Customer Reviews

An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students

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Ron Berger has put together a way of thinking about standards that surpasses anything I've read up to now.
It made me want to start school and teaching all over again, and to feel sad that none of my own children or grandchildren had him as a teacher. This is one of those rare accounts that you KNOW is true. (I happen to know it based on a visit I made to his chool some years ago.) Order it immediately.--send it to a friend amd colleague.

"Teaching is hard," Ron Berger writes in this brilliant, inspiring and practical book of craft wisdom. While his primary audience is educators who focus on building school culture, his ideas for cultivating and maintaining an unwavering work ethic of excellence are gems also for parents, clergy and any one with responsibility for developing the mind and character of a child.
"It is through their own work that their self-esteem will grow," he notes citing numerous vivid examples. Berger writes with clarity, candor and humility. His stories inside and outside the classroom form a compelling narrative in support of his case that all children deserve an education that is this demanding and meaningful.

This book is a great practical example of how to focus as a teacher. Ron Berger brings to light the trouble with current educational trends and shows ways students can be naturally engaged. His students feel mature, bright and capable. Read this book, follow Ron's example. I finished it in a day and it has changed my whole approach to teaching.

This book is an inspiration! Written by a teacher, Berger outlines how his school has created a culture of excellence. Through the use of project based learning as the core of the curriculum, they inspire the students to create products of high standards. He explains how and why they do this. His stories of his students show us how all students can produce amazing work. This book reminds us of what real can and should look like.

For two painful years, I tried to instill the passion for revision in my students. I applied Ron's idea of creating a culture of quality to one aspect of my class: writing. In September, my students saw their pencils as 100 lbs weights and struggled to write. By April, and after reading this book, they labored and poured themselves over revision after revision. Thanks to this book, my students now truly believe they can create powerful work in writing and more importantly, the process of creating stronger work. This lesson will stay and serve them for a life-time.

If this book did that to one aspect of my class, I'm excited about its impact on all the aspects of a classroom and a school entirely.

Berger's method consists of allowing students to learn through real-world applications the concepts taught in class. To do this he integrates concepts of different subject areas for the completion of a project that has real-world application. Usually the projects are based on the community. He starts a project by showing his current students past student work. This sets the standard for excellence. As part of the project, the students create several drafts and improve their drafts based on peer-review. Classmates critique each other's work in a safe environment and through this process raise the excellence of their work. This method creates meaningful learning that many of his students cherished for the rest of their lives because their projects improved their community's lives.
As you read it you'll also appreciate Berger's passion for his students. It's an amazing book! I highly recommend it.

Berger, a carpenter as well as K-6 teacher and teacher-educator, sets forth his philosophy of education. Focus is on excellent work - guiding students to produce such; other aspects fall into place around this. Body of the work consists of 3 chapters: School Culture of Excellence; Work of Excellence; Teaching of Excellence. Draws on his own teaching & what he has seen and learned in traveling while working for Harvard's Project Zero & the Coalition of Essential Schools.

I found this excellent, a great explication of what quality schooling should really be about, and so rarely is. Great on the importance of school culture, which is critical to success, and under-appreciated (creating a positive - truly collaborative, learning-oriented - culture in the classroom is something Berger clearly does which most teachers don't succeed in doing, and many don't attempt). I disagree with the reviewer who didn't like the personal anecdotes - I thought they kept it interesting, and "real" rather than a dry explication of educational theory - and his stories of presenting at conferences & doing trainings in schools around the country shed some light on how a white guy from New England is able to give advice to urban, mostly non-white educators around the country.

Evaluating schools, in a way you can quantify and report to policymakers, remains a challenge that isn't addressed here , but Berger would argue it shouldn't be the main issue, or the main strategy for improving schools.

I read this book on a short airplane flight and my ideas for how a classroom should be run changed in that short time. Berger presents his experiences in a very readable fashion, mixing in educational theory with anecdotal evidence. If you are looking for a great read during the summer, I highly recommend this book! You will be inspired to implement more project-based learning in your class, and will think about how to help your students drive their own learning experiences.

Amazing read. Gets to the heart of community, educating children, instilling work ethic, pride, and responsibility. Hands on teaching and learning for students and teachers. EXCELLENT.

This book is only partially interesting. While the context is interesting, teaching kids excellence through developing and practicing a craft, I found the multitude of personal stories tiresome and uninformative. Really, I think readers can spend their money more wisely.