34.3 Cover

Volume 34, No. 3

SPRING 2020

The spring issue of Rethinking Schools has a special focus on how art has been fueling the teachers’ rebellion and includes articles from Kim Cosier and Nicolas Lampert and a special spread of photos by Joe Brusky. The issue also includes important articles about how to challenge empire in the classroom, how to rethink the civics lessons we teach students, what it’s like to be a transgender teacher in a conservative area, and how we need to get our students to dream — and to dream big. And that’s just the beginning!

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  • The Coronavirus and Our Work

    By the editors of Rethinking Schools

    The coronavirus crisis is horrific, and even in its early days has led to great suffering, and widespread terror. But this crisis is not a time of retreat; it is a time to insist on, to organize for, an agenda of human rights and wealth redistribution. Has there ever been a time when the need for universal free health care was more essential — and more obvious? Or paid sick leave? Or for everyone to have guaranteed access to clean water and a safe place to live? So yes, please wash your hands, and then raise them, to continue to fight for equality and justice.

  • What Can Art Do in the Perilous Present?

    By Kim Cosier

    An artist and academic writes about art builds — how they are practices of resistance and solidarity, and celebrations of joy and justice to fuel the teachers’ rebellion and other movements.

  • From the Art Build to the Streets

    Examining the Role of Art During the Chicago Teachers Strike

    By Nicolas Lampert

    The author of A People’s Art History of the United States dissects the imagery unions created and used in the streets and on the picket lines during the 2019 Chicago teachers strike.

  • As Tensions with Iran Escalate, It Is Time to Challenge Empire in the Classroom

    By Shirin Vossoughi, Roozbeh Shirazi, Sepehr Vakil

    Three Iranian educators, scholars, and parents write about how we need to refuse narratives that normalize empire and dehumanize whole populations.

  • Teaching More Civics Will Not Save Us from Trump

    By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

    A high school social studies teacher argues for rethinking how we teach civics so that students learn that organizing, activism, and civil disobedience are as important as the Constitution.

  • Instructional Time

    Teaching Beyond Tolerance

    By Ty Marshall

    A transgender middle school teacher wrestles with a school and community that tries to hide their identity.

  • Reading Louise Erdrich to My Son

    By Rachel Cloues

    A teacher-librarian and parent writes about Louise Erdrich’s Birchbark series and how its stories of Indigenous life compare with the colonialism and racism of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books.

  • Youth vs. Apocalypse

    Oakland Students Make Time to Change the World

    By Heath Madom

    A high school English teacher reorients his classroom to be a space for student organizing for climate justice.

  • We Need to Ask Our Students to Dream — and to Dream Big

    By Bill Bigelow

    Back in the 1980s, I taught an elective class at Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon, called Literature and Social Change. It centered around the questions “What is a good […]

  • Still Teaching Against the War(s)

    By the editors of Rethinking Schools

    Fifty years ago — on April 30, 1970 — the U.S. military invaded Cambodia in an expansion of the Vietnam War. In response, students across the country staged massive demonstrations. […]

  • Q+A The People’s Photographer: Joe Brusky

    By Ari Bloomekatz

    Rethinking Schools frequently uses photos by Joe Brusky and they are featured prominently in this issue. He is interviewed here by Rethinking Schools managing editor Ari Bloomekatz. Rethinking Schools: How did you get started […]

  • Our picks for books, videos, websites, and other social justice resources 34.3

    Check out these valuable resources, reviewed by Rethinking Schools editors and Teaching for Change colleagues.