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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A teacher responds..., February 14, 2006
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.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Check This Out, December 5, 2005
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.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worthwhile Read, December 8, 2005
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.
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