I just read this write-up of a presentation Barnett Berry gave recently at the Clinton School of Public Service. I was struck by the final quote from Barnett the reviewer shared:

“The problem is not the supply of great teachers, it’s the demand for them…. Everyone wants schools to get better, but there are too many people who don’t want schools to look any different than they were when they themselves went to school,” he said.

Wow, can this be true? That there is not enough demand for great teachers? I have seen what happens when a school doesn’t have a critical mass of great, experienced teachers. The center does not hold.

The demand from students and families for great teachers could not be more apparent to me, but is this clear to outsiders?

I have also felt the almost negative gravitational pull out of the classroom… like, congratulations, you’ve hit year four. You may now float away from all of this.

No—must resist! Looks like I did. Here I am, deep in the throes of year nine and not looking back!

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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.

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