For this issue of UnBoxed, we have asked several educators to address the theme of leadership in education. What do good leaders do, and how do they go about it? How do they cope with the day-to-day crises that inevitably arise? How do they find and develop good teachers? How do issues of public policy intersect with their work? Larry Rosenstock offers reflections from a career in school leadership. Ben Daley describes the hiring process at HTH, while Janie Griswold, Lillian Hsu, and Stacey Lopaz address issues of philosophy and daily practice. In the Unboxed interview, Howard Fuller, Distinguished Professor at Marquette University, discusses the deep cultural and political issues of race and equity that have informed his career as an activist, civic leader, and educator.

Other articles address the recurrent UnBoxed theme of student and teacher engagement. Stephanie Lytle describes a project in which students enact the Beowulfian role of scop, or singer as healer, by working with veterans in their own community. Juli Ruff discusses how she used peer critique to create a culture of collaboration in her classroom, where students saw each other as resources in creating beautiful work. In our photo essay, students from High Tech High show their Inner Warrior. The traits that make them who they are, their interests and their passions .

Jeff Robin reflects on an influential teacher in his own life and offers advice to anyone seeking to engage students in meaningful work. Angela Guerrero and April Major provide an account of collegial coaching and discuss the powerful ways teachers can support one another when they get into each other’s classrooms.

Readers may peruse the journal while simultaneously viewing video and linking to websites, all with the use of your smartphones. To get started, simply download the free Microsoft Tag application on your phone. Then, wherever you see a “tag” or icon (like above), open the application and scan it with your phone’s camera. A website, video, or document will appear. Now it’s even easier to learn more and to see the work in context.

Each issue, we create a set of UnBoxed cards that offer quick, concrete glimpses of projects we find inspiring and practices that support teaching and learning. These cards are now freely available on our UnBoxed website in a printer-ready format. Simply print, fold, share and discuss. As always, each card refers the reader to a web address where further information is available.

We invite readers from across the country to join us in conversations about purpose, policy and practice in education by submitting your thoughts for publication or commenting on articles on our UnBoxed website: //gse.hightechhigh.org/unboxed/

Read, enjoy, and participate!

—The Editors