Friends– As the year draws to a close I’ve been thinking about refocusing Teachers Speak Up. While I continue to believe that teachers need to re-brand our profession with the wider public, I haven’t had much success making that happen, even on a small scale.  Yes, people tell me the effort is important, and yes, […]

Lots of people saying it right now. Here’s blogger Beth Shaum saying it cogently in a post on her site, Use Your Outside Voice.  Happily, she includes a brief portrait of an outstanding classroom for adults. Then there are a string of comments responding to the blog post, “Why Teachers Should Educate the Public About […]

Thank goodness I’m not alone trying to get teachers writing about their work for the larger community. Peter Smagorinsky, at the University of Georgia, provides another voice urging teachers to speak out. Visit the website “Teachers, Profs, Parents: Writers Who Care” to read his suggestions on getting your words out there. Peter describes how he […]

One of the challenges to getting teachers’ voices heard by the public is finding media outlets that will support this. But there are a number of solutions to this — and we hope that learning about some of them will help teachers to begin speaking up and telling the world about our important work. Teachers […]

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 […]

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 […]

We’ve already said we’re fans of Megan Allen, Hillsborough County fifth grade teacher who has spoken up to Congress and other public officials. Now read her advice on finding your inner teacher leader, your courage to speak up publicly to advance teachers’ voices in public education policy decisions. Ms Allen, it turns out, is active […]

WE’RE FINDING TREASURE. Outstanding letters, newspaper columns, blog posts, and guides for helping teachers connect in savvy ways to the wider public. Check them out on our Teacher Tools for Reaching Out -and Examples, Teachers Reach Out More Widely-Examples, and Teachers Writing for Support pages. Then let us know what you think about these, and […]