Column: The Christmas gift every teacher craves – Chicago Tribune*

"If teaching were baseball, I would have been sent back to the minors after my first year at Chicago Vocational High School...For my sophomore class in 1985, I thought S.E. Hinton’s novel “The Outsiders” might improve attitudes toward learning. Other than being white, Hinton’s characters mirrored my students in age, in economic levels, and in problems with gangs, peer pressure, dysfunctional families and self-image."