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Rafe Esquith is our guest blogger during the week of January 28th. If you have any questions for Rafe Esquith, add a comment to any of his posts. Here is some brief information about Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 65:
In a Los Angeles neighborhood plagued by guns, gangs, and drugs, there is an exceptional classroom known as Room 56. The fifth graders inside are first-generation immigrants who live in poverty and speak English as a second language. They also play Vivaldi, perform Shakespeare, score in the top 1 percent on standardized tests, and go on to attend Ivy League universities. Rafe Esquith is the teacher responsible for these accomplishments.
From the man whom The New York Times calls “a genius and a saint” comes a revelatory program for educating today’s youth. In Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire!, Rafe Esquith reveals the techniques that have made him one of the most acclaimed educators of our time. The two mottoes in Esquith’s classroom are “Be Nice, Work Hard,” and “There Are No Shortcuts.” His students voluntarily come to school at 6:30 in the morning and work until 5:00 in the afternoon. They learn to handle money responsibly, tackle algebra, and travel the country to study history. They pair Hamlet with rock and roll, and read the American classics. Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire! is a brilliant and inspiring road map for parents, teachers, and anyone who cares about the future success of our nation’s children.
About Rafe Esquith
Rafe Esquith has taught at Hobart Elementary School for twenty-two years. He is the only teacher in history to receive the National Medal of Arts. He has also been made a Member of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth. His many other honors include the American Teacher Award, Parents magazine’s As You Grow Award, Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life Award, and the Compassion in Action Award from the Dalai Lama. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Barbara Tong.
Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire
The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56
Rafe Esquith - Author
$24.95 | add to cart
Book: Hardcover | 5.51 x 8.26in | 256 pages | ISBN 9780670038152 | 18 Jan 2007 | Viking Adult
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High School
Have you ever taught high school? This is my 4th year as a teacher and I teach in a school that pulls mostly from low-income, African-American neighborhoods. The rest of the population is a potpourri. My classroom is based on the same concept as yours: trust. The problem is that many of these students are so jaded and so accustomed to failure and ridicule by the time they reach high school that they just do not want to try.
Any remarks?
Rafe Esquith's response to "High School" comment
I know exactly how you feel. During my 4th year I started to find my voice as a teacher, but struggled with the same problem. I had a vision for what my students could be, but they did not share that vision.
The secret turned out to be my former students. The longer you teach, you will begin to reach some of them--not all of them, like in Hollywood movies, but some. I have my former students visiting me all the time, and they are living proof to the current class of what is possible. My suggestion is to see that long-term goal when you have successful students mentor your newer ones. I have found that my students listen to their older peers a lot sooner than they listen to me.
It sounds to me like you are very hard on yourself. Never forget that we are doing an incredibly difficult job and will fail often in spite of our best efforts. Nevertheless, good teachers keep trying, and when you reach someone, there isn't a better feeling in the world.
-- Rafe Esquith