Talking Points - Volume 13, Issue 1, 2001

The Rouge Forum, a group of students, educators, and parents, is an organizational effort to bridge the gap between education and organizing for social change.

Since I began teaching six years ago, I have always tried to approach my classroom as a creative “laboratory,” so to speak, where every novel, unit, and lesson is grounds for a connection of creativity and personal experience with the curriculum that must be covered. Of all my engagements, I have found that the most successful ones almost always involve art.

Good teaching and learning are built upon trust and strong relationships between universities and schools. In the 1997-98 school year, we undertook a role reversal that taught us more than this. Although our goals were to experience “the other perspective” in order to better understand the needs, lives, and experiences of St. Cloud State University’s (SCSU) preservice teachers, we ultimately learned as much about our own teaching—and ourselves as teachers—as we did about students.

Shows how progressive educational practices have come to challenge cultural norms, and will trace the evolution of his own philosophy and practice.

In this essay, Sharon explores the concept of democracy and considers how different “democracies” demand different actions from us in relation to schooling and society at large.