Customer Reviews

Tales from the Teachers' Lounge: What I Learned in School the Second Time Around-One Man's Irreverent Look at Being a Teacher Today

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Rob Wilder has a wicked pen. He skewers everyone--students, teachers, friends, family, and above all himself--with a biting sarcasm, but also with grace and humor. Reading him, you have the feeling that if he got ahold of you, he'd show all your foibles, but it wouldn't really sting. He'd have you dead to rights, and all you could do would be laugh. That and moan perhaps, at Wilder's exposure of the educational and social subtleties of the classroom, the underbelly of today's schools.

"Never give a Wilder a microphone or a podium," the author says. "Like an infomercial, we'll be on all night." That's fine with me, because I'll be up laughing. Wilder outdoes himself with his versions of student retellings of books often taught in high school: The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, Song of Myself, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, and others. Brilliant. I wish, in the tenth grade, I'd had a teacher half as devoted, humane and funny as Rob Wilder.

Rob Wilder's latest book is an up-close look at the life of a school teacher. Very funny and at times very poignant, Tales . . . tells us much about Wilder's own experiences in the classroom and about that rare mix of humor, drama, knowledge of one's subject matter, and love of kids that makes a great teacher. I recommend it highly!

Like a previous reviewer, I had to quit this book. Chapter four was my limit. Maybe if I'd finished I might have gotten SOMETHING out of this gutter-language, gutter-thinking book, but I didn't want to be dragged through the crap (excuse me), in-between. The author is lauded on the back cover, and I was fooled by people who should know a lack of quality when they see it.

Actually, this is my re-write of my Amazon review of this book because I originally quoted some of the author's language (even broken with dashes, which usually passes) and Amazon found it so offensive they wouldn't publish the review. This alone gives you an idea of what I am referring to. Maybe I can get away with saying there are too many "F" and "S" words, but that's being too mild.

Philosophically, the author views professional teachers (of which he is one) as being in the "education game" (p. 18), which he also refers to as the "saddest pleasure called teaching" (p.30).

Up to Chapter Four, at least, he writes about abnormal situations and such students and thinks we readers (many who will be teachers) should consider this interesting or humorous. I sense his moral compass is wobbly and unnecessarily pointing south. I found no sense of altruism; instead, I was struck by his negativity. I know I only read four out of twenty-four chapters, but an author sets the tone of his/her book early on, and this one is offensive (as one previous reviewer wrote).

The Creative Teacher: Activities for Language Arts (Grades 4 through 8 and Up)

Mr. Wilder's book is chock full of funny and creative metaphorical comparisons. However, there are few moments of serious introspection. For the most part, his memoir is a light, whimsical compilation of misadventures in the teaching world. In one chapter (pages 66-76 in paperback edition), the author either fails to recognize or felt it wasn't important to elaborate that two, "eccentric" outcasts in one of his classes were clearly Asperger (high-functioning autism) kids. The stories of dealing and observing these two students were very funny, but also a missed opportunity to educate the reader about autism. And that is the crux of Mr. Wilder's book. Lots of laughs if you like your humor somewhat caustic, but chances are you won't walk away from this volume being more enlightened about the teaching profession. This type of humor isn't for everyone. I found the book enjoyable and a nice, brief distraction from more serious works.

I have been a teacher for the last 14 years, seven in Albuquerque and seven in Colorado. This book is right on the nose. I think it is great. Great read for any irreverent teacher.

I think anyone who has a sense of humor and the capacity for not taking life TOO seriously can relate to this book! The essays in this book are spot-on funny, and yes, irreverent, as the title states. If you want to remember what it was like to slink through the halls of learning in a constant state of fear/embarrassment; want a handle on school from a teacher's perspective; or just want a good belly laugh -this book is for you!

Don't read this book hoping to find cheery essays about teaching. This book was a misery to read.

The essays consist of cruel jabs at the author's fellow teachers, his students, and administrators. Yes, I laughed here and there, but I always looked around to see who was watching me. I actually put the book down and was going to give up on it, but then I went to see the author at the Texas Book Festival. He seems to be more compassionate in person than he seems in his essays. I decided to give the man another chance and I read through to the end.

I can't imagine who I'd recommend this book to; its view of education is bitter and bleak and left me feeling that what I do is pointless in light of the present state of the world.

I'm an elementary school teacher, and I enjoy reading the expereinces of those teachers who are fortunate enough to be able to get thier stories in print. Ron Clark's books, while self-congratulatory, have some value. Dan Brown's 'The Great Expectations School' was one of the most realistic tales on education that I've read yet. I've found authors such as Phillip Done to be quite entertaining, and that was what I was hoping to find here, particularly since this book occupied the same shelf at the bookstore as the above authors. 'Tales From the Teachers' Lounge' was not in any way eye-opening, helpful or even entertaining.

Irreverent, yes. Crude...oh, yes. You'd imagine someone who believes himself a talented writer could come up with better descriptons than the awful metaphors Wilder relies on. Perhaps my largest problem with this book was that it rarely discussed the field of teaching. There were a few anecdotes about students and co-workers, most of whom are fat and bad dressers. He also complains about inservices and internal politics at his school, but the teaching content was not strong enough to actually say the book was "about" teaching. There was just as much, if not more included about Wilder's family and his own childhood. Aside from the vulgar language, this was my biggest problem with the book. Yes, there is an audience for Wilder's humor, but it should not be marketed in the "education" area of the bookstore or in search engines because this book is in no way about education.

I actually read the whole book, just to be fair but I had to wade through way too many gutter euphemisms and F bombs. Honestly - does anyone over 15 and with an education really talk like this anymore? Maybe three meaningful observations in the whole book, one really good laugh out loud moment, and three can't-get-'em-back hours later, I realized that some of the really positive reviews are either by paid for by the publishers or by people who need to leave teaching. If you want to be reminded of just how hopeless some schools are, don't mnind extraordinarily crude and graphic language, and are a fan of biting, but not funny, sarcasm, this is the book for you. But get it from the library.

This book was more helpful to me than the last five years of inservice combined. It is so refreshing to know that there are other dedicated teachers who get frustrated with students, administrators, parents, and above all, themselves and are still able to maintain a sense of humor! Buy this book!