In this interview, Sonia Nieto shares what she has learned from her long career in teaching, teacher education, and research about what motivates teachers to continue coming to the classroom each day. She shares the story of her early years as a teacher and how professional relationships helped her to thrive. And she describes the varied ways that…

In praise of isolation: Who says professional learning communities (PLCs) are a better way? The author says the PLC trend is but the latest education fad that is not helping teachers or students. PLCs, says the author, represents an administrative, clinical ideal of collaboration. He blames legions of high-paid consultants, and says that all along…

Many teachers perceive an erosion of their professionalism since "A Nation at Risk" appeared, and they have felt that erosion accelerating since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act. Myriad factors contribute to this climate so contrary to teacher professionalism: poor funding, poor parenting, overstuffed classrooms, low-quality…

Teacher preparation and licensing are constantly under attack from both national and state policy makers. The extraordinary reporting requirements imposed on university-based teacher preparation programs through Title II of the Higher Education Act and the promotion of "alternative routes" to teacher licensure by the federal government…

The quality of the teacher in the classroom is the most important factor in raising student achievement, as Linda Darling-Hammond noted, and educators should offer their students nothing less than well-trained and well-supported teachers. Providing high-quality teachers is of particular importance in low-income communities of color, where the most…

Whining about not being treated as professionals buys teachers little respect. Teaching is hard work, but confers some plush benefits, while discouraging voluntary self-improvement efforts. The notion that pay should be commensurate with work is a noble delusion. Nannies and mothers are also underpaid. (MLH)

The author of this article states that, for more than 20 years, public educators have developed a professional inferiority complex and a strong sense of hopelessness. After all, he claims, the dominant message over those years, including from some within the profession, has been that educators have caused the declining quality in public schools.…

In this first of several articles studying the education of educators and the status of teaching as a profession, the assumptions and postulates underlying this research effort are explained. Assumptions involve the relevancy of knowledge, institutions conceived as reform units, and teaching viewed as value-driven. Includes 23 references. (MLH)

Albert Blum discusses the need for "fallowships" for educators. These would allow educators to lie "fallow" for a year and not read, talk, or think about anything in their field. (MD)

A civil engineer describes his first day as a substitute teacher. Despite detailed lesson plans and good intentions, maintaining an orderly class environment is far from a "piece of cake." Recess duty is an ordeal, and lunch in the shabby teacher's lounge is uninspiring. The biggest benefit is appreciation of what constitutes a full-time teacher's…

Over the past century, liberal arts faculty members have attacked education by maintaining that there is no such subject and by charging that education study as defined by education faculty has unsavory consequences. Recent quotations from the Holmes Group Report and John Goodlad's work seem to perpetuate these hostile perceptions. Includes 23…

Teachers generate magic when they step out of their pedagogical roles and realize they are human beings possessing expertise in narrow fields and scant knowledge about everything. Students can be excellent teachers. Energy comes from the struggle to master something new. Teachers are not exempt from this process. (MLH)

Comparing teaching to medicine, this article argues that thoughtful practitioners intelligently evaluate educational research, reconcile that research with practical knowledge, and use artistry in considering the context. Researchers must, in turn, communicate to teachers their respect for the wisdom needed in their practice. (MLH)

The best teachers succeed in developing student creativity while maintaining orderly classrooms, being taskmasters liked by their students, balancing expectations and frustrations, and helping students develop skills in real-life learning situations. Resolving such teaching dilemmas is like balancing round stones. Classroom life requires…

The last few years have revealed a growing concern about U.S. global competitiveness, and American schools have been called to account for failing to produce enough engineers and math and science workers to compete in the new global economy. The author argues that the education solutions offered to tackle this problem are too simplistic. Instead…