A Teaching Life, the Next Step
To write. Yes, write. I was spurred to write in October 2006 when I observed (unannounced) fourteen teachers I trained in the summer to engage students. I found all of them talking at their students non-stop. Enraged, that evening I wrote them a stinging letter. The next morning I began writing my first book, Teaching from the Middle of the Room (Stetson Pass 2010). From there is was three more to teachers with Rowman & Littlefield and one, a memoir of on the Russian people and me among them in Behind the Red Veil: An American inside Gorbachev’s Russia. (Spark Press, 2020). (See frankthoms.com)
The writing persists. This year, I submitted two manuscripts to Rowman & Littlefield for publication: Conversation Classrooms: A Profound Shift of Delivery of Information to Partnership and Wisdom for Teachers in Troubled Times: Solace and Inspiration to Bring to the Classroom.
And as I continue to write, I am working on a memoir of my teaching and what it meant to me. It is addressed to 21st century teachers to give them permission to be themselves, as much as they possibly can under today’s stressful teaching conditions. Threats from politicians, angry parents, and unruly students combined with restrictive curricula and state and federal testing impede efforts to be creative, engaging, and personal.
