|
| 
 enlarge | Author: Rafe Esquith
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy Used: $4.89
You Save: $20.06 (80%)
New (48) Used (41) from $4.89
Avg. Customer Rating:  69 reviews
Sales Rank: 12738
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 0670038156
Dewey Decimal Number: 370.1
EAN: 9780670038152
ASIN: 0670038156
Publication Date: January 18, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: May contain remainder marks. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling books online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: A20081010160734C
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Inspirational February 13, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I absolutely love this book. It is inspirational to read about someone who is obviously so passionate about education and the importance of meeting the needs of students!
Good for teachers and parents January 29, 2008
In the year I started second grade, Rafe Esquith started teaching. Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire contains what he has learned about teaching and why being a teacher is his calling in life.
He divides the book into three parts: There's No Place Like Home, The Method, and finally, The Madness. The first part describes how to earn the trust of students and help them think beyond themselves. Chapter Two, "Searching for Level VI" is especially interesting and useful for anyone who either works with or lives with children.
Part Two, The Method, takes up the bulk of the book. Here he covers the fundamentals of a good education: reading, writing, mathematics, studying for tests, geography, science, art, sports and economics. By the time you finish chapter 11 you may feel overwhelmed by all the things Rafe manages to accomplish with his students but you will also feel exhilarated by his boundless enthusiasm.
Part Three, The Madness, closes out the book with all the extra curricular things he does with his students. These include the Hobart Shakespeareans, the annual trip to Washington D. C., and the Feed of the World project.
Rafe gives concrete examples in each of his chapters. There are plenty of ways for teachers and parents to inspire an teach the children in their lives.
 Get it from the library January 10, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book is only for the teachers who have a lot of money to burn, and an administration that isn't standing over their shoulder. Most of us have to PROVE we are following ALL the standards, test scores CAN mean our jobs,we do want the students to realize testing is a part of their lives, and we do not have the money and huge amounts extra time he has. In addition to that, I am unsure that I would want my children in his room... considering he feels that R rated movies are okay to show to 5th graders, as a teacher, I know I am not allowed to show anything unless it is rated G. Makes me wonder how he got to be where he is without getting fired. His lack of respect for the other teachers in his building shows that he is unaware of his actions as a role model. This book is NOT worth the money, go to the library if you want the handful of good ideas he has. Most of the websites that he has listed are sales sites, so don't get your hopes up unless you or your district has the money to spend. There are much better teacher role models out there!
Recommended Reading for Teachers Everywhere December 23, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book by National Medal of the Arts winner Rafe Esquith will probably be a bitter pill for many school teachers to swallow. Frankly, when I finished the book, I was wondering if he does anything else in his life except being involved in creative activities with his students or preparing for them. Does the guy ever stop to take a breather? Does he ever spend any leisure time with adult friends? Does he take a bathroom break now and then? His account of his teaching practices often appears to be the educational enterprise on steroids! But I will say I was impressed with his dedication and his abilities and might suggest that with more teachers like him, we might not have the "problems" we do in our current public school system.
I spent seventeen years in the public school system as a teacher and administrator. So I know something about how the system works. I am also aware that many of my views regarding the public schools were then and still are controversial and today most likely "politically incorrect." While I find nothing wrong with Esquith's general teaching methods, curricular ideas, or classroom management techniques, there is one thing -- and only this one thing -- of which I would be critical. Never would I have permitted a student to call me by my first name or, for that matter, allowed the teachers or other school workers I supervised to engage in such a practice. Call me old-fashioned or just not "with it," but I think that sort of familiarity is just not conducive to good classroom management.
However, when Esquith gets into the issue of testing, there I am with him completely if I understand his opinions. Mass standardized testing for the purpose of comparing schools or measuring one school district against others or whatever, is, in my considered opinion, very destructive and mostly deceptive. Testing or measuring or what is often generally called "educational evaluation" is important to be sure. The problem involves the purpose or purposes for which such evaluation is done. In a school where I was the administrator for seven years, we tested the kids twice a year -- at the beginning of the year and in the final week of the school year -- using a standardized test called the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. At the time I thought this was the best instrument to test those basic skills every child ought to learn in order to actually learn, either in school or on his or her own.
We did not, however, use the results of the testing to determine how we compared with other schools or districts, either locally or nationwide. The results were never openly published. The results were used for only two purposes: (1) individual pupil diagnoses to determine what that individual was already proficient at and what weaknesses needed to be addressed during the school year; and (2) a diagnosis of our current curriculum and teaching methodologies to see where and what we as educators needed to improve. The entire professional staff was involved in evaluating the progress of our school and suggesting improvements. Even though our school was located in an isolated rural area and over 90% of our school's pupils were officially designated as "culturally and economically disadvantaged," there was not a single child reading or doing arithmetic below grade-level at the end of seven years when I left for another position in the system.
There is much that teachers might learn from Esquith's book. Certainly the success of his Hobart Shakespeareans cannot be ignored or dismissed. They are, after all, world famous. Esquith deserves the credit he is due for that. Virtually all of his teaching techniques are right on the money. As well as his general management style and the way in which he relates with his students. His emphasis on art and music education needs to be pondered by school boards everywhere. (I have never understood why art and music are the first things usually cut out by school boards when money is tight. These are the most humane of studies and yet athletics is considered more important. Oh, well...)
I recommend this book to all readers, but especially to teachers and school administrators. It will open your eyes while you watch a "master teacher" at work in that most critical of enterprises, the preparation of the next generation of human beings for a life well lived.
Teach December 5, 2007
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
Bought this for my son, who is a teacher. Haven't heard yet how he liked it.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
