Critique du Library Journal

"It's the teachers, stupid!" With this simple play on Bill Clinton's rallying cry from 1992, Intrator (education, Smith Coll.) identifies the most important element in any proposal for educational reform. "Teachers," he argues, "have a colossal influence on what happens in our schools and, if we want to have successful schools, we must attend to the factors that influence the teacher's commitment to what he or she does in the classroom." This collection of essays by K-12 teachers, teacher educators, and college and university faculty members draws on the work of Parker Palmer (who has written the foreword), which examines issues related to the teacher's "heart," i.e., his or her commitment to teaching as a vital and creative enterprise and the personal and institutional factors that can serve either to support or to undermine that commitment. Successfully building on Dan Lortie's Schoolteacher, completed over 25 years ago, these essays look at the "intrinsic rewards" of teaching as a profession and consider how they can be sustained, especially given that extrinsic rewards, such as salary equity with other professionals, remain problematic. This collection will appeal to followers of Palmer's inspirational writing about teachers and to fans of similar works, such as William Ayers's To Teach. Scott Walter, Washington State Univ., Pullman (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.