Rafe Esquith: depressing, irritating or inspiring?

[Laura Corin]

I really wanted to like Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire. I did pick up some ideas. Overall though, my feelings were:

 

a) Depression - I'm never going to be the kind of teacher he is, the kind who works with his students twelve hours a day, six days a week. Of course I'm with my boys all day, but I take time for myself and expect them to look after themselves during that time too. I go off duty and don't always answer questions.

 

b) Growing irritation - ignoble I'm sure, but by the fourteenth time I had read a passage such as "Trips with room 56 are unique. The activities are meticulously planned, the kids are extraordinarily well prepared, and the objectives are always clear," I really started to tire of Mr Esquith's company.

 

I'm sure he's an extraordinary man and teacher, but I just couldn't quite stomach the book. Come on ladies: persuade me that I'm a grouch who needs to develop a little charity.

 

Laura

[dirty ethel rackham]

I haven't read it myself, but I know people in real life like that. Prolonged exposure is not good for my self-esteem:|

[nuthouse]

I found him irritating also. Doesn't he now get the "cream of the crop" students? I read his books and left it at that. He's clearly a motivated public school teacher with his own agenda. I have no problem exposing children to the depth and breadth of western civ., but I had some real problems with some of the ways he did it. For example, if I recall correctly he showed "Saving Private Ryan" to fifth and sixth graders. I would be very upset with this choice of material.

[astrid]

I haven't read his book, but I caught the last hour of a PBS (?) special about him a couple of years ago. All very well and good; I'm sure he's a fabuuuu teacher, but as a former public school teacher, I'm really left with a few questions:

1. WHY does the administration seem to give him carte blanche? That's just not realistic.

2. How must his wife/kids feel? From the documentary I saw, it sure seemed like his family came second to his classroom. Maybe that's an unfair assumption on my part, but there's no way that he could fit all he does into a 40 or even 70 hour week. If I were his family, I'd be more than a little miffed at playing second fiddle all the time.

3. Does he ever take a day off? Have a sub take over? Engage in a LIFE outside his career?

 

Exhausting just watching him, and more than a little irritating.

[Laura Corin]

Yes - I noticed that too.

 

He does check with parents as to what movie certificate they allow their children to watch (the movies are shown out of school hours) and clearly I can't legislate for other parents but ...... I haven't seen Saving Private Ryan, but I am still shocked by the knifing scene in Westside Story, and I know that Calvin would be very distressed by Schindler's List.

 

Laura

[astrid]

:rolleyes:I didnt' mean for my whole message to show up in the subject line! I guess that's because I used "quick reply" right? I'm learnin'.....I promise!

[MIch elle]

I was inspired by his book Teach.. and then read his other book and watched the PBS show on him. I was inspired to change somethings we do with our literature studies (read aloud all together each having our own book) and include my dc when planning our educational vacation trips.

[K&Rs Mom]

I didn't like this book much either. It seemed awfully repetitive, and not very practical for the rest of us. I can't imagine how his family feels - I get annoyed whenever dh works past his 8 business hours! OTOH, my dh loved this book and recommends it to people regularly.

[angela in ohio]

Reading his book was like listening to a lecture with some useful information in it while the speaker ran his nails down the blackboard. ;) I had to decide after a few pages if I could deal with the fingernails to get to the information. I did it, but I outlined the book thoroughly, and I hand that outline out to friends instead of recommending the book. I like to think that I took one for the team. :D

[nuthouse]

that just doesn't wash with me for this reason. I would still feel pressured to allow the movie because of in class discussions and the need to keep my kid on par with the rest of the students. I think "Saving Private..." and other like movies are fine for juniors and seniors in high school (with parental persmission), but there should not be the choice in elementary school. I think there must be better resources than that for that age group. I hope this doesn't come off as argumentative with you. I mean it to be more argumentative with the public school teacher who doesn't seem to have any oversite or restraint from adminstration.

 

I had the same problem locally with our school district. Imagine my shock finding out my son's fifth grade teacher showed a movie rated for the over 14 yo crowd with full frontal nudity in it to a bunch of 10 year olds. :eek:

Her excuse, "It was in the school library. I assumed it would be okay."

Somewhere the system is broken and absolutely no one takes responsibility any longer.

 

Okay rant is over. I'm done. :o

[Carol in Cal.]

I found his approach to writing very helpful and encouraging. He advocates daily grammar worksheets, weekly essays, a semester or year long novel writing project, and subject area writing. I like being able to picture out writing as a whole in that way.

 

I also liked his description of how he views and presents certain books. I felt encouraged in studying 'advanced' books with DD by his studies of Shakespeare and "To Kill A Mockingbird" with fifth graders.

 

I liked his approach to teaching test taking skills but not taking it too seriously.

 

Yes, the idea that I'm not teaching 12 hour days is a little depressing, but it's a good counterpoint to all the people I know who think it's ridiculous that DD is not finished with her studies every day by noon.

 

I thought that he was arrogant, but he has some right to be, but it's irritating. I would not want to be his friend, but I wouldn't mind taking a seminar from him. I saw him speak in San Diego about 1 1/2 years ago, and he brought his current students to do a little Shakespeare. They were good, but not great--not nearly as intimidating and depressing as his book makes them sound.

 

I look at his book as a resource and take what I like and ignore the rest.

[Riverfront Headmistress]

I was looking for this book today at the bookstore but it was out of stock.

[Nancy in MI]

I got some useful information out of them (especially the info about how test-writers come up with multiple choice answers. My 13yo and I are having fun with this).

 

I was a little annoyed by the arrogant tone, but I sure wouldn't complain if my kids were in public school and had him for a teacher. I think my oldest, especially, would respond really well to his style.

 

I also wondered about how he prioritized his life. I was a teacher years ago before I had children, and I can't imagine school taking up as much of my life as it must his! My children and husband would feel very neglected, I think!

 

I wondered, too, how great his students really are. I'm sure he left out some horror stories. All teachers have them! I can't believe that with all those field trips, etc. not one bad thing happened. I try not to compare myself to other people because we never hear of the bad days and we can trick ourselves into thinking there's something wrong with us if everything isn't perfect.

 

All in all, I'm glad I read them, but I don't feel in any way inferior to him or that I have to model my teaching after him. However, I don't know how happy I would be if I were teaching next door to him! I think I'd always be wondering if I'm going to be fodder for his next book!

 

Nancy

[Sunshine State Sue]

However, I could never compare myself to him. My motivation for teaching is not the love of teaching, but the love of my child. I have an only child, so I don't get to do 5th grade over and over and over again. I am constantly trying to stay one step ahead of my child.

 

I did like his approach to writing, his information on test taking, and even art. His book is actually sitting on my desk as I type. It's bookmarked to the monthly book reports. I don't know that I will ever get around to incorporating anything I read in there at all though.

[Old Dominion Heather]

He recognizes that he is demanding a huge sacrifice of time and energy from these kids and he is reciprocating the sacrifice. He was giving those students the time and energy that no one had ever bothered to give them before. He treated education as if it was the most important thing in the world.

 

When I was teaching, before kids, I would try to do stuff to help. Not this grand, but something. I would stay late and tutor the fifth grader in my class who could barely read. I picked up kids and took them to events. We did Shakespeare. But when I had my first, I knew that I couldn't keep teaching the way I had been. I didn't want to become one of the teachers who didn't do more than "average" so I quit teaching.

 

I think that what he is doing equates to homeschooling a pack of 25 kids that aren't your own. He puts that much thought and prep into teaching. These are, by and large, inner city LA kids. The movies that they see in class are probably pretty tame compared to what they have seen at home.

 

Yes, I did think he was arrogant, but I think he was able to teach the way he did because he doesn't care what the establishment thinks.