As we head into the election, perhaps we educators can take heart that a great majority of people do appreciate our work. Here’s one blogger, Steve Berlin, a senior manager at the National Association of State Boards of Education, who marshalls proof that indeed citizens believe US schools do better than politicians say. Berlin points […]

Paul Barnwell, who teaches high school English in Louisville, KY, gives five reasons why teaching remains a great job, in this excellent piece on Education Week Teacher, describing numerous small moments in which he helps kids achieve. That’s a great way to bring our best work home to the public. Just a couple of qualifiers: […]

Here’s a great teacher portrait by Peter Smagorinsky, at the University of Georgia, who is writing a series of these and getting them out to journalists. This  models yet another avenue for getting our education story out: if you don’t want (or have the time) to write about your own work, get your favorite education […]

Right in the middle of the NY Times “Review” section 6th grade teacher Sarah Mosle describes the powerful effects of the Responsive Classroom program on her students’ achievement and in whole schools. Indepth professional development, classroom coaching, and school-wide sharp focus make the difference, compared with ineffective brief “drive-by” workshops and welters of new mandates. […]

If we educators are to communicate powerfully to the wider world, we need more and more teachers becoming writers — thoughtful writers. Read Steve Moore’s essay on how he as a teacher took this journey. And notice how writing in his blog helped him become a better teacher, gained support from other teachers, and even […]

Read this impassioned letter from a marine turned teacher but now 10 years into teaching HS physics. It was forwarded to me by a new teachersspeakup.com subscriber, who spotted it on the Washington Post website, where journalist Valerie Strauss copped it off Diane Ravitch’s blog. Notice how this voice got around and reached a much […]

We know that teachers unions provide representation that teachers need. Many, though, focus mainly on the legislative and district battles that must be fought. But how about profiling great teachers in order to build our brand? That’s what New York State United Teachers does in this section of their website. We just hope some of […]

Teachers describe ideal schools that aren’t beyond the realm of possibility. Once again, here are some members of the panel of teachers whom we’ve highlighted before — each describing her ideal school. Notice how most of them explain some of their own good work in the process. If you aren’t hot to write your own […]

Diane Ravitch & Anthony Cody are collecting teachers’ president letters TODAY to send to Barack Obama. You can read several of them on Ravitch’s and Cody’s blogs – along with a pro-forma answer from Obama. Most take strong advocacy positions, mostly against Race to the Top and standardized testing. Here at Teachers Speak Up we’ve […]

NCTE’s National Day on Writing is Saturday, Oct. 20th. Our Illinois Writing Project is actually celebrating it on Wed. Oct. 17th, knowing that teachers need their Saturday to shop, do laundry, and get their life together after another intense week of supporting kids’ learning. This day was actually declared by the U.S. Senate, back when […]