Why We Teach by Sonia Nieto

As part of the National Writing Project’s Summer Institute for Teachers, the Coalfield Writers Satellite SI facilitation team has been reading Why We Teach by Sonia Nieto.  It’s a collection of essays from both new and experienced teachers, addressing the question of the title.

Overall I have to say I have enjoyed reading the book.  The personal vignette/memoir angle is really something that I enjoy.  Since our summer institute this year is focusing on personal memoir writing and reflection about our work in education, this is definitely a book that contains lots of models of the kind of writing that we’re working to produce. 

Over the last few summers I’ve read various memoir collections about teaching:  most notably Penny Kittle’s books like Public Teaching:  One Kid at a Time, and The Greatest Catch:  A Life in Teaching, and I have enjoyed them, but our institute has needed to read the voices of more teachers writing about their practice.

That’s one of the things I like about the Sonia Nieto book:  each chapter is written by a different teacher, so there are many voices in the collection.  Since the teacher’s experiences are wide ranging (some have just taught one year and others are long-term veterans; some have always been called to teaching and some came to teaching the long way around; some share successes, some share failures) there’s something for almost any teacher in any circumstance to be drawn to.  There’s some nugget of truth that each of us can grasp on to.

The longer I work in this field, the more important I begin to believe it is for us to tell our teaching stories to each other.  Now I admit that I’m a story teller, and I’ll always have on hand some story to share that can make the crowd laugh, but that’s not exactly what I mean here.  What I’m more and more coming to realize is that there is great power in the sharing of who we are at the core of our teaching lives. 

There is empowerment there as well.  When we know who we are, and what we believe to be true, and why we believe it, it becomes a good deal more difficult to be swayed from the path we’ve chosen.  Even when we’re dealing with querulous administrators, cantankerous parents, and irascible students, if we, as teachers, are firmly grounded in the WHAT WE KNOW TO BE TRUE of our lives in education, then we’re going to be far more likely to survive the storms. 

Why We Teach gives me a group of model essays to help me think about how I can write about my own practice.  It also gives me a group of model essays to help me think about the pedagogy of my own practice.  I recommend this book to any professional educator who wants to think a little more deeply about why he or she chooses and remains in the field of education, and I challenge each teacher who reads it to begin their own writing about their practice, and sharing it with other teachers.  Why We Teach can become a DANGEROUS BOOK in the hands of practicing teachers, who decide to become reflective about what goes on in their classrooms and schools day in and day out.