Kelly Gallagher

I appreciate the authors' passion, and agree with many of their ideas, but I didn't feel like they adequately answered the questions they set out to ("How do you fit it all in?"; "What does a year of teaching in your classroom look like?").

They give a daily breakdown at the very beginning, and then subsequent chapters break the year down into weeks of various units, and they describe what they do in those units. After reading it all, I'm convinced they're stretching the truth about what they do the same way many job applicants stretch it on their résumés. I would have loved to see several in-depth descriptions of what actually happened each day versus a general idea of what happens over the course of a few weeks.

Also, it sounded like they assign a lot of homework. Two hours of reading outside class each week, and they didn't really state how long they expected kids to work on writing outside of class, but with the assignments they included, surely they would need time outside of class for it. Teachers seem to forget that kids are already in school for long hours and have other classes, to boot.

A tone of arrogance shone through, and a certain hypocrisy. They say not everything will work for every student, flexibility is important, etc., but they're strongly opposed to 5-paragraph essays, shaming teachers who use them. I get that they're not the end goal, but the vast majority of kids I've seen don't know where to begin, and organization through a standard format like this helps a ton. They wanted their kids to "be creative" and to "break the rules," but you can't break rules effectively when you don't first know what the rules are and how to follow them. (For some context, they stated many of their students didn't know how to address an envelope. But 5-paragraph essays are beneath them?)

There were a few instances of profanity from the authors, which I always find unprofessional.

And finally, a pet peeve from the interior book design: Some of the tables were started on the bottom half of the right page, then continued onto the top half of the left page. They would have been easier to read if someone had bothered to keep them on the same page and adjust the text around them.

So, anyway, it's worth a read; it will inspire teachers to be better, just like any book on education. But I'm happier with my own schedule, to be honest.… (mer)

This book has changed the way I think about teaching literature, which has drastically altered my overall philosophy about teaching English. Some of the ideas are radical, especially if you have a traditional view of what high school English should look like. But, like I tell my students at the end of the year: when I was a junior in high school, I didn't read a single book that was assigned. The books weren't interesting and the accompanying work was a joke. That was 20 years ago, AND I'd always been a strong reader. If I hadn't been a strong reader, I probably would have stopped reading for fun that year.… (mer)