Login or sign up to view this featured lesson by David Kujawski, 6th grade Science teacher at  Bird Middle School in East Walpole, MA.

Jason Armstrong teaches 6th grade math at Roxbury Preparatory Charter School in Boston, MA.  Read our interview with him below and sign up or login to check out his amazingly detailed and rigorous curriculum materials.

1. Three words that describe your teaching persona:
Serious, nerdy, rigorous

2. Why teach?
Simply put, America needs each generation to be well-educated. 

More selfishly: a phrase I learned while taking Latin in high school was "Disco docendo," which means "I learn by teaching."  I think it's quite true: I understand math better as a result of figuring out how to get others to understand it.

3. What do you do to optimize student engagement in class?
One school-wide gesture we have at Roxbury Prep is silent applause, which involves raising both hands and shaking them to show excitement or appreciation without interrupting somebody with noise.  This has morphed these last two years into students wiggling hands or fingers in someone's direction if they agree with that person or if they want to show support while they think of an answer.  It's a great way to engage the class while using wait time.

4. Coffee, tea, or caffeine-free?
Caffeine-free

5. Describe your classroom management style in a few sentences.
I use primarily direct instruction and individual practice work in my classroom.  I try to be as explicit as possible about my class rules, and I think my class runs best when students know what is expected of them at each time.  My goal is to become better at making room in class for student discussion, where I talk less than they do, but it's something that I need to work on.

6. Is teaching a science or art?
Teaching has elements of both.  I put on a performance in my classroom every day, and that certainly makes teaching artistic.  At the same time, there are many things I've come to "know" about teaching (the root of "science" means "know"), things which can be practiced and analyzed.  Either way you see it, there is always room for improvement.

Login or sign up to view this featured resource by Gregory Woodward, 7th grade Social Studies teacher at Roxbury Preparatory Charter School in Boston, MA.

Login or sign up to view this featured resource by Zach Blattner, former 12th grade AP English teacher at Roma High School in Roma, Texas.

Jamie Fritz teaches 7th grade Writing at Chavez Prep in Washington, D.C.  His administrators nominated his as a Featured Teacher.

Here is our interview with him:

1. Three words that describe your teaching persona:
Goofy, strict, energetic

2. Why teach?
I like the intersection of serious thought and performance art that teaching offers.

3. What would you be if not a teacher?
Graduate student in philosophy

4. What do you do to optimize student engagement in class?
Silliness. Wearing strange hats, telling jokes, jumping around at unexpected moments, etc.

5. Coffee, tea, or caffeine-free?
Caffeine-free

6. Favorite Cartoon/TV/Movie Teacher:
Robin Williams in "Dead Poets Society"--though I don't teach anything at all like him.

7. Favorite Book:
Crime and Punishment

Login or sign up to join the featured network Free Reading.  FreeReading is a free, high-quality, open-source, reading intervention program addressing literacy development for grades K-3.

Login or sign up to view/download this Featured Lesson by Pamela Bookbinder, 11th grade history teacher at Global Enterprise High School in New York, NY.

At BetterLesson, we're kicking off the new year with a campaign to recognize highly effective teachers called Featured Teachers. While part of the campaign is to capture and share their curriculum with other teachers on the site, the second part includes an interview to learn more about the teacher as well as to glean their insights into effective teaching practices.

We start off the Featured Teachers campaign with one of our very own, Christopher Cullen.

Chris taught 6th grade science at Roxbury Prep in Boston, MA from fall 2007 to spring 2009. He now works full-time with BetterLesson. Here is our interview with him:

1. Three words that describe your teaching persona:
Calm, Quirky, Demanding

2. Why teach?
I decided to teach because the process of education has made all the difference in my life and I wanted to continue to be an agent in the process to both give of myself as well as to continue to learn.

I continued to teach because it was an awesome challenge day after day, because I grew by embracing the challenges in a reflective and open way, and because I loved the relationships I developed with students in and out of the classroom as their teacher and on the soccer field as their coach.

I stopped teaching so that I could work with Alex at BetterLesson in an effort to strengthen the teaching profession through sharing and collaboration tools as well as through working to help teachers receive recognition for their work.

I learned that if I can teach, I can do anything. I will return to teaching down the line.

3. What would you be if not a teacher?
Learner.

4. What do you do to optimize student engagement in class?
High expectations. Clear instructions. Fast pace. Body movement. Short clips of multimedia whenever possible.

5. Coffee, tea, or caffeine-free?
Water wakes me up!

6. Describe your classroom management style in a few sentences.
Very clear expectations and strict enforcement of the rules. To be fair is to be consistent.

7. Favorite Cartoon/TV/Movie Teacher:
Mr. Miyagi

8. Most vivid teacher dream?
100 students show up to my class, and I only have 25 sets of copies. I can't do anything to get their attention.

9. Favorite Book:
The Prophet

10. Is teaching a science or art?
With 25 sixth grade students in a class, teaching is theater and its success depends on practice, reflection, and refinement.

11. Anything to add?
I owe all of my professional development as a teacher to the wonderful staff at Roxbury Prep.

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Login or sign up to view this featured lesson by Paul Hobson, 3rd grade teacher at King Chavez Arts Academy in San Diego, CA.