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Real Talk For Real Teachers: Advice For Teachers From Rookies To Veterans: "No Retreat, No Surrender!" (2013)

by Rafe Esquith(Favorite Author)

4.04 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0670014648 (ISBN13: 9780670014644)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Viking Adult

review 1: Reading books by Rafe shows me how far I've come and how far I can still go as a teacher. The most important takeaway for me is how his words explain what he does and what works for his class because of his students, district, school, and other factors without making me feel like I have to transform my class into his if I want to a "Master" teacher. As always, my mind is racing with ideas and possibilities which is why I continue to read his books.
review 2: This book was loaned to me by a friend who wondered if it would be a good book to give teachers. Once I began reading it, it was hard for me to limit myself to one chapter a night. I found I had to read something else (lighter) after I read the chapter. Otherwise, I might have kept myself awake all night ... morethinking about it.I think it does have something for every teacher at every stage of career. It was kind of spooky how many nights Esquith seemed to be speaking right to me with something to "say" about what was going on in my school life at the time. For instance, one of my colleagues had a painful interaction when two parents ganged up on her because she had told their sons they shouldn't be wearing shorts in cold weather. (I could write a short paper about that little episode!) The night of the main explosion my reading was Chapter Nineteen: The Price You Pay. Right in the first paragraph, Esquith writes, "Teaching is Painful". The chapter helped me help my friend.Another thing reading the book did for me was to give a shape to my life for a few weeks. My life feels fragmented and having this self-imposed task pulled things together for me as much as the content was thought-provoking.Like most books, this one will have different effects on different teachers. It's a challenging book. Esquith is an EXTRAORDINARY teacher. That's amazing. It's hard enough just to be a good teacher! As one of his students said about him somewhere in the book, he has both energy and passion. Close reading told me that keeping both going is a challenge for him. For the rest of us, his approach is a faraway ideal. Yet, he has wonderful insights and methods to share with us mortals.One of my many challenges in being on the growth path that is teaching, has been my automatic response to any situation in which I feel overwhelmed, unsuccessful, etc. I blame myself. That is not any more realistic nor effective than what others do: spend a great deal of time blaming other people, or the system, or the culture. What is more realistic and more effective is to study the situation and decide how to address it. Obviously, Esquith knows that. An example is his decision not to spend 90% of his time on the one most demanding or neediest child in his class, the one he probably won't be able to transform. We teachers get dragged into that situation all too often and need his advice on putting on the brakes.When I began reading the book, I felt that Esquith had written the book I intend to write. As I got more deeply into it, I realized that Rafe is Rafe and Maureen is Maureen. I will write my book from what is in me. This insight, if it were the only one I got from the book, would have been well worth my time and energy. less

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