I began my career as a social studies teacher in September 2001. By my second week in the classroom, the attacks of September 11th had reshaped not only the nation, but also my understanding of what it meant to teach history. I became acutely aware of the students in my

Last September, I set a goal for myself: to find a game for every standard I teach. In other words, to gamify the entire school year. While 6th graders can’t vote—and they often feel that participating in civic life is something only their parents can do—games put them in the

My main drive as an educator is to teach literacy as a way of understanding the world. My focus is not just reading and writing, but building literacy in how students navigate the internet, politics, and the world around them. It’s about vetting sources, understanding if what you’re reading is