The Redress of Teaching is Adrian Neibauer’s first book, a collection of familiar essays about experiences teaching and learning in a public-school classroom from 2020-2025.
Each piece offers a true glimpse of the struggles and joys of teaching in the United States, while reflecting on pedagogy, educational research, policy, and literature. Despite the impossibility of the job, Neibauer is a proud public school teacher, remaining in the classroom for his students because caring humans teaching children is the best defense against teacher attrition, learning recession, anti-school rhetoric, anti-intellectualism, and the many crises facing youth.
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ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE REDRESS OF TEACHING
“Adrian’s wisdom walks hand-in-hand with his humility across his writing, yet I’d offer that in doing so Adrian is also living out an example for the rest of us: How much potential there is in telling the story of our own classroom and the work that takes place within it.”
—from the foreword by Marcus Luther, teacher and host of podcast, The Broken Copier
“The Redress of Teaching is an equally important read for first-year teachers and state-level policymakers. In his sharp, insightful essays, Neibauer gets at the heart of what makes teaching ‘both a struggle and a joy,’ reflecting on hard-won lessons from 25 years in the classroom. Neibauer illuminates how policy and pedagogy intersect and brings a deep sense of humanity often missing from headlines about "the literacy crisis." Readers will be moved to deepen their teaching practice, get involved in their children's schools, or simply thank a teacher.”
—Alex Shevrin Venet, author of Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education
“In this unapologetic collection of essays on the state of teaching, Adrian Neibauer refuses cynicism as well as false comfort. As unsparing about the system as he is about himself, he names the ways in which he's contributed to the culture he criticizes, and in doing so, he pushes us to do the same. It's his intellectual honesty and extension of critical friendship that captivates me. It also earns my trust. This book is for those who believe that learning and schooling must remain deeply human endeavors. It's for those who understand how messy human beings are in their learning and schooling, too. There are no silver bullets here--only hard truths and a sort of durable hope that no system can compromise. It's steeped in human connection and anchored to the idea that, ‘for one day at a time, I can make sure that each one of my students has a good day, that they feel seen and cared for and respected and even loved.’”
—Angela Stockman, teacher, K-16 professional facilitator, and author of Hacking School Culture
“Books about what one should teach or how one should teach are a dime a dozen, but works that offer insight into ‘the good life’ of teaching are rare indeed. Adrian Neibauer's The Redress of Teaching is a part personal archive, part pedagogical handbook and fully in touch with the messy, human parts of the profession. Through his constellation of scholarly and popular references, self-effacing sense of humor, and crisp prose, Adrian doesn't just tell fellow teachers how to cultivate what William Arrowsmith referred to as a ‘ripeness of self’ he models it on every page. As someone who works at the intersection of teaching and professional learning and is always in search of books to share with other educators, The Redress of Teaching was a gift.”
—Trevor Aleo, Teacher-Scholar & Literacy Consultant
