The Institute for Democracy, Education and Access (IDEA), UCLA Professor of Education Jeannie Oakes‰ latest venture in outreach and research, has proudly launched a new online journal for teachers, students and parents entitled Teaching to Change LA (www.TeachingtoChangeLA.org).

TCLA serves as a forum for teachers, students, parents and activists who confront the issues facing Los Angeles schools. In addition to insightful and provocative stories written by teachers in urban schools, TCLA features student art work and essays, and writings from parents translated from Spanish to English.

John Rogers, Associate Director of IDEA, conceived of the journal as a public space where teachers from schools and communities across greater Los Angeles could engage in critical dialogue about their work. ‹We wanted to develop a journal that allows teachers and students to participate as public intellectuals, addressing issues of critical concern to the diverse community of Los Angeles,ž said Rogers. The editors of the journal consist of graduates from UCLA‰s Teacher Education Program who are currently teaching in Los Angeles schools.

In three of TCLA‰s sectionsÖLA Students, LA Teachers, and LA ParentsÖ the journal features a map of Los Angeles with specific communities highlighted in color, such as Lynwood, Inglewood, and Santa Monica. The color highlights reflect schools and communities from which teacher articles, student work and parent writings were solicited. Rogers aims to attract students and teachers from additional schools and ultimately hopes to link together a high number of Los Angeles schools and communities, thus creating an online network of broad student and teacher participation, as well as community activism.

Cicely Morris, a graduate of UCLA‰s TEP program and a kindergarten teacher at Woodworth Elementary in Inglewood hopes the journal will give her students and their families a voice and bring some positive publicity to the schools and communities featured in the journal. She believes that many community members in Inglewood ‹don‰t see themselves as having a major say in their schools or their neighborhoods.ž Morris and her teaching partner Aisha Blanchard authored the essay, ‹We the Kinders: A Beginner‰s Course in Democracyž for the current issue of Teaching to Change LA.

Due to a developing awareness of the extreme lack of access to the Internet and multi-media technology that many schools, students and teachers experience, the editors decided upon the theme of the ‹Digital Dividež for the next issue, coming out in June 2001.

Are you teaching in greater Los Angeles and have something to say about the Digital Divide? Submit your ideas and/or articles to Teaching to Change LA. Teaching to Change LA is an online journal by and about urban teachers, students, parents and activists in Los Angeles schools. If you would like to submit an article or would like to have your students‰ work included in the next issue, please stop by the office at 1033 Moore Hall for a submission packet or contact Solange at tcla@gseis.ucla.edu. For information about IDEA, please contact Jerchel Anderson at janderson@gseis.ucla.edu.