Why Teach?
Presents a collection of essays that explore a college education as a means through which serious-minded individuals broaden their minds and acquire life skills, arguing that higher learning is an essential remedy for today's problems.
Why We Teach
In Memoriam for Julia Gardner.
When Are We Going to Teach Health?
Fact: Health improves learning. Yet nationwide, elementary school students spend twelve times more classroom hours studying history than health. Worse, most kids don't get enough physical activity and over 5 million underage youth vape. In When Are We Going to Teach Health?, Duncan Van Dusen, the CEO of one of the most widely used youth health education programs in the world, makes a novel, sometimes irreverent, case for prioritizing "Whole Child" health and SEL in K-12 schools. He shows why health drives academic success, what makes teaching health effective, and how to create a school environment that delivers and sustains healthy behavior. Using case studies, tips, and recommended actions, he describes proven youth empowerment and skills-based health education techniques to increase kids' physical activity and healthy food choices and to decrease youth vaping. Half of the proceeds from this book will fund health education in low-income schools.
For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too
A New York Times Best Seller "Essential reading for all adults who work with black and brown young people...Filled with exceptional intellectual sophistication and necessary wisdom for the future of education."—Imani Perry, National Book Award Winner author of South To America An award-winning educator offers a much-needed antidote to traditional top-down pedagogy and promises to radically reframe the landscape of urban education for the better Drawing on his own experience of feeling undervalued and invisible in classrooms as a young man of color, Dr. Christopher Emdin has merged his experiences with more than a decade of teaching and researching in urban America. He takes to task the perception of urban youth of color as unteachable, and he challenges educators to embrace and respect each student’s culture and to reimagine the classroom as a site where roles are reversed and students become the experts in their own learning. Putting forth his theory of Reality Pedagogy, Emdin provides practical tools to unleash the brilliance and eagerness of youth and educators alike—both of whom have been typecast and stymied by outdated modes of thinking about urban education. With this fresh and engaging new pedagogical vision, Emdin demonstrates the importance of creating a family structure and building communities within the classroom, using culturally relevant strategies like hip-hop music and call-and-response, and connecting the experiences of urban youth to indigenous populations globally. Merging real stories with theory, research, and practice, Emdin demonstrates how by implementing the “Seven Cs” of reality pedagogy in their own classrooms, urban youth of color benefit from truly transformative education.
Why We Teach Now
Why We Teach Now dares to challenge current notions of what it means to be a “highly qualified teacher” á la No Child Left Behind, and demonstrates the depth of commitment and care teachers bring to their work with students, families, and communities. This sequel to Nieto’s popular book, Why We Teach, features powerful stories of classroom teachers from across the country as they give witness to their hopes and struggles to teach our nation’s children. Why We Teach Now offers us the voices of teachers like 42-year veteran Mary Ginley, who wonders, “Why would anyone with any brains and imagination ever want to be a teacher?” Who then answers her own question affirmatively, “It’s because somehow, even today, even with all the insanity, all the rules, all the poorly designed textbooks, all the directives to teach to the test, there are kids out there who need good teachers.” At a time when politicians, policymakers, and philanthropists are quick to denigrate teachers’ work and arrogantly speak for the profession,Why We Teach Now offers teachers the room and respect to speak for themselves. Once again, Nietogives teachers and those who care about education the inspiration and energy to embrace their role as advocates—a role that is vital not only for the well-being of students but also for the future of the profession and our nation. Praise for Why We Teach: “These pieces reveal the passion and hope that keep people in the classroom. Inspiration and information, Why We Teach raises our understanding of the dedication that fuels people's commitment to this profession.” —Rethinking Schools “This collection of essays written by teachers from across the country demonstrates exactly why there is hope for our public schools. Their words reveal why--in spite of bureaucracy and low pay—they continue to teach. This book should be required reading for college students planning to enter the profession. Teachers already in the classroom, whether for five years or twenty-five, will be encouraged and inspired.” —VOYA
