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Teaching, A Life's Work

A Mother–Daughter Dialogue

Sonia Nieto, Alicia López Nieto

Publication Date: January 25, 2019

Pages: 176

Available Formats
PAPERBACK
ISBN: 9780807761090
$31.95
HARDCOVER
ISBN: 9780807761106
$96.00
EBOOK
ISBN: 9780807777503
$31.95
Teaching, A Life's Work 9780807761090
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  • Description
  • Author
  • Reviews
  • Contents
  • Awards

Description+

A must-read for new teachers and seasoned practitioners, this unique book presents Sonia Nieto and Alicia López, mother and daughter writing about the trajectories, vision, and values that brought them to teaching, including the ups and downs they have experienced and the reasons why they have stubbornly remained in one of the oldest, most difficult, and most rewarding of professions. Drawing on their extensive experience as educators in school and university classrooms, they reflect on what it means to teach young people, prospective teachers, and future academics in our complex, dynamic, and multicultural society. Teaching, A Life’s Work is at once theoretical and practical, reflective and critical, personal, professional, and political. Nieto and López document their reasons for becoming teachers and share some of the most important lessons they have learned along the way. Using journals, blogs, current writings, and their research, they explore how their views on curriculum, pedagogy, and the field of education itself have evolved over the years.

Book Features:

  • Experiences and insights from elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education.
  • Ideas from authors who have been at the forefront of progressive movements in public and private education in the United States.
  • An accessible text that includes both theoretical concepts about teaching and practical examples of curriculum and pedagogy.
  • A chapter based on a dialogue similar to the “talking book” created by Ira Shor and Paulo Freire (1987).

Author+

Sonia Nieto is professor emerita at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her bestselling books include The Light in Their Eyes: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities, Why We Teach, Why We Teach Now , and What Keeps Teachers Going?. She is the recipient of the 2019 LRA Distinguished Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2021 Mass Humanities Governor's Award. She received the 2024 Multistate Association for Bilingual Education (MABE) Lifetime Service Award. In 2024, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Alicia López is an ESL teacher and former assistant principal at Amherst Regional Middle School.

Reviews+

"The book is a testament to public education while providing an honest appraisal of the problems and successes inherent in the educational endeavor. As teachers and teacher educators, we found the advice for teacher educators and pre-service, novice, and experienced teachers to be relevant: understand that teaching is transactional, take time to write, respect and care for your students, find a mentor, make a friend, be kind, creative, and efficient, get outside once a day, have stamina and courage, engage in professional development, and be thoughtful and critical about curriculum and pedagogy. We encourage both in-service and pre-service teachers to read this book as they reflect on their teacher identity. As the authors note, teaching is not always easy, but it is a profession worth fighting for."

—Teachers College Record

"Riveting and beautiful! Teaching, A Life’s Work offers a full basket of wisdom wrapped up in personal stories of learning to teach. Through loving and reflective dialogue, mother-daughter duo Sonia Nieto and Alicia López probe the heart of what it means to teach, as they challenge us to reflect on what we stand for as teachers and who we stand with."
— Christine Sleeter, professor emerita, California State University Monterey Bay

"The book is a testament to public education while providing an honest appraisal of the problems and successes inherent in the educational endeavor. As teachers and teacher educators, we found the advice for teacher educators and pre-service, novice, and experienced teachers to be relevant: understand that teaching is transactional, take time to write, respect and care for your students, find a mentor, make a friend, be kind, creative, and efficient, get outside once a day, have stamina and courage, engage in professional development, and be thoughtful and critical about curriculum and pedagogy. We encourage both in-service and pre-service teachers to read this book as they reflect on their teacher identity. As the authors note, teaching is not always easy, but it is a profession worth fighting for."
—Teachers College Record

"In Teaching, A Life’s Work, Sonia Nieto and Alicia López share with us a beautiful and powerful inter-generational conversation between a mother and daughter about education, identity, and teaching for social justice. Standing together in defense of public education and in defense of students and their communities, Nieto and Lopez give us the gift of two lifetimes of loving commitment to teaching children and changing the world."
—Wayne Au
, professor, School of Educational Studies, University of Washington Bothell

“A genuine rarity! A mother and daughter—a seasoned pro and a young pro—talk about their educational lives. Their dialog allows us insight into the differences and similarities across generations in teacher education, curriculum, and classroom practices appropriate for the kinds of students faced today, and into the politics of education. To be able to share their thoughts about education in contemporary times is as delightful as it is informative.”
—David C. Berliner, Regents’ Professor of Education Emeritus, Arizona State University

Contents+

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Teaching Across Generations
   Who We Are
   About This Book

Chapter 1. Becoming Teachers
   Sonia: The Enthusiastic Beginner
   Alicia: The Reluctant Beginner
   Different Paths, Similar Insights

Chapter 2. Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn
   Alicia: The Che-Lumumba School
   Sonia: Trying Things on for Size
   Creating Our Teacher Identities
   Teacher Identity and Student Learning
   An Emerging Social Justice Consciousness
   What Does It Take to Be a Teacher?

Chapter 3. Learning About Students and Their Communities
   The Limits of Personal Experience and Professional Knowledge
   Alicia: Getting to Know English Learners
   Sonia: Learning with, About, and from Preservice and Practicing Teachers
   Finally, On Love

Chapter 4. Curriculum Beyond the Textbook
   Our Evolving Notions of Curriculum
   Curriculum, Power, and Creativity
   Mary Ginley: The Honors Assembly
   Reimagining Curriculum

Chapter 5. Pedagogy Beyond Methods
   Pedagogy, K–12 and Beyond
   Alicia: Pedagogy for Expanding Teaching Practices
   Sonia: Pedagogy for Current and Future Teachers
   Final Thoughts on Pedagogy

Chapter 6. The Power of Writing
   What We've Learned from Writing
   All Teachers Can Use Writing in Their Classes
   Why Write?

Chapter 7. A Talking Chapter: On Hope, Resilience, and Creativity
   What Keeps Us Going?
   What Might You Have Done Differently?
   Reflecting on the Hard Times
   The Highlights
   How Do You See the Future of Teaching?
   Advice for a New Teacher on the First Day
   What Would Your Students Say About You?

Chapter 8. Lessons Learned and the Way Forward
   What We've Learned Along This Journey Called Teaching
   Sonia: Teacher Anxiety Dreams, Even After Retirement
   Alicia: Advice for Teachers Who Want to Keep Their Sanity and Love Their Job
   A Few Reflections on the Current State of Education
   The Way Forward

References

Index

About the Authors

Awards+

Congratulations to Sonia Nieto, winner of the 2024 Multistate Association for Bilingual Education (MABE) Lifetime Service Award

Sonia Nieto, Winner, 2019 LRA Distinguished Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award

$31.95

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Print copies available for US orders only. For orders outside the US, see our international distributors.

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