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A few years ago, I wrote a classroom resource about ecology for elementary and middle school kids. It covered all the territory you’d expect—biomes, habitats, food chains, etc. But the publisher insisted on a conspicuous omission. No mention could be made of one of the major biologists who pioneered ecology. That biologist was Charles Darwin.

This will be the 10th year of participating in Mix It Up for Kirbyville Middle School. We have decided to hold a Mix It Up Day each quarter of the school year, rather than just once a year. We held our first one this school year on Friday, Sept. 17. Students picked a playing card from a deck of cards and sat at the corresponding table. I had placed several conversation starter questions at each table.

The time had come. It was Dec. 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on the Montgomery public bus. This act led to Parks’ arrest, ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott and ushered in the new civil rights movement.

For people who complain about a “war on Christmas,” here’s a reality check. If you’re Christian in the United States, you can generally practice your religion without constraint. Assuming you don’t force your faith on others, being devout is not likely to cost you your job.

Some things that happen in school are just not right. It’s not right for a six-year old boy to be handcuffed and shackled to a chair by an armed security officer because he “acted up” in school.

This toolkit for “Rock the Vote” lists 12 practical ways teachers and their students can rock the vote at school.

Student pushback against mixing up their lunchtime seating can be a perfect teaching opportunity.

National Mix It Up at Lunch Day may be over, but promoting friendship at school is a priority all year.

I am in awe of young people. Today, for example, I read about a group of teens in Louisville, Ky. who continued to speak on LGBT issues. High school students from duPont Manual High School were censored for writing about gay issues, but they refused to let their voices be silenced. They decided to run an underground paper, The Red Pen, and won the annual Courage in Student Journalism Award.

A group calling itself “Passive Activism” claims on Facebook that it’s dedicated to “spreading awareness about people who spread awareness, rather than actually do something for people who actually do things.” I admit, I laughed. But it’s really not funny.