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 […]

Here’s a guest blog by our TSU partner Marilyn Hollman: Tell your stories. That’s what Teachers Speak Up is all about. Teachers are optimists or they would never be able to return on Monday. But to spend time writing, whether a letter or a speech, takes energy. A burning purpose or question and an audience […]

More and more teachers are telling why they keep teaching. It looks like Beth Shaum’s video on her blog Use Your Outside Voice — which we featured on this site just yesterday — really struck a chord. Beth has received statements from a number of additional teachers & posted them. Here’s Collette Bennett’s way of […]

OK, let’s get serious and look at some numbers. I’m in the Chicago metro area, so I’ll focus on Illinois. A national study shows Illinois is the second worst state in the union for funding disparity between high and low poverty-level schools. This partly results from shortfalls in state aid to schools. In recent years, […]

I don’t usually write more than one blog post per day. But I spent yesterday late afternoon with a wonderful group and I had better tell about it right now. After an intense day of teaching, a dozen teachers who research their classrooms to improve learning have gathered in a seminar sponsored by the Chicago […]

Readers, please take a look at this powerful, great video on why teachers stay with the job, made by teacher Beth Shaum. Then visit her blog, Use Your Outside Voice. And now, if you’re a teacher, ask yourself: wouldn’t it be wise to take just a few minutes each week — in spite of the […]

Here’s our friend Janet Ilko asking teachers to tell the public what matters in school so that we can get beyond all the standardized testing. More and more teachers are wringing their hands about the irrelevancy of the tests and all the time consumed with prepping kids for them and giving them. But as Janet […]

It’s encouraging to hear of more and more teachers advocating and making their voices heard. Here are two fresh examples, one national and one local. The national item is the “Occupy the Department of Education 2.0” event that just took place in Washington D.C., organized by the new Network for Public Education. The report on […]