August 1998.

I hope the reader will forgive the emotional tone I must adopt when acknowledging those who played important roles in this journey of writing a book about teaching. It is perhaps hyperbolic but nonetheless true that this book is the culmination of my entire life as a student and teacher. Thus, the road to its publication is long and the names are numerous of those who have walked with me on this...

President Kennedy traveled to American University on June 10, 1963, just five months before his tragic death, to deliver a speech entitled “Towards a Strategy of Peace.” In the speech, he urged his fellow citizens to embrace a brand of American optimism and empowerment quintessential of our national outlook: “Our problems are...

Long before Ian McEwan became a world-renowned, award-winning novelist, he was a student whom none of the teachers seemed to notice. The author of modern literary classics such as Atonement, Saturday, and Amsterdam found his early years of school devoid of significance or excitement. As he noted himself, “Nobody...

Sometimes there are historic figures that loom so large in our national consciousness that it’s challenging to utter something new or insightful about them. Such is the case with one of the most famous Americans of all time: Thomas Jefferson.

In the prologue of Condoleezza Rice’s memoir, No Higher Honor, she writes, “Today’s headlines and history’s judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter.”Condoleezza Rice, No Higher Honor (New York: Crown Publishers, 2011),...

Former host of NBC’s Meet the Press, Tim Russert was a seventh grader full of “excessive energy.” As a student at St. Bonaventure Catholic School, he sat in a crowded classroom full of students with considerably different abilities. This arrangement frustrated young Russert and got him into trouble. As he explains...

When Hollywood wants to portray a dynamic, life-changing teacher, it conjures a protagonist with extraordinary skills of communication, raising the audience’s pulse and inspiring them to make a difference in the lives of others.

In the previous five chapters, the habits and strategies of timeless teachers are described and explained. Each habit is certainly essential for student success. Yet the true power and potency of these habits morph into something far greater when performed in concert with one another, creating an amplified symphony of teaching excellence that is distinctly greater than each habit practiced in...

What do modern and historic luminaries such as Ian McEwan, Thomas Jefferson, Tim Russert, Helen Mirren, and Condoleezza Rice grasp about their best teachers? They all experienced the joy of a classroom brimming with a majestic pulse of possibility—a moment when learning transcends utility and the echo of the classroom lasts long after the class concludes.

A Beautiful Mind,3.18 ,

Jeremy S. Adams is a graduate of Washington & Lee University and teaches political science at both Bakersfield High School and California State University, Bakersfield. He is the recipient of numerous teaching and writing honors including the 2014 California Teacher of the Year Award (Daughters of the American Revolution); he was named the 2012 Kern County Teacher of the Year, was a...