Académique Documents
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Birding in Urban
Ecology Class
Unfolding Hope
in Chicago
USA/CANADA $5.95
>> DEPARTMENTS
Teaching in the
Time of Trump
T
treme flooding are putting
wo days after the election, 21 than our futures. But money isnt going him at risk. The actions those in power
plaintiffs, aged 9 to 20, won to matter if we cant fix our planet. take and the decisions they make will de-
a critical court ruling on the The Obama Department of Justice termine the kind of world future genera-
constitutional obligation of the admitted three key sets of facts: Govern- tions will inherit.
U.S. government to protect our ment officials have been aware of scien- Now the governments case will be
childrens right to a livable Earth. Juliana v. tific research on the effects of fossil fuel handled by Trumps Department of Jus-
United States alleges that the government emissions on the atmosphere for more tice under Jeff Sessions, which has indi-
has violated those rights by directly caus- than 50 years; federal defendants per- cated it is going to stall. And the case is
ing atmospheric CO2 to rise to levels that mit, authorize, and subsidize fossil fuel likely to be appealed all the way to the
dangerously interfere with a stable climate extraction, development, and exporta- Supreme Court. But, as Jeremy Brecher
system and knowingly endangered their tion; and current and projected con- argued in a recent article in Common
health and welfare. centrations of six well-mixed greenhouse Dreams, Long before the trial, the case
The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. gases in the atmosphere, including CO2, will provide a golden teachable move-
Constitution bars the federal government threaten the public health and welfare of ment for a full-scale educational cam-
from depriving a person of life, liberty, current and future generations. The gov- paign and debate on Trumps commit-
or property without due process of ernment lawyers then argued that the cli- ment to climate destruction. And, if the
law. The suit says that the governments mate kids didnt have the legal standing courts wont enforce that right, it is up to
refusal to avert climate disaster is a vio- to sue. Climate change, they said, should the people to do so. n
lation of the Fifth Amendment. It also be left to other branches of government.
states the government has violated its But U.S. District Court Judge Ann Based on reporting by Jeremy Brecher
duty to protect the public trust by allow- Aiken of the federal district court in Ore- (Trial of the Century Pits Trump Climate
ing the depletion and destruction of the gon ruled that the suit could go forward. Denialism Against Right to a Climate Sys-
atmosphere. She said: I have no doubt that the right tem Capable of Sustaining Human Life,
As 13-year-old plaintiff Jayden Foyt- to a climate system capable of sustaining Common Dreams, Feb. 24, 2017) and Eric
lin from Rayne, Louisiana, explains: human life is fundamental to a free and Holthaus (The Kids Suing the Govern-
Our government seems to care more ordered society. . . . To hold otherwise ment Over Climate Change Are Our Best
about money for the fossil fuel industry would be to say that the Constitution af- Hope Now, Slate, Nov. 14, 2016).
T
ing Center, the Middle East
eachers throughout the for teachers to wear black the week lead- Childrens Alliance, Teachers 4 Social
United States are strug- ing up to the vote went viral. Teachers, Justice, and the Alliance of South Asians
gling to recover from the students, and parents called, faxed, and Taking Action.
shock of the election and emailed their congresspeople, forcing The conference started with a panel
beginning to organize to Vice President Pence to break the tie over of Arab and Muslim youth who talked
protect their students and their schools. her confirmation. about their experiences in school, the im-
In New York City, for example, protests Teachers are working to protect their pact of feeling isolated and under attack,
have been taking place on a near daily most vulnerable students, promote criti- and what they need from teachers and
basis since the inauguration. According cal conversations, develop relevant cur- schools:
to Rethinking Schools editor Adam San- riculum, and support student activism. We need teachers, counselors,
chez: Trumps election has politicized And theyre joining together to figure out and administrators who look like us,
our school. Harvest Collegiate was always how to do that. The Critical Educators who speak our languages and know our
a progressive high school, but now there Collective in Portland, Oregon, held a cultures.
are daily conversations about Trumps Teaching in a Time of Trump gathering We need to see our history and our
attacks and what we can do to organize Feb. 11. More than 400 educators from the reality in the curriculum.
against them. These conversations
are happening not just in the class- Scared that our ability to teach for social justice is under
room, but in after-school clubs, in
the hallways, in the breakroom.
attack? Join us for strength, community, and resources.
The student walkoutsafter the
inauguration, when Betsy DeVos was Northwest responded to the organizers We need you to put your bodies on
confirmed as secretary of education, in call: Do you teach for social justice? Wor- the line.
protest of the Muslim travel banled to ried about the harm and threat the Trump Then participants attended work-
special teacher meetings because we felt administration poses to our students and shops: Know Your Rights; Talking
we werent doing enough for the move- their families? Scared that our own abil- with Students About Racism, Sexism, Is-
ment. Our students were challenging us ity to teach for social justice is under at- lamophobia, and Xenophobia at different
to do more. tack? Were stronger together. Join us for grade levels; and age-appropriate curricu-
National and local teacher unions, strength, community, and resources. lum from K12. The conference ended
progressive caucuses, and grassroots Llondyn Elliott, a 2015 Grant High with a conversation on Making Sanctu-
education organizations mobilized in School graduate, a transgender Black ary Real in Schools and Communities
opposition to DeVos confirmation hear- man, was one of the panelists. He told and a promise of more events soon. n
ings. Badass Teachers Associations call educators, The most powerful thing
Warmly,
Standing
A role play on the Dakota Access Pipeline
as a stand-alone unit. They are an entry between Indigenous peoples and Eu- Materials for the Dakota Access Pipeline
Role Play available at the Zinn Education
point, not a destination. ropean and U.S. invaders: Government Project website: zinnedproject.org/materials/
officers plying Indigenous negotiators standing-with-standing-rock-nodapl.
History in the Making with alcohol, providing documents in Archambault II, David. Aug. 24, 2016. Taking a
languages they could not read, or getting Stand at Standing Rock. New York Times.
When we were developing this Standing signatures from individuals who had no Calloway, Colin. 2012. First Peoples: A
Rock lesson, we had no idea how things authorization from their tribe. The U.S. Documentary Survey of American Indian History.
Bedford/St.Martins.
would unfold. But December 4, 2016, government has never stopped using
Chiang-Waren, Xian. Sept. 16, 2016. Inside the
brought some good news for the Indig- bureaucratic and pseudo-legalistic tools
Camp Thats Fighting to Stop the Dakota Access
enous water protectors and their allies. to obscure the negative consequences of Pipeline. Grist.
The U.S. Army announced its decision these treaties on the Indigenous people
not to grant an easement for ETP to cross affected by them.
under Lake Oahe. A detailed letter by Jo- The situation in North Dakota has
Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the had its own pen-and-ink work: ETPs
Army, invoked treaty rights, called for a insistence that it carried out a thorough
full environmental impact statement, ad- environmental review; the U.S. Army
mitted that outcomes of earlier environ- Corps of Engineers acceptance of the
Haymarket Books
SEC
FUL
Y
R E VISED
L
By Linda Christensen
For more than a decade, teachers have looked to Reading, Writing, and
Rising Up as a trusted text to integrate social justice teaching in language arts
classrooms. This accessible, encouraging book has been called a profound
work of emancipatory pedagogy and an inspiring example of tenacious and
transformative teaching.
Now, Linda Christensen is back with a fully revised, updated version. Offering
essays, teaching models, and a remarkable collection of student writing,
Christensen builds on her catalog of social justice scholarship with a breathtaking
set of tools and wisdom for teachers in the new millennium.
by childrens books and movies, instructs develop distorted views of people outside
BY LINDA CHRISTENSEN
young people to accept the world as it is of their racial/cultural group:
Linda Christensen (lmc@lclark.edu) portrayed in these social blueprints. And
is director of the Oregon Writing often that world depicts the domination The impact of racism begins early.
Project at Lewis & Clark College in of one sex, one race, one class, or one Even in our preschool years, we are
Portland, Oregon. This article was country over a weaker counterpart. After exposed to misinformation about
revised for the upcoming second studying cartoons and childrens litera- people different from ourselves.
edition of Reading, Writing, and ture, my student Omar wrote, When we Many of us grow up in neighbor-
Rising Up. Linda is also the author
read childrens books, we arent just read- hoods where we had limited op-
of Teaching for Joy and Justice;
ing cute little stories, we are discovering portunities to interact with people
co-editor of Rethinking Elementary
Education, Rhythm and Resistance, the tools with which a young society is different from our own families
and The New Teacher Book; and an manipulated. Consequently, most of the early
editor of Rethinking Schools. Beverly Tatum, who wrote Why Are information we receive about oth-
All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the erspeople racially, religiously,
Cafeteria?, helps explain how children or socioeconomically different
Childrens cartoons, movies, and lit- courage or legitimate social inequality. there are people of color in the film, how
erature are perhaps the most influential To help students uncover the values are they portrayed? What would chil-
genre read. Young people, unprotected planted by Disney and other mediaand dren learn about this particular group
by intellectual armor, hear or watch these construct more just onesI begin this from this film? What about women?
stories again and again, often from the unlearning the myths unit with several What jobs do you see them doing? What
warmth of a parents lap. The message objectives. First, I want students to cri- do they talk about? What would young
of the storiesthe secret education tique portrayals of hierarchy, inequality, children learn about womens roles in
is linked with the security of childrens patriarchy, imperialism, racism, and xe- society if they watched this film and be-
homes, increasing its power. As Tatums nophobia in childrens movies and car- lieved it? What about overweight people?
research suggests, the stereotypes and toons. Through this unit, I endeavor to What roles do money, possessions, and
worldview embedded in the stories be- develop a critical framework to take into power play in the film? Who has them?
come accepted knowledge. our study of literature and society. Then I Who wants them? Overall, what do chil-
I want students to question this ac- want to enlist them in imagining a better dren learn about whats important in this
cepted knowledge and the secret educa- world, characterized by relationships of society? Obviously, I dont ask these all
tion delivered by cartoons as well as by respect and equality. at once, but these are the questions that
BOOKS ABOU
to merely entertain us, they con-
stantly give us a secret education.
T
We are not only taught certain
TICE
magazines, and comic strips; we
OR YO
are also taught how to succeed,
U
how to love, how to buy, how to
READ NGER
conquer, how to forget the past
ERS
and suppress the future. We are
taught, more than anything else, www.eqpress.org
how not to rebel.
Unfolding Hope
As 2016 began, late-night talk shows
and social media were having plenty of
fun with the notion of a Trump presiden-
in a Chicago school
cy. But my students were already anxious.
The possibility of Trump landing in the
White House had never felt like a joke to
them and, as the months went by, their
on peoples livesincluding the lives of concerns grew. They listened as he cate-
my students. But he had already wormed gorically disparaged Mexicans and Mus-
his way into so many of our lessons over lims, as he threatened to end birthright
BY GREG MICHIE the past year that I thought we were citizenship, as he demonized Black and
ready, at least for a while, to turn to other Brown Chicago, as he repeatedly prom-
topics, other themes. ised to build a wall. To my students, these
Greg Michie teaches 7th and 8th graders I should have known better. By the were neither throwaway stump speech
at Seward Elementary in Chicago and end of his first week in office, Trump lines nor laughable proposals. They were
is the author of several books, including had already signed an executive order to direct threats.
Holler If You Hear Me: The Education begin building a wall along the Mexican Mr. Michie, one of my students
of a Teacher and His Students. Follow border, threatened to send in the feds asked during class, if Donald Trump
him on Twitter @GregoryMichie.
if Chicagos gun violence numbers didnt wins and my mom gets deported, can I
Student names have been changed.
improve, blocked Syrian refugees from come live with you and your family?
Illustrator Shannon Wrights work can entering the United States, and tempo- I dont think thats gonna happen,
be found at shannon-wright.com. rarily banned immigration from seven I said. If it does, though, well figure
majority Muslim countries. It was im- something out. Youre gonna be OK.
possible for us to look away. Dont worry.
For my studentsmostly children But he did worry. Despite the reas-
of immigrants from Mexico, along with surances of teachers, despite the polls,
a few Central American and Muslim he was fearful, as were many of my stu-
immigrants, living on Chicagos South dents, of what might be. But they were
Sidethe worries that accompanied also afraid of what had been, of what al-
Trumps flurry of first-week actions ready was.
were not new. Throughout 2016, as the On a Monday evening in early May,
bizarre presidential election and the spi- I got a text from a former student: Hey
raling levels of gun violence in some of Mr. Michie I dont know if you had heard
Chicagos most forgotten communities they just shot Leo the 7th grader.
made headlines, my students never had No, I thought. Please, no. Leo was
the luxury granted to most white Ameri- in my homerooma bright, quiet kid
cans, who looked on from a comfortable who loved playing basketball in the park,
distance. For the kids I teach, it all played reading realistic fiction, and making his
outliterallyclose to home, and the classmates laugh. Earlier that day, wed
accompanying loss and fear were viscer- stood back to back in the hallway to see
al, palpable. who was taller. I still had him by a half
KATHERINE STREETER
weaacademy.org
wildlife rehabilitation center, City Wild- a few silent moments appreciating the
life. Through their Lights Out D.C. pro- beauty of the tiny bird and its journey
gram, a dedicated group of citizen scien- from South America before placing it in
tists walks a five-mile loop of downtown its bag to be cataloged.
early every morning during birds spring Back in class, my students analyze
and fall migration seasons. Theyre look- the bird mortality datagraphing the
ing for the bodies of birds that have hit number of collisions per species at each
the illuminated glass of buildings during building over time and comparing it to
their overnight migration flights. the total number of birds killed in colli-
One of our class requirements is that sions each year. They present their data
students go on one of Lights Out D.C.s and findings to stakeholders from City
5:30 a.m. data collection runs with an Wildlife, to inform their outreach to
expert and a small group of their peers. building owners and architects. The goal
The complaints when I announce the as- is to protect vulnerable species by modi-
TEACHINGFORCHANGE.ORG signment are strong and sincere. You fying lighting and construction material
ZINNEDPROJECT.ORG want me to be downtown when? Is the choices. I hope that, as we deepen our
Metro even open then? Do you know partnership, my students will soon be
what time Im going to have to get up? able to report their findings and sugges-
to the natural world, theyve gained a stake in its Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Celebrate Urban
Birds: Focal Species. celebrateurbanbirds.org/
preservation. learn/birds/quick-guide-to-focal-species.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology. All About Birds.
www.allaboutbirds.org.
did you have to teach me about birds? tal science.
Latino Outdoors. latinooutdoors.org.
she whines. Now, I cant go anywhere As she heads off to her first year of
Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. nationalzoo.
without seeing birds! And then I have to college, Marta is excited to be taking ur- si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds.
try to identify them! Marta echoes her ban ecology againthis time at the college Sobel, David. 1996. Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming
sentiment. Youve done something to level. Shes also sharing her birding knowl- the Heart in Nature Education. Orion Society.
me, Ms. Royse. edge within her own community. When
As a teacher, it can be difficult to as- I go walking with my boyfriend, she ad-
sess the difference that my work makes mits, I point out all the birds, and hes get-
W
BY SARA HOLBROOK hen I realized I couldnt answer the
questions posed about two of my own
Sara Holbrook is the author
of multiple books of poetry for poems on the Texas state assessment
children, teens, and adults. Her tests (STAAR), I had a flash of panic
first novel, The Enemy, Detroit
1954 (Calkins Creek, A Highlights
oh, no! Not smart enough. I checked to
Company), was just released. see if anyone was looking. The questions began to swim on
Adapted from an earlier version
published in the Huffington Post
the page. Waves of insecurity. My brain in full spin.
Jan. 4, 2017. The two poems in question are A Real Case, which
appeared on the 2014 Grade 7 STAAR Reading Test, and
Midnight, which appeared on the 2013 Grade 8 STAAR
Reading Test. Both poems originally appeared in Walking
on the Boundaries of Change (Boyds Mills Press, 1998).
Let me begin by confessing that A
Real Case is my most neurotic poem. I
have a pile of them, but this one is the
sour cherry on top. The written evidence
of my anxieties, those evil gremlins that
ride around on tricycles in my mind,
shooting my self-confidence with wa-
ter pistols. How in the name of all thats
moldy did this poem wind up on a pro-
ficiency test?
Dose of reality: Test makers are for-
profit organizations. My poems are a lot
cheaper than Mary Olivers or Jane Ken-
yons, so theres that. But how would your
vulnerable, nervous, No. 2 pencil-grip-
ping 7th-grade self have felt opening your
test packet to analyze these poetic lines:
Congratulationsnow more
than ever, we need the wisdom,
Keep up the terrific work!
radical courage, heart, and Rethinking Schools elevates
Best wishes from chutzpah and celebrates teachers!
RADICAL TEACHER of RSto another 30!
Amy Hagopian
Michelle Fine
The Public Science Project, CUNY
Thank you for inspiring, teaching, Thanks to the leading edge Continue the struggle for
and supporting teachers and of justice, love, and anti-racist classrooms, teaching,
education for democracy. respect in schools. and curriculum. RS is so needed in
Long live Rethinking Schools! Ginger Rhodes this era of white nationalism.
Sonia Nieto Renegade Learning Michael Charney and CJ Prentiss
ACCELERATING
TEACHING LITERACY FOR MI PADRE
CONTROVERSIAL DIVERSE LEARNERS Mexican Immigrant
ISSUES Classroom Strategies Fathers and Their
The Case for Critical That Integrate Childrens Education
Thinking and Moral Social/Emotional Sarah Gallo
Commitment in the Engagement
Classroom Foreword by
and Academic
Guadalupe Valds
Nel Noddings and Achievement
Laurie Brooks ION Second Edition
SECOND EDIT 2017
NG
COMING SPRI Socorro G. Herrera,
Shabina K.
Kavimandan, Della R.
Perez, and Stephanie
Wessels
800.575.6566
WWW.TCPRESS.COM
H
igh school exit tests are the trapdoors of the edu-
cation world. These are the tests that tie scores to
high school diplomas and push students who miss
the mark out of school into the streets, the unem-
ployment lines, and the prisons.
BY STAN KARP A national uprising has highlighted increase dropout rates and incarceration
the many ways the misuse and overuse of rates without improving college partici-
standardized testing hurts students. Now pation, college completion levels, or eco-
Stan Karp is an editor of the effort to end high school exit testing nomic prospects for graduates in states
Rethinking Schools. may be its next step. that have them.
Richie Popes work can be In the last few years, 10 states have A 2014 report by the Gates-funded
found at richiepope.com. repealed or delayed high school exit ex- New America institute, The Case Against
ams. California, Georgia, South Caro- Exit Exams, declared, New evidence
lina, and Arizona even decided to issue has reinforced the conclusion that exit
diplomas retroactively to thousands of exams disproportionately affect a subset
students denied them due to scores on of students, without producing positive
discontinued tests. Although 13 states outcomes for most. It found that rig-
still use exit testing for diplomas and orous exit testing was associated with
policies are in flux in several others, the lower graduation rates, had no posi-
number is down from a high of 27 states tive effects on labor market outcomes,
during the testing craze promoted by No and, most alarmingly, produced a 12.5
Child Left Behind (NCLB). percent increase in incarceration rates.
There are several reasons for this Exit exams, the study concluded, have
retreat, including the research on exit tended to add little value for most stu-
testing, which clearly shows that exit dents but have imposed costs on already
tests dont help the students who pass at-risk ones.
and hurt the students who dont. They The introduction of the new, hard-
er Common Core (CCSS) tests and the Ready for What? sure what they pretend to measure
contradictions behind college for all intelligence, academic ability, college
rhetoric have been another factor. Even Exit testing relies on several related, readinessand they dont measure at all
supporters of these new tests have ac- flawed premises. One is that standard- qualities that high schools should nur-
knowledged that using them as exit ex- ized testing can serve as a kind of qual- ture in all young people, like responsibil-
ams would produce dramatically nega- ity control for high school graduates, ity, resilience, critical insight, and empa-
tive effects. A report from the Carnegie guaranteeing that graduates are college thy. Although the passing or cut scores
Corporation predicted that, with-
out an unprecedented increase
in educational supports for high Standardized tests can predict scores on other
school youth, the implementa- standardized tests, [but they] cannot validly predict college
tion of college and career ready readiness. Bill Mathis, National Education Policy Center
tests as diploma requirements
would cause the national high
school graduation rate to plummet from or career ready. Another is that they on standardized exit tests can be manip-
more than 75 percent to the low 50 per- have predictive value for future suc- ulated to produce varied outcomes, their
cent range. As a political matter, it will cess in academic or workplace situations, main impact is to narrow access to op-
be difficult for supporters of CCSS, al- and serve a useful gatekeeping func- portunity for some, not to produce better
ready under attack from various corners, tion for institutions that ration access to preparation for all.
to sustain a system in which large num- opportunity. For example, both federally funded
bers of students are denied diplomas, But there is little evidence for these Common Core test consortia, PARCC
said researcher Richard Kahlenberg. contentions. The tests dont reliably mea- (the Partnership for Assessment of Read-
Ages 13+ Free Curriculum For Classrooms, Staff Trainings, Community Groups, Family Game Nights
DOWNLOAD at www.roadtoracialjustice.org Created by Kesa Kivel
35,000 didnt take the test at all, either BIG WORLD, SMALL PLANET
opting out in protest or otherwise avoid-
A comprehensive guide to global issues and sustainable solutions
ing a new and confusing layer of testing
that was the target of unrelenting nega-
tive media coverage and parent protest.
The use of PARCC exams as a grad- Module 1: Getting Started with Sustainability
uation standard after a single admin- Module 2: Ecosystems: Learning from the Natural World
istration was educational malpractice. Module 3: Essential Human Needs
Many students had been told the scores Module 4: Wants vs. Needs - Pushing the Boundaries
wouldnt count. The passing levels were
set by the N.J. State Board of Education
six months after the tests were given and
applied retroactively to results from the
previous spring.
The new policy was also illegal since
it was imposed before the N.J. Depart-
facingthefuture.org
ment of Education (NJDOE) adopted
the regulations needed to change state
students: the letter Espada wrote to Nike tion of youth . . . from signing up to fight
listing all the reasons I could reject your endless wars of domination. In addition
offer to write for their poetry slam; the to offering speakers, the website offers
story of his father, in uniform, being made short, provocative pieces on veterans is-
to move to the back of the bus in Missis- sues and U.S. militarism that can be used
sippi; the poem about Mumia Abu-Jamal in class.
that was banned from NPR. Stunning
writing about topics that matter. Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and
Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other
>> Picture Book Unbound: A Novel in Verse Revolutionaries Who Shaped History
By Ann E. Burg By Kate Schatz
Where Do They Go? (Scholastic Press, 2016) Illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl
By Julia Alvarez 352 pp. (Ten Speed Press, 2016)
Illustrated by Sabra Field When Grace, the 104 pp.
(Seven Stories Press, 2016) enslaved pro-
22 pp. tagonist of this
Young children wonder and worry about beautiful novel-
death, but there are few age-appropriate length poem,
books on the subject. This beautifully turns 9, she is
illustrated and poetic approach by the sent to live and
author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their work in the big
Accents and Return to Sender provides house, forcing a
no simple answers. It is instead a series heart-wrenching
of comforting and thought-provoking separation from
questions: When somebody dies, where her family. Then
do they go? . . . Do they fall with the rain Grace hears that
from the sky? Are they my tears when I her mother and younger brothers will be
cry? . . . Is it them that I feel, alive in my placed on the auction block. She steals
heart? Is it there that I go when Im sad back to her family and they escape im-
were apart? mediately. After a harrowing journey, they
join a maroon community in the Great
>> Middle and High School Dismal Swamp. Even in their newfound
liberty, Graces family is surrounded
Zapatas Disciple by wild animals and the threat of slave
By Martn Espada catchers. In the midst of her new com-
(Northwestern University Press, 2016) munity, Grace struggles to find and define
160 pp. the meaning of freedom. Ann Burgs
Martn Espada introduces this new edition extensive research of the Federal Writers
of his classic essay collection with a story Project interviews and at the Schomburg
about how Zapatas Center are reflected in the details that
Disciple was banned bring Graces story, and this little-told
in Tucson when the piece of U.S. history, to life. Grades 48.
Mexican American From the authors of Rad American Wom-
Studies program was We Are Not Your Soldiers en A-Z (see Resources, summer 2015),
outlawed in 2012. He World Cant Wait Rad Women Worldwide has a similarly
notes: On the list of wearenotyoursoldiers.org defiant and playful approach, featuring a
banned authors I am We Are Not Your Soldiers brings recent few women students may have heard of,
keeping company veterans of U.S. wars in Iraq and Af- but mostly introducing little-known rad
with . . . are some of ghanistan to speak in high schools and women who are passionate, purposeful,
the finest Latina/o colleges throughout the United States. and totally powerful. Its hard not to fall
writers alive today. They explain: The U.S. military creates in love with women like Sophie Scholl,
May our words dangerous illusions through sophisticat- who defied the Nazis through the pro-
always trigger the sweating and babbling ed print and film ads that turn reality on paganda campaigns of the White Rose,
of bigots. The book is full of poetry and its head. The project is frankly anti-re- distributing leaflets, stenciling graffiti
essays that will appeal to high school cruitment, seeking to keep this genera- Down with Hitler and Freedom! Or
Amazon!
rethinkingschools.org
zinnedproject.org
facebook.com/rethinkingschools
Visit TFCbooks.org to find out why.
twitter.com/rethinkschools
rethinkingschoolsblog.com/
. . . AND CELEBRATES THREE GROUNDBREAKING NEW BOOKS THAT CONTINUE IN THIS TRADITION
Boys in Dresses
I
BY MELISSA BOLLOW TEMPEL m going to be a princess, for girls, so they dont.
just like her. I was read- But I didnt say anything yet. I just
One of a Kind, Like Me/nico ing One of a Kind, Like continued to read the story: Danny wants
como yo Me/nico como yo. It was to be a princess for the school parade. He
By Laurin Mayeno after recess, story time for asks for a purple dress with puffy sleeves
Illustrated by Robert Liu-Trujillo my class of 2nd- and 3rd-grade bilingual and ruffles. Danny and his mother go to
Blood Orange Press, 2016 students. Josue raised his hand. a thrift shop to find a dress.
Is Danny a boy? he asked. Jasmine raised her hand.
Jacobs New Dress Yes, I said. Danny is a nickname Yes, Jasmine?
By Sarah and Ian Hoffman for Daniel. Isnt there a 5th grader named Danny is a boy or a girl? she asked.
Illustrated by Chris Case Daniel on your bus? He is a boy, I repeated, although
Albert Whitman & Co., 2014 The students nodded, they knew now I was unsure if that was the best re-
Daniel. Josue raised his eyebrows and sponse. The book uses he/him/his to de-
10,000 Dresses giggled quietly. scribe Danny, so I guess its fair to say hes
By Marcus Ewert I was a little surprised at Josues reac- a boy, right?
Illustrated by Rex Ray tion. He is one of my 3rd graders and had As the story continues, Danny gets
Triangle Square, 2008 been in my class last year, too, when we his dress and hes excited to bring it to
read I Am Jazz, about transgender real- school.
........................................ ity star and video blogger Jazz Jennings. What do you think will happen
Melissa Bollow Tempel is a bilingual It was a class favorite. We never split up next? I asked.
elementary school teacher in Milwaukee and into groups according to assigned gender Theyre going to laugh at him, said
co-editor of Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and and the students know I will challenge Josue.
Sexuality. them if they label anything for boys or Im sure thats what my students ex-