teaching

How a Teachers College Dean Makes Great Teachers

It's Not Enough to Recruit Smart People. We Need Our Students to Learn the Theory, Get in the Practice, and Receive Lots and Lots of Mentoring.

I was 20 years old when I graduated from college in 1967—the first woman from my family to take courses past high school. My cousin Adolfo was my only other relative who finished college, and everyone thought he was a bit nutty for doing it.

I needed to get a job right after I graduated, but my English lit major was not a direct path to employment. As fortune would have it, I heard an ad on the radio for teaching jobs with the Chicago Public Schools. On a Friday, …

by Mari E. Koerner |

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How Do We Keep New Teachers From Flunking?

Push Student Teachers Harder, Stick with Them Once They’re in the Classroom, and Integrate Them Into Their Schools' Communities

Teaching elementary or high school is not an easy job. But teaching teachers is tricky, too. Teacher preparation programs have to strike a delicate balance between theory and practice. And …

Is My Disability the Most Interesting Thing About Me?

How I Learned to Write About Cerebral Palsy without Preaching, Selling Out, or Being Forced to Become a Beacon of Inspiration

by Carly Okyle |

I’m awful at the art of the retort. My older brother tried his best to teach me about comebacks, but the lessons never stuck. Insults leave me stunned and silent. …

Do We Really Need Finland to Teach Us How to Teach STEM?

Looking Abroad Can’t Hurt. But the Answers to Better Math and Science Proficiency Might Be Closer to Home Than We Think.

In the 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama challenged the nation to produce 100,000 excellent new science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers by the year 2021. In …

My Kid Has Autism. Now What?

We’ve Come A Long Way in Educating Kids With Autism, But That Doesn’t Mean It’s Easy

by Sarah Rothbard |

Autism education has come a long way in the past few decades, but diagnosing children with autism, figuring out how best to teach them, and raising awareness among students, parents, …

Time to Suspend Zero-Tolerance School Discipline

Los Angeles Has Tried Get-Tough Approaches Toward Classroom Misbehavior. What Might Work Better?

by Sarah Rothbard |

The way discipline is enforced in American schools is changing quickly, explained Beth Shuster, Los Angeles Times education editor, at an event co-presented by the California Endowment. Zero-tolerance policies—which mandate …


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