ABSTRACT
When middle school teachers and leaders commit themselves to being responsive to the personal concerns of adolescents and the social concerns of their community, it results in opportunities to build capacity in students to be agents of change. This article captures the story of one teacher’s process in designing and implementing a year-long curriculum with the ultimate goal of students taking action on an issue of importance to them and determining their own answers to these big questions: Who are we? What can we be? What should we be? What should we do? Over the course of an entire school year, one teacher challenged her group of eighth-grade students to engage in critical reflection of their own mindsets, perspectives, and actions as well as those of their communities.
