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Bill Bigelow is an educator and activist who taught social studies in the Portland Public Schools for more than 30 years. Though he has left the classroom as a full-time teacher, he is actively involved in the U.S. educational system through his work with both Rethinking Schools, a quarterly magazine that focuses on critical issues in education from a social justice standpoint, and the Zinn Education Project, a project that provides teachers with resources to teach outside the textbook and to present a more honest, critical and full portrait of the world. I first became familiar with Bigelow’s work in a classroom on the Quileute Reservation on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. I was teaching Family Literacy to a group of Native American and Latina women. Looking for something to supplement the materials I was using, I found a curriculum called “Discovering Columbus,” written by Bill Bigelow. It wouldn’t be until I moved to Portland in 2011 that I would meet Bigelow in person purely by coincidence. He is a gentle and curious man with a passion for education, justice and fairness. I sat with Bigelow to ask him about the plight of, and hope for, our educational system.

Many of the scholars who gathered at Vanderbilt Hall for a recent daylong symposium on Howard Zinn shared a common quirk of speech: They tended to refer to the icon in question as “Howie.”

That’s because more than a few of the assembled admirers of Zinn’s work—including NYU history professor Marilyn Young and writer Alice Walker—were also students, colleagues, or personal friends of the popular historian and lifelong activist who died in 2010.

Lesson planning is an art. A good lesson requires a fine balance of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), creativity, student buy in — and, of course, content.

While public perception can reduce the role of teachers to mere conveyers of information — as if knowledge is spread through osmosis — the actual process of creating an engaging, innovative, and informative lesson is far more complex.

Working in isolation to create the "perfect" lesson is time consuming, and relying too heavily on textbook curricula can feel uninspired.

Luckily, there is a happy medium... The below sites are awesome resources to get the juices flowing and inspire teachers to push innovative lessons into their classrooms, without reinventing the wheel.

March is Women's History Month, and International Women's Day, March 8, is also a part of the celebration each year. For educators and students, the month provides a wonderful opportunity to dig deeper into women's contributions, struggles, and triumphs throughout history.

By Richard Byrne A People's History of the United States is frequently used by teachers of U.S. History because Howard Zinn's book tells the history of the United States in a way it is quite different from typical U.S. History textbooks. A People's History of the United States gives students an alternative perspective on history. The Zinn Education Project is a website designed to help teachers use A People's History of the United States in their classrooms. The Zinn Education Project provides complete lesson plans for use in elementary school, middle school, and high school settings. In some cases the lesson plans include document excerpts and references to A People's History of the United States. On the Zinn Education Project site you can search for lesson plans by time period, theme, or by student reading levels.

By Anthony Rebora

Next Wednesday, Aug. 28, marks the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, the monumental 1963 civil rights event at which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Commemorative events, including rallies and panel discussions, are being held over the next several days. On the day of the anniversary, President Obama is scheduled to address the nation from the very spot on which King delivered his speech.

Many of the events, according to reports, are intended not simply to celebrate the original march but to draw much-needed inspiration and lessons from it in the face of continued racial disparities and injustices.

For teachers looking to bring this historical moment to the classroom, a number of organizations are providing resources.

After revelations former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels sought to ban classic work, public interest soars

by Anne Donofrio-Holter Mountain View High School history teacher Chris Lewis was recognized last week for his essay on “how a people’s history is being taught, how teachers were introduced to the work of author Howard Zinn, and how students are responding to learning a more complete version of U.S. history,” along with how he implements the works Zinn in his classroom. “The Zinn Education Project website has allowed me to find lesson plans and activities that help my students interact with challenging information,” said Lewis.  “What impressed me most about the lesson was the engagement required by students.  They had to interact at a high level of critical thinking.” Lewis’ class recently held a Socratic seminar discussion of “The Coming Revolt of the Guard,” in “A People’s History of the United States,” centering around Zinn’s prediction for the future of America where students assessed the impact of small revolutions and evaluated Zinn’s proposal that it will be the disgruntled middle class that will rebel against the current system. “Students are analyzing the ways in which the American Dream has changed over time and how the definition changes depending on the lens through which it is viewed,” said Lewis.  “I want students to see that the so called “dream” was different for the Puritans as they fled religious persecution, different for African Americans during the Civil Rights movement and different for those that live below the poverty line in today’s world.”