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DEL.ICIO.USThe Get Schooled Reading List
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last Friday’s movie topic got me thinking about school-theme books I have read and loved. My favorite is Pat Conroy’s “The Water is Wide,” a memoir about teaching on an island off the South Carolina coast.
There are so many others. I’ll just mention one more: “One Day, All Children,” Wendy Kopp’s story of how she launched Teach for America (I applied and was accepted to this program in 1991…In the book, I learned applications were down that year and almost everyone was accepted! I declined the job. I chickened out and went to Japan.)
What school-oriented books, fiction or nonfiction, do you love? (I’ll compile a list of favorites and post it as a permanent link along with the movies…)
Comments
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By Wesley Smith
November 11, 2005 08:45 AM | Link to this
I agree with your selection of Pat Conroy’s “The Water is Wide”. I would like to add “Teacher, The One Who Made the Difference” by Mark Edmundson. It is a memoir of his high school days in the early seventies up in the Boston area.
By Karen Armsby
November 11, 2005 09:01 AM | Link to this
‘A Separate Peace’ by John Knowles is one of my all time favorites. The focus is on the students, but their story is a lesson for all of us.
By Liz
November 11, 2005 10:26 AM | Link to this
As a first year teacher, I love “Up the Down Staircase” by Bel Kaufman and a newer book “Educating Esme” by Esme Raji Codell. Both show the goods and bads of the first year.
By MamaS
November 11, 2005 02:24 PM | Link to this
“Up the Down Staircase” by B. Kaufman convinced me I did not want to teach — ever! I should have re-read it a few times. I am finishing my 25th year in teaching. Conroy’s “The Water Is Wide” is another one that should be required reading for anyone who declares a major in education. It might help save a few people from preparing for a career that doesn’t fit.
By SWC
November 11, 2005 04:11 PM | Link to this
Dittoes to “A Separate Peace”. How about “The Catcher and the Rye”? - maybe a bit too far afield…