Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show, AFT president Randi Weingarten talks about the tools teachers need to help all children succeed. Those tools include a rich curriculum, time to work together with their colleagues, support to build their professional capacity, a collaborative environment—and more resources, especially to help give lower-income students what they need to overcome poverty. The show was filmed at Fort Lee High School in New Jersey, a public school working hard to improve student achievement.
AFT member Jose Fuentes, a fourth grade math teacher in Newark, discusses the challenges of working in an urban school district on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show. Among the biggest challenges: engaging parents in new ways to get them involved in the school community, large class sizes, and having to dig into his own pockets to buy school supplies for students whose families can’t afford them.