In this autobiographical narrative, the author recounts her experiences teaching the novel "Always Running" by Luis Rodriguez with her English classes at a high school in a gang-heavy area. When she first started teaching, this teacher struggled to engage students. One particularly disruptive student requested to read "Always…

In spring 2012, Sherry Kaufman, a consultant at Francis W. Parker School in Chicago, was asked to support kindergarten teachers in deepening their practice of constructivism and exploring the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Central to such an approach is the belief that all learning is socially constructed through interaction…

True education is the presentation of the conditions necessary for the evolution of personality into freedom. Democracy is the only form of government under which the methods of freedom can be fostered. The great central principle of democracy is mutual responsibility. Democracy in its essence gives to each individual the liberty of becoming free;…

In this article the author examines the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) to argue for changes in "standards-based" perspectives and practices that grew out of No Child Left Behind. Drawing on an article by David T. Conley, cochairman of the Validation Committee for the CCSS, the author offers a new model for the professional…

This article is about storytelling. In an effort to open opportunities similar to what we experienced while we were in school, many among the education professorate seem to have adopted well-used and familiar "academic" models of seminar instruction virtually unaltered from their experiences as graduate students. One suspects, however, that there…

Why is it important to provide support to students in the classroom? It is an empirical fact that precisely this part of the "internal school life" considerably influences the positive development and satisfaction of the school. Some anecdotes from school remain merely memories, while others become values that are carefully protected one's whole…

This article connects the theoretical perspective of Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed with the teaching and learning styles of teachers and students at Central Park East Secondary School (CPESS) in East Harlem, New York. It examines some of the ways the Freireian model has worked within the public school system and considers some of the…

Many school districts are moving to scripted programs in hopes of improving standardized test scores because of pressure from state and federal governments, particularly in low-income, bilingual, and low-performing schools. However, the relational side of education is an essential consideration, and it can be linked not only to proficiency on…

The associate director of education at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago recounts her learning and teaching through managing the Movement as Partnership program. Included are detailed descriptions of encounters with teachers and students as they create choreography reflective of their inquiry into integrating dance and literacy arts curriculum in the…

This essay presents a reflective account of a preservice teacher's experience in her fieldwork practice. The author, a professor in the preservice teacher's education institute, acted as a critical friend and joined in the reflection as an equal. Based on the voices of the preservice teacher and a group of primary teachers, this essay presents a…

For millions of years, human beings evolved and then lived in small social groupings that were intergenerational, with simple divisions of labor, oriented to common tasks and values. It was a limited existence in many ways, but there was community and continuity. And now, very suddenly in evolutionary time, we have built the teeming cities and…

In this essay I examine what it could mean to act courageously in the midst of the troubling, disabling degree of standardization taking hold in schools. What does it take to express what I call "everyday courage"? First, there are no guarantees that one's good work will produce the outcomes one desires and is committed to realizing. I call this…

This article examines Francis W. Parker's (1837-1902) and Tsunesaburo Makiguchi's (1871-1944) views of harmonious community life as the goal of education through bilingual analysis of Parker's "My Pedagogic Creed" (1897) and Makiguchi's On the Significance of Social Aspects that Mr. Parker Says Should be Incorporated into the School Experience…

The article is a personal account of my engagement with some recent neuroscientific theory put forth by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang (University of Southern California) about the integral relationship between emotion and cognition. Specifically, the research suggests the necessity of engaging students on an emotional level in order to thoroughly…

This article describes one teacher's efforts at creating a differentiated mathematics program in her multi-age first- and second-grade classroom. The author describes challenges encountered and successes met in this process, as well as the structures she uses to meet a variety of student abilities, including open-ended problem-solving tasks,…