By Kelsey Trumble We hand students dystopian novels—1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Hunger Games—as warnings about what happens when fear becomes normal, when truth bends, when cruelty turns quiet. But somewhere along the way, the fiction blurred. Now, when another teacher bleeds in a classroom, the outrage burns through feeds faster than facts can catch up. […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
2025 Edition: Scarlet Letters and Autism Awareness
On September 22, 2025, during a White House press conference with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump, they stated that the use of Tylenol (acetaminophen) during pregnancy may be linked to autism, despite any evidence supporting this claim. Asking for help has always been stimagtizing for learners. When a learner needs additional support, we’ve put them […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
If You Prick Us: A Plea for Empathy
The Cum Laude Society holds members to high expectations for character. These expectations are embodied in the motto of the Cum Laude Society: arete, dike, time: excellence, justice, honor. That’s a nice motto, but for the world we inhabit today, it strikes me as incomplete. We need to add a fourth concept: empatheia. Empathy. Empathy […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
When Advocacy Meets Overload: A teacher’s journey to support a silent student
In the current landscape of education, schools are increasingly challenged by the growing number of students requiring specialized services due to various needs, including learning disabilities, emotional trauma, and behavioral issues. According to a report by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), approximately 14% of all public school students receive special education services under […]
Posted inEnglish Language Learners
Under His Eye: Teaching Under Trump’s Policy
I teach twelfth-grade English at an urban school. The poverty rate here is high. Violent crime is a common occurrence. I’ve devoted my career to serving this population. The work is often difficult, but it’s the most-important work in the world, and I’m all in. When I returned to the classroom in September, to begin […]
Posted inMiddle School
How and Why to Run a Dungeons and Dragons Club at Your Middle or High School
When my son turned 12, he joined my monthly Dungeons and Dragons game with friends. Picking up his dice for his first attack roll, I could see him deducing his chances of hitting the gigantic frog that was trying to devour his character whole. “I’ve got less than a 25% chance to hit it though,” he […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
New law changes how California kids learn to read
This story was originally published by EdSource. Sign up for their daily newsletter.” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approval of Assembly Bill 1454 on Thursday marks the culmination of a five-year campaign to change how California children are taught to read. But education advocates say there is still much the state needs to do to ensure the state literacy plan is […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
How Misinformation in the Parent Sphere Impacts our Students
When we, as educators, think about the devastating impact of misinformation, we think about our students–the conversations that we overhear in hallways, classrooms, and the cafeteria, parroting back sound bites of information and descriptions of videos that they have seen on social media platforms like Tiktok. In 2024, Pew Research analyzed teens, social media, and […]