Three teachers answer questions submitted by Slate readers. Today’s big question: How do you maintain your integrity as a teacher, guide, and mentor while trying to accommodate the testing and standardization required of most public institutions? Do you teach to the test? Why, or why not?

Our teachers:

- Matt Dicks … a fifth grade teacher at Wolcott School in West Hartford, CT. He’s also an author and storyteller. If you’re a fan of The Moth, you might like to know that he’s a 17-time Moth StorySLAM champion and two-time GrandSLAM champion. You can read his blog at www.matthewdicks.com.  

- Valerie Lake, an 8th grade English teacher and literacy coach at Lower Manhattan Community Middle School here in New York.  

- Zach Parker teaches history at an International Baccalaureate charter high school in Boise, Idaho. He was also featured in a recent post on Slate’s Schooled blog about a four-day school week.

This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses, offering over 500 lecture series taught by top professors and experts, available in audio and video formats. Go to thegreatcourses.com/teacher for a special, limited time offer.

Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your 2-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus

Three teachers answer questions submitted by Slate readers. Today’s big question: "What do you do with a student in your class that you genuinely dislike?” Hosted by Matt Collette of the Teacher Project at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 

- Andrew Ahn, a teacher and adviser at City as School, an alternative high school for 11th and 12th grade transfer students in New York

- Tessa Benau, a 10th grade math teacher from Vanguard High School in New York.

- Ray Salazar, a high school English teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. He writes the White Rhino blog about education.

Got a question for our teachers? Ask it here. 

This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses, offering over 500 lecture series taught by top professors and experts, available in audio and video formats. Go to thegreatcourses.com/teacher for a special, limited time offer.

Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your 2-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus

Three teachers answer questions submitted by Slate readers. Today’s big question: "If you were to design a system for evaluating teacher performance, what would it look like?” Hosted by Matt Collette of the Teacher Project at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

- Ruth Jetton, a 6th grade math and science teacher at the Academy of Global Citizenship, a public charter school located on the southwest side of Chicago.  

- Valerie Lake, an 8th grade English teacher and literacy coach at Lower Manhattan Community Middle School in New York. 

- José Vilson, an 8th grade math teacher in New York's Inwood/Washington Heights neighborhood. He's also the author of This Is Not A Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and the Future of Education. He blogs at thejosevilson.com. 

Got a question for our teachers? Ask it here. 

This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses, offering over 500 lecture series taught by top professors and experts, available in audio and video formats. Go to thegreatcourses.com/teacher for a special, limited time offer.

Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your 2-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus

Three teachers answer questions submitted by Slate readers.  Today's big question: "How do teachers respond when they don't know the answer to a student's question?" Hosted by Matt Collette of the Teacher Project at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Our teachers: 

- Valerie Lake, an eighth-grade English teacher and literacy coach at Lower Manhattan Community Middle School in New York. 

- Matt Dicks, a fifth-grade teacher at Wolcott School in West Hartford, Conn. He’s also an author, storyteller and a 17-time Moth StorySLAM champion and two-time GrandSLAM champion. You can read his blog at matthewdicks.com

- Erin Huber, a third-grade teacher at Harriet Bishop Elementary School in Savage, Minn., a Twin Cities suburb.

Got a question for our teachers? Ask it here. 

This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses, offering over 500 lecture series taught by top professors and experts, available in audio and video formats. Go to thegreatcourses.com/teacher for a special, limited time offer.

Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your 2-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus

Three teachers answer questions submitted by Slate readers.  Today's big question: "Why do some teachers continue to assign hours of homework when studies show it's not helpful?" Hosted by Matt Collette of the Teacher Project at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

- Andrew Ahn, a teacher and adviser at City as School, an alternative high school for 11th and 12th grade transfer students in New York

- Tessa Benau, a 10th grade math teacher from Vanguard High School in New York.

- Ray Salazar, a high school english teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. He writes the White Rhino blog about education.

Got a question for our teachers? Ask it here. 

This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses, offering over 500 lecture series taught by top professors and experts, available in audio and video formats. One example: "The Art of Teaching." Go to thegreatcourses.com/teacher for a special, limited time offer.

Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your 2-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus

Three teachers answer questions submitted by Slate readers. Today's big question: "Name a moment that made you want to quit teaching -- then explain why you didn't."   Hosted by Matt Collette of the Teacher Project at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Today's teachers:

- Ruth Jetton, a 6th grade math and science teacher at the Academy of Global Citizenship, a public charter school located on the southwest side of Chicago.  

- Valerie Lake, an 8th grade English teacher and literacy coach at Lower Manhattan Community Middle School in New York. 

- José Vilson, an 8th grade math teacher in New York's Inwood/Washington Heights neighborhood. He's also the author of This Is Not A Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and the Future of Education. He blogs at thejosevilson.com. 

Got a question for our teachers? Ask it here. 

This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses, offering over 500 lecture series taught by top professors and experts, available in audio and video formats. Go to thegreatcourses.com/teacher for a special, limited time offer.

Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your 2-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus