Educational Folly: Teacher Well-Being and the Chaos of American Schooling, offers a comprehensive critique of educational reforms that have eroded the teacher's position. This leaves teachers with psychological scars - scars which are fueling the recent exodus from teaching. Gonsalves lays out a new vision for the future of education reform. This model centers around justice, community, and professionalism to return the teacher to the rightful head of the classroom and to restore dignity and progress to all of America's schools.
Lisa M. Gonsalves, PhD, is Full Professor and Chair of the Curriculum and Instruction Department at the University of Massachusetts/Boston. She is also the long-time Director of the Teach Next Year, Teaching Residency Program.
Dedication Foreword Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: So, You Want to Teach in a High Needs School? Family, Friends, and the Media Chapter 2: The Impact of Accountability Systems on Teachers and School Culture Chapter 3: Students: The Impact of Social-Emotional Struggles, Trauma, and Learning Difficulties on Classroom Behavior Chapter 4: What Ails the Children? Chapter 5: Cognitive Complexity and the Need for Competence Section Two: Teacher Health and Well-Being Chapter 6: How Under-Resourced Schools Thwart Teachers' Basic Human Needs Chapter 7: Emotions and Cognitive Dissonance: The Psychological Pain of Teaching Chapter 8: Colleagues and the Need for Relatedness in Schools Chapter 9: Teachers of Color and White Teachers' Experiences in Schools: Different Causes, Similar Pain Section Three: Reforming Urban Schools for Teacher and Student Well-Being Chapter 10: Teacher Preparation: What Education Can Learn from the Field of Nursing Chapter 11: School Culture and Environment: What Education can Learn from the Field of Nursing Chapter 12: Nurses, Teachers, and Clinical Microsystems Bibliography
Educational Folly: Teacher Well-Being and the Chaos of American Schooling by Dr. Lisa Gonsalves takes the reader on a clear and powerful journey into the struggles that American teachers face every day in schools across our country. Her book is a must-read primer for education policymakers, anyone considering the field of education, school board members, school administrators, and teacher leaders. Dr. Gonsalves picks apart how accountability systems, school culture, and trauma impact teacher wellness and health. Her suggestions to help reform our urban schools are both cogent and spot on. At the end of the book Dr. Gonsalves presents a brilliant recommendation to examine what education can learn from the field of nursing. Dr. Gonsalves has created a book that is an invitation for this country to consider the importance of teacher well-being and its impact on the children who sit in their classrooms. -- Marla Kilfoyle, Grassroots Liaison for the Network for Public Education and Former Executive Director of Badass Teachers Association The focus of Education Folly -- and especially the autonomy and dignity of teachers, which have been eroded badly in the course of recent years -- is terribly important. I hope the book is widely read. -- Jonathan Kozol, National Book Award winner and author of "Savage Inequalities" and "Death at an Early Age"
