This middle school history teacher uses complexity—and all the uncertainty that comes along with it—as the starting point for his unit on the Middle East.
What comes to your students’ minds when they hear the word Africa? If it’s mostly civil war and famine, you’ll like the diversity of these recommended texts.
Colleen is the associate professor of non-Western literatures and the director of Women's and Gender Studies at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. Her academic work has been published in Feminist Formations and Journal of Postcolonial Writing. Clemens co-hosts the podcast Inside254, which focuses in depth on one current topic about labor, indigeneity, gender or world issues every other week. She can be reached via her blog.
Class discussions about To Kill a Mockingbird typically focus on the book’s white protagonists. This brand-new TT lesson turns the lens by focusing on the perspective of one of the book’s African American characters.
Sheila Esshaki is an English and English as a Second Language high school teacher in the metropolitan Detroit area. She has taught in high schools in Caracas, Venezuela; Cairo, Egypt; and Ankara, Turkey. She is a first-generation Arab American who speaks fluent Arabic and understands some of her native Chaldean (Aramaic). Her bicultural background, along with her experiences, give energy to her passion for supporting respect for and celebration of diversity.
With all the talk about Cam Newton’s celebrations—and less than a week to go before Super Bowl 50—educators can take advantage of this teachable moment.
Our history is sometimes painful; focusing on the “best version” of that history to make it more palatable to young readers denies them the education they deserve.
This educator believes creating a school environment where it’s OK for students to share their stories is of the utmost importance—for students and educators.
Sumant Bhat became head of the middle school at St. Anne’s Episcopal School—a PS-8 school in Denver, Colorado—in 2014. In addition to his work on curriculum and programming, he leads diversity training and growth for all faculty and staff and the school’s Multiculturalism and Inclusion Committee. Prior to St. Anne’s, Sumant worked at three other independent schools as a teacher, advisor, coach, department chair, dean of middle school, international trip coordinator and admissions staff member. Sumant holds a B.A. in economics and psychology from Williams College and an M.A. in educational