Kyle Schwartz

**This book was reviewed for Perseus, Da Capo Press via Netgalley.

Schwartz’ poignant book is a testimony to the impact and power a teacher has. Rather than going through the mere drudgery of teaching, day in, day out, Schwartz went out of her way to really get to know her students. Teachers really play the role of psychologist and sociologist, in addition to their 'job’ of passing along information.

Kids of all ages have myriad problems most people either don't know, or don't care about, but those problems, and lack of a positive outlet of release, can lead to all manner of behavioural issues. Children look up to teachers as mentors, and all it takes is one to pay attention, and genuinely care to make a difference. Throughout this book, Kyle illustrates this again, and again, with many different issues. Specific examples of students’ “I wish my teacher knew…” are given, but if you are expecting the whole book to be that, you are destined for disappointment. There are anecdotal stories I found more fascinating than the kids’ submissions, mainly because of the difficulty I had reading the photocopies of the on the Kindle.

📚📚📚📚 Should be required reading for all teachers.… (mer)

This is a great book for teachers of all ages filled with practical advice about some important aspects of teaching. She discusses how to build a community of learning in a classroom, even during periods of transition, how to cope with issues of poverty that too many of our students face every day to how to include families and cope with grief. She also discusses how to develop character, encourage self-efficacy and generate more student engagement in the learning process. I found so much useful information in her advice!… (mer)

I received this book free from Netgalley and Da Capo Lifelong Books for a fair and honest review. Thank you!!

To begin with I am not a teacher or connected in any way to any educational profession. The first thing I would say about this book is that the author is clearly passionate about her job and willing to go the extra mile to help her students. It would be nice to say that all those in the teaching profession would be as passionate about their job but we are only human and have different motivations and levels of professionalism.

The author goes through, in detail, a variety of topics, including food insecurity, dealing with grief, student engagement in the classroom, to treating all students equally, and the authors perspective on how things should be changed, is backed up with research and sociological theory that has been carried out. She also includes examples and ideas to kick start the readers off on their quest to improve student’s education.

I highly recommend this for anyone who is teaching students, or has hopes of entering the teaching profession. It is written to be accessible for teachers. However, every country has its own methods and rules of teaching and I am unsure if these methods would be or even could be used outside the U.S.… (mer)