Teacher Man: A Memoir Paperback – Illustrated, September 19, 2005

There are over 300 Amazon Reviews about this book! All I can do is echo that this book is "worth your time". It won't change your life and it won't make you rich. And the segments about "how poor we were in Ireland" didn't impress me favorably---everyone knows "the poor people in Ireland used to be poor"---because poor people are/were poor wherever you are/were! (By the way, the people in Ireland are pretty well off these days as I observed a few years ago during my first trip over there.)AFTERWORD: Mr. "Teacher Man" McCourt is obviously a very decent person. His decency comes through in many ways. For example, he tells how he and some other teachers helped "pass" some of the students on their "Regency Exam" which is the final exam for high school graduation in New York City--on the English Essay part of the test. "Let's see", they are quoted, "This kid shows up in class. Three points for showing up. He made some paragaraphs. Three points for that. His father ran off and left his mother. Three points for father running off. He caused trouble in class this semester only once----three points for causing trouble in class only once....."...etc..etc. Yea, he's a "nice guy". But.....it sounds to me like he might have been "more productive" and wasted the kids time less. For example, he's quoted as saying to the effect paraphrased, "A certain black male student used 'big words' in his essays. I told him to 'simplify, simplify, simplify' and NOT to use these 'big words'. The kid responded to me (Mr. McCourt) that his other English teacher advised him to LEARN and USE these 'big words'. Mr. McCourt still didn't see anything 'wrong' with his admonition NOT to use 'big words'". What Mr. McCourt did there was to discourage a student from learning VOCABULARY----or "SAT type words". Mr. McCourt, and many other English teachers who would probably give the same advice and admonition are HAMPERING their students from learning "educated English vocabulary". "Educated English Vocabulary" is VERY useful in getting in the 90th per centile and above on the SAT and also VERY useful in understanding well written books such as the Victorian Novels. In addition, knowing more than one way to say something is "good" helps in writing interestingly rather than boringly. Mr. McCourt was "wrong" in this advice and in not having ALL his students learn "educated English"---he was not a "good teacher" in all respects and he wasted the students time in the regard to teaching them a VERY important part of English---"educated vocabulary words." (But, I would have liked to have been in his class when he started to "tell stories" of his life in Ireland---especially if I could just sit there and listen! :o)Overall, the love of Mr. McCourt for his students comes through the narrative and "stories" of individual students. God bless Mr. McCourt and teachers like him who love their students and who love their fellow man! :o) Email: boland7214@aol.

Gets you out of your Ruth and into the mind of another person. I thoroughly enjoyed all three of these books.

Excuses, Excuses: An Excerpt from Teacher ManMy students forged the notes. I turned them into a lesson plan.From Reader's Digest, Originally in Teacher ManI was in my third year of teaching creative writing at Ralph McKee Vocational School in Staten Island, New York, when one of my students, 16-year-old Mikey, gave me a note from his mother. It explained his absence from class the day before:"Dear Mr. McCort, Mikey's grandmother who is eighty years of age fell down the stairs from too much coffee and I kept Mikey at home to take care of her and his baby sister so I could go to my job at the ferry terminal. Please excuse Mikey and he'll do his best in the future. P.S. His grandmother is ok."I had seen Mikey writing the note at his desk, using his left hand to disguise his handwriting. I said nothing. Most parental-excuse notes I received back in those days were penned by my students. They'd been forging excuse notes since they learned to write, and if I were to confront each forger I'd be busy 24 hours a day.I threw Mikey's note into a desk drawer along with dozens of other notes. While my classes took a test, I decided to read all the notes I'd only glanced at before. I made two piles, one for the genuine ones written by mothers, the other for forgeries. The second was the larger pile, with writing that ranged from imaginative to lunatic.I was having an epiphany.Isn't it remarkable, I thought, how the students whined and said it was hard putting 200 words together on any subject? But when they forged excuse notes, they were brilliant. The notes I had could be turned into an anthology of Great American Excuses. They were samples of talent never mentioned in song, story or study.How could I have ignored this treasure trove, these gems of fiction and fantasy? Here was American high school writing at its best--raw, real, urgent, lucid, brief, and lying. I read:* The stove caught fire and the wallpaper went up and the fire department kept us out of the house all night.* Arnold was getting off the train and the door closed on his school bag and the train took it away. He yelled to the conductor who said very vulgar things as the train drove away.* His sister's dog ate his homework and I hope it chokes him.* We were evicted from our apartment and the mean sheriff said if my son kept yelling for his notebook he'd have us all arrested.The writers of these notes didn't realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull: "Peter was late because the alarm clock didn't go off."One day I typed out a dozen excuse notes and distributed them to my senior classes. The students read them silently, intently. "Mr. McCourt, who wrote these?" asked one boy."You did," I said. "I omitted names to protect the guilty. They're supposed to be written by parents, but you and I know the real authors. Yes, Mikey?""So what are we supposed to do?""This is the first class to study the art of the excuse note--the first class, ever, to practice writing them. You're so lucky to have a teacher like me who has taken your best writing and turned it into a subject worthy of study."Everyone smiled as I went on, "You didn't settle for the old alarm clock story. You used your imaginations. One day you might be writing excuses for your own children when they're late or absent or up to some devilment. So try it now. Imagine you have a 15-year-old who needs an excuse for falling behind in English. Let it rip."The students produced a rhapsody of excuses, ranging from a 16-wheeler crashing into a house to a severe case of food poisoning blamed on the school cafeteria. They said, "More, more. Can we do more?"So I said, "I'd like you to write--" And I finished, " `An Excuse Note from Adam to God' or `An Excuse Note from Eve to God.' " Heads went down. Pens raced across paper.[...]

I read Angela’s Ashes years ago, and while I still remember it, it was hard to read. The agony was intense. To be able to know him through this book, to take his journey from Ireland to a master teacher in New York high schools, is a privilege. I found it to be funny, intimate, and inspiring. I loved this book.

Excelente libro pero lo entergaron sucio y con dobleces.

After re-reading Angela’s Ashes and Tis just to recap initial thoughts and memories of McCourts childhood. I wanted to read his latest memoir, his lifelong teaching and educational struggles to progress against all odds , financial barriers, stereotyping, racial profiling and class structure of yesteryear. The book was an inspiration at times repetitive probably to the reader who hasn’t read McCourts earlier Memoirs.American educational standards have always reflected status, power and wealth. There will always be a class division as much as America is one of the wealthiest countries in the world the educational attainment of an individual will reflect what resources are available. And how political power can influence who gets what and where.

AInda não comecei a ler

Such a relatable reading for any teacher of any subject, grade and level. And a good reading for anyone else.

Great books, not only for teachers. Shows that decades later school hasn’t changed that much for teachers. Gives some good insights in life in the US.