Looking for something for students to enjoy in the jazz category? The life of Ella Fitzgerald and her music are an inspiration to all. Everyone loved her incredible voice, amazing range, and ability to imitate any instrument. Ella sang in numerous musical styles, from Broadway show tunes to popular songs to jazz. Her abilities earned her the…

Pasquale "Pat" Ciricillo (1907-1978) was a twentieth-century musician-teacher who incorporated multiple musical approaches in his work. Born to an Italian family in Cleveland, Ohio, Ciricillo's affinity for wide-ranging musicianship afforded him a storied career as a professional trumpet player in New York City. His success as a jazz,…

Among his accomplishments, Dr. Martin Luther King served as a driving force in securing basic civil rights for black Americans, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He played a crucial role organizing and leading the protests which led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that racial segregation on public buses was…

At age 13, Montessori acted on her interest in mathematics and her vision of studying engineering, and convinced her parents to enroll her in a technical institute, in a class where she was one of two female students. This article presents how Maria Montessori broke through barriers to leave an innovative educational method. A timeline of her life…

In this article, Sohyun An presents a lesson that she was invited to teach at an elementary school in Georgia for the celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. As a social studies teacher educator and mother of Asian American children attending the school, she has worked with some of the teachers to advance critical…

The author believes that happiness equals success. Which is why, at age 50, the author fears retirement. The author believes that he may have found the fountain of youth for his spirit: the joy of teaching children, living in his community, and getting to witness learning. The author loves what he does. By asking he got to this point, he hopes the…

In this paper, the authors review life stories in learning disability research and practice since the 1960s. Although there is consistent evidence of their value in giving people a voice and an identity beyond the service label, they are not widely used in the provision of health and social care. This is despite long-standing policy commitments to…

Biographies are one of our best tools for diversifying the curriculum. In this article, we describe The Biography Clearinghouse, a free resource designed to inspire teachers to use high-quality biographies in their classrooms. We then elaborate on curricular possibilities in K-8 classrooms. We end with a discussion of the Investigate, Explore, and…

Teaching about slavery entails teaching about the archive. Punctuated with silences, scattered with compelling details, and laden with descriptions that oscillate between racist, harrowing, and heartbreaking, runaway ads provide a glimpse into the lives of enslaved people. The details embedded within them--or omitted from them--can also provide…

Refugee students may come to schools with fragmented educational histories and other exile-related stressors, but many also settle fast, enjoy school and live rather ordinary childhoods. These more positive stories are not told because they get overridden by well-meaning but counterproductive stories of victimhood. This article presents a…

How did Eruera Pare Hongi--who had an impact on New Zealand's pre-Treaty constitutional and literacy history--come to get his name? Eruera Pare is a transliteration of Edward Parry, a famous Arctic explorer, also known as Admiral Sir William Edward Parry. Why would a young Ngai Tawake man from Waimate, in the north of New Zealand, take the name of…

Nationally, as the chemical community aspires to become more diverse, it is essential to make students of all races, ethnicities, gender expressions, and physical abilities feel welcomed and represented in the introductory courses in the field. One way to accomplish this goal is to present examples of scientists who are not traditionally included…

There is an increasing awareness of the significance of intellectual pluriversality worldwide in response to Western epistemic dominance in higher education. Yet, such a call has not been met by research that identifies concrete actions and structured efforts to promote diversity and the inclusion of knowledge. This article focuses on how to…

This is the third article in the "On the Shoulders of Giants" series that takes an outstanding mathematician, tells something of their life and work, and provides an item or two based on their achievements that can be used in a primary class. This article focuses on the work of Cheryl Praeger, with an activity based upon her work with…

Frank Abrahams's career in music education has been marked by a theme of advocacy for others. This article examines three areas of advocacy apparent in his work and publications: advocacy for students; advocacy for teachers; and advocacy for people historically marginalized in American society. Through books, articles, research, book chapters,…