So I almost copped out on the very first day of my experiment.  After being awake half the night with stabbing sinus pain, I ended up staying home from school for the day – an easy out from having to brave the bus, right?  But when my six-year-old wanted to stay after school for Lego club, then remain at Y-care thereafter, I had to suck it up and bus it over to Washington to get him.  (Either that or cheat, and I’m not about to sacrifice my students’ trust in me as a role model like that.) So as I lay in bed all morning wearing a chilled gel mask, I studied the online bus maps – again – and plotted out my route, feeling terrified. At[…]

When Ron Clewer, CEO of the Rockford Housing Authority, visited my Auburn High School AP English classroom to speak to students about the proposed east side New Towne public housing development that has been causing such an uproar in Rockford, he explained that all people deserve a nice home in safe surroundings.  Most of my kids live on the west side of Rockford, many of them in neighborhoods that aren’t the ideal in terms of upkeep and in which violent crime is the norm, so they heartily agreed that it is not fair to segregate public housing tenants just because they are poor.  What surprised the kids – at least for a moment – was to hear Mr. Clewer mention the “greater job opportunities” that would[…]