Teaching is a calling, a vocation that requires constant renewal of the mind, heart, and spirit. Teachers come to the profession inspired by a passion to help others learn. They are drawn to education by an ethic of service and a mission to make a difference in the world. Good teachers care, and they keep finding ways to connect with students. Despite working in a system that often leaves them feeling exhausted, depleted, and vulnerable, they do not check their hearts at the door.

Edited by Sam M. Intrator, Stories of the Courage to Teach is a collection of essays—written by teachers at every level of practice—that honors the hearts of all teachers who struggle to reconnect with the source of their vocation. These teachers have found ways to serve their students, rekindle their passion for teaching, connect in life-sustaining ways with colleagues, and work towards creating educational institutions that seek to be places that, as Parker J. Palmer writes, “bring more light and life into the world.” Their warm, practical, funny, and wise stories will provide inspiration, companionship, and hope to teachers who strive to reclaim the courage to teach.

Praise for Stories of the Courage to Teach:

It’s the worst-kept secret in education: the passionate and talented teacher makes more of a difference than any school policy. Yet for all the ink spilled over school reform, little gets written about what makes a great teacher tick. Stories of the Courage to Teach . . . bucks this trend by looking into the hearts of twenty-five effective teachers, knitting together their first-person narratives with his own ideas about great teaching….  They live John Dewey’s philosophy that ”education is not preparation for life, but life itself,” and they relate to their students as real people. Against all odds, these great teachers keep alive the optimism of their first days on the job. Too often, though, these qualities fade. To make them last, Dr. Intrator says, we must offer them the same gift they offer their students: respect. – Peter Temes, New York Times , April 14, 2002. For the full New York Times review.

A heartwarming collection of essays about the doubts, passions, insecurities, and life-changing moments of teachers. – American School Board Journal

The teachers featured in this anthology have all, at various junctures, been on the verge of exhaustion, and the book is, in many ways, a sustained meditation on how they’ve sought to regain their emotional and spiritual strength. – Teacher Magazine

Stories of the Courage to Teach . . . honors teachers who struggle to rekindle their passion for teaching. – Christian Science Monitor

Endorsements for Stories of the Courage to Teach:

“Stories of the Courage to Teach powerfully reminds us that this nation’s schools and colleges are blessed with many good teachers and that we must be willing to respect, support, and deeply listen to them. It also indicates that teachers must also learn to listen to themselves. Our history books are filled with examples of the efforts of committed education employees who helped to make this country what it is today. Stories of the Courage to Teach challenges today’s teachers to see themselves not only as school employees, dedicated to serving children, but as leaders in their schools and communities.” –Bob Chase, president, National Education Association

“Articulate teachers recounting with great candor and imagination just how beautiful their calling is, also how challenging, depleting, and lonely it can be, and what to do about it. This outstanding and highly inspiring book offers cool, clear, and nourishing water from the wellspring of the heart, where all teaching originates, and will serve as both a reminder and guide for teachers at all levels to return over and over to the source and nourish what is deepest and best in themselves as they nourish what is deepest and best in their students and their schools.” –Jon Kabat-Zinn, professor of medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, author of Wherever You Go, There You Are and coauthor of Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting

“Finally, a book for, by, and about REAL teachers. A book that reveals the pain as well as the joy, the shadow as well as the light. A book that is not another how-to cookbook, but a book that creates hope and promise and inspiration through its truth-telling.” –Dr. Sally Z. Hare, Singleton Professor of Education, Coastal Carolina University

“It is the mark of every Golden Age that children are placed at the center of society and teaching is considered the most important profession. By this standard, we in the United States have a very long way to go. If we ever succeed in this cultural transformation, few will have contributed more than Parker Palmer.” –Peter M. Senge, author, The Fifth Discipline and Schools That Learn

“The teachers’ stories herein-told in frequently elegant prose and with palpable passion-serve to remind us of two things: the remarkable gifts present in our public school educators, and what constitutes the heart of true teaching. Intrator’s ability to evoke their voices as well as to deeply hear them has created an unforgettable gift to the profession and to those who have been led to believe that education is nothing more than yet another business enterprise.” –Marianne Novak Houston, public school teacher with forty years of classroom teaching experience and recipient of the Milken Educator Award