This book was briefly mentioned on a hs board that I visit occasionally. Rafe Esquith is an inner city 5th grade teacher who has won a number of teaching awards, including the American Teacher Award and the Disney Outstanding Teaching of the Year Award. Apparently, Oprah is a big fan of his too. (Visual note to SHSers: [eyes rolling].) And Mr. Esquith is a quite a big fan of himself too.
He is an extremely dedicated teacher and prefers to teach his gifted students Shakespeare, algebra, and classical music and read books such as The Autobiography of Malcolm X--every year. He puts in a lot of hours, guiding students in his classroom from 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and his claims of working every Saturday and every vacation day just don't ring true. Neither do his claims that his students travel to places such as Disneyland, Washington D.C. and Shakespeare Festivals every year. These are only the beginning of his laundry list of accomplishments.
This doesn't seem to mesh with his statements that these are very poor children. "Most" (his word) come to the school not knowing any English. How in the world is money raised to pay this classroom's incredible travel expenses? Mr. Esquith is not rich, and one chapter is dedicated to the lack of (financial) support from the community. I also tired quickly of his many repeated conversations with administrators/other teachers, who always came out looking stupid.
I'm still torn over this book. It was entertaining, yet I tired of reading of his self-proclaimed wonderfulness. I have his second book already from the library, and I may or may not read it.
Not recommended.
1 comment:
I probably won't read this, but I wanted to say that I sure love the variety of reviews you give! Still wishing I had more time to read.
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