American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, AFL-CIO

From December 2020 through May 2021, EdSurge followed seven women who work as early childhood educators from around the country. Through interviews, surveys and research, EdSurge learned “what it looks like to teach young learners, engage with families, run businesses and manage personal and professional stress during the pandemic.”

Read the oral history here.

Recovering from the 2020-21 school year will take a while, and one way for educators to move forward is to “let go of what didn’t work and proactively pivot toward learning that ignites curiosity,” write Lauren Kaufman and Stephanie Rothstein.

In a July 14 post for Edutopia, Kaufman and Rothstein offer three ways for teachers “to take some control of this process” and in turn “help make professional learning personal.”…

Frederick Hess, a former high school social studies teacher and an executive editor at Education Next, writes that now is the time for “fundamentally rethinking how schools make use of instructional talent.”

“A half-century ago, when teaching talent was plentiful and the demands on teachers were more uniform, the notion of the do-everything teacher might’ve made more sense,” writes Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. …