Educating Esme: A Book Review & Contest

There are times when you find a book that is not only entertaining but inspiring too. I’ve found it with Educating Esme.

First a quick background. A few years ago, I volunteered to teach Sunday School at my Church in New York. I was given a textbook (which was horribly outdated at the time), a short “training” and told good luck. Being the type of person that I am (meaning I’m a Type A, very creative, incredibly anal person) I created an entire year’s worth of lesson plans, unusual activities and discussion points to get the kids talking about the subject and excited about God in general. That same group begged me to teach their class the next year (which consisted of 34 students ages 12 – 19) and I did. I loved it.

Educating Esme is a diary of a teacher’s first year. Esme is a fifth grade teacher in the Chicago City Schools and she documents her trials and triumphs in this riveting, well-written and fascinating book. There are moments of hilarity followed by moments of heartbreak as you follow Esme through the ups and downs of teaching a class with minimal support from her staff and those that just don’t “get” her or her teaching methods.

This book made me miss teaching horribly. It made me realize how really, truly great teachers are rare and hard to find. How they often are under appreciated and criticized for their unusual teaching methods that actually make their kids apply what they are learning to their everyday world rather than just passing a test. Education in the US is a major concern of mine and there are no easy solutions (as Esme beautifully portrays in her book) but it is something that I fight for in my children’s lives and in the world at large as well.

This book is great for new teachers (there’s even a guide and tip list for teachers who are new or experienced), parents and people who are just interested in the educational system in general. This book was originally published ten years ago, but not much has changed in the education system I’m afraid. Here is Esme’s take on the topic:

Q- Do you think the profession has changed since you wrote this diary?

Esme- The extreme to which educators “teach to the test” feels different today. Teachers seem to be held to a new level of stringency in terms of content, and the climate is more fearful due to the punitive responses when schools don’t perform up to standards. Who wants to work in a setting where the children and the teacher feel they can’t make mistakes or where they can’t use their imaginations?

Contrary to the belief of many third graders and public figures, most people don’t become teachers because they want to give tests. When the No Child Left Behind Act and all of the ensuing mania over high-stakes standardized testing came along, I sincerely tried to ignore it, to shut my door on it, but it has really intruded on the culture of education. If I were just starting out now, with things the way they are . . . well, I think I might have been discouraged from the career path altogether. It saddens me to see teachers I knew to be joyous and effective worn down like the nub of a number two pencil.

One blogger offhandedly referred to our national policy alternately as “No Teacher Left Teaching.” Even with our new president, there’s a lot of holdover in that attitude. I, for one, am happy to be accountable the day we decide accountability is not a synonym for success on standardized tests. Accountability means “that which can be explained.” In my own mind, then, accountability is a synonym for documentation. In other professions, like science, people are allowed to make mistakes, to have outcomes they don’t expect, to be creative in finding solutions. . . they just have to describe what happened, try to learn from it, and try to improve. Without this kind of leeway, the teacher corps will attract a very different kind of educator and our students will suffer. I also think it’s worthwhile to remember that most remarkable individuals in American history never took a standardized test, and there have been and will be many people who contribute positively who aren’t that good at filling in blanks. Instead they color outside the lines. But I am hopeful, because necessity is the mother of invention.

More teachers are starting to say, “Hey, you’re trying to make me work in a way that’s not allowing me to be effective with children.” And people are listening. I believe we’ll hit a tipping point, and something positive will come of all this.

You can read more of Esme’s interview on this site.

The book has been re-released for its 10th anniversary and to top it off, there’s a contest to go with this post!

Here’s what you have to do: Leave a comment on this post. Pretty simple, huh? Names will be drawn from all the the people leaving a comment on any of the posts from the book tour and those individuals will win a fabulous prize.

“And what’s in it for you Angela?” So glad you asked! I’ll be eligible for prizes too (yippee!) if this post gets a bit of social media attention. So I’m going to beg ask for your help.

Here’s what you can do to help me out:

• Tweet it
• Digg It
• Stumble It
• Facebook It
• Reddit
• Kirtsy It
• Make it Delicious
• Whatever else you can think of

Now, of course, if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours! So, if you do any of the things listed above, please note it in a comment below. Include all the things you do and I’ll select a winner a random to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card. You’ll get one entry per item (including just plain commenting). This contest runs until the end of September, so feel free social media-ize this post as much as you like. Happy Reading all!

More From Angela

• Book News for the Week of July 19
• The Aloha Quilt: A Book Review
• Viral Loop: A Book Review
• Where The Heck Have I Been?
• Steven Kenworthy Poetry: A Review