Because Teaching Matters

Revised and updated guide for prospective teachers with increased detail about the realities of teaching in a changing demographic society, post-pandemic life, societal changes brought about by technology, and the current political moment in education.

Real challenges. Real choices. And very real consequences. That's what today's classrooms are about. That's why Marleen Pugach's Because Teaching Matters, Third Edition depicts today's classrooms as they truly are, while highlighting the enormous impact teachers have on students' lives. The book is organized around five professional commitments—learning from multiple sources of knowledge, using the curriculum responsibly, practicing equity-minded teaching, meeting the needs of individual students, and contributing actively to the profession.

The third edition focuses on:

• The current landscape and challenges of supporting multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-ability classrooms across socio-economic levels, and the relationships among students, families, communities, and educators
• The latest academic approaches for teaching students who have disabilities, leveraging modern classroom technology, the role of legislation and funding, and updates on the current context of teaching and teacher preparation
• New post-pandemic societal and educational contexts
• Classroom and school reflections on practice, written by current teachers and teacher leaders in real classrooms and real schools, showing authentic best practices in action.

Ideal for Foundations of Education and Introduction to Teaching courses designed to provide preservice teachers with an overview of the profession, Because Teaching Matters, Third Edition tells the true story of today's complex classrooms. It also drives home that, though the decision to teach is a serious one, it is one that can be extremely rewarding.

Marleen C. Pugach is Professor Emerita in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In 2010 she received the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Research Foundation Senior Faculty Award. In 2005, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Merrill Award for Excellence in Teaching and Teacher Education from the Teacher Education Division of the International Council for Exceptional Children. In February 1998 she received the Margaret Lindsey Award from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education for her contributions to research in teacher education. She completed her Ph.D. in 1983 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a joint specialization in special education and teacher education. Dr. Pugach is an international consultant on teacher education, focusing on teacher education policy, practice, and reform at the intersection of general and special education; and how to prepare teachers to practice equity-oriented teaching for their students across multiple, intersecting diversity communities.

CHAPTER 1 Teaching: A Career That Makes a Difference 1

COMMITMENT #1            LEARNING FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER 17

CHAPTER 2 Putting What You Already Know about Teaching into Perspective 19

CHAPTER 3 Learning to Teach: What Does It Mean? 57

CHAPTER 4 Learning from the History and Philosophy of Education 97

COMMITMENT #2            USING THE CURRICULUM RESPONSIBLY 127

CHAPTER 5 Deciding What to Teach 129

CHAPTER 6 More Than “What Is Taught”: School as a Social Institution 167

COMMITMENT #3            CROSSING YOUR OWN FAMILIAR BORDERS TO EMBRACE DIVERSITY 207

CHAPTER 7 Teaching Students Whose Race, Class, Culture, or Language Differs from Your Own 209

CHAPTER 8 Teaching Students with Disabilities 249

COMMITMENT #4            MEETING THE NEEDS OF INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE CLASSROOM AND THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY 287

CHAPTER 9 Organizing Good Schools and Good Classrooms 289

CHAPTER 10 How Governing and Financing Schools Influence Teachers’ Work 331

COMMITMENT #5            CONTRIBUTING ACTIVELY TO THE PROFESSION 371

CHAPTER 11 Ethical and Legal Issues in the Work of Teaching 373

CHAPTER 12 Becoming a Teacher: New Visions and Next Steps 411

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