Letters to Pat

Abstract

A retired public school teacher recollects and reflects upon her collaboration with Patricia F. Carini, founder of the Prospect School and the Prospect Center for Education and Research. The recollections synthesize her participation in annual Prospect gatherings with an eclectic group of like-minded educators and caretakers from all over the United States over a period of two decades. The reflections describe the significance of her membership in that group on her life as an early childhood teacher in New York City’s progressive public schools throughout a career that spanned 25 years, during a time when progressive education was expanding its reach throughout the city and developing a large number of schools that were in step with the Prospect School’s philosophy. She describes how their acceptance of her, their encouragement, and their collaborations helped to expand her views of her professional work and her own sense of her value as an educator.