Top left:
For Boston Union Teacher: “Dialing a Wake-up Call.” Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, UMass Boston: Boston Union Teacher, November, 1965. (Detail).
Top right:
For Boston Union Teacher: “What I should Have Said.” Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, UMass Boston: Boston Union Teacher, November, 1965. (Detail).
Bottom left:
For Boston Union Teacher: “Ed Reform Shouldn’t Scapegoat Teachers.” Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, UMass Boston: Boston Union Teacher, November, 1965. (Detail).
Bottom right:
For Boston Union Teacher: “Young Teachers Want to Participate.” Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, UMass Boston: Boston Union Teacher, November, 1965. (Detail).
The Boston Teachers Union (BTU) newspaper offers a rich history on the views of its members throughout the past sixty years, particularly through the letters to the editor. There are many opportunities to explore and learn from this resource and it can be easy to overlook important snippets of the voices of teachers within the Union. How often do we take notice of the smaller headlines in the news or the articles that offer some simple piece of advice over the topics that clamor for our attention? Letters to the editor are often missed by the reader, deemed as banal or trivial. As a student teacher myself, I am interested in what teachers had to say about the events and problems they faced. These letters are wonderful examples of teacher voices and how they interacted with their Union.