Where Have All the Teachers Gone?

Episode 4: In this episode we consider the national teacher shortage. According to the Learning Policy Institute, "annual teacher shortages could increase to over 100,000 by next year and remain close to that level thereafter." We'll hear from Michigan State professor Alyssa Dunn who has studied the teacher exodus and the curious phenomenon of teacher resignation letters going viral. We'll also hear from Harper's magazine writer Garret Keizer, author of Getting Schooled: The Re-education of an American teacher. 

The Secret Lives of Teachers

Episode 3: According to Frank McCourt (Teacher Man), teachers are always wearing a "mask," a professional persona in the classroom. And sure, teaching is always, to some extent, a performance, but when can -- or should  -- teachers be "themselves" in the classroom? How do teachers' lives outside of school affect their roles with students and with fellow teachers? In this episode, we'll consider the tension between the public and the private lives of teachers. We'll hear from Jim Cullen, the author of The Secret Lives of Teachers (University of Chicago Press) and comedian Cate Freedman, whose TV show Teachers finds comedy in the intersection between the personal and professional lives of teachers.