Teaching from the Heart: A New Poetry Book that Speaks to the Courage to Teach

Are you like one of these teachers? Does poetry sustain your soul?

Thanks to everyone who sent in submissions for the upcoming poetry anthology Teaching from the Heart. We received hundreds of wonderful, heartfelt submissions for the book.

The Editorial Board and Editors are still working on the final selection of submissions. We will be sending out notices and follow-up letters in mid-April.

Thank you for your enthusiasm and your patience.

  • The high school English teacher who carries around a laminated index card of a Goethe poem that he pulls out to recite to himself after a day in which his best hopes go awry.

  • The superintendent who, after a depleting and challenging year, sits down on the beach during his family vacation and comes across a poem in the New Yorker that inspires a whole new way to talk about scarcity and budgets with teachers.

  • The middle school principal who has students read Rudyard Kipling’s “If” during meetings of the discipline team.

  • The teacher who keeps a copy of May Sarton’s “Now I Become Myself” next to her bed stand to read each Sunday night to remind herself to face the new week and its forthcoming events with integrity and strength.

  • The former corporate lawyer who shares how reading Marge Piercy’s “To be of use” helped solidify her decision to leave the boardroom and begin teaching in a Chicago charter school.

teaching-fire-cover-medTeaching from the Heart seeks to provide a platform for teachers and educators to speak wholeheartedly about the challenges and possibilities that teachers encounter every day in their work. We ask you to submit a brief 250-word commentary describing how a particular poem inspires you, informs your work, or provides sustenance as you negotiate the complex challenges at the center your vocation.

Importantly, this project is not just seeking poems about teaching and the classroom but poems on any topic that intersects with how you think about your life and work as a teacher. We appreciate that you may have written poetry of your own, but this volume focuses on published poems written by others that are meaningful to you.
 
This book will be a brand-new edition modeled on our best-selling Teaching with Fire: Poetry that Sustains the Courage to Teach (2003) and Leading from Within: Poetry That Sustains the Courage to Lead. In 2013, Teaching With Fire was named the #2 book on Edudemic's list of 50 Most Popular Books for Teachers.

 
Sincerely,
 
Sam Intrator
Megan Scribner
Co-editors Teaching with Fire, Leading from Within and Teaching from the Heart