[In your book], you talk about school being a sanctuary. Why did it feel safe?

“I had this amazing teacher, Alan Osterweil, and he created this space that was so safe and nurturing and positive and engaging. He was the kind of teacher who communicated such deep care for students. Mr. Osterweil created this space where I could be a kid when I couldn't be a kid at home.”

[...] What a privilege, to be able to create those spaces for kids, to say, ‘We can't necessarily control all the things that are happening in kids' lives outside of school, but we can make the classroom a magical place for young people.’”

When did you know you wanted to pursue a career in education?

“It was always teachers who gave me a sense of hope and purpose. I struggled a lot as a teenager, but it was teachers and a school counselor who had more faith in me than I had in myself. Because of that second chance that they gave me, I got to college.

Really, public service became the center of my college experience. I loved trying to do for other kids what teachers had done for me. That's really what prompted the decision to become a teacher. It's what drives me now: What can I do to pay forward what Mr. Osterweil and other teachers did in my life?”

If every person who will listen to this recording walked away with one truth about public education, what do you want that one truth to be?

“It is the best hope for the lives of individuals and for the health of our society. How do we prepare the next generation of voters? How do we prepare the next generation of inventors? How do we prepare the folks who are going to find the cure to cancer, or Alzheimer's? All of that goes back to public education.”

What gives you hope for the future of teaching?

“One of the things that makes me very hopeful about teaching and about education is that I have seen firsthand that long-term impact. 

I know that impact is there, and I just want young teachers, aspiring teachers to realize they may not know it now, they may not see it now, but they are having this incredible impact. It’s planting seeds, and those will grow over time. The lifelong impact is incredible.”

Question from a webinar attendee: I will be teaching second grade this fall and I have zero teaching experience. What is your advice to me?

“Watch great teaching. There's no substitute for seeing great teachers if you can find classrooms to be in over this summer, but also there's tons of great videos online of great teachers in their classrooms. 

The second thing I would say is, so much is about the routines that you create in that first month or six weeks of school. Talking with really great teachers about how they create those routines is so important. Sit down with some master teachers, and get those routines prepared.” 

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