Joyously idealistic
By Allen A. Raymond, Publisher

I know that sounds very idealistic, but Pat and I are joyously idealistic (sometimes, perhaps, to our detriment). Fortunately, our joy has been sustained because, over the years, we've been able to surround ourselves with individuals – staff members, columnists, friends and our parent company since 1988, Highlights For Children, Inc. – who share our mission.

And I should not forget the hundreds of advertisers who also share our mission, believing in us and rewarding us with their advertising dollars. They, together with you and your subscription dollars, pay the bills so we are able to do what we do.

As we once again begin a new school year, I look back with awe and appreciation for the 32 years I've been able to talk to you on this page. What a wonderful experience for me. And how grateful I've been for our letters to each other, and the moments when we've met in your classroom, or on the floor of an educational conference somewhere in these United States. You seem like family to me.

Over these many years Patricia Broderick and I have faced many challenges – including two or three recessions (or depressions, call them what you will), plus the bankruptcies of two printers and the awful month when the address labels fell off the magazine before it could reach your door (the printer used the wrong glue).

Through it all our joy has been tested, but never diminished, as we remained stubbornly steadfast in our mission to help you in every way we could.

If I were to put a label on what we do, and I don't like labels, I'd say this is a magazine focused on the professional development of teachers...serious teachers.

This means, perforce, that as editors we're not looking for a quick fix; you'll find no "busywork" here...teaching is a serious and important "calling" and we look upon our role as "professional development."

If that is so, and I hope that it is, this is then a happy occasion, for this month we welcome to our pages three new columnists whose emphasis will be on your professional development.

The first is Dr. Mary Ellen Bafumo, the author of our new column, Professional Development: Best Practices, who has indicated to us that "Professional development [for teachers] is no longer an option." Indeed, in these days of heightened demands for "accountability" our professional skills are being challenged as never before.

Mary Ellen is joined by another new columnist, Peter Cookson, president of "TC Innovations," a new department of Teachers College at Columbia University. Every month his column, Teaching: Your First Year, will provide professional development – and survival tips – to both new and experienced teachers.

And then there is our longtime friend, Lee Bennett Hopkins, famous poet and editor of poetry anthologies, whose new column, A Poetry Workshop in Print, will bring this important art into your classroom in new and unusual ways.

So, welcome. And while I recognize these are challenging times for those of us in education, my "joyously idealistic" heart tells me that you and I are going to have an exciting and rewarding year.

Allen Raymond is the Editor/Publisher for Teaching Pre K-8.

August/September 2003, Vol.34, No.1