Erica Lorraine Scheidt and The Teacher Salary Project are collaborating to create Who Do You See Now?: Teacher Stories. The publication will juxtapose writer Scheidt’s personal story of becoming a high school teacher with stories about teaching from Bay Area educators and the public.
In fall 2014, Scheidt will begin a year in the Mills College Single Subject Humanities Credential Program while also collecting oral histories from those on the path to becoming teachers, those leaving the profession, those still teaching, and those who, for myriad reasons, would never consider teaching as a creative or fulfilling profession. Scheidt seeks to break open ideas of teaching as a career choice. Her stories will be published in a beautifully printed, design-driven paperback book.
Scheidt’s previous book, Uses for Boys (St. Martin’s Press) was a 2013 Best First Novel for Youth from American Library Association’s Booklist. She is a long-time volunteer at 826 Valencia and a founding team member of Chapter 510, the Made-in-Oakland literacy project focused on developing students’ creative and expository writing skills. Scheidt’s partner, The Teacher Salary Project, is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to raising awareness of the United States’ national policy of underpaying and under-valuing educators.