As the year comes to a close, take a look back at some of the most popular opinion blog posts and essays of 2023. Pieces documenting the pressure teachers face and reading instruction seemed to particularly appeal to readers this year.
Revisit these essays and discover new perspectives you might have missed.
1. Teachers Aren’t Burnt Out. They Are Being Set Up to Fail
Instead of scapegoating teachers, let’s look at the real causes of workplace stress and demoralization, writes best-selling author and teacher Alexandra Robbins.
2. What People Are Getting Wrong About the Science of Reading
No one will win the reading wars. It’s time to look at the research and call a truce over the appropriate use of phonics, write reading specialists Brooke Wilkins and Lauren McNamara.
3. I Quit Teaching for Ed Tech. Here’s How It Turned Out
Before you leave the teaching profession for another career, here are some things to consider from Amma Ababio.
4. I Combed Through 81 Studies on School Discipline. Here’s What Educators Need to Know
School discipline researcher Richard O. Welsh offers evidence-based considerations for closing discipline disparities in schools.
5. The 4 Gifts Principals Should Give Teachers This Year (Hint: Not Another School Mug)
Instead of a staff pizza party or a school-branded mug, Sharif El-Mekki suggests giving them meaningful gifts that really nourish their craft in this principal advice column.
6. I Used to Think I Was a Fair Grader. Now, I Look Back and Cringe
Now a researcher studying grading practices, former teacher Sarah Ruth Morris reflects on what she wishes she had known about equitable grading.
7. A Focus on Phonics or Comprehension? What Reading Research Should Look Like in Practice
Children do need phonics instruction. But it should happen in the context of real reading, write researchers Elena Forzani and Andrea Bien.
8. How to Fix Classroom Misbehavior
An insight from the science of habit can make all the difference between continued misbehavior and good conduct, writes Asaf Mazar.
9. ‘You Work for Us': How a Student’s Slight Captures the Disrespect Teachers Face
Compare the treatment of teachers with other public servants and you’ll notice a disturbing trend, writes teacher Jherine Wilkerson.
10. Stop Trying to Recruit Black Teachers Until You Can Retain the Ones You Have
Schools are desperate to recruit Black teachers, writes Bettina L. Love. But do they know how to support them and value their work?
