After years of advocacy by the UFT, paraprofessionals will be included in the Teacher’s Choice program for the first time this school year.


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...

How do you teach elaboration, “adding on” and targeted vocabulary without making student discussion feel forced? Enter hexagonal thinking.

Of the 80,000-plus retirees and spouses who receive a pension check each month, more than 17,000 are 80 or older.

If you are a member of TRS or BERS, you have a voluntary, supplemental savings plan in addition to your define benefit pension. This savings plan with low fees allows you to build personal savings on a tax-deferred basis. 


State Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul — along with UFT President Michael Mulgrew — unveiled new legislation to safeguard children online on Oct. 11 at UFT headquarters.

The Retired Teachers Chapter and the UFT Welfare Fund are proud to present an in-person series of educational, thought-provoking and entertaining lectures as part of the UFT Florida Center’s Day at the University. Please join us for one or all of...

Susan Kramer has always been the type of person that people gravitate toward when they are struggling with a life dilemma or need advice and support. After retiring at the end of the 2020-21 school year, she saw an ad for a course with the United...

A monthslong UFT initiative to reach out to retired paraprofessionals, connect them with union services and support, and encourage them to get involved in the Retired Teachers Chapter culminated with a meet and greet at UFT headquarters on Sept. 19.

It’s unclear whether the pharmaceutical corporations like being called Big Pharma. Nicknames for monopolies, such as Ma Bell for AT&T, were comforting in an earth mother sort of a way. But in senior circles, Big Pharma is uttered with contempt.

Students in Integrated Co-Teaching classes are intentionally grouped together based on similarity of need to receive specially designed instruction. Specific protocols have been established to ensure this model is successful for all participants...

At the PS 14 family resource fair in Queens, more than 400 PS 14 family members and students checked out information booths from 15 partner organizations, participated in activities like board games and dancing and took advantage of book giveaways...

We are facing a crisis in our school system that we are handling largely on our own: Over the past 18 months, more than 20,000 children from asylum-seeking families have arrived in our schools. Yet no one in leadership seems to be talking about or...

The Federation of Nurses/UFT is in a pitched battle with NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn over short staffing that the union contends is putting patients at risk.


The UFT has made endorsements in all but one City Council race and in the district attorney races in the Nov. 7 election, but the union’s borough political action committees have been focusing on four contested Council races: one in the Bronx, one in...

The UFT’s Bronx borough office relocated over the summer from Halsey Street to 2100 Bartow Ave. in Co-op City, near the Bay Plaza Shopping Center.

More than one-third of schools across the country do not have a full-time on-site nurse as students face higher rates of chronic illness, an unprecedented youth mental health crisis and the waning COVID-19 epidemic amid a national nursing shortage.


It’s becoming more common for U.S .unions, especially in the health care sector, to call a short, fixed-duration strike and then return to the bargaining table.

The Los Angeles Board of Education has approved a resolution to limit where charter schools can rent on-campus classroom space from the district. 
As a result, about one-third of the district — 350 campuses — could become exempt from future space...

If you are planning to create lesson plans related to the DOE's Climate Action Days or want to integrate the topic of climate change more regularly in your classroom, there are many high-quality materials online. 


According to a 2021 survey of city educators, just slightly more than half of us teach students about climate change, and those who do only address it for about two hours per year. A group of dedicated educators is trying to shift that paradigm...

In addition to the regular pay increases negotiated in each DOE-UFT contract, UFT-represented teachers and other pedagogues receive differentials, step payments and longevity increases based on their level of education and years of service.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed state legislation at UFT headquarters on Sept. 6 to spur teacher recruitment, with a focus on increasing diversity, across the state. The state needs about 180,000 teachers in the next decade to meet workforce needs, she said...

Jouleni Cruz had parent-teacher conferences on her mind as she exited East-West School of International Studies in Flushing, Queens, and headed for her car on Sept. 28. Suddenly, she heard the sickening sound of a vehicle making an impact with...

See our list of current opportunities for educators to receive funds and recognition for their hard work and dedication.

In June and September each year, classroom temperatures spike when the city experiences a heat wave. It is outrageous to expect students to learn and teachers to teach in these circumstances.



Dial-A-Teacher, the UFT’s free homework helpline, is back with a new focus for its 43rd year: helping asylum-seeking students.
The helpline, which fields about 40,000 calls a year, offers K-12 students and their parents live homework support from...

When record rainfall caused serious flooding in New York City on Sept. 29, city officials were caught off guard and then botched communication with schools about how to deal with it. There are much better ways to deal with a significant weather event...

At the first Delegate Assembly of the school year on Oct. 11, UFT President Michael Mulgrew stressed the importance of making sure all parts of the new DOE-UFT contract get implemented.


I would like to thank the UFT for the tribute to my late husband, Barry Spielvogel, on the UFT Honors website.

Response to the UFT giving out 40,000 books at PS 154 in Harlem on Sept. 23: In a world where so many places are trying to ban books, it’s beautiful to see us giving them away.

As a retiree (still can’t believe I’m saying that — I sang at a nursing home and was older than a few there), I just wanted to congratulate the union on its well-deserved contract gains. We are all a part of a big family of educators and dedicated...

Responses to the Learning Curve column on reimagining homework assignments in the June 15 issue of the New York Teacher.

I attended the UFT’s Future in Focus career fair on Oct. 17 with 30 students from Beacon HS. At the fair, there was a wide array of unions represented at different tables. The students were able to ask questions about different unionized career paths...

The class trip for 1st-graders at PS 234 in Manhattan to Battery Urban Farm in lower Manhattan was a feast for the senses. The Battery Conservancy created Battery Urban Farm to teach students, residents and visitors about sustainable farming and...