The start of the school year, when the previous year is still fresh in your mind, is a great time to make some “new year’s resolutions” to improve your teaching practice. UFT Teacher Center coach and 10 th-grade social studies teacher Shawn Fisch...

Learn how to ensure NYC DOE has your correct address in order to receive checks for termination pay.


UFT retirees are invited to apply to teach Si Beagle continuing education classes during the day in New York, New Jersey and Florida. Learn how.

Historically, New York City coverage for the GHI Senior Care Medicare Part D prescription drug rider and the 365-day hospitalization have been a combined rider. Now, retirees can decide whether to decouple the two benefits when the annual Health...

Learn when registration for intersession 2027 Si Beagle classes begins.

Fueled by decades of funny stories about teaching, retired 2nd-grade teacher Helaine Witt is going full throttle in making comedy her second act.


Physical education teacher Jenine DeMarzo brings culture and connection to her incarcerated students at St. John’s Residence for Boys in Queens by setting up a makeshift pickleball court in her classroom.

The UFT vows to continue fighting tooth and nail to get paraprofessionals the RESPECT they deserve. RESPECT check legislation providing paraprofessionals with a $10,000 payment became law in August, but the battle continues as the city has taken the...

Bennett Fischer, chapter leader of the UFT's Retired Teachers Chapter, welcomes retirees back to another year of impactful activism; first and foremost: the midterm elections, reminding retirees that the benefits many depend on are at stake.

More than 100 paraprofessionals at an Extended School Year program in Queens who went without pay for five weeks banded together, and with the help of the UFT, finally received the pay due to them. Find out what to do if you suspect your salary is...

More than 4,000 new teachers braved the rain to gather at Barclays Center in Brooklyn to kick off New Teacher Week. Attendees were filled with a commitment to make a positive difference in young lives and eager to join the UFT.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew encourages members to get ready for the start of the union's most crucial campaign: the fight for a new DOE-UFT contract. With a record 750 members, the union's contract negotiation team is getting a head start on...

Paired with the right task, online tools can help students build collaborative skills. Learn about best practices in the use of tools including FigJam, Book Creator, Kahoot and more.


An overhaul of the federal student loan system that took effect on July 1 placed stricter limits on borrowing and reduced repayment options for new and existing loan-holders.

Learn about the benefits of the UFT's Victim Support Program. Co-sponsored by the UFT’s Safety and Health Department and the city Department of Education, the Victim Support Program is the place for members to turn for support when tragedy strikes...

Teachers unions across the country are renewing their calls for governors to oppose opting into the federal tax credit for individuals who donate in support of scholarships for private school tuition, calling it a thinly veiled voucher program.

One year after New York State's cellphone ban went into effect, UFT members say it has improved communication, collaboration and group work across city classrooms.

The AFT and a coalition of unions is suing the US Department of Education over its policy of excluding education and nursing from the "professional" designation, making students in those advanced degree programs eligible for only up to half of what...

For over 100 years, New York State law has required elementary schools to teach students about the humane treatment and protection of animals, but many teachers are unaware of the legislation.
The UFT Humane Education Committee is working to change...

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, with early voting to begin on Saturday, Oct. 24. Find out key dates you should know to be able to cast your ballot.

The UFT explains paraprofessionals' rights and obligations in terms of being absent from work.

Retired teacher Pamela Thompson Lopez calls paraprofessionals "gifts from God" as she recounts how indispensable they were to her in her classroom. Thompson Lopez says paraprofessionals deserve a livable wage.

Go along with teachers Maureen Collins and Jessica Smalley of PS 264 in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, as they take their 3rd-graders on a field trip to the New York Aquarium as a complement to the HMH into Reading curriculum.

New York State and New York City’s recommended school and child care vaccine schedule remains the same now as it was before President Donald Trump’s Aug. 10 executive order on vaccinations. That is as it should be, the UFT opines. Trump failed to...

Gov. Kathy Hochul must opt-out of President Donald Trump’s scheme for private school vouchers, the UFT opines. The Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program would provide taxpayers in participating states with a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for donating...

Union membership has changed what it means to have a voice and protection at work. Since the UFT’s start in 1960 and ratifying its first contract with the city in 1962, members have fought for and won better working conditions, stronger workplace...

A Queens paraprofessional demands that members of her title be compensated well enough "to live, not just survive," and argues that the RESPECT check payment should become permanent and pensionable.

A record 750 members have volunteered to help negotiate the next DOE-UFT contract, which is set to expire on Nov. 28, 2027. Planning for the upcoming rounds of bargaining is already underway.

A profile about bilingual school social worker Michelle Perez inspires pride in retired school social worker Stew Frimer.

A 30-year veteran teacher from PS 78 in Queens urges a return to the fundamentals of literacy instruction, including assessments on paper and teacher readalouds in response to this year's decline in ELA scores.

Chapter Leader Maia Baumgarth of Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical HS in the Bronx strives to educate herself and her colleague on the ins and outs of the DOE-UFT contract under which they all work, ensuring students receive the services they need...

The UFT gave away books and almost 1,500 backpacks to families attending the annual Harlem Week festival in the historic Manhattan neighborhood. More than 2,500 visitors stopped by the UFT’s table on Aug. 16.

Teaching is a natural fit for the creative and energetic Selinda Edwards of IS 117 in the Bronx. 
Colleagues say her thoughtful and dynamic teaching style is yielding big results with her 6th- and 7th-grade math students. 


Everyone who was in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, has a personal 9/11 story, including UFT educators who were hard at work serving the city's 1.1 million students when planes struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Twenty-five years...

The UFT distributed 1,600 backpacks filled with school supplies and other resources — a 30% increase over last year's event — at this year's Staten Island Back-to-School BBQ.

A 4th-grade math teacher at PS 284 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, outfits her classroom with a colorful math calendar that builds fluency and grounds them in the start of the school day.