Essay IT’S EARLY ON a Friday and the usual morning hustle of a school day is playing out in my kitchen. Olivia, ten, is dressed and breakfasted. She’s adding to lunchboxes: chopping up fruit, tossing in chips, searching for lids....

MemoirI AM THIRTY-EIGHT and tired. I’m only a third of the way through my class roll, a list that hurts my heart if I study it for too long. But I know what to do with these students. I’m an excellent teacher. I know how to bring them together. I am able to create a feeling of family and safety and security. In my classroom they know they can take risks and try new things and experience failure while being supported by me and by each other.

Essay SUCH GREAT PAY and all those holidays. Plus you only work from nine ’til three…is often the response a teacher receives when they say what they do for a living. It hurts, but we generally don’t defend ourselves. That’s...