Among School Children Book Review
"Teachers usually have no way of knowing that they have made a difference in a child's life, even when they have made a dramatic one. But for children who are used to thinking of them selves as stupid or not worth talking to or deserving rape and beatings, a good teacher can provide an astonishing revelation. A good teacher can give a child at least a chance to feel, "She thinks I'm worth something. Maybe I am." Good teachers put snags in the river of children passing by, and over the years, they redirect hundreds of lives. Many people find it easy to imagine unseen webs of malevolent conspiracy in the world and they are not always wrong. But there is also an innocence that conspires to hold humanity together, and it is made of people who can never fully know the good that they have done."Anyone looking for insight into what makes a good teacher would greatly appreciate reading Tracy Kidder's Among Schoolchildren. This passage from the book exemplifies the importance of a role that a teacher plays in a child's life. Teachers have the ability to improve a child's life without even realizing it - a refreshing revelation for both new and old teachers who may often wonder if they have ever made a difference.
It is inspiring to read about Chris Zajac. It is important for teachers who have been teaching for more than ten years to read this book. Among Schoolchildren does not let readers forget what teaching is all about. One sees Miss Zajac going home at night adjusting her lesson plans because her class is not understanding the way she has always done a particular lesson. She takes the blame for her students not understanding her lesson, she does not say, "It's their fault" as to why they don't understand her lesson. She takes the responsibility and tries to adapt her lesson to her student's needs. Miss Zajac is aware of her weakness in teaching science; she knows her science lessons are not as strong as her history lessons. Therefore, we see Miss Zajac go home at night and continuously try to improve her lessons. Kidder shows Zajac questioning herself at the end of the school day of how she was just not able to "reach" her students that day and she thinks of what she can do differently tomorrow. Reading this book can be a good wake up call for some veteran teachers, especially those whose lesson plans have turned yellow throughout the years. Schoolchildren one encounters a school year in the life of a fifth grade teacher, Miss Chris Zajac, and her fifth grade class, observed by the author, Tracy Kidder. The setting is in a low socio-economic class neighborhood in Holyoke, Massachusetts, a town consisting of a high population of people of Puerto Rican descent. Miss Zajac's class is made up of about twenty students, most of whom are Puerto Rican, low-income students, many of whom have been abused, neglected, or have emotional difficulties. Kidder portrays Miss Zajac as a charming yet tough, fair, and dedicated teacher. Among Schoolchildren focuses on a particular group of students, especially those that give Miss Zajac the most trouble or the ones that she finds difficult to deal with; it also tells of the children who are the brightest in her classroom. We meet and get to know many of her students. We meet Clarence, her most troublesome student; the child who never d
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Approximate Word count = 1418
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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