When my principal asked if I would like to lead our school’s new Justice, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee, I was both surprised and delighted.

I see sleepy kids every day in my 8th grade English class. Their heads are drooping. Their eyes are barely open. Their energy is low.

Thanks to a collaboration with musician and anti-bullying advocate RobenX, I discovered many strategies for reaching students in new and lasting ways.

Like many of my students, I too use digital devices in my daily personal life, but the enormous piles of notes and paper combined with the constant fighting with the students to put their gadgets away drove me to reevaluate how I could use those very gadgets to my advantage.

"What do you mean, we have rights as minors?” Thirty pairs of quizzical eyes met mine. Brows furrowed in confusion. “Aren’t rights made by adults, for adults?”

It’s said that there is always a blessing in dark times, and this was it: my chance to share my 1970s childhood with 25 children of 2020.

I was browsing YouTube for simplified math tutorials one afternoon when I stumbled upon the PBS Kids Math Club—math tutorial videos geared toward teens.

The world is in the midst of a technological revolution that has surpassed expectations, and I’m witnessing firsthand how growing up in this digital age is impacting our students.

Teaching is a great responsibility. I teach English and believe that the ability to communicate, at a personal and societal level, is what builds strong communities and ensures ownership over one’s future. Thus, it’s important that we teachers spend a lot of time on our craft—deliberating the best ways to teach and make lessons fun, interactive, and relatable to students. Professional development thrives on discipline pedagogy and school departments meet to align goals and assignments and to discuss data assessment.