Inside Dallas ISD

Rachel Harrah knows that many of her students have been through struggles in their personal lives, and that drives her to brings her “A” game to class every day. “The fact that I can be there for them as a person, and that I can also push them instructionally as an educator lets them know I am not going to let them down,” Harrah said. “And then they know that they’re not allowed to let me down, either.” Harrah, who teachers Theater Arts at Dallas ISD’s Thomas Jefferson High School, was named 2015-2016 Secondary Teacher of the Year. “She’s not…

The approximately 40 Skyline students in Shawn Coyle’s floral design class in the school’s Eco-Tech cluster don’t have any time for idle chitchat this week. In their effort to trim and prepare 1,000 roses and 1,200 carnations for their big Valentine’s Day flower sale on Friday, the students are hard at work taking orders and making sure each flower looks perfect. The class is a part of Skyline’s Agriculture Career and Tech program. “It’s phenomenal what these students can do after just four or five months of being in this class,” Coyle said. “They are able to work on the…

What would life be like without books and reading? The question alone is a scary thought for anyone who loves reading. The children at Cornerstone Baptist Church, one sponsor of the Feb. 20 African American Read-In, may have tapped in to that idea in coming up with the theme for the event, Reading is the Wave of Life. The theme emphasizes the importance of reading and suggests that without books and reading, life would be much less interesting. Given that view, you might wonder why aren’t more people reading and why aren’t more parents reading to their children. These are…

Lunchtime on Feb. 12 could prove to be a much more pleasant experience than usual for hundreds of Dallas ISD’s middle schoolers. With the help of counselors, students at the district’s 37 middle schools are pledging to make their schools kinder, more caring places to learn by inviting everyone to the lunch table on No One Eats Alone Day. A national, peer-led initiative sponsored by the nonprofit organization Beyond Differences, No One Eats Alone Day is aimed at ending social isolation in middle schools and creating a culture in which all kids feel included, valued and accepted by their peers.…