Here’s the Chicago Sun Times essay by reading specialist Erika Bolte as yet another teacher tells the world how public education matters and makes a difference for our children. Erika explains how the teacher team at her school helping a struggling student to catch up. While pundits worry about large-scale standardized test scores, good teachers continue […]

The teacher voice campaign marches on with more essays in the Chicago Sun Times. Read and enjoy these outstanding pieces: Mitch Lazarus, on in-depth attitudinal strategies that help kids become successful Robin Rickert, on classroom community that helps kids grow to be caring adults NOW, CHICAGO TEACHERS! SEND US MORE ESSAYS! WE NEED TO BUILD […]

OK, so I’ve been absent from this blog for a really long time. But I’m back and seeking more Chicago Area Teacher Essays! I got plenty busy finishing my new book, From Inquiry to Action, on helping students to identify issues in their school or community, research them, and take action on them. This kind […]

Belleville, Michigan teacher Jason Strzalkowski explains what our work really is and it is not tests. Read “I Love My Job. Really.” — a succinct and affirming essay on Nancy Flanagan’s blog, “Teacher in a Strange Land. Strzalkowski explains how he helps his high school history students “navigate poverty, reputation, academics, and self-worth on a […]

We’re excited to announce that the Chicago Sun Times teacher essays are back, with an excellent piece by 3rd grade teacher Evelyn Pollins explaining very concretely how teaching reading oriented to the Common Core destroys kids’ love of books. It’s on the paper’s website as well as in the Monday 3/22/15 print edition. The series […]

WHOA! Four Seattle area teachers decided to truly speak up, testifying to their school board about the agonies that are being visited on their students and themselves by the Smarter Balanced test that is pointlessly discouraging everyone, and declaring that they’ll refuse to give the tests in the future. As you’ll see from their account […]

Please enjoy reading yet another fine teacher portrait by Peter Smagorinsky and published on Maureen Downey’s “Get Schooled” blog for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Smagorinsky emphasizes first grade teacher Becky Cross’s use of laughter in the classroom, in contrast to the Dickensian sooty-factory approach to education that has become current. In light of her leadership […]

9/11/14  I’m extremely pleased to be contributing to fall action for teacher voice in Chicago — the Chicago Sun Times  teacher essay series that I have organized, will continue through the fall, under the series title, “Fall Semester.” To see all the essays written throughout the summer, simply go to the Sun-Times website, and search […]

Just out today in the Chicago Sun-Times teacher essay series is Tammy Haggerty Jones’ well-documented piece on the flood of testing in kindergarten. Is this really how Americans believe very young children should be schooled? Is this how we help them grow and achieve new abilities at home? And does the public really understand how […]

If you haven’t already seen it, take a look at this pitiful preparation for a pointless state test, in Chicago. And next here’s an explanation of the occasion for the video, since some people questioned whether it was taken out of context (I hope you can access this — it’s on Anthony Cody’s Education Week – […]