Customer Reviews

Becoming Mr. Henry

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Becoming Mr. Henry succinctly lays out the conundrum presented to anyone teaching in public education today: How does a teacher best serve his or her students in the current educational climate? Becoming Mr. Henry is one person's answer. I found the book thought provoking and inspiring.

To paraphrase Frank McCourt, the classroom teacher is the last person anyone consults when determining educational policy. Should that situation ever change, Mr. Henry would be an excellent person to start with.

The concept, inspired by Parker Palmer's The Courage To Teach, is to sketch the inner landscape of a teacher, revealing how early experiences in family, school and beyond contribute to an educational philosophy which values the journey of young people above the mania of public school norms and test scores, which mean little, in the end, about one's essential character

Here is the backdrop: The author's parents, both teachers themselves, raise nine children during the baby-boom years. While it is not a study of that era per se, the post-war saga-get married, get degrees, rain children, and, as careers peak, discover things are haywire with the kids-lurks in the background. The essays follow the doings of a ponderous but adventurous child who learns to adapt to his family's oddities through sports, friends, academics, and the usual conceits of adolescence.

Each chapter employs narrative episodes to inform and ground important issues about learning and education-how a boy went completely astray but nonetheless crashed on the shores of becoming a teacher. On the whole, the book speaks optimistically and realistically about the process of learning: how it happens, what roles are played by family, friends and school. And it is a process. One requiring love, energy, humor and persistence. But the book also departs from its personal point-of-view to find fault with today's schools, as well as criticize America's naïve faith in its own righteousness. It asserts we are doing a disservice to youth, ill-preparing them for the future: emphasizing a "standardized" agenda and exams over the time-tested importance of relationships, intrinsic motivation and critical thinking. It also critiques America's continued embrace of profound inequities between black and white, rich and poor-the whole precept that America's public schools are mere preparation for today's corporate economy rather than about developing an informed and independent citizenry.

The book touches upon family, learning, teaching, and ultimately, America's self-confident but overtly paradoxical character. Its spokes emanate from a common hub-school-but ineluctably, follow the lens of one teacher's seeing: a mix of story, memoir and pointed ideas about the nature, pitfalls and inescapable humanity which adheres to education. It is not a book about pedagogy, methods, theory or school reform, but walks the delicate line of revealing through story the essential-and sometimes thorny-truths about being schooled in America and growing into a central role as teacher.

In simplest terms, Becoming Mr. Henry celebrates the importance of stories themselves, even one as simple as a man falling for teaching unexpectedly, then being consumed with getting-it-right for those in his tracks and the country he loves.

This is a unique book, a mix of story, philosophy and some almost political elements. Henry does a good job of reflecting on the job of teaching and the role of public education in this country. He is well-informed and tells engaging stories along the way.

Highly recommended.

I loved this book- plain and simple. The voice in here is intelligent and original, yet remains easy to relate to. When I was reading the about Henry's experiences and anxieties as a child, I felt like I was back in my own childhood, back in my high school. It was the same feeling I had reading Salinger for the first time-the character's uncertainty, the newness of every action and thought, the alienation, the search for truth.

As someone who is a teacher, I find the perspectives the author gives about his time in the classroom to be invaluable. It is refreshing to read about his focus on developing an environment that inspires students to think deeply, to exceed the normal and mundane. Henry's ideas regarding group dynamics in the classroom and how to assist students in taking ownership of their aspirations should be considered by all teachers. The analysis of education reminds me of the best Peter Elbow has to offer, but with more practicality and attention to detail. Highly recommended.

Peter Henry provides a compassionate and provoking examination on the elements that comprise a productive educational system. He goes above and beyond the normal diatribes against the modern public school system and exposes the true flaws of the system-the lack of community support, the misuse of school resources, the reliance on read and repeat learning strategies, and the failure to honestly engage students with the complex ideas/issues they face. Henry manages to scrutinize and comment on the spectrum of issues faced by the educational system without falling prey to the easy, oversimplified answers put forth by so many critics and commentators.
But to simply categorize this work as a treatise on education would be unfair. Henry's writing is a sensitive narrative full of wit and precise observation, a narrative that effectively weaves his own experiences as both awkward teenager and tenured instructor. His writing contains the insight gained through years of creating and integrating challenging curricula while also accurately portraying the obstacles faced by the very youth he teaches.
If only lawmakers and lobbyists could get together and read this book, Americans may actually be able to send their children to school with the certainty that their kids were getting the rich and multifaceted education that has been promised in so many empty political speeches. If only they all could become Mr. Henry.

Becoming Mr. Henry captures the essence of how our upbringing influenced Peter's later decision to become a teacher and the kind of teacher he became. The kind of teacher I wish for my children who are both in public school. Teachers are so important in the lives of our children. Yet we do under pay many of them and over work most of them. At a time when civic groups, politicians and businesses alike are saying that public education is their top priority very few are putting their energy and money where their mouths are. Instead of No Child Left Behind we have Many Children Left Behind. Peter's combination of wit, humor, storytelling, philosophizing, being real and yet leaving the reader with optimism in this time of despair is quite an accomplishment. This small book packs a punch. As Peter says..."We are all students. We are all teachers." Peter strikes me as the kind of teacher that would inspire kids to want to learn. Isn't that what we all want for our children? I wish that members of Congress and the Bush administration would read this book so they could have a glimpse of the true nature of teaching and learning in today's world. Perhaps then those of us with kids in school would have more faith in the future of our educational policy. Peter and I (and our 7 other siblings) were very lucky to have such wonderful parents who truly understood the meaning of teaching and learning and community service. I only hope that my children will be as lucky! Now about airbrushing me out of the picture on the cover of your book...

I know that Framk McCourt is a hell of a writer, but the job of teaching is a social/civic position, and as such, should involve more than just memories of the years. There should be some actual thought and structure to what the person who was teaching was up to.

In his book, Becoming Mr. Henry, we get a full dose of the man as well as the philosophy that guided Peter Henry's efforts at teaching. This is helpful for the parent, as well as the would-be teacher, or anybody interested in what happens between the walls of an average suburban high school. I know I enjoyed it a great deal.

Funny at times, richly narrated, poingnant and full of reflection on the life of trying to help kids become better themselves, this is a book that would be especially loved by teachers themselves. Often abused by others, especially politicians, what we get with this book is a look at the life of a real teacher, a real human being, grappling with the social milieu that comes into his room.

Read it for yourself, and come to know a part of American society long-ignored, criticized and berated. If this is any indication of what the teacher's lot is like, public education is in better shape than any of us imagine.