This book presents teaching as evolution, teaching as autobiography, teaching as love, and asks the question: What keeps teachers going in spite of everything?
Teaching is a lifelong challenge, but the first few years in the classroom are typically a teacher's hardest. This expanded collection of writings and reflections offers practical guidance on how to navigate the school system, form rewarding relationships with colleagues, and connect in meaningful ways with students and families from all cultures and backgrounds.
Teaching for Joy and Justice is the much-anticipated sequel to Linda Christensen's bestselling Reading, Writing, and Rising Up. Christensen is recognized as one of the country's finest teachers. Her latest book shows why. Through story upon story, Christensen demonstrates how she draws on students' lives and the world to teach poetry, essay, narrative, and critical literacy skills. Teaching for Joy and Justice reveals what happens when a teacher treats all students as intellectuals, instead of intellectually challenged. Part autobiography, part curriculum guide, part critique of today's numbing standardized mandates, this book sings with hope -- born of Christensen's more than 30 years as a classroom teacher, language arts specialist, and teacher educator. Practical, inspirational, passionate: this is a must-have book for every language arts teacher, whether veteran or novice. In fact, Teaching for Joy and Justice is a must-have book for anyone who wants concrete examples of what it really means to teach for social justice.
Why We Teach Now dares to challenge current notions of what it means to be a “highly qualified teacher” á la No Child Left Behind, and demonstrates the depth of commitment and care teachers bring to their work with students, families, and communities. This sequel to Nieto’s popular book, Why We Teach, features powerful stories of classroom teachers from across the country as they give witness to their hopes and struggles to teach our nation’s children. Why We Teach Now offers us the voices of teachers like 42-year veteran Mary Ginley, who wonders, “Why would anyone with any brains and imagination ever want to be a teacher?” Who then answers her own question affirmatively, “It’s because somehow, even today, even with all the insanity, all the rules, all the poorly designed textbooks, all the directives to teach to the test, there are kids out there who need good teachers.” At a time when politicians, policymakers, and philanthropists are quick to denigrate teachers’ work and arrogantly speak for the profession,Why We Teach Now offers teachers the room and respect to speak for themselves. Once again, Nietogives teachers and those who care about education the inspiration and energy to embrace their role as advocates—a role that is vital not only for the well-being of students but also for the future of the profession and our nation. Praise for Why We Teach: “These pieces reveal the passion and hope that keep people in the classroom. Inspiration and information, Why We Teach raises our understanding of the dedication that fuels people's commitment to this profession.” —Rethinking Schools “This collection of essays written by teachers from across the country demonstrates exactly why there is hope for our public schools. Their words reveal why--in spite of bureaucracy and low pay—they continue to teach. This book should be required reading for college students planning to enter the profession. Teachers already in the classroom, whether for five years or twenty-five, will be encouraged and inspired.” —VOYA
A must-read for new teachers and seasoned practitioners, this unique book presents Sonia Nieto and Alicia López, mother and daughter writing about the trajectories, vision, and values that brought them to teaching, including the ups and downs they have experienced and the reasons why they have stubbornly remained in one of the oldest, most difficult, and most rewarding of professions. Drawing on their extensive experience as educators in school and university classrooms, they reflect on what it means to teach young people, prospective teachers, and future academics in our complex, dynamic, and multicultural society. Teaching, A Life’s Work is at once theoretical and practical, reflective and critical, personal, professional, and political. Nieto and López document their reasons for becoming teachers and share some of the most important lessons they have learned along the way. Using journals, blogs, current writings, and their research, they explore how their views on curriculum, pedagogy, and the field of education itself have evolved over the years. Book Features: Experiences and insights from elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education. Ideas from authors who have been at the forefront of progressive movements in public and private education in the United States. An accessible text that includes both theoretical concepts about teaching and practical examples of curriculum and pedagogy. A chapter based on a dialogue similar to the “talking book” created by Ira Shor and Paulo Freire (1987).
“For those of you pondering the question of whether to teach or not, this book will help you figure out whether teaching is for you. For those of you already in the classroom, it can inspire you to remember why you chose to teach in the first place.” —From the Foreword bySonia Nieto, Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and author ofWhy We TeachandWhat Keeps Teachers Going? “To Teachprovides a wealth of tips, lessons, approaches, and ways to think about thinking. But it also provides a sense of the calling to teach. That is why we need today books like this one, to remind us of why teaching matters.” —From the Afterword byMike Rose, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies To Teachis the now-classic story of one teacher’s odyssey into the ethical and intellectual heart of teaching. For almost two decades, it has inspired teachers across the country to follow their own path, face their own challenges, and become the teachers they long to be. Since the second edition, there have been dramatic shifts to the educational landscape: the rise and fall of NCLB, major federal intervention in education, the Seattle and Louisville Supreme Court decisions, the unprecedented involvement of philanthropic organizations and big city mayors in school reform, the financial crisis, and much more. This newThird Editionis essential reading amidst today’s public policy debates and school reform initiatives that stress the importance of “good teaching.” To help bring this popular story to a new generation of teachers, Teachers College Press is publishing an exciting companion volume:To Teach: The Journey, in Comics. In this graphic novel, Ayers and talented young artist Ryan Alexander-Tanner bring the celebrated memoir to life. TheThird EditionofTo Teach, paired with the new graphic novel, offers a unique teaching and learning experience that broadens and deepens our understanding of what teaching can be. Together, these resources will capture the imaginations of pre- and in-service teachers who are ready to follow their own Yellow Brick Roads. TheThird EditionofTo Teachoffers today’s teachers: Inspiration to help them reconnect with their highest aspirations and hopes. A practical guide to teaching as a moral practice. An antidote to teaching as a linear, connect-the-dots enterprise. A study guide that is available on-line at tcpress.com. William Ayersis a school reform activist and Distinguished Professor and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Praise for the Second Edition! "An imaginative, elegant, and inspiring book... essential reading for anyone who believes that teachers can change lives."—Michèle Foster, Claremont Graduate University “To Teachis one of the few books about teaching that does not disappoint.” —From the Foreword byGloria Ladson-Billings, University of Wisconsin–Madison “William Ayers creates a wise and beautiful account of what teaching is and might be.... He leaves us with fresh awareness of what the teaching project signifies. He provokes us, each in our own fashion, to move further in our own quests.” —Maxine Greene, Teachers College, Columbia University “No one since John Holt has written so thoughtfully about the things that actually happen in the classroom. Ayers has been there and he knows, and he shares what he has learned with tremendous sensitivity. The book, I’m sure, will be required reading in every school in the nation.” —Jonathan Kozol “Bill Ayers speaks as teacher, parent, and student: as compassionate observer and passionate advocate of his three sons and of all of our children. What is unique is the way in which the personal and professional merge seamlessly.... Ayers is a wonderful story teller.” —Herbert Kohl “Ayers’s riveting description of his unfolding journey as a teacher will be a helpful guide to teachers at all stages of their careers.”
José Vilson writes about race, class, and education through stories from the classroom and researched essays. His rise from rookie math teacher to prominent teacher leader takes a twist when he takes on education reform through his now-blocked eponymous blog, TheJoseVilson.com. He calls for the reclaiming of the education profession while seeking social justice. José Vilson is a middle school math educator for in the Inwood/Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. He writes for Edutopia, GOOD, and TransformED / Future of Teaching, and his work has appeared in Education Week, CNN.com, Huffington Post, and El Diario / La Prensa.
“This remarkable book is a testament to teachers who not only respect and advocate for children on a daily basis but who are the necessary guardians of the spirit. Every citizen who cares about the future of our children ought to read this.”—Eric Carle, author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other classic works for children “Kozol’s love for his students is as joyful and genuine as his critiques of the system are severe. He doesn’t pull punches.”—The Washington Post In these affectionate letters to Francesca, a first grade teacher at an inner-city school in Boston, Jonathan Kozol vividly describes his repeated visits to her classroom while, under Francesca’s likably irreverent questioning, he also reveals his own most personal stories of the years that he has spent in public schools. Letters to a Young Teacher reignites a number of the controversial issues Jonathan has powerfully addressed in his bestselling The Shame of the Nation and On Being a Teacher: the mania of high-stakes testing that turns many classrooms into test-prep factories where spontaneity and critical intelligence are no longer valued, the invasion of our public schools by predatory private corporations, and the inequalities of urban schools that are once again almost as segregated as they were a century ago. But most of all, these letters are rich with the happiness of teaching children, the curiosity and jubilant excitement children bring into the classroom at an early age, and their ability to overcome their insecurities when they are in the hands of an adoring and hard-working teacher.
A very real danger is in our country, and it grows by the day. It goes by several names: Apathy. Entitlement. Laziness. Through the raw and candid viewpoint of a 12-year teaching veteran, I Hate Everything - A Day in the Life of a Teacher explores the unending onslaught of nonsense that has entered today's classroom environment. Using real-world experiences, vivid imagery, and expressive language that you won't find in any PTA or faculty meeting, I Hate Everything dares the reader to come to grips with the reality of education in America, and encompasses the fears and concerns for the future that are forefront in the minds of many educators and parents today. About the Author Robert Lantana was born and raised in Orange County, California. The son of two teachers, he grew up in an education-driven environment. He has 12 years of teaching experience in a variety of school types including private, charter, and Title 1.