To Teach

To Teach is both the story of a new teacher’s voyage into the classroom and a guide to the values and commitments that can animate a steady and meaningful life in teaching. There are stumbling blocks in every teacher’s journey and today’s specific, unprecedented challenges can seem insurmountable. In this new edition, Ayers discusses important events that have shaped education since the last edition was published, including a global pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. He also discusses the heightened politicization of teaching as a profession resulting in insidious book banning, as well as the continuing influence of mass incarceration on schooling. For over 3 decades, this classic text has inspired teachers across the country to follow their own paths, face their own challenges, and become the teachers they long to be. This engaging teacher’s odyssey is a road map to the beating heart of teaching, emphasizing the joy in the journey and the pleasure in a life lived in the company of children and youth.

Book Features:

• A primer for new teachers trying to develop the skills and commitments needed to be effective in the classroom.
• An incitement to K–12 teachers to reimagine their teaching and rethink their practice.
• Also available as a graphic novel, To Teach: The Journey, in Comics, featuring the drawings of talented artist Ryan Alexander-Tanner.

William Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago (retired), is an activist and scholar currently teaching courses in writing and the art of the personal essay with the Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project in Chicago. His books include Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom (with Rick Ayers), To Teach: The Journey, in Comics (with Ryan Alexander-Tanner), and about Becoming a Teacher.

“Ayers’ riveting description of his unfolding journey as a teacher will be a helpful guide to teachers at all stages of their careers.”

-- Teaching Education (of previous edition)

“The latest edition of Bill Ayers’ timeless classic, To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher, is more necessary than ever. I wish I had this book when I first entered the classroom—something to ground me, support me, and guide me through the uncertainties and challenges of teaching. . . . Ayers has a remarkable way of making the realities of teaching clear while still maintaining an unwavering faith in the transformative power of education.”
—From the Foreword by Bettina L. Love, William F. Russell Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University