Amber Carlin-Mishkin doesn’t just teach science — she teaches her students to think like scientists. Through a new partnership with the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, the 5th-grade teacher at PS 118 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, helps her students view their...

After the UFT Delegate Assembly passed an emergency resolution in support, hundreds of UFT members joined thousands of demonstrators in Manhattan on Jan. 23 to show solidarity with Minneapolis-St. Paul, where ICE fatally shot a Minnesota substitute...

Whether it's creating a dance troupe of educators at JHS 157 in Rego Park, Queens, or a walking club at PS 4 on Staten Island, teachers are creating opportunities for joy and self-care for themselves and their colleagues.

With the state funding that 750 schools received to bring class sizes into compliance with state law, more UFT members will have optimal teaching conditions next school year and are confident that students will benefit from the additional time and...

Mohammed Hossain, a UFT CTE Award winner and engineering teacher at the High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture in Queens, found his way to a career in education after realizing he found joy in helping people have their own...

Dual-language pre-K teacher Gema Campusano of the District 25 Pre-K Center in Queens has found that bilingual education not only supports students' language development but also builds their confidence and a strong sense of identity.


A high school where students do maintenance work on airplanes. A student-created clothing brand that sells out of a student-run, brick-and-mortar store. These were just a few of the innovative Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs represented...

Teacher Robyn Matty speaks to the challenges teachers and students face in the wake of a severe shortage in paraprofessionals.

A pre-K teacher and the UFT chapter leader at PS 150 in Queens, Jeanine Bradley has found her voice as an advocate, both in the community and at her school, for people with Crohn’s and for her fellow educators. And she makes sure her students, no...

Will Dulin, a third-year teacher at Pathways to Graduation in Jamaica, Queens, takes pains to truly see his CTE students, helping them to forge pathways to educational success even when they can't quite envision them themselves.

Teachers' virtual travelogue allows students at the High School of Economics and Finance to travel and learn all around New York State during the pandemic without ever leaving the comfort of their lower Manhattan campus.

UFT members share first-person accounts recounting their success resolving issues through the special education complaint process. The process is a powerful tool to safeguard students' welfare as well as members' workplace rights and members should...

The teacher leader team at IS 145 in Jackson Heights, Queens, has stepped up to help keep pace with the changing needs of the students and the teachers at the school, which is located in one of the city’s most ethnically diverse neighborhoods.

Jennifer Figueroa believes that anyone can be an artist. And the Bronx native, now in her third year of teaching art at PS 178 in Co-op City, knows that an expansive definition of "artist" helps kids take pride in all kinds of creativity.

A cluster teacher at PS 372, The Children’s School, in Brooklyn, shows off the LEGO wall he's built in his classroom to support the educational needs of his District 75 students.

Kappa League, a program that offers Black and Latino high school boys a chance to develop leadership skills while preparing for college, now has a small but growing presence in New York City public schools thanks to the efforts of two UFT members.

Dial-A-Teacher, the UFT’s homework help line that offers K–12 students free assistance from city Department of Education teachers in all school subjects in seven languages, is back for its 41st year.

The UFT traveled to IS 145 in Queens on Sept. 4 to celebrate the school's achievement in bringing all 6th-grade classrooms into compliance with the state class size law limits. This year, 6th-grade classes will have a limit of 23 students, down from...

A team of three co-teachers at Harlem's Urban Assembly School for Global Commerce use their diverse teaching talents to help their students make huge leaps in ELA and ENL, earning them an Excellence in Education Award at this year's UFT Academic High...

Candy Jorge, a Spanish teacher at Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School in Manhattan, came to the United States from her native Dominican Republic at the age of 17 with nothing. Now the 9th-grade team leader develops and implements...

A team of teachers, speech therapists, occupational therapists and other related service providers create an environment where students with autism and general education students can learn in their 5th-grade Nest classroom at PS 682 in Brooklyn.


Michelle Pérez, a bilingual school social worker, discusses the challenges and rewards of her work in New York City schools connecting families with school-based and community resources and providing crisis intervention and at-risk counseling for...

A Queens elementary school teacher writes of discovering their own voice along with their newcomer students' during the struggles and triumphs of their first year of teaching in this latest entry of New Teacher Diaries.

After a year in which instruction was disrupted by the pandemic, that back-to-basics approach of phonics-based reading instruction may be especially important to help struggling readers take concrete steps toward progress.

An elementary school teacher shares what a math lesson taught him about a new way to measure success in this latest installment of New Teacher Diaries.

11 New York City schools made the top 100 and a Queens teacher received the Outstanding Educator Award in a national ranking of schools that excel in teaching personal finance.


As COVID-19 ravaged New York City and forced schools to shut down, Brian Nagy enjoyed a unique position. He was ready for remote.

When Cara Jacofsky began her teaching career 23 years ago, she was determined to become the best teacher she could be for her students, so she connected with the UFT Teacher Center. “The first few years of my teaching career, they would plan lessons...

CTE Award winning teacher Craig Cannizzaro has a knack for getting his students in his video design class at Ralph McKee CTE HS on Staten Island animated about coding and other key software engineering skills.

“There is no music like live music. It’s a transcendent experience,” says Thomas Wright, the new music teacher at Edward R. Murrow HS in Midwood, Brooklyn. 
Wright, who previously taught elsewhere in the country, took the job in September, attracted...

Heaping pallets of high-interest books greeted new teachers on Aug. 13 at the United Federation of Teachers’ Bronx borough office, where they were able to choose 50 volumes each from among the thousands offered to build their classroom libraries as...

Ninety-nine-year-old Thomas Naegele retired from teaching industrial art at the HS of Art & Design in Manhattan 32 years ago, but his legacy lives on in two generations of art teachers that he inspired in his wake.

Helping students rebound from the pandemic, both academically and emotionally, is a union priority as all students return in September for in-person learning.

Erica Boyce, a 4th-grade special education teacher at PS 677 in Brooklyn, turned to the UFT Peer Intervention Program (PIP) to help her adjust to her integrated co-teaching classroom. Since 1988, PIP has helped educators reexamine, refresh and...

It started with a bag of used clothing that Bambi Falvo meant to donate. Now Falvo, who retired in 2019 after 32 years of teaching, is an online entrepreneur who specializes in reselling new and used clothing.

New teacher Gabrielle Vega was drawn to her 8th-grade social studies teacher's flair for the dramatic, and her affinity for theatrics is serving her well as she teaches that subject at MS 936 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, a District 20 middle school...