Because Teaching Matters

Because Teaching Matters provides teachers with a realistic depiction of today s classrooms while highlighting the enormous impact they have on everyday lives. The second edition presents material around a framework of five professional commitments that allows them to make sense of what it means to be a teacher. A new critical-thinking framework helps them manage the content better and retain more of what they learn. Increased coverage of diversity and technology is integrated throughout the chapters. A new chapter has also been added on the history and philosophy of education. This book will help teachers make decisions and take responsibility for the consequences of those choices.

The concept of making choices as a teacher and taking responsibility for the consequences of those choices is a central theme of this book. It is organized around five professional commitments that, taken together, are essential if teaching is going to make a difference in the lives of students. This innovative organizing structure uses the five commitments to help readers think in a more informed way about issues that affect their initial concerns when making the decision to teach as well as their professional development as teachers.

"Because Teaching Matters provides teachers with a realistic depiction of today's classrooms while highlighting the enormous impact that teaching has on everyday lives. The book is organized around five professional commitments --learning from multiple sources of knowledge, using the curriculum responsibly, embracing diversity, meeting the needs of individual students, and contributing actively to the profession -- It helps teachers make decisions and take responsibility for the consequences of those choices, emphasizing that the decision to teach is a serious one that can be extremely rewarding. This revised edition focuses on diversity throughout, with new material on the latest academic content standards, teaching students with disabilities, modern classroom technology, the role of legislation and federal funding, and other updates to reflect the current context of teaching and teacher preparation. The updates also account for new societal and educational contexts post-pandemic. While not entirely about the pandemic, the new edition serves prospective teacher candidates who themselves have experienced a disruption in their PK-12 educations because of the pandemic. Therefore, the book addresses the ruptures it has caused on multiple fronts, many of which touch on the education system and have affected every student, teacher, and family"--

First Published in 2013. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Why Teaching Matters is an introductory guide to core elements of teaching, getting to the heart of what teaching is, and why it matters. Paul Farber and Dini Metro-Roland introduce the following 8 elements which encompass the many issues, themes and social complexities of teaching: - Conveying Care - Enacting Authority - Cultivating Virtue - Interpreting Subject matter - Rendering Judgment - Articulating Purpose - Establishing a Sense of Place - Engaging Presence The focus on the elements of practice frames discussion of teaching as an essential human activity and highlights the kinds of significant issues that teachers face, including technology, social inequality, and the management and evaluation of their work. As a philosophical guide, it introduces and draws upon a range of thinkers, including Nel Noddings, Hannah Arendt, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Danielle Allen, and James Baldwin whose work informs a deeper understanding of teaching. The theoretical discussions are grounded with examples and anecdotes from the classroom so that theory is always connected with practice, and questions for further inquiry appear at the end of each chapter. Intended for students of education and for new and experienced teachers alike, as well as anyone interested in the impact of teaching, Why Teaching Matters explores the inherent complexity and challenges of teaching, offering a comprehensive account of the many ways in which teaching matters.

Recharge your batteries and rekindle your excitement about teaching! This new, updated edition of the best-selling book, Teaching Matters: Motivating and Inspiring Yourself, offers practical advice on working with colleagues for inspiration, using social media to connect to other professionals, and adding fresh new appeal to your lessons. The practical ideas and inspirational examples in this book will help you keep your passion for education alive and thriving in your classroom. Get use-now tips on everything from creating a positive atmosphere in the classroom to dealing with difficult peers. This is truly a must-have motivational resource for all educators!

As public schools become increasingly embattled by budget shortfalls, crowded buildings, and ever-more-rigid curricula, the burden of these restrictions has drastically changed the way children are expected to learn. Nowhere is this more obvious or more devastating than classrooms in high-need urban areas. Drawing upon teachers’ firsthand experiences in some of today’s most demanding schools, leading education experts Beverly Falk and Megan Blumenreich provide an enlightening account of what our students really need—and how teachers are stepping up to provide what state standards and political posturing cannot. Teaching Matters takes us into a variety of classrooms to witness the art of teaching at its most creative and effective, with a focus on early childhood and elementary school. We follow educators as they strive to change systems that fail to address the needs of their students, from efforts to break the silence about homophobia in schools and multipronged strategies to build stronger relationships with immigrant families to the modification of ineffective curriculum to foster the growth of the “whole child.” By confronting many misconceptions about urban education and school reform, Falk and Blumenreich provide a crucial insider’s look at some of the most challenging and relevant questions in education today.

Michael Berman has been teaching English as a Foreign Language and giving talks and workshops at both national and international conferences all his working life, and this volume is a collection of the articles and materials he has written on the subject over the years that have not been published in book form before. As well as articles on particular approaches to language teaching, such as the application and use of NLP and Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory, you will also find plenty of practical teaching materials to make use of with your students: first day activities, for example, stories with suggestions for follow up work, and lead ins to introduce new topics. In this book you will find something for everyone.