I asked my class this question, having first considered the Time article on merit pay and the WAPO article on National Board Certification. And I realized midway through their answers that I had constructed the question badly. I wasn’t asking how teachers overcome the significant structural forces aligned against them — lack of prestige, lack of time, etc — but rather how they could improve on their own.

In other words, what do teachers need to do in order to maintain a thoughtful teaching practice? What needs to be in place for teachers, new teachers especially, to continue to re-think their practice?