Meet Two Teachers Learning to Center Their Students’ Identities Without Losing Sight of Their Own

Lindsay Singer and Ashley McCall are both third grade teachers at Cesar Chavez Multicultural Academic Center in Chicago. Lindsay teaches mathematics and inquiry. And Ashley…

Here’s How Culturally Sustaining Curriculum Roots Students in a Legacy of Strength

I started my teaching career teaching music. I’d been a professional musician for a decade—performing, touring and recording jazz and Latin music. With some experience…

Black Students Are Not ‘Marginalized,’ They Are the Center of Our Work

So many headlines these days are about how Black students are “falling behind” during the pandemic. They’re “missing” and “lost.” But the truth is, Black…

My Students Deserve to Share Their Stories On Their Own Terms

I found “The Bluest Eye” on my own in my older sister’s classroom books. I was in ninth grade. I can’t remember what I thought…

An Inclusive Curriculum Matters All Year Round

Although the United States has always had a diverse population, public school curricula are overwhelmingly built around a white, male perspective. Students are learning a…

We Need to Keep Talking About HIV With Our Students

As a kid born in the 70s and raised primarily in Arkansas, I was a skeptic for the first seventeen years of my life. Growing…

We Need to Provide Gender Identity-Affirming Mirrors for Our Youngest Learners

J, a seven-year-old boy in my classroom, was bright and energetic, always wanting to help and always starting the day with a smile. J liked…

5 Resources to Help Students Feel Seen This Transgender Awareness Week

No group of human beings is a monolith. Transgender students are no exception to that. This Transgender Awareness Week (and all weeks) it’s on us…

Native Families Have Used School Choice to Save Their Children for More Than 50 Years

When their sons were told they’d have to cut their hair to continue attending the local public school, Jerry and Pat Roy began homeschooling their…

10 Books to Help Your Students Find the Diverse Voices They Need to Hear

The day my teaching changed forever didn’t happen in a classroom. It happened at the local mall, in a bookstore that was going out of…