With pressures from NCLB intensifying due to low test scores in subgroups including special education, the authors' district, like many others, approached students not as individuals but as rigid categories: "poor," "Hispanic," "African American," "disabled," or "regular"--a category particularly insulting to any student not included in it by…

During summertime, before school ends and the hard physical labor begins, it is best to reflect on the touchups and renovations that need to be done to a teacher's classroom instruction. This article presents two innovative lesson ideas that will inspire teachers to rethink, retool, and recharge as they decide what some of their summer renovations…