The new paperback edition of the teacher memoir by Dan Brown, The Great Expectations School, carries an introduction by teachers union president Randi Weingarten, Dan Brown reports on his HuffPost blog. The Great Expectations School raises questions about the Teaching Fellows alternative certification program, which author Dan Brown quit after one year. He told me in an interview while I was at The New York Sun that he thought the program does not adequately prepare teachers for the classroom.
There has been some speculation about the degree to which Weingarten and the UFT leadership support new teachers, particularly those who come through alternative certification programs. She has strongly criticized the nonprofit group that runs the Teaching Fellows program, The New Teacher Project.
Here’s what Weingarten says in the introduction, according to Brown’s blog:
Dan’s story is a valuable one to share and analyze, because it is a story that is constantly replayed in various forms in classrooms all across America. Though new teachers like Dan bring optimism and the best of intentions to their work, they are also, alas, too often woefully unprepared for the experiences yet to come.