We hear so much about "bad" teachers that it's easy to forget about the many superstars we have teaching in American public schools.Since I started writing this blog, I've been profiling "cool people you should know" - cool people who do research on education. Beginning this week, I'll start profiling a "cool teacher you should know" every week- someone who colleagues, parents, or students recognize as a master teacher, and who adds something special to your school. (If I get lots of nominations, I'll profile teachers more frequently.)
So please circulate this post far and wide and help me identify some exceptionally cool teachers from around the country. And if someone young enough to have a myspace or facebook page could help me get this out to high school and college students who are still close to their educational experiences, I'd appreciate it.
Email me their name, grade level or subject, school, and location, as well a few tidbits about them - something about how they teach, what they're like as a colleague, especially great lessons, how they affected you, etc. Send me an email at which I can contact them (you can remain anonymous as the nominator if you wish). If you have a picture, send it along, too. If the teacher has a DonorsChoose profile, I'll link to that as well.
Send nominations to eduwonkette (at) gmail (dot) com.
PS - Also, check out teacher ken's post on the impacts of society's lack of respect for educators. He reminds us that saying thanks makes a difference:
All of us have had teachers. And even if we were too shy, or too stubborn, to express our thanks at the time, we can always drop a note or make a call, or if possible stop by and say hello, and thank those who made a difference for us. Sometimes we worry about the students who pass through our care, that we did not do enough, care enough, and it can help a teacher who is wondering whether to continue the struggle to hear of the differences s/he made. Sometimes that can be the one thing that keeps a teacher going for one more year.
1 comment:
Hi Eduwonkette -- I'm a San Francisco public-school parent, advocate and volunteer (and blogger at www.sfschools.org ). Since NYC is not only the center of the universe but a hot spot in public education right now, I've been reading your blog with interest.
This comment is about "best teacher" prizes. My kids have had some unbelievably great public school teachers, but almost all of the truly gifted ones push some rules or standards in some way that makes me uncomfortable about putting them in the spotlight. In some cases, they're pushing a rule or standard that's overly rigid to begin with. In others, the teacher is doing amazing things while also doing some stuff that genuinely raises eyebrows.
Maybe being a rule-breaker goes with being genuinely gifted. But that may make the concept of spotlighting and rewarding great teachers flawed.
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