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Every week I write a quotation on the board and ask my students to write responses to it in their journals. One of our favorite quotes is by William Butler Yeats: "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." This quote aptly captures the reason why I teach. A group of minds in a room–thinking through problems together–can generate amazing heat and ignite a fire.

What’s your go-to text by an indigenous author? This educator calls attention to the limitations of using only Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, and offers a detailed list of suggested additional readings.

The greatest achievement for this Teacher of the Year is the daily practice of empathy.

Online education helps some students—and shortchanges others.

We all make mistakes. How teachers respond has everything to do with whether or not their students feel valued as human beings.

Being optimistic is more than a character trait for Chad Donohue—it's a guiding principle and a way of life.

As I head back to the classroom, I think about the last school year. In the second-to-last week of school, my fifth-grade classroom was 90 degrees, with no air conditioning. My students were sitting together, helping each other, laughing, struggling and having fun. At the beginning of the year, they were unsure of each other. They smiled politely but kept to themselves or the friends they knew and never asked for help. So what had changed?

As a student teacher, my mentor Paula told me that the best teachers were lifelong learners. Following her own wisdom, she took fiddle lessons every week. She practiced daily. Be a student—of anything—she said. That way you'll always empathize with those you are trying to teach.For the last three days, I've been learning complex choreographed dances right along with my students. I am being schooled in my mentor's lesson and in dance.

Teaching with international films brings the world to your students. This toolkit for “Reel Life” provides information about suggested films that will “edu-tain” your students.