Roberta Israeloff

I have been directing The Squire Family Foundation since its inception in 2007; we believe that all young students, from pre-K through high school, would benefit from being introduced to philosophy. Not everyone will become a philosophers, but we can all learn philosophical habits of mind. In my previous 30+ year career as a writer, editor, and writing teacher, I published dozens of books: memoir, co-authored books, short stories, personal essays, journal and magazine articles, and book reviews. My most recent collaborations: What Went Right: Lessons from both Sides of the Teacher's Desk, with my former English teacher George McDermott; and The Ethics Bowl Way: Answering Questions, Questioning Answers, and Creating Ethical Communities, with Karen Mizell, in 2022. This book introduces a competitive yet collegial event during which teams of students discuss and negotiate their way through timeless and timely ethical dilemmas, a format that promotes deliberative democracy and civil discourse.