As standardization and "e;accountability"e; have continued to increase in the 21st century, educators and scholars of education have become increasingly frustrated. Yet as frustrated as we are, it is essential that we not send to our our students, children, grandchildren the message that the past was better and they "e;should have been there."e; Instead, we must render a clear vision of what can be. Indeed, where would we be without the vision we have been freely given to us from great scholars, philosophers, and artists, as well as our own teachers, friends, neighbors, and family? We are indebted to carry forward the legacy of these torchbearers to present and future educators. This book is a collection of letters to 21st century educators of all age levels and content areas. It has been compiled with the goal of fulfilling our responsibility to share with the next generation of educators our vision of the future, just as our predecessors and role models shared theirs with us. Informed by the past but oriented toward the future, this collection aims to inspire in present and future educators hope, wisdom and imagination for addressing the educational challenges shaped by bureaucratic, economic and cultural forces. Authors such as Nel Noddings, Sonia Nieto, Sandy Grande, Riane Eisler, Mike Rose, William Schubert, William Reynolds, and many more speak directly to their readers, building a relationship with a scholarly backbone, and encouraging: "e;we saved the best for you"e; because "e;the best"e; is the world you will create.

As standardization and “accountability” have continued to increase in the 21st century, educators and scholars of education have become increasingly frustrated. Yet as frustrated as we are, it is essential that we not send to our our students, children, grandchildren the message that the past was better and they “should have been there.” Instead, we must render a clear vision of what can be. Indeed, where would we be without the vision we have been freely given to us from great scholars, philosophers, and artists, as well as our own teachers, friends, neighbors, and family? We are indebted to carry forward the legacy of these torchbearers to present and future educators. This book is a collection of letters to 21st century educators of all age levels and content areas. It has been compiled with the goal of fulfilling our responsibility to share with the next generation of educators our vision of the future, just as our predecessors and role models shared theirs with us. Informed by the past but oriented toward the future, this collection aims to inspire in present and future educators hope, wisdom and imagination for addressing the educational challenges shaped by bureaucratic, economic and cultural forces. Authors such as Nel Noddings, Sonia Nieto, Sandy Grande, Riane Eisler, Mike Rose, William Schubert, William Reynolds, and many more speak directly to their readers, building a relationship with a scholarly backbone, and encouraging: “we saved the best for you” because “the best” is the world you will create.

Acknowledgements; Introduction: Reigniting Radical Hope and Social Imagination in “Dark Times”; PART I: Letters of Hope; 1. Tilting at Windmills: Hope as an Ontological Need when Tilting the Machine; 2. Challenging Inexorability: A Journey of Critical Optimism; 3. Locating the Hope in Bone-deep Participation; 4. Dear Comrades; 5. Finding Hope and Giving Thanks in “Dark Times”: Paying Dues to the Students Who Teach Us; 6. Spelling Hope: A Poet-Teacher’s Testimony; 7. Brown Pride in a College Classroom; 8. The Stubborn Persistence of Hope; 9. Finding Your Passion, Feeding Your Soul; 10. Letter of Hope: The Wangari Way; PART II: Letters of Imagination; 11. Imagining Educational Spaces of Possibility, Hope, and Joy; 12. Imagination, Play and Becoming the Text; 13. Portrait of Thinking: A Novice Cabinetmaker; 14. The Tau’olunga: A Pacifi c Metaphor for a Caring, Critical Pedagogy; 15. Staying Open to Surprise… A Necessary Responsibility; 16. Teachers as DJ’s: Making Music in Unlikely Spaces; 17. Toward a New Audacity of Imagination; 18. Letter to a Young Teacher: Reframing Teaching in No-Respect Times; 19. Look Deeply Within and Share; PART III: Letters of Wisdom; 20. The Way it was, the Way it is: Challenging Romanticized Notions of the Life of Teaching; 21. The Most Unlikely Places: Eros and Education in the Commons; 22. Om Mani Padme Hum: Seeking Interdependence, Metta and Peace in the Classroom; 23. West’s Self-Creation: Against the Odds, Against the Grain; 24. Language, Creation, and MLK; 25. Partnership Education: Nurturing Children’s Humanity; 26. The Perpetual Flame of Curiousity: Asking Questions, Seeking Answers, and Sustaining the Passion for Teaching; 27. The Immense Value of Doubt; 28. Make the Best of What’s Around; 29. To Dare be an Inspired, Satiated, Soulful Teacher; 30. You are not Alone: Radically Redefi ning ‘Place’ as Community; PART IV: Letters of Classroom Praxis; 31. Teachers as Critical Thinkers; 32. Of Kids and Cokes:Learning from, with, and Alongside Children; 33. “You didn’t Connect with me”: Teaching as Radical Contemplative Practice; 34. The Nature and Practices of Urban Science Education; 35. Looking back on Teaching in Detroit: Believing in our Students and Ourselves; 36. Labor Education and “Oppositional Knowledge”; 37. Something from Nothing: The Writing Teacher’s Work; 38. Letter to a Writing Teacher; 39. Actualizing an Ethic of Care in the (Mathematics) Classroom; 40. Keep the Faith: Real Learning will Win in the End; 41. A Game and a Dare; PART V: Voices from the Past; 42. Just Keep it Real: Dewey’s Wisdom for our Classrooms; 43. Picture this: Written as if from Ludwig Wittgenstein; 44. Children are our Hope for the Future: A Letter on Behalf of Maria Montessori to 21st Century Educators; 45. The Best is yet to Come: Confucius’s Hope; 46. On Behalf of Vygotsky; 47. Letter from Hegel to the Educators of the 21st Century; 48. Pedagogy of Disobedience: Written as if from Erich Fromm; 49. Letter to Educators: Rethinking Educational Purpose in the History of Education; 50. When Ordinary People Do Extraordinary Things: In Memory of Howard Zinn; 51. Slow Love: Living and Teaching through Rilke’s Letters; 52. To be a Teacher: A Desiderata for the 21st Century Educator; About the Authors.