We can help students develop a better understanding of both the world and their place in it by using the world around us to teach in a way that invites critical thinking, draws on multiple perspectives and reflects who we are in the 21st century.


Culturally relevant pedagogy can give students the skills, knowledge and dispositions to change systemic inequities. So teachers should examine and encourage ways to imbue their students with a sense of their own identities.

Long-time student Jillian Demery is now a second-year teacher, making the grade at the front of the classroom, teaching 5th-grade special ed students. Her accounting background, she says, has helped prepare her for remote learning. A self-described...

Kathleen Taylor is an American Sign Language interpreter for the city Department of Education, providing interpreting services for students, staff and parents at meetings and events such as parent-teacher conferences and suspension hearings.

The UFT's 115 in-school Teacher Centers, located in all five boroughs, support educators as they investigate best practices, seek out new materials and collaborate to improve their instruction and, during the pandemic, have also helped with the...

Much of what happens during remote learning is beyond our control. What is not beyond our control is our ability to think critically about what meaningful lessons look like in this landscape, what content students need at this unique moment and what...

Among the many engaging online resources to help increase student engagement are three tools that are easy to use, good for any grade level and work well alongside and within Google Classroom. FlipGrid, Pear Deck and EdPuzzle can help teachers bring...

Here are surprising takeaways teachers can use to make remote instruction more effective: digital games can be incorporated into learning in small doses; students may be “digital natives” but they may need to learn how to use digital tools; digital...

To make the school year feel successful, educators are revising lesson plans, troubleshooting technology and investigating new strategies. Day by day, they’re figuring out what works for their students — and themselves. Read their stories.

The cafeteria is the only space big enough for physical education classes at PS 160 in Queens, where one teacher of both in-person and remote students has had to reimagine the activities she once did.