VPerspective
Powering success with CTE programming
For New York City’s approximately 1 million public school students, a strong CTE program is a sure pathway to economic stability. But for too long, our CTE programs were treated like a backup plan, the place kids were sent when someone decided college wasn’t for them. That was wrong then and it’s wrong now, and the UFT is working hard to change that narrative.
Middle-schoolers need freedom to grow
UFT Vice President for Middle Schools Richard Mantell writes that one of the most concrete ways schools can help prepare middle school students to take on more adultlike behavior is in how they manage class transitions. The best instructional models are where students — not teachers — move between classes. When students navigate their own schedule, find their classrooms, and manage their time between periods, they build executive functioning skills, a sense of independence, and the self-regulation they will need in high school and beyond.
UFT Teacher Center: partner in pedagogy
UFT Vice President for Education Mary Vaccaro says there is a need for teachers to be work alongside coaches in their classrooms: standing hip-to-hip, modeling and instructing students. The UFT Teacher Center fulfills that role with quality professional development and pedagogical resources. Educators should not hesitate to reach out.
The fight for District 75 placement
UFT Vice President MaryJo Ginese writes that a half-century after the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which required an "appropriate education" for students with disabilities, the city DOE still has work to do.
Give new members a warm welcome
UFT Vice President of Elementary Education Karen Alford urges members to welcome and offer their support to the 6,600 new educators hired this fall to bring more classes under the new class size limits that the union fought so hard to secure.
Why I am an avid reader
UFT Vice President for Academic High Schools Janella Hinds encourages high school educators to continue to expand their own knowledge base through reading a variety of texts. Being an avid reader, she writes, helps educators better guide their students’ choices and widen their knowledge of texts with which they might connect.