Will Schools Open This Fall? Should They?

Will Schools Open This Fall? Should They? by @AndrewDKaufman #schools #teaching #learning

The COVID-19 pandemic has lasted longer than many of us expected and has impacted all areas of our lives, including schools. From elementary up to the college level, educators around the country are wondering what school will look like in the fall. While many districts and universities have already decided to stay completely online through…

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Students Don’t Need You to be a Perfect Teacher Right Now

Students Don't Need You to be a Perfect Teacher Right Now by @andrewdkaufman #students #teacher #COVID19

In early March, my university administration informed me that I had a week to transition my University of Virginia course Books Behind Bars online. This is a class I’ve been teaching for the past decade, where UVA students meet regularly with incarcerated youth at Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center in Richmond, Virginia to explore questions…

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How Great Students Can Change a Teacher’s Life

How Great Students Can Change a Teacher’s Life by @andrewdkaufman #students #life #teacher

We’ve all heard stories about great teachers who have changed students’ lives. Far less common are stories from teachers about students who have changed their lives, yet anybody in the teaching profession knows that learning is a reciprocal activity that can have a profound impact on both members of the exchange.  Just as there are…

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How I Learned to Get Out of My Own Way as a Teacher

How I Learned to Get Out of My Own Way as a Teacher by @andrewdkaufman #teacher #teaching #college

For years as a college teacher, I thought I knew my subject. When it came time to creating the syllabus for my introduction to Russian literature class, I did what most professors do: I decided which novels, stories, and poems I needed to cover in a matter of fourteen weeks, divided the total number by…

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I Have a Dream (of a Different Kind of Classroom)

I Have a Dream (of a Different Kind of Classroom) by @andrewdkaufman #dream #classroom #teaching

Since the day that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his iconic speech nearly six decades ago in 1963, he has inspired thousands, if not millions, of people to dream bigger. Whether that means standing up against social injustices, volunteering in our community, or contributing to education reform, many of us have been inspired to leave…

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What to Do When You Lose Your Passion for Teaching

What to Do When You Lose Your Passion for Teaching by @andrewdkaufman #passion #teaching #classroom

Most of us who got into teaching believe in the passion and power of a classroom to inspire change in our students, in our society, in our world. And yet somewhere along the line, whether because of bureaucratic pressures of working within an educational institution or because of the sheer demands of life, we may…

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