Like many public school teachers in Los Angeles, Inglewood kindergarten teacher Cicely Morris faces the daunting task of developing young minds in an environment characterized by scarce resources and challenging social problems.

A teacher at Woodworth Elementary who earned a master's degree in education from UCLA in 1997, Morris has nevertheless made a rare commitment to teach in an urban setting. Nationwide, fewer than 6% of all teachers with newly minted master's degrees request jobs in the inner city.

Even in her short career, she has already had to cope with unique experiences, such as the death of a student with cancer. The boy came to Morris' class with a history of discipline problems after he was sent to live in a foster home when his own family was torn apart by drugs.

"One of the saddest things to me was that when it came time for his funeral, the funeral home approached the family to write an obituary. His mother's response was that she didn't have anything to say about her son," Morris recalled.

To help Morris and other urban teachers, as well as students and parents of Los Angeles schools, share their concerns and perspectives about the daily struggles and triumphs of the urban class - room, UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education and Access (IDEA) has created an online journal, "Teaching to Change LA."

As editor of the journal, Morris worked to pull together contributions from more than 150 other teachers, students and community workers to produce the content and design of the site. The inaugural issue not only features articles by Los Angeles teachers about their experiences and views, but also spotlights the work and perspectives of K-12 students. It provides an open forum to connect teachers, students, parents and activists concerned about issues facing Los Angeles schools and communities.

"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," said John Rogers, associate director of IDEA. By working to establish new research links among UCLA, local schools and the community, IDEA, housed in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, draws together citizens, scholars, activists and community leaders to address educational access within the broader context of civic life.

In the journal, Morris, along with her teaching partner Aisha Blanchard, has written an essay about the lessons in American history and democracy they teach their kindergartners, who are predominantly African-American and Latino.

Morris, who teaches in a neighborhood known as "The Bottoms," believes that the students and parents she encounters "don't see themselves as having a major say in their schools or their neighborhoods."

The journal, she said, can help to remedy that by giving them a voice and a reason to believe that "they have a lot of power within themselves."