More than a dozen years ago, meetings held in Dayton, Ohio sponsored by the Clinton administration brought to an end three years of intense conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Of all the many organizational attempts at community building and democratization since then, one of the most successful has been the adoption of elementary and secondary…

In this article, the author talks about "Safe Space," an after school program created by a parent-teacher advisory board which maintained that students needed a safe in-school environment where they could openly talk about their out-of-school lives. Being that the school's curriculum heavily focused on academic standards, students' affective…

On February 14, 2008, Northern Illinois University was changed when a young man entered a large lecture hall in the center of campus and opened fire. Five students were killed that day, and the shooter died by his own hand. Many were injured physically; many more were emotionally and mentally traumatized. The violence was like a shock wave…

The experience of being a gay teen is tremendously difficult. The statistics regarding hate crimes and threats are staggering. The results of these threats are even more appalling: Gay and lesbian youth are at greater risk of dropping out of school, engaging in substance abuse, and running away from home, and are two to three times more likely to…

This article presents an interview with Susan Ohanian, an educator and tireless advocate of educational social justice for young people, and a peerless guide to engaging in the "good fight" for creating socially just schools. When asked how a teacher can "fight the good fight" without giving up, Susan counseled educators to find a friend and ally,…

Although teachers are typically viewed as benevolent adults who have dedicated themselves to nurturing young people, this quality is called into question when teachers seek to make their classrooms justice-oriented. Since teaching is not an ideologically neutral practice, it is essential that teachers be political, especially in the current state…

The paradox of the nation's teacher preparation programs is that "everything" is about diversity and social justice in the preparation of teachers and, simultaneously, "nothing" is about diversity and social justice in the preparation of teachers. Across teacher education, there is wide consensus that preparing current and prospective teachers to…

This essay explores research and the representation of research as forms of advocacy. The "Mystory" format is particularly useful because it acknowledges the self as central to the interpretive process. Further, it implies a level of introspection and participation, both of which the author considers necessary in liberatory writing. Ultimately,…

As a teacher of art teachers, this author values and promotes an education through the arts that loves freedom, an education through art connected to powerful social ideas and movements, connected to social justice. This is not a kind of education common today in public schools, but it has a rich lineage. Drawing inspiration from Maxine Greene,…

Eminent African American historian Carter G. Woodson in his book "The Miseducation of the Negro," published a generation before the "Brown v. Board of Education" decision, concerned himself not with the racial composition of classrooms and schools, but with the curricula taught both in the schools and the larger culture. Certainly Woodson…

The trickster, a crucial character in many cultural histories, often slips into people's lives without warning. In the western United States, the trickster frequently manifests himself as Coyote, and he is central in the oral traditions of tribal people, ranching families, and outdoor adventurers alike. Coyote is a complex character that teaches…

Teaching and living for social justice cannot happen without the disposition of empathy and a sense of otherness. Many in the field of multicultural education emphasize that a teacher's attitude, orientation, and awareness are at the core of being a culturally competent teacher. Gloria Ladson-Billings asserts that culturally competent teachers…

The early 1980s saw an influx of Southeast Asian refugees from various demographic groups and backgrounds to Minnesota. As teachers, the author and her colleagues regularly added children from these groups to their classrooms, receiving little explanation of a student's history or language proficiency. To counteract increasing teacher resentment…

In this article, the author relates his experiences preparing Mexican teachers wishing to enter bilingual classrooms in Texas. The author, who was about to teach U.S. history, envisioned to teach his class with Howard Zinn's "A People's History." However, during his briefing, he was instructed by his program director to use a book called "The…

In this article, the authors relate how they, as two Black, female graduate students and educators, discovered racial self-negation and internalized racial hatred within themselves. Through designing and facilitating a workshop exploring the word "nigger," they concluded that internalized oppression stymied their growth as people and scholars, and…