Bronwyn Harris, Author

I can't count the amount of times that I saw two kids running in the hall at school and the same teacher have two different reactions: To the Asian or Latino kid: "Please stop running." or, if it was a girl, "Sweetie, please stop running." To the black kid: "Hey!  No running!"  Or "What are you doing!  Quit it!" (we had no white kids so that didn't enter into the picture) This didn't happen all the time, of course, or with every teacher but it happened enough that I noticed, and enough that I started wondering if perhaps, what we expect of kids and how we treat them might just possibly have some bearing on how they act. Looks like I'm not the only one wondering that. Two very different reactions to young children joyriding. A difference between whites and blacks regarding the death penalty. Black people "loot," white people "find" supplies after Katrina. All men are created equal maybe, but w...

You'd be amazed at how much creativity goes into teaching, even teaching with a prescribed curriculum.  Some of the modifications and strategies I've had to use with my tutoring clients lately: Making crossword puzzles because the kid refuses to study Spanish vocabulary any other way Letting a student learn with one hand on my dog because she loves him so much and it distracts her from hating math Using gummi bears to show how division really works Searching for Spanish comic books featuring the Green Lantern Performing the whole tutoring session as if the student was a bear and I was a butterfly (his choices) I'm a little tired, but it's been fun.

A few times a month, I find that I can't sleep because I am worried about foster kids.  This might seem strange, because I don't currently know any kids in foster care.  I used to when I was teaching third grade - and I knew a great many more who maybe should have been in foster care - but I don't currently know any.  I don't think it's strange though - in fact, I think we might be better off if we all worried about kids in foster care, and not just a couple of times a month.  Not because worrying really helps anything, but because it would show that we really do value all kids. We don't, you know.  Of course, everyone will say that they believe that all kids are worth the same but it's not true.  It's natural to value your own kids above everyone else's - I'm not saying that it's not.  But I think we also value kids that are like our kids above others.  I'm probably making a few people angry by saying all this but it wasn't some...