Rethinking Schools Books

Rethinking Schools is co-coordinator (along with Teaching for Change) of the Zinn Education Project and the majority of lessons on the Zinn Education Project website originate in Rethinking Schools publications. Launched in 1986, Rethinking Schools is a nonprofit publisher working for equity and justice in public schools and the broader society. Below are teaching guides and other books published by Rethinking Schools.

More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Jesse Hagopian. 2014. 336 pages.
A collection of essays, poems, speeches, and interviews from frontline fighters who are defying the corporate education reformers and fueling a national movement to reclaim and transform public education.
Teaching Activity by Edited by Jesse Hagopian
Continue reading
Rethinking Ethnic Studies (Book) | Zinn Education Project

Rethinking Ethnic Studies

Teaching Guide. Edited By R. Tolteka Cuauhtin, Miguel Zavala, Christine Sleeter, Wayne Au. Rethinking Schools. 2019. 363 pages.
Brings together many of the leading teachers, activists, and scholars to offer examples of Ethnic Studies frameworks, classroom practices, and organizing at the school, district, and statewide levels.
Continue reading
Teaching for Black Lives (Book) Zinn Education Project

Teaching for Black Lives

Teaching Guide. Edited by Dyan Watson, Jesse Hagopian, Wayne Au. 2018. Rethinking Schools. 368 pages.
Essays, teaching activities, role plays, poems, and artwork, designed to illuminate the movement for Black students' lives, the school-to-prison-pipeline, Black history, gentrification, intersectional Black identities, and more.
Continue reading
Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality (Teaching Guide) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality

Teaching Guide. Edited by Annika Butler-Wall, Kim Cosier, Rachel Harper, Jeff Sapp, Jody Sokolower, and Melissa Bollow Tempel. Rethinking Schools. 2016. 476 pages.
A collection of essays on how to create a nurturing classroom at different grade levels, curriculum, teachers coming out, organizing beyond classroom walls, and integrating LGBTQ+ content into teacher education programs and ongoing teacher education.
Continue reading
Teaching About the Wars (Teaching Guide) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Teaching About the Wars

Teaching Guide. Edited by Jody Sokolower. Rethinking Schools. 2013. 132 pages.
A collection of Rethinking Schools articles and lessons for K-12 on U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
Continue reading

Rethinking Elementary Education

Teaching Guide. Edited by Linda Christensen, Mark Hansen, and Bob Peterson. Rethinking Schools. 2012. 360 pages.
The best collection of writing from Rethinking Schools magazine about how to teach for social justice at the elementary level. Published by Rethinking Schools.
Teaching Activity by Linda Christensen
Continue reading
Rethinking Popular Culture and Media - 2nd Edition (Book) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Rethinking Popular Culture and Media

Teaching Guide. Edited by Elizabeth Marshall and Özlem Sensoy. Rethinking Schools. 2011. 330 pages.
Collection of essays that offer strong critiques and practical teaching strategies about what is "popular" and the messages being communicated by mass media.
Continue reading

A People’s History for the Classroom

Teaching Guide. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 2008. 120 pages.
Lessons to introduce students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of U.S. history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula. Published by Rethinking Schools.
Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow
Continue reading