August is Connected Educators Month, and to celebrate, the New York Times Learning Network has rounded up 33 educators to explain who is in their "Personal Learning Network" (PLN). Among those responding are Visual Thesaurus executive producer Ben Zimmer and curriculum development director Georgia Scurletis. Check out all the responses here.

I realized something this summer. When I reflected back on my years as a teacher, I realized something. Everything I did revolved around one principle that was simple, and when you really think about it, rather profound. It's about the kids.  Continue reading...

Shannon Reed has been teaching English and theatre in New York City schools for the past eight years, and for four of them we've been privileged to feature her columns in our Teachers at Work series. Now, however, Shannon is moving on, and here she reflects on lessons learned from her teaching career.  Continue reading...

Almost 30 years ago, back in the stone ages of 1983 when records debuted on vinyl and the idea of iTunes just another science fiction, my Advanced Placement English teacher Claudine Vignery taught me something I still use today. She taught me that everything is connected. At the end of a unit she'd let us listen to music. She'd pick out a song, put it on the record player, and for around three to four minutes we'd sit quietly and listen.  Continue reading...

Bob Greenman is an award-winning educator who spent 30 years in Brooklyn, New York teaching English and journalism at James Madison and Edward R. Murrow High Schools. Here he recalls how he he used objects encountered in everyday life as the inspiration for enjoyable and effective vocabulary instruction.  Continue reading...

One Saturday night earlier this month, the USA Network aired the Oscar-winning movie To Kill a Mockingbird. Afterwards, one of my students tweeted how much she liked the movie, and how glad she was she'd read the book.  Continue reading...