teachers

The Selective Politics of the "Learning Loss" Debate

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Discussions of the disruption to learning caused by COVID-related school closures often ignore the endemic inequalities in American education and exposure to harm from COVID, and sideline the voices of teachers who have been sounding the alarm about the dangerous state of their facilities for years. 

Blaming Teachers for COVID-Related Education Problems Misses the Big Picture

by Adam Laats

Too much of what plagues schools today is far beyond the control of teachers, but blaming them is easier for politicians than fixing inequality and underinvestment. 

Teachers’ Unions Are Making Totally Reasonable Pandemic Health and Safety Demands

by Josh Mound

Chicago's teachers, like those elsewhere, have led the way in making demands for students to return to safe classrooms. The media are scapegoating them for the failures of politicians to meet or even consider those demands, while advancing a privatization agenda.

Healthy Democracies Don't Scapegoat Their Teachers

"The failure to confront authoritarianism and the failure to defend public schools and educators from Covid is the same failure. When an institution is a cornerstone of democracy, you fight for it, you fund it, and you respect it."

Today's Educator Shortages are a Product of Decades of Bullying and Ignoring Teachers

by Diana D'Amico Pawlewicz

Again and again, politicians and administrators have implemented policies that make teaching unattractive work, then acted surprised when people chose other options. 

What’s at Stake in the Fight Over Reopening Schools

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

In cities like Chicago, parents anxious to return children to school have blamed teachers' unions. The historian and New Yorker columnist argues that some proponents of reopening are using racial equity arguments in bad faith while ignoring the gross racial inequalities that characterized schooling-as-usual before the pandemic and the work of teachers' unions to fight it.

Civil Rights Unionism and Democracy for Teachers

by Jesse Chanin

Nat LaCour connected civil rights unionism to teachers’ struggle to build union democracy. A remembrance and evaluation.

Diana D'Amico Pawlewicz – Blaming Teachers: Professionalization Policies and the Failure of Reform in American History 6:00 PM Monday, August 31

Education historian Diana D'Amico Pawlewicz discusses the ways that public policy undermines teachers' authority and blames them for systemic problems with education, sponsored by Politics and Prose bookstores. Live at 6:00 PM Monday, August 31. 

’Back To School’ Amid a Pandemic and Uprisings Gives Teachers a Unique Opportunity

by Kabria Baumgartner

The history of Black women educators shows a path for teachers to directly engage the social conflicts and inequalities that affect their students lives. 

Classroom Activity Kit: The History of Climate Change

by Mark Deltor and Sam Mastrianni

What do farmers from the 1950s, anti-smoking campaigns and climate change have in common? Download this Classroom Activity Kit to find out.

Classroom Activity Kit: The History of U.S. Immigration

by Paige Morse, Julia Brown, and Andrew Fletcher

This Classroom Activity Kit teaches students about U.S. immigration history while also highlighting their personal histories.

Classroom Activity Kit: The History of Sports Activism

by Jonathan Montano, Laura Gonzalez, and Lila Someshwar

Discussing athletes from Jackie Robinson to Colin Kaepernick, this Activity Kit teaches students about the history of political activism in sports.

Classroom Activity Kit: The History of Private Prisons in the U.S.

by Isabella Delpino, Jared Levinson and Matthew Crawford

Download this Classroom Activity Kit to teach students about the history of the American prison system.

Classroom Activity Kit: The History of Climate Change and Activism

by Chelsea Connolly, Elisabeth Pearson and Samantha Benthien

Download this Classroom Activity Kit to help students understand climate change activism in its historical context.

HNN Introduces Classroom Activity Kits

by Chelsea Connolly and Kyla Sommers

Combining the fields of journalism and history, these activity kits provide educators with complete downloadable lesson plans.

How teachers advocating for their students could backfire

by Diana D'Amico Pawlewicz

It reinforces the view of teachers as self-sacrificing servants instead of highly trained professionals.  

Students and Parents Push for Better Textbooks to Help Fight Hate and Stereotypes

Students, parents and educators are calling for material that reflects a diversity of experiences, saying it’s a matter of providing a fuller telling of history.

Teacher Pay, Presidential Politics, and New York’s Modest Proposal of 1818

by Adam Laats

When underpaid teachers threaten to walk away, school leaders have always considered desperate plans to fix desperate financial problems.

Teacher strikes can’t fix the core problems with our schools

by Diana D'Amico

The forces that once led to the growth of suburban schools have led to the decay of their urban counterparts.

The History of American Teacher Strikes—And Where Los Angeles Fits In

There were more than 1,000 such strikes involving more than 823,000 teachers from July 1960 to June 1974.