The problem with teaching ‘grit’ to poor kids? They already have it. Here’s what they really need.

Surely you’ve heard of the “grit” phenomenon. Teaching, measuring and testing grit in students – especially students who live in poverty – has become part of the broad education reform debate. Here is a post that questions the whole concept and traces its history, showing that it started out of concern for spoiled well-off kids.

Study Finds Students Of All Races Prefer Teachers Of Color

“Do you speak English?” When Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng walked into his summer school classroom for the first time as a brand-new teacher, a student greeted him with this question. Nothing in his training had prepared him to address race and identity.

Telling Poor, Smart Kids That All It Takes Is Hard Work to Be as Successful as Their Wealthy Peers Is a Blatant Lie – Atlanta Black Star

When it was revealed that low-income students face greater challenges in school and are far less likely than their wealthier peers to attend or graduate college, the message to this disadvantaged group of students was a simple one-work harder.

Hey, New Teachers, It’s OK To Cry In Your Car

Like many first-year teachers, Luisana Regidor has a lot on her mind. There are lesson plans to write and papers to grade as well as a dozen other things: evaluations, observations, fundraisers, class trips. It’s overwhelming. “Last Wednesday, I left here and I got in my car and I just cried,” says Regidor, who teaches U.S.

Opinion | Should I Tell My Students I Have Depression?

I always have to be learning how to take better care of myself, noticing signs of a depression emerging, yet I also have to accept depression as part of me. I’d need to continue these efforts while teaching a new course posing heightened emotional demands for students, on a campus where several of their peers had committed suicide over the previous year or so.

Why Teaching Poetry Is So Important

The oft-neglected literary form can help students learn in ways that prose can't.