Those Who Can, Teach, 14th Edition introduces the teaching profession and the organization of American education. Ryan, Cooper, and Bolick examine teaching motivations, school governance, instruction, law, ethics, and educational reform. The text is written for preservice teachers exploring classroom practice and the institutional responsibilities that accompany a teaching career.
Inside this title
American school governance, funding, and historical foundations
Current listed price $27.00Regular price $70.00Digital ebook
This introduction asks what it means to become a teacher within the American school system. It examines professional motivations alongside the historical and philosophical foundations of education. School structure, funding, and governance provide the institutional context for understanding teachers' work and the policies that shape it.
Classroom topics include lesson planning, assessment, management, and the use of technology in instruction. Legal and ethical responsibilities are considered with debates about accountability, charter schools, standards, and teacher evaluation. Preservice teachers in introductory education courses can use the book to connect their developing view of teaching with the everyday tasks and broader public responsibilities of the profession.
Study guide included
Inside Those Who Can, Teach, 14th Edition.
This edition introduces American teaching as both a craft and a public trust. Its authors send prospective teachers through motivation, learner diversity, curriculum planning, technology integration, school law, and reform. Each chapter links ideas to professional standards and invites readers to weigh classroom evidence against their own reasons for entering the field.
The text opens with why people choose teaching and what schools are expected to accomplish, then widens to the students themselves. Later chapters examine curriculum, instructional planning, differentiation, assessment, and the role of technology through the TPACK framework. Ethical and legal duties receive their own treatment, followed by philosophy, history, governance, finance, and reform. Career chapters cover hiring, induction, and professional growth, and the closing section returns to reflective practice. Standards connections and InTASC references appear throughout, tying chapter concepts to demonstrated teaching performance.
Why teach, and why schools exist
The opening pair asks readers to measure their motives against what working teachers actually do. Personal satisfaction, relationships, salary, and working conditions all enter the decision, and early classroom observation supplies better evidence than assumption alone. The school chapter then sets out intellectual, economic, and civic purposes, along with cultural transmission, and asks how leadership, common expectations, and a welcoming climate shape student opportunity.
Test motives against real classrooms
Schools serve several purposes
Intrinsic and material rewards both count
Chs. 1–2
Learners, differences, and outside pressures
Instruction has to start from who is present. Cultural background, home language, disability, giftedness, and gender all shape how school feels, and students sharing a category still differ widely. Beyond the classroom, poverty, unstable housing, family stress, and bullying affect attendance and concentration. The authors ask teachers to read behavior in context, then work with colleagues on the barriers that fall within school responsibility.
Labels hide individual variation
Ask before assuming a cause
Coordinate with support staff
Chs. 3–4
Curriculum, planning, and responsive teaching
Curriculum chapters survey subject areas, career preparation, arts education, and standards-driven reform, drawing period examples from the C3 Framework, Common Core, and the Next Generation Science Standards. Planning advice turns broad goals into visible student performances. Differentiation adjusts practice or support without lowering the target, and management shapes who can take part. Teachers then read student work and discussion to decide how to shape the next lesson.
Name the evidence you will accept
Differentiate without diluting the goal
Observe, then revise the plan
Chs. 5–6
Technology, ethics, and legal duties
The technology chapter explains TPACK, which asks how content, pedagogy, and tool knowledge interact rather than treating software as an add-on. A simulation or shared annotation space is useful only when it serves a specific concept and fits students' access. The ethics and law chapter works through obligations to students, competing interests, and school rules, including employment protections, and recommends documenting decisions while seeking guidance when duties conflict.
Tool choice follows the concept
Plan an offline equivalent
Document and ask when unsure
Chs. 7–8
Philosophy, history, governance, and reform
Perennialist and essentialist views prize established knowledge; progressive and child-centered views emphasize inquiry and development. Naming those commitments explains why teachers pick different materials and roles. Historical chapters trace the growth of common schooling and high schools alongside unequal access, while governance and finance chapters connect districts, states, and federal influence. Reform proposals are compared by the problem each addresses and the students whose opportunities shift.
Every lesson carries assumptions
Trace who controls funding
Ask whom a reform affects
Chs. 9–12
Getting hired and growing professionally
Career chapters treat preparation as concrete: qualifications, applications, interviews, and evidence of planning and collaboration from field placements. The first appointment brings unfamiliar routines and collegial expectations, so mentors and local priorities matter. Professionalism combines specialized knowledge, duty to students, participation in a community, and continued learning. The final section returns to reflection and urges readers to test their beliefs against recorded changes in student learning.
Build evidence before applying
Find a mentor early
Log what changed in learning
Chs. 13–15
Chapter and section map
Why Teach?Ch. 1
Schools and studentsChs. 2–4
Curriculum and teacher effectivenessChs. 5–6
Technology, ethics, and lawChs. 7–8
Philosophy, history, and reformChs. 9–12
Career and professionalismChs. 13–15
The Habit of ReflectionClosing section
Key takeaways
Weigh why you want to teach against observed duties and student evidence.
Choose supports based on what students must learn and their circumstances, then measure the effect.
Let reflection, colleague feedback, and school context reshape professional choices over time.
Preservice teachers in introduction-to-education courses, career changers preparing for certification, and instructors who want a standards-aligned overview of American schooling. It assumes no prior classroom experience.
Topics covered
teaching profession
preservice teachers
curriculum planning
TPACK framework
school law and ethics
education reform
classroom diversity
reflective practice
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Edition, audience, and study-guide details at a glance.
What is Those Who Can, Teach, 14th Edition about?
Those Who Can, Teach, 14th Edition introduces the teaching profession and the organization of American education. Ryan, Cooper, and Bolick examine teaching motivations, school governance, instruction, law, ethics, and educational reform. The text is written for preservice teachers exploring classroom practice and the institutional responsibilities that accompany a teaching career.
Which edition of Those Who Can, Teach, 14th Edition is this?
This listing is for the 14th edition. Check the title, ISBN, and book details above before ordering, especially if your course or reading list names a specific edition.
Who is Those Who Can, Teach, 14th Edition for?
Preservice teachers in introduction-to-education courses, career changers preparing for certification, and instructors who want a standards-aligned overview of American schooling. It assumes no prior classroom experience.
Does this page include a study guide?
Yes. This page includes an original study guide with six thematic sections, key takeaways, and a chapter and section map for structured reading.
