kids who had even less desire in the summer than they had during the school year. I imagined sweltering classrooms, hours of endless instruction and failure for all—myself included.
Topic
Bullying & Bias
author

Jill E. Thomas

Jill E. Thomas taught English at Life Academy of Health and Bioscience, a small public high school in Oakland, California, for nine years. In addition to teaching English, she had the opportunity to design and teach electives in outdoor education, mindfulness, world dance and food systems. She now works for the Oakland Unified School District coaching principals to provide meaningful, growth-oriented feedback to teachers. She holds a bachelor of arts in English and anthropology from Santa Clara University and a master of arts in education from the University of California at Berkeley.