Exit Narratives: Reflections of Four Retired Teachers

"...a definite major contribution to our understanding of what makes great teachers and how to stucture a student centered classroom that excites and engages students and their parents in learning.

By releasing teachers' voices willingness to break the silence---the text challenges and explodes the myth of the anti-intellectual teacher by the reader journeying with teachers way beyond the drab dribble of professional staff underdevelopment to becoming warrior intellectuals in charge of their own destinies thus laying a foundation for student emulation. It also reveals teachers as life-long learners with ans insatiable thirst for knowledge."---Winthrop R. Holder, social studies teacher and author of Classroom Calypso: Giving Voice to the Voiceless

Exit Narratives examines what constitutes good teaching and engaged learning and how to use this knowledge to support teachers in their efforts to create learning environments that encourage academic mastery and nourish students as social beings. The authors explore a range of issues: why they became teachers, their first years of teaching, what worked for them, the micropolitics of teacher interactions, becoming proficient teachers, as well as their last year of teaching and what they did next. These former teachers took a stand in their careers to create a better environment for both teaching and learning.

Nathalis G. Wamba is associate professor in the department of Educational and Community Programs at Queens College, NY. He lives with his wife and their two children in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
Ursula Foster was a New York City public school teacher for eighteen years. She also taught in Heilbronn, Germany, and at Teachers College in Nakaseke, Uganda. She is currently the administrator of "Remember ot Share," an educational grant foundation.
Elena Davis taught in the New York City public schools for thirty years. During her career. she mentored undergraduate and graduate students from CCNY, Fordham University, and Teachers College Columbia University. She currently spends quality time with her three daughters and works to improve the quality of life for the elderly in her community.
Jackquelynn Jones joined the New York City Education Department in 1990. working primarily in the early childhood classes. Retiring in 2004, she served as an English Academic Specialist in Doha. Qatar for a year. She currently works as a teaching artist in NYC schools.
Barbara Storck taught for thirty-two years in the New York public school system and was an award-winning math teacher.