Sometime after 9-11, I lost all sense of patriotism.  It might have been the way people used the American flag to sell beer (not unlike Jesus Breathmints and granola bars).  Perhaps it was when I first heard a country singer telling me we should stick a boot in the ass of Afghanistan.  ''It's the American Way.''  And I began to ...

On Friday, during first hour, I yelled at the students.  I mean, I really screamed at them.  By the end of the period, I was calm and told them honestly, ''I'm sorry for yelling.  Anger has been a struggle for me my whole life.  When I was your age, I was getting in fights at school.  At this point in my life, I am just ...

For the last two weeks, students in my class have explored multiple facets of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.  They have analyzed sources for bias, posed intelligent questions, created metaphors for the conflict and developed solutions.  I admit that it is idealistic to assume that 8th graders can solve the world's problems in two ...