All teachers come to the profession with high ideals but few are prepared for the challenges posed by the complexities of classroom life. How can they remain passionate and inspired in the face of the daily realities of teaching? And how can teachers engage their students in the quest to know and discover?

Written by some of the most highly acclaimed teacher-writers, The Jossey-Bass Reader on Teaching includes excerpts from books, essays, and articles that explore the very heart of the teaching experience. This comprehensive resource offers a wide variety of perspectives and insights into the realities of classroom teaching. The volume's contributors are some of the best known teachers and education experts: Parker Palmer, Sylvia Ashton-Warner, William Ayers, Lisa Delpit, Robert L. Fried, Paulo Freire, Maxine Greene, Martin Haverman, Herbert Kohl, Andrew Dean Mullen, James Nehring, Vivian Gussin Paley, Vito Perrone, Mike Rose, Seymour Sarason, and Frank Smith.

The nineteen chapters in this stellar collection explore the challenges and joys of teaching and cover three main topics: the meaning of teaching, the experience of teaching, and the art of teaching skills. In addition, the book presents concrete ideas for developing a variety of strategies for providing opportunities for students to become involved in doing schoolwork themselves and for engaging students in meaningful projects.

Learning to teach is a lifetime affair involving constantly changing complexities of context, curriculum, and the communities of students; this book guides teachers to become passionate, dedicated, and purposeful.

Other books in the Jossey-Bass Reader series include The Jossey-Bass Reader on Educational Administration, The Jossey-Bass Reader on Gender in Education, The Jossey-Bass Reader on School Reform, and The Jossey-Bass Reader on Technology and Learning.