I loved and benefited from my teacher education at Bank Street, but I was always frustrated at the fact that more people did not know about Bank Street’s approach. So I’m really excited to see that the graduate school of education is now blogging! Now anyone who wants to can benefit from the thinking at Bank Street about developmentally meaningful education for children and the teaching practices that create it.
In a blog titled, Fair is not equal: A differentiated approach for supporting behavioral growth in the classroom, faculty members Pam Jones and Valentine Burr share observations, relevant theory, and stories from the classrooms and teachers they help support. This is great for new teachers or anyone just looking for a fresh voice around student behavior issues (though it is most geared toward elementary education). An example of another great post: A case for gum chewing explains how gum chewing can be a benefit to students during school. In Part II: What’s your trigger? Valentine Burr writes about teaching students to identify and respond to their own triggers for anger.
There is also a great Alumni Blog. It includes some news about Bank Street events aimed specifically at alumni (though many events are open to the public). There are also posts contributed by Bank Street alums (including Bill Ayers, myself, and many others) with reflections on their work in the field, related to their Bank Street experience. It’s quite powerful to be able to connect these voices from different parts of education, united in the type of teacher training we all had. Here’s a good post from an alumni: Experiential learning: Play by any other name would smell as sweet. And here’s one I contributed about the debate around constructivist learning: Raising students, not test scores: Why Engel has it right.
At Bank Street, teacher training is more than just technical preparation for the classroom. It tends to translate into a way of thinking about children’s development and a mission to education kids in academically and developmentally meaningful ways. I hope Bank Street continues to share their work in blogs!
Share this post:
Author
Ariel Sacks
Ariel Sacks began her 13-year teaching career in New York City public schools after earning her master’s degree at Bank Street College and has taught and coached in grades 7-9. She is the author of Whole Novels for the Whole Class: A Student Centered Approach (Jossey-Bass, 2014) and writes a teaching column for Education Week Teacher.
Ariel’s work as a teacher leader with the Center for Teaching Quality involved her in co-authoring Teaching 2030: What We Must Do For Our Public Schools – Now and in the Future. She was also featured in the CTQ book Teacherpreneurs: Innovative Teachers Who Lead Without Leaving.
She is currently working on a book about the role of creative writing in equitable, 21st century schools, and she speaks and leads workshops on the whole novels approach.
Related Posts
September 13, 2021
Pause, ponder, then plan:
Cultivating Communities of Impact
February 23, 2021