Blog Post 13

For my post, I decided to do a book report on Rafe Esquith's "There are No Shortcuts". I read part of this book for a podcast on an earlier project, then ended up finishing the book and loving it. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I saw that I would be given the opportunity to write about it.

Mr. Esquith is very clear about one thing in his book - it is not a how-to guide on how to teach. In fact, he talks early on about making sure to explore and finding out who YOU are as a teacher, not him. That said, we can still learn many things from his book. One thing I love about him is that he seems to be fearless - he has stood up to parents, administrations, and certainly students in order to accomplish his task - educating his students. Furthermore, he has pushed through excessive financial difficulty (at points by working multiple jobs) in order to pay for the many field trips and activities his class takes part in.

One thing that I definitely took away from this book was that students WILL sometimes hurt you, even when you are perfectly kind and even go out of your way for them. I find that I will have to develop a tougher shell when I begin teaching, because this kind of behavior will most definitely hurt my feelings quite a bit.

Another awesome point from Mr. Esquith: He puts a huge emphasis on literacy and makes a point to state that he teaches in English. Why? We as teachers must prepare our students (or, as he would probably say, show them how to prepare themselves) for the real world, and in this country, speaking English is a necessity to be truly successful.

I enjoyed reading this book, not only because of what I learned, but also because of Mr. Esquith's wonderfully witty writing style. I'm hoping to purchase and read "Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire" over the holidays - it's certainly a learning experience and definitely keeps me entertained.