Customer Reviews

Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year

5 star:		(102)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I just finished reading this book, in one sitting. I was surprised to find the strong gut reactions that have prompted people to review it here. It is, after all, a diary, not a textbook on teaching methods or a technical report on the state of public education. While I am sure it was edited before publication, it is still a diary, and sounds like it might be very much the way it was actually written at the time. A diary is not written while worrying about what other people will think of it. It is a space for your personal feelings and experiences. After all, if Esme Codell was trying to glorify herself as a teacher, why would she leave in passages describing those days when she just doesn't care, or hates the children she's teaching?

This book is one person describing her experiences in her first year of teaching. Any new graduate, not just new teachers, leaving school with a degree in something they love, sure that they now have the knowledge and ability to change the world, will identify with Esme Codell. Whether or not you like her, or agree with her methods, that isn't the point of her writing. What she is sharing are her own personal feelings and experiences during her first year of teaching. How many other people out there would be willing to share their diaries, even edited, with others? Like her or not, you have to give her credit for what she did. After all, if we only read books written by people we like and whose ideas we agree with, it would be a pretty boring life!

Note for librarians: the part where the author compares hookers to librarians is a blast, and it's meant as a compliment too!

I read this book all in one sitting because it was absolutely wonderful. I am one of those bright-eyed, cheery teachers-to-be who is certain she can change the world and I know I need a reality check every once in a while. Esme's spirit and uncensored voice are compelling. Her experiences will make you laugh and cry, and at times you might gasp in shock at the brutality in her truthfulness, but at no time do you lose touch with her sense of dedication. She responds to idiocracy and teaches her children the only way she knows how--by doing what she KNOWS works and what is best for her students. After all, they learned their alphabet, their division, and to love reading. Shouldn't those be the measure of a great educator?

I am a future teacher who has trouble standing up for myself. Esme does what she knows is right, never what she is told. This book showed me that I don't have to swallow the garbage that is shoveled at me. Thank you, Madam Esme, for teaching me confidence.

PS: One negative reviewer who criticized just about everything in the book REALLY wanted to use the word "kowtowing" instead of that other misspelled one. Perhaps she could have used a few minutes in Madame Esme's class herself.

Although teachers in suburban schools will find themselves longing for the freedom of speech that Madame Esme exercises when dealing with her superiors, they will at the same time find themselves vindicated by knowing that SOMEONE out there is telling administrators what for! As a first year teacher myself who felt as though I was drowning, this book gave me hope and laughter -- two necessary tools for surviving the first year in any school. I completely don't understand the reveiwer who hated this book, claiming that not all teachers are "like that"; that "some of us have morals." This person must have read only a sentence or two in this book. Esme Codell has extremely lofty morals -- and all teachers should aspire to them. She has heart and creativity and strength. The only flaw to this book is that most first-year teachers are not as gifted and confident as Codell, so in that sense it may be difficult to relate to. However, it contains a wealth of fresh ideas, and like I said, those two magic ingredients of a teacher's survival -- hope and laughter.

As a teacher who spent her first years teaching in inner city schools, I was curious and excited to read Educating Esme. I was disappointed that there was less introspection and too much self-promotion. I would be angry if I had been another teacher at this school because by "Madame" Esme's accounts, she is the only one who is working there. Her approach to teaching works for her, and I admire this and enjoyed reading about it. She is inventive and creative and helped her students a great deal. But, just because other teachers and administrators did not praise her every second and did not agree with all of her methodology, I felt she labeled them "bad," and this is not always the case.

Looking in is always an enlightening experience. I enjoyed looking into Esme's classroom and came away with many great teaching ideas. Where this book falls short is looking at the long-term effects and their fundamental causes. Maybe I'm just a big picture type of person, but I thought Esme came across as very self-absorbed. A fast read, I think the title is misleading--Esme seems to believe that she has all of the education she needs.

She knows that she is not the hero. She knows she did not win, rescue anyone, or even persevere. But she did want to tell future educators that teaching is no slice of cake. It is a DIARY. What do most people write in their own journals? THEIR thoughts. THEIR injustices. I met this woman and heard her speak at a future educators' seminar. She is feisty and spirited, just how I feel, and she knows that this book will affect people like me. Most schools are in between the 'all time lows' and the 'all time highs...' However, we need to know that the low is out there and that those schools also have the most important focus of education, just like any other school: children. Not every school is equipped with creative and spirited teachers and administrators who support you in all your teaching endeavors. If you have been teaching for many years, read it and remember the hell of your first year (as so many teachers agree) and the pride of a fresh graduate spouting the theories of Conant and Gardiner. If you are a new or to-be teacher, than get the most important lesson out of it, whatever it may be. For me, sometimes it is good to hold on to your own theories. You don not always have to conform to ways that disagree with your heart.

This is an awesome book. Anyone who is a teacher knows what it is like to battle with the administration, constantly. To be disrespected and feel hopeless. This is the opposite of that. Also, it is a wonderful portrait of what it is really like teaching in the public schools. I would venture to guess that those that did not like this book are either not teachers, or so stuck in old ideas that this book threatened them completely.

I read this book in just a couple of hours, as it goes down as quick and easy as popcorn. Esme Codell is a dedicated and imaginative teacher and I loved a lot of the ideas she used in her classroom. I bet she will be well-remembered by her students. My favorite parts of the books, and the anecdotes I shared with my friends the day I was reading the book, had to do with interactions with her students and some of the things they'd say, or Esme's creative ideas for discipline.

The administration in the school sounds downright bizarre, though, and here's where my complaints come in. I agree with some of the other reviewers that Esme comes off at times as pretty self-centered and I wondered how on earth the principal and vice-principal could be THAT incompetent and offensive and get away with it, which made me question their portrayal. My biggest problem though, was the same thing that gave the book a lot of its charm and readability--the diary format and anecdotal narrative made for an easy breezy read, but again and again I found myself frustrated by occasions where I felt that I was only hearing a small part of the story, particularly when it came to the politics of the school administration and the overall school system. Things would get mentioned with no explanation of their significance, and then would never be seen again (like the Michael Jordan foundation grant money issues for example). Still, it was a memorable read--the best parts of Esme's teaching were in conveying her deep love for books and reading, and I think that her current role as author and reading advocate will convey that without the drawbacks of teaching. I look forward to reading her book about getting kids to love books and reading.

I am also a Chicago Public Schools teacher and I couldn't have said it better myself. Madame Esme brings up so many of the problems that our students face, like poverty, broken homes, lack of parental involvement, etc., and how they seep into the classroom. She also writes about her inept administrators. Sadly, I can relate. I really enjoyed the part where she makes her "worst" student the teacher for the day. She in turn takes his place as the trouble-maker. LOVED IT! I have bought this book for other teachers and I re-read my copy all the time, especially after a hard day in the trenches.

Reading Educating Esme brought back strong feeling (both positive and negative) of my first year,1968, as an inner city school teacher. No,she doesn't have THE answer, but then , who does? My greatest pleasure was passing this book along to my daughter, who is now neck deep in her first year of inner city teaching. It was a lifeline for her to know that others have experienced this manic depressive world and not only survived but felt blessed to have had the experience.

I laughed out loud and agreed with her so many times. It is refreshing to see someone at the beginning of a teaching career with this savy perspective.