Rethinking Schools

During our upcoming webinar celebrating Transgender Justice in Schools, three of the book’s authors will offer stories and examples about what transgender justice in schools looks and feels like.

Across the country, anti-LGBTQ+ policies ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth, require or allow misgendering of trans students, push restrictions that discriminate against trans youth, censor teachers from teaching LGBTQ+ or critical race theory curriculum and ban books by and about LGBTQ+ and BIPOC people. These measures have led to an atmosphere of fear and intolerance. Transgender Justice in Schools is an act of solidarity to uplift the work of students, teachers, parents and communities who refuse to be silenced by this legislative war against trans kids.

ASL interpretation will be available.

The event is free. We greatly appreciate any solidarity donations.

Register: https://www.classy.org/event/transgender-justice-in-schools/e607111

Transgender Justice in Schools provides inspirational stories from trans students and educators as well as practical lessons and resources for teachers, students, and parents seeking to build an education community where everyone flourishes.

At a moment when it is increasingly obvious that trans lives are at risk, Rethinking Schools builds on its catalogue of social justice resources with a book that helps educators examine this perilous time for what’s wrong — and to imagine solutions, especially for our gender-expansive youth. Transgender Justice in Schools will educate, challenge, inspire — and save lives.

Order today: https://rethinkingschools.org/books/transgender-justice-in-schools/?mc_cid=5b73e3f653&mc_eid=75b4ba4f43

Transgender Justice in Schools, edited by Linda Christensen and Ty Marshall, provides inspirational stories from trans students and educators as well as practical lessons and resources for teachers, students, and parents seeking to build an education community where everyone flourishes.

At a moment when it is increasingly obvious that trans lives are at risk, Rethinking Schools builds on its catalogue of social justice resources with a book that helps educators examine this perilous time for what’s wrong — and to imagine solutions, especially for our gender-expansive youth. Transgender Justice in Schools will educate, challenge, inspire — and save lives.

Use code TJS15 to get 15% off and get a free matching bookmark when you pre-order before July 31, 2024.

Pre-order today: https://rethinkingschools.org/books/transgender-justice-in-schools/

Thank you to the National Education Association () for the opportunity to table and be in community with educators from across the country at the Conference on Racial and Social Justice in Philadelphia.

It was wonderful seeing comrades and friends, and meeting new folks. We look forward to the next time we get to be together!

We're excited to share that the summer issue of Rethinking Schools is here!

The summer issue of Rethinking Schools features several articles from our forthcoming book, Transgender Justice in Schools. Our editorial makes the urgent case for transforming schools into safe and liberatory spaces for transgender youth. A nonbinary educator reflects on the difficulty and the power of being out in school. Transgender students share what teachers have done and could do to support nonbinary students. And Linda Christensen describes teaching high school students about new anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

This issue also contains an interview with Bettina Love about her new book Punished for Dreaming. Bob Peterson details how the success of vouchers in Wisconsin is becoming a national model for the right. Bill Bigelow describes teaching a new lesson on the roots of violence in Palestine-Israel. A high school language arts teacher writes about the power of students interviewing family and friends to develop migration narratives.

And so much more!

Learn more and subscribe: https://rethinkingschools.org/magazine/

As we celebrate Pride Month, we are thrilled to announce our newest book, Transgender Justice in Schools — set to release in late summer 2024. Transgender Justice in Schools, edited by Linda Christensen and Ty Marshall, provides inspirational stories from trans students and educators as well as practical lessons and resources for teachers, students, and parents seeking to build an education community where everyone flourishes.

At a moment when it is increasingly obvious that trans lives are at risk, Rethinking Schools builds on its catalogue of social justice resources with a book that helps educators examine this perilous time for what’s wrong — and to imagine solutions, especially for our gender-expansive youth. Transgender Justice in Schools will educate, challenge, inspire — and save lives.

Learn more: https://rethinkingschools.org/books/transgender-justice-in-schools/

Share the spring Teach Palestine issue with your colleagues, union members, students, and friends to engage in political education and critical dialogue. Use the issue as a resource for teaching about the roots of violence in Palestine and challenge the dominant narrative that what is happening in Palestine began on October 7. ⁠
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Save when you buy copies of the spring Teach Palestine issue in bulk (Regularly $6.95):⁠
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5 – 34 copies only $5 each⁠
⁠
35 – 99 copies only $4.50 each⁠
⁠
100 – 199 copies only $4 each⁠
⁠
200 + only $3.50 each⁠

Discount applies automatically in your cart.

https://rethinkingschools.org/2024/05/23/teach-palestine-bulk-issues-available/

TOMORROW!

Join Rethinking Schools for a webinar on the spring issue of Rethinking Schools, Teach Palestine. Panelists will offer stories, examples, and concrete strategies for teaching truthfully and critically about Palestine-Israel. At a time when the attack on social justice teaching has dramatically expanded as part of the crackdown on opposition to U.S. aid to Israel, it is essential that we support and learn from each other.⁠
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Participants will need access to Zoom. ⁠
⁠
ASL Interpretation will be available.⁠
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The event is free. To make events like this available to more educators and activists, we appreciate your solidarity donation. Your donation directly supports the expansion of our work and helps us get resources to more teachers during this crucial time.⁠

Register: https://www.classy.org/event/teach-palestine/e580676

Exciting News!

Rethinking Schools was featured as one of the 15 Best Social Justice Book Blogs and Websites by Feedspot.

https://blog.feedspot.com/social_justice_book_blogs/

We must ✊🏽

Share the spring Teach Palestine issue with your colleagues, union members, students, and friends to engage in political education and critical dialogue. Use the issue as a resource for teaching about the roots of violence in Palestine and challenge the dominant narrative that what is happening in Palestine began on October 7. ⁠
⁠
Save when you buy copies of the spring Teach Palestine issue in bulk (Regularly $6.95):⁠
⁠
5 – 34 copies only $5 each⁠
⁠
35 – 99 copies only $4.50 each⁠
⁠
100 – 199 copies only $4 each⁠
⁠
200 + only $3.50 each⁠
⁠
Link in bio.

Share the spring Teach Palestine issue with your colleagues, union members, students, and friends to engage in political education and critical dialogue. Use the issue as a resource for teaching about the roots of violence in Palestine and challenge the dominant narrative that what is happening in Palestine began on October 7.

“That is the task before us: to knit together and strengthen the networks of teachers, parents, and students that can take bold action and muster the defiance necessary to break through the backlash.”
– Editors of Rethinking Schools

Save when you buy copies of the spring Teach Palestine issue in bulk: https://rethinkingschools.org/product/rtsvol38n3/?mc_cid=070f56262f&mc_eid=de89fbe89e

Join Rethinking Schools for a webinar on the spring issue of Rethinking Schools, Teach Palestine. Panelists will offer stories, examples, and concrete strategies for teaching truthfully and critically about Palestine-Israel. At a time when the attack on social justice teaching has dramatically expanded as part of the crackdown on opposition to U.S. aid to Israel, it is essential that we support and learn from each other.

Participants will need access to Zoom.

ASL Interpretation will be available.

The event is free. To make events like this available to more educators and activists, we appreciate your solidarity donation. Your donation directly supports the expansion of our work and helps us get resources to more teachers during this crucial time.

Register: https://www.classy.org/event/teach-palestine/e580676

🌎 Calling all climate justice educators!

Rethinking Schools is launching a *new* newsletter to connect climate justice educators across regions, disciplines, & grade levels to deepen their work. We’ll explore what “climate justice” education looks like through a kaleidoscope of teaching environments and invite you to join us in conversation and movement-building.

The newsletter will feature the work of educators around the country, alert you to resources, offer access to climate justice workshops and webinars, pilot book giveaways and curriculum workgroups, and articulate a radical climate justice politics.

Subscribe today:

Climate News Rethinking Schools is launching a *new* newsletter to connect climate justice educators across regions, disciplines, & grade levels to deepen their work. We’ll explore what “climate justice” education looks like through a kaleidoscop

🌎 Earth Day Resource

Articles, role plays, simulations, stories, poems, and graphics breathe life into teaching environmental justice. A People's Curriculum for the Earth features classroom-friendly readings on climate change, energy, water, food, and pollution—as well as on people who are working to make things better.

A People's Curriculum for the Earth Five years in the making, A People's Curriculum for the Earth is a collection of articles, role plays, simulations, stories, poems, and graphics to help breathe life into teaching about the environmental crisis. The book features some of the best articles from Rethinking Schools magazine alongside c...

"In the face of attacks and threats, we recognized that our safety as activists is not guaranteed. Nevertheless, it is our responsibility to reject the normalization of oppression." - Members of the Oakland Education Association for Palestine Group

Read their story:

What We Learned from Our “Oakland to Gaza” K–12 Teach-In Educators in Oakland share the dramatic story of what happened when they organized a teach-in for Palestine.

"It is difficult to perpetuate ethnic cleansing without whitewashing the brutality from the historical record." – Jesse Hagopian

Israel’s War on Gaza Is Also a War on History, Education, and Children Hagopian connects the attacks in the United States on teaching about race and gender to Israel’s attacks on children, schools, and historical memory in Palestine.

"Educators should not be bullied by politicians — or by their own administrators — who use phony claims about anti-Zionism in their attempt to suppress a curriculum that seeks to honestly understand the dynamics that led to today’s tragic events in historic Palestine. Zionism needs a critical look in our classrooms — it’s sound history, it’s good teaching." – Bill Bigelow

No, Anti-Zionism Is Not Antisemitism Bigelow describes a new lesson on the roots of the violence in Palestine — and argues that history shows that anti-Zionism is not automatically antisemitism.

We're pleased to share that The New Teacher Book edited by Linda Christensen, Stan Karp, Bob Peterson, and Moé Yonamine, and narrated by Arischa Conner, has been recognized as a finalist in the Independent Book Publisher Association (IBPA) Award's non-fiction audiobook category.

The IBPA Awards, include 57 categories recognizing excellence in book editorial and design, and are regarded as one of the highest national honors for independent publishers.

Gold or Silver winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in Denver this April 26.

Learn more about The New Teacher Book: https://rethinkingschools.org/books/the-new-teacher-book-3rd-edition/

"It’s more important than ever to build networks of solidarity and mutual aid — spaces where we can share how we are teaching about difficult topics like Gaza, where we can build a curriculum to challenge the dominant narrative that what is happening in Palestine began on Oct. 7, where we can defend one another in the face of repression. That is the task before us: to knit together and strengthen the networks of teachers, parents, and students that can take bold action and muster the defiance necessary to break through the backlash."

Gaza and the Growing Attack on Social Justice Teaching Israel’s war on Gaza and the simultaneous crackdown on dissent has given another boost to the forces of repression.

The spring issue of Rethinking Schools focuses on Israel’s war on Gaza and the war on teaching about Palestine. Our editorial discusses how the attack on social justice teaching has dramatically expanded as part of the crackdown on dissent against U.S. support for Israel. traces the connections between the war on history, education, and children in both countries. Educators in Oakland detail the dramatic story of what happened when they organized a teach-in for Palestine. A Palestinian high school student shares her experiences and poetry in the aftermath of Oct. 7. Bill Bigelow describes a new lesson on the roots of the violence in Palestine — and argues that history shows that anti-Zionism is not automatically antisemitism. There is a special resource section for teachers on Palestine. ⁠
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This issue also includes dance teacher reflections on how to replace a pedagogy of control and policing with one that encourages creativity and liberation. Two strike captains describe what they learned from three weeks on the picket line in Portland, Oregon. A Chicago educator discusses a new curriculum on the Young Lords. And so much more!⁠
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Subscribe: https://rethinkingschools.org/magazine/

The spring issue of Rethinking Schools focuses on Israel’s war on Gaza and the war on teaching about Palestine. Our editorial discusses how the attack on social justice teaching has dramatically expanded as part of the crackdown on dissent against U.S. support for Israel. Jesse Hagopian traces the connections between the war on history, education, and children in both countries. Educators in Oakland detail the dramatic story of what happened when they organized a teach-in for Palestine. A Palestinian high school student shares her experiences and poetry in the aftermath of Oct. 7. Bill Bigelow describes a new lesson on the roots of the violence in Palestine — and argues that history shows that anti-Zionism is not automatically antisemitism. There is a special resource section for teachers on Palestine.

This issue also includes dance teacher Cierra Kaler-Jones’ reflections on how to replace a pedagogy of control and policing with one that encourages creativity and liberation. Two strike captains describe what they learned from three weeks on the picket line in Portland, Oregon. A Chicago educator discusses a new curriculum on the Young Lords. And so much more!

Subscribe: https://rethinkingschools.org/magazine/

An early elementary teacher details an engineering unit. Students design a model community — with no police or banks — in which everyone gets what they need.

Community Building as World Building

Join Rethinking Schools founding editor Bob Peterson and executive director Cierra Kaler-Jones in conversation with Jonathan Kozol about his newest book, An End to Inequality: Breaking Down the Walls of Apartheid Education in America.

In the newest and culminating work of his long career, Kozol argues that it’s well past time to batter down inequities in education. In the concluding chapters of the book, he argues for a sweeping transformation that resonates with current-day arguments for reparations. Engage with Jonathan Kozol before his book is released on March 12th.

10 attendees will be randomly selected to receive a copy of the book, courtesy of a generous donor.

Purchase a ticket:

An End to Inequality: A Rethinking Schools Fundraiser and Book Talk with Jonathan Kozol Join Rethinking Schools founding editor Bob Peterson and executive director Cierra Kaler-Jones in conversation with Jonathan Kozol about his newest book, An End to Inequality: Breaking Down the Walls of Apartheid Education in America.

On Tuesday, February 27, 2024, join educators and organizers for a discussion on Teaching through a Collective Liberation Framework in Our Schools and Communities: Challenging Antisemitism as Part of Our Work for Justice.

As we witness a rise in white nationalist violence and reactionary politics impacting so many of our communities, and as educators and students are facing repercussions for their organizing in solidarity with Palestine and being falsely accused of antisemitism, this conversation is more timely than ever.

Co-sponsored by: PARCEO, Haymarket Books, Rethinking Schools, and NYCoRE

Register here:

Register now – Teaching Through a Collective Liberation Framework in Our Schools and Communities – YouTube Join PARCEO and Haymarket Books as educators and organizers committed to just learning spaces and critical inquiry will speak a...

The Zinn Education Project, coordinated by Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change, just posted Mary Beth Tinker's article on the eve of the 55th anniversary of Tinker v Des Moines, which established that public school students are “persons under our constitution, possessed of fundamental rights.” Then, students needed the freedom to protest the Vietnam war. Today, students need the freedom to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and the end of U.S. aid for genocide. Read Tinker's fine piece.

Tinker v. Des Moines: Youth Rights in a Time of Plausible Genocide - Zinn Education Project On this anniversary of Tinker v. Des Moines, plaintiff Mary Beth Tinker speaks to the need for freedom of speech for students and teachers about Palestine.

Rethinking Schools writer Nassim Elbardouh published an excellent article, "Anti-Palestinian Racism in Canadian Schools and What We Can Do About It," in the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives journal The Monitor. It is aimed at a Canadian audience, but contains lessons for all of us.

Anti-Palestinian racism in Canadian schools and what we can do about… Like most people engaging in conversations about Palestine and Israel, I’m afraid of my words being taken out of context, misunderstood, or inadvertently causing harm. I’m especially worried about breaking trust with people and communities about whom I care deeply. As an educator, however, I’m...

A new lesson is available to teach about the history of violence that continues in Palestine-Israel.

Teaching the Seeds of Violence in Palestine-Israel — A New Lesson - Zinn Education Project We owe it to our students — and to the people of Gaza — to explore in our classrooms the history of violence that continues in Palestine-Israel. Check out the new mixer/mystery activity on Zionism, anti-Zionism, peasant resistance, the Great War, the British Mandate, and find more teaching resou...

Feb. 13, 2013: Keystone Pipeline Protesters Circle White House - Zinn Education Project Activists circled the White House to protest the Keystone Pipeline, an oil system that transports crude oil from Canada to various locations in the United States.

Everyday Solidarity: In*******al Organizing Stories from The Sum of Us - Zinn Education Project On February 5, 2024, policy advocate Heather McGhee will discuss her book The Sum of Us: How Racism Hurts Everyone. This session is part of the Zinn Education Project’s Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online people’s history series.