- Paperback: 340 pages
- Publisher: Avon Books; Reprint edition (1 Sep 1990)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0380710897
- ISBN-13: 978-0380710898
- Product Dimensions: 20.7 x 13.5 x 2.2 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 345,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Tracy Kidder -- the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Soul of a New Machine" and the extraordinary national bestseller "House" -- spent nine months in Mrs. Zajac's fifth-grade classroom in the depressed "Flats" of Holyoke, Massachusetts. For an entire year he lived among twenty schoolchildren and their indomitable, compassionate teacher -- sharings their joys, their catastrophes, and their small but essential triumphs. As a result, he has written a revealing, remarkably poignant account of education in America . . . and his most memorable, emotionally charged, and important book to date.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Mrs. Zajac wasn't born yesterday. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Mrs. Zajac wasn't born yesterday. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
79 reviews
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
a Mrs. Zajac student
16 Sep 2001
Format:Paperback
I was inspired to write this review not because I loved Among Schoolchildren-of course I did; I had Mrs. Zajac for a teacher. I was in the 6th grade when Mr. Kidder spent a year at The Kelly School. My motivation was from reading another review-someone questioned if Mrs. Zajac really had a LASTING impression on these students. I would compare myself to Alice-I had a loving family, intelligence, motivation. . .whether or not I had Mrs. Zajac for the 5th grade I would have attended college. But a lasting impression. . .to this day she remains one of my top three teachers-including college. She is unique-and maybe from reading the book the reader doesn't see that, but she is not the average teacher. And I think parents would feel the same way. She is a very wonderful teacher and a true friend. Please, don't read this book and think her students "forgot 5th grade" it's scarey how much I remember of 5th grade. Her mix of humor, toughness and compassion make her a great role model; and now that I too am in education I hope my students remember me as fondly as I remember her.
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
YES, this is what teaching is really like
30 Sep 2002
Format:Paperback
As a former schoolteacher and the wife of a teacher, I can tell you that Tracy Kidder's "Among Schoolchildren" accurately and soberly depicts what teaching is really like, day to day, year in and year out.
Mrs. Zajac, the grade school teacher on whom Kidder focuses his detailed narrative, is what every teacher should be: tough in a loving way, disciplined, self-aware, willing to admit to her own faults (and when she's boring herself and knows she needs to shake up the lesson next time to avoid boring the students), brimming over with ideas. She's a wonder, and the kind of teacher every child should have at least once in their grade school career.
Kidder leaves no stone unturned. We see here not only the joys and sorrows of teaching, but the accumulation of detail that leaves us feeling we understand, from the inside out, what teachers go through in order to get through to their students. We see how "problem students" and "good students" present different challenges, how teachers and administrators deal with each other (and deal with the parents, the superintendent, and the school board), and even such mundane concerns as how to keep the class in Kleenex (they go through about twenty boxes a year). Though the book is over a decade old, it's prescient about some things. The majority of students in Mrs. Zajac's class are Hispanic--a growing truth throughout the United States--so along with the everyday frustrations of every teacher, we see that Mrs. Zajac has an additional workload imposed merely by the presence of a language barrier:
"Horace, are you all done?"
"No."
"Then why are you talking to Jorge?"
She turned back around and said to Felipe and Jimmy, "What's the matter with you two? The minute I turn my head, you have to talk? What number do you carry, Jimmy?"
"The four."
"Very good. Got it now? OK, Jimmy, you can go back to your desk."
"Ocho," said a voice behind [Mrs. Zajac], unmistakably Manny's hoarse whiskey voice. Manny was trying to whisper to one of his buddies, but he just couldn't do it quietly. [She] turned. "Why don't you try Chinese, Manny? You can say it in Swahili, Manny. I still know you're giving him the answer." [She] liked them to help each other, but today she wanted to find out just how each one was faring in multiplication, so she kept saying, "Your own work."
"Diablo!"
"You keep it up, Manny, and I'll show you what a diablo I can be."
Anyone who's curious about the life of a teacher--or who is thinking of becoming a teacher--would do themselves a huge favor to sit down and read "Among Schoolchildren."
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
A pleasant, useful book for people of all races and creeds!
5 May 1999
Format:Paperback
I am an African-American teacher, and I highly disagree with the one star review that this book received -- that it is nice for 'white women' teachers. Good teaching is not a black and white issue. Caring is not a black and white issue. It is irrevelent if the teacher is black, white, brown, etc.. It is attitudes such as these, the elevation of ourselves in terms of educational importance, I believe, that lessons the teaching profession and is a major contributor, I believe, to why people do not want to be teachers. I became a teacher because I love to see my students grow mentally, intellectually and physically. The minority and white teachers I work with are outstanding, and I am happy they are my co-workers. Mr. kidder's book is one shining example of a beautiful teacher who is a representative of all of us who do teaching for the right reasons. Thank-you, Mr. Kidder!
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
