Fifty percent of teachers today say they want to leave the profession; for a good while, Jennifer Nelson was one of them. But as a single mother who needed a steady job, she had to make teaching work—and gradually, she learned what it took to make the classroom a place where both she and her students could thrive.
Why are so many teachers leaving the profession? They’re burned out; they feel disrespected, and unsupported. After teaching remotely during a pandemic, they’re returning to classrooms with under-socialized and sometimes out-of-control kids. What to do?
Teaching by Heart chronicles the journey of a journalist-turned-teacher determined to make teaching work—despite its difficulties. Peek into Madame Nelson’s classroom to see her trying to reach teens who dance, cry, and hit each other in French class; administrators who laud the latest pedagogical trends and testing regime; and parents who sometimes support—and sometimes interfere with—their children’s education. Meet colleagues who save her from quitting, and her children who provide advice. Along the journey, she evolves from an aloof elitist into an empathetic listener to all sorts of teens.
Isn’t it time we create schools in which teachers want to stay and new ones enter? Without committed teachers, how can we prepare students to run our world? Teaching by Heart illuminates why it’s so hard to hold on to classroom teachers these days—and what can be done to better the situation.
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Jennifer Nelson is high school French teacher, writer, and personal historian. She spent the last fifteen years teaching in public and private schools; before that, she wrote for magazines and newspapers. She runs Your Stories, a writing services company, and holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley and Vermont College of Fine Arts. During her spare time, she loves walking, traveling, and spending time with her partner and three grown children. She lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
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