What Teaching Means: Stories from America's Classrooms
Daniel Boster and Marni Valerio, Editors
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
What Teaching Means in Las Vegas
Marni and I were ecstatic and grateful to be joined by several authors from What Teaching Means at a NWP session focused on the power of teacher narratives. Our session was attended by about 50 people from all over the country. It was a great opportunity to share the stories from the book but even more important to encourage other teachers to tell their stories.
We'd like to thank authors Heather Adkins, Alicia Macauly, Susan Martens, and Mary Powell for joining us for the session. And another shout out to authors Danielle Helzer and Lauren Gatti for joining us in Vegas to simply hang out and talk about teaching and all kinds of other things.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Durham Museum Teachers' Night
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Plum Creek Literacy Festival
Stay tuned for upcoming events and appearances.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Images from Reading in Twin Cities
Click the image below for a few more photos. Thanks to our daughter, Libby, for being the photographer.
WTM at The Buzz |
Friday, June 8, 2012
Images from Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative in Madison, Wisconsin
We were joined by about 35 folks who engaged in a powerful conversation about teaching and education during some tough times in Wisconsin. However, it was a night full of hope. Clearly, teachers will not stop telling their stories.
Click on image below to see more photos.
What Teaching Means Reading at Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative in Madision, Wisconsin |
Thursday, June 7, 2012
What Teaching Means Featured in the Capitol Times
Click here to read the story.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
National Writing Project Features WTM
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
WTM in the Local Paper!
Read the story here: What Teaching Means in the News
Alicia McCauley's Blog
http://pedalsandpencils.com/2012/04/30/being-seen/
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Reading at The Bookworm
Amanda Marek reads from,"Teaching Spanish and Learning Latino |
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Book Release and Reading
And, while you're here, check out excerpts and reviews.
Be great to have as many as possible join in on what is sure to be a great public conversation about teaching and education.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Excerpt from "I Am Helen. You Are Annie" by Katie Schrodt
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Excerpt of "Getting Someplace" by Kate Kennedy
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Excerpt from "Dreams of Prison" by Jonathan Putnam
“Sometimes I wish I could go to jail,” he said.
He’d been pacing around the room since he started talking about himself. Not making much eye contact, pausing only briefly to poke at a paper on a desk or erase a letter on the board with his finger.
“You wanna know the truth about me?” he asked shortly after entering the classroom. It was only the two of us, and I hadn’t asked him any questions.
“Only if you want to tell me,” I said.
I hadn’t known him very long. He was one of those students that show up on the roster sometime in March. One day, he was just there. Claimed he had done all of the work at his old school, read all the novels, knew all the skills. Of course, he couldn’t tell me anything about the books he had read, had poor writing, refused to read aloud, didn’t say much at all. Blended in.
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Jonathan Putnam received a M.A.T. from National Louis University. He currently teaches English and drama on the west side of Chicago.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Excerpt from "We Know" by Erin Parker
We know we don’t know everything. We know feeling like we don’t know anything. But we know so much. We know our students and their families. We know the ones who don’t have enough, and we know the ones who have too much. We know who woke up late, who broke up with whom, who broke into someone’s apartment. We know late nights. We know janitors because we stay at school so late, so often. We know secretaries, because they know everything. We know cheating. We know studying. We know how many hours it takes to put together a lesson, and we know we don’t want to grade anymore. We know taking work home nights and weekends, those summers “off” when we take second jobs and continuing education credits. We know we can’t sleep because we can’t let go. We know we should stop teaching when we’re able to let go. We know we save all the things our students give us—artwork, rap lyrics, flowers. We know lost assignments and missed deadlines, and we know disorganization. We know messy backpacks, lockers, lifestyles. We know frustration. We know “Fuck you!” and “Thank you!” And we know we’re probably doing something right if we hear them in a two-to-one ratio.
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Erin Parker received her B.S. in ecology from Michigan Technological University and multiple teaching certifications from Edgewood College. She currently teaches high school Earth sciences at Madison East High School in Madison, Wisconsin, where she works hard to emphasize reading, writing, and communicating along with the science content.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Excerpt from “When the Roots are Still Alive” by Jennifer Ernsthausen
I am ashamed to admit that I used to view my students, who were rough around the edges or low achieving, as potential failures. But I now know that it was my failure, not my students’. I have started seeing such challenging children as opportunities for growth. A few years ago, one of my students, Jasmine, would last about half a period or so before overturning her chair and walking out. I would dread the moment she would leave and the distraction it always caused, but a piece of me felt that now I could focus on the other students with her gone. Half way through the year, I realized that I was not taking responsibility for educating her, and I was allowing her behavior to justify not being accountable to her. I decided to change. Instead of hoping Jasmine would leave sooner than later, I began to challenge myself to see how long I could engage her to stay.
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Jennifer Ernsthausen teaches third grade in the Pittsburgh Public School District.