Customer Reviews

If Holden Caulfield Were in My Classroom: Inspiring Love, Creativity, and Intelligence in Middle School Kids

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"If Holden Caulfield Were in My Classroom" came in the mail last night and I couldn't put it down. No work got done today, I just read and read and read. The book is great, of course, and the best part about it is that just by reading it - in the act of reading it - I was forced to cast away my own pretenses and inhibitions and reveal myself to myself as I had to many years ago when I was a student in Bernie Schein's middle school classroom. Reading about the kids - and seeing how mature, thoughtful, and sophisticated they are - made me realize (again) that "growing up" is all a farce. Adulthood is just another excuse the chronologically challenged use to hide themselves from themselves and from others. In every school, in every office, in every workplace, in every community in America, there is the same range of personalities - and the same range of conflicts - as Bernie Schein describes in his book. I will, as the author put it, "cajole, whine, get on my knees and beg, confront, challenge, shame (if [I] have to)" everyone I know into (buying) and reading "If Holden Caulfield Were in My Classroom". It's just a real gift, this book.

This book, like Bernie, is a breath of fresh air. His charm, wit, and technique are so infectious that kids (and adults) are instantly at ease in his presence. It is exciting and reassuring to see how students of all ages yearn to be better writers and scholars at his urging.

When people are around Bernie, it is easy for them to forget the rest of the world exists. His honesty and candor encourage others to seek that same level of truth in their own writing as well as in their own lives.

I was blown away by the creative techniques he includes in his book. While he teaches students academic skills that are essential in the educational experience, he is also teaching them valuable lessons about life. It makes me want to be a better teacher and instructor to the students in my own classroom.

As a public school teacher, I long for the uninhibited spirit with which Bernie approached lessons in his own classroom. This environment is conducive to both students and teachers alike. Should we interact at the level Bernie instructs us to do in his book, there would not be the stress and worry about test scores and AYP. Things would naturally fall into place, for we would be able to teach instead of spending so much valuable time bracing ourselves for failure under the "teaching the test" system so many public school systems are requiring.

All administrators and teachers should take the time to read this book. It is a stark reminder of what should be happening in every single classroom. I only wish my own children could experience this kind of learning in their educational lives.

Bernie Schein has written an important, necessary book that shows us what real teaching is. Teaching is not preparing students for tests, Bernie tells us; teaching is helping students, 12-14 year-olds in Bernie' case, discover the contours of their souls, and then helping them to express what they find there. His book shows that true teaching means giving children the time to confront what mystifies, limits, or terrifies them, and then showing them how to express the glory of their very deep, profound and human hearts.

Bernie Schein reveals himself to be a brilliant teacher: southern, Jewish, ribald, comical, loving, honest, and free. As a teacher he says what is on his mind so that his students can learn to do the same. His students are brilliant, creative, tenacious, idiotic, and real: they cover the entire spectrum of every kind of kid who walks into the rooms of our nation's schools. With Bernie they break every rule and expectation of those stultifying, conventional classrooms, and they create art, beauty, and true knowledge while they do it.

"If Holden Caulfield Were In My Classroom" shows us what great wonders can happen in classroom when a brilliant, innovative teacher uses his own experience to liberate and empower his students; when the teacher reveals to them that what they have to say is more important than all the No Child Left Behind legislation combined.

All teachers should read this book. All students of education should read this book. Parents, educational consultants, teachers in university education and teacher certification programs, members of Congress, school administrators, and board members of schools both public and private should read this book to see if the classrooms for which they are responsible are engendering the kind of love, creativity, and intelligence that spills forth from the classroom of Bernie Schein's teaching.

This book is a true inspiration! I laughed and cried and wanted more when I was done. I felt like I knew each and every one of the students Bernie Schein wrote about - in my experience, it's not often a teacher truly knows his/her students quite as well as Bernie did. This book is a must read for parents and teachers. Frankly, it's a must read for anyone - I'll bet that reading this book will make you want to write your own story and figure out who you truly are. I also wished I had been lucky enough to have met someone like Mr. Schein when I was in school.

The forward by Pat Conroy and the letter by Paul Bianchi, headmaster of Paideia show what great love and admiration both men have for Bernie and his way with students. Being a HUGE fan of Pat Conroy and having read most of his books, seeing his forward made me even more excited to read this book. I hope everyone reads it -

From the Introduction by Pat Conroy, Best-Selling Author of The Water is Wide ----

Bernie is one of the funniest men I've ever met, one of the greatest teachers I've ever watched, one of the best writing teachers I've ever met...has proved invaluable to me over the course of a long career...reads my work with tenderness, devotion and an all-seeing critical eye. Judicious. But his true genius lies in his ability to praise. No one can praise you like Bernie Schein. No one.

No one can teach a book better than Bernie Schein. In his writing class he was masterful...would coax stories from his kids that were the finest things ever written by seventh graders...he did it by complete immersion into the emotional and spiritual life of any child who walked into his classroom.

...charismatic, wide-eyed and controversial. The great men always are, and Bernie Schein is the best I've ever seen.

If Holden Caulfield Were in My Classroom is astonishing and original...does not tell you how to teach, but tells you how to live, how to feel deeply, how to enrich your time on earth. ...part philosophy, part self-help guide, a text of revelation, and an ode to the beauty of law and the wisdom of justice.

I was a frequent visitor to Bernie's classes. I know every kid that he writes about. I read their stories. They were lucky to encounter as very young people a man on fire.

Bernie Schein has been a life-changing force in my life. Now, with this book, he can be one in yours."

I bought this book at a writers' workshop after hearing Bernie speak about his life and the creative process. I am an author, an experienced family therapist, a mother and grandmother, and I list these aspects of my personhood only to accentuate that I loved this book on every level. We're living in a bullet-point, sound-bite, anxiety-driven culture, and this book was a refreshing anitidote to all that. Reading this book I felt that I was given entrance into an enlightened, compassionate, devoted teacher's mind and life experience. We need more teachers, parents and coaches like Bernie Schein. Buy his book, read it, and tell your family and friends about it.

"If Holden Caulfield Were In My Classroom" is another reminder of all that I owe to Bernie Schein. This book encapsulates the two exciting, difficult and immensely rewarding years that I spent as a junior high student in Bernie's class. Bernie's innovation, honesty and love extend further than any teacher I've ever encountered. This book poignantly captures those moments. The world would--seriously--be a better place if more classrooms were like Bernie's.

I live in a community where Bernie's techniques would probably be un(der)appreciated, but I found myself captivated at the stories of the lives of the children in his classroom, their life together, their struggles, and ultimately the many victories and losses they had together because of honesty. I wish I went to school like this, and I hope that my children will find teachers with this passion and commitment to human growth. I was inspired, thanks.

Bernie Schein, that mad, manic, whirling dervish of a southern mystic, has written a book that deserves your immediate and undivided attention. He has seen inside the mind and soul of middle schoolers (a place even the most intrepid enter with fear and nausea) and has reported back to us with astounding news---there is hope for those who live in the hell of adolescence and for those who love them. He offers a revolutionary approach to learning, to teaching and to living that is based on a startling principle--the idea that truth, beauty and love can be fostered in 12 year olds so full of fear, hormones and self-loathing that they can scarcely breathe. Schein guides the reader through this creative process artfully and with his wonderful southern humor and charm. He makes me wish I were a teacher. He makes me wish I had been a student in his classroom. He makes me wish I had had this book six years ago when my child was in middle school. Because I can have none of those things, I wish instead that you would buy this book and read it. Give it to your child's teacher. Give it to your child. Storm the school and hold the principal hostage until she reads it,too. And then, climb up on the roof of the school and give a shout out---Bernie Schein is in the house and education will never be the same again. Thank God.

Brilliant! This book made me laugh out loud. And marvel at the insights into what makes kids tick, what helps them learn and why they try to throw us off the trail. Ought to be required reading for every teacher and every parent. The magic that Bernie Schein creates in the classroom is the birthright of every child. If only there were more of him to go around!

As a former student of Mr. Schein's, reading this book was a very emotional and rewarding read. It was amazing to finally see his work in the classroom in book form and available to everyone. I read it in about a day, and felt like I was back in his classroom. Reading this book will not only bring you closer to those who are meaningful to you, but will make you want to understand yourself better, and will enlighten you on how to do that, and to ultimately be even happier! Plus, it's fun to read about Bernie's crazy personality, and how much the kids meant to him, and how much he meant to them!