on Teacher Appreciation Day, what better activity than to get parents, friends, community members, legislators, and others to learn from teachers about why they teach. So go to the Learning Matters website page on “Why I Teach,” and enjoy, add your own explanation — but also use Facebook, Twitter, email, and any other tool you […]

Here’s a blog post by Joey Starnes, a teacher who goes to Washington to make her voice heard there. And she keeps her blog going, as well, to talk to the world about education. I’m not sure how many people in the general public read such teacher blogs — but at least she’s putting her […]

OK, I know I just put up a post. But Rita Pierson tells exactly what to appreciate in teachers, and I couldn’t wait to get this out to everyone, in her TED Education talk. Listen and watch her and know that indeed you are appreciated, if it’s only by your students. (Thanks, Marilyn Hollman, for […]

May 7th is supposed to be Teacher Appreciation Day. If only we were! In any case, this would be an excellent occasion to explain to the community just exactly what we should be appreciated for (and if you’re a Teachers Speak Up follower, you know exactly what I’d like you to do). In an op-ed […]

It’s great to see that at least sometimes good schools and teachers are appreciated in the press. Here are two great school stories recognized publicly. First, a whole school district in Hartsville, SC, is working with community partners and a retired corporate CEO to implement a whole-child approach to kids’ learning (developed by child psychologist […]

I spent last weekend at the National Writing Project Urban Sites conference in Birmingham, AL, and what a weekend it was. Along with the usual events at a conference of educators, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute held its own convention. So we heard about the city’s history of civil rights action from people who participated […]

So our friend Peter Smagorinsky wrote a piece for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, (linked here) reminding people of the long observed fact that a large majority of people view their own local school as fairly good. But the same survey respondents see education as a failure overall. This, he points out,  comes from the picture […]

The VIVA Teachers Project strives to gather teachers’ ideas on specific issues in locations around the country. Its website also features blog posts by teachers on various topics. Take a look at the posts on teacher voice itself — it’s well worth seeing thoughtful teachers struggle with how to best use their voice to inform […]