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...
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...
For five years, I was principal of one of the most difficult schools in my urban district. In those five years, I had eight supervisors. They varied from supportive, attentive and understanding of...
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...
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...
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...
