It's a false cliche to say that we learn more from students than they do from us. The reality is that teachers typically teach more than they learn. By the end of the year, I will have taught a student about history, economics geography, how to construct a paragraph and hopefully how to think well about life. Yet, there is an element of truth ...

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 ...

When we first arrive, no one stands at the door to greet us - at least not officially. The resident homeless man, however, offers his loud (perhaps socially unnacceptable) greeting. With his typical bluntness, he says, ''I haven't seen you around here in forever. I thought maybe you'd forgotten about this place.'' I sit on an old chair. All ...

I'm listening to Sufjan Stevens, partially because I enjoy the song ''Transfiguration'' but mostly because I can't take anything too manufactured right now. Sometimes I think I've got the soul of an anarchist and I just want freedom. The district and the state department keep giving us an endless loop of ''just wait'' and ''what about?'' with ...