Letters to a Young Teacher

I only hope I can live up to my potential as a powerful advocate for students that Kozol writes of in this book.

As a current teacher in an urban school, this book expressed so many of my frustrations and hopes for what public education could be for all children. Inspiring, honest, and so refreshing!

Some good advise for young teachers never seems to change. No matter what the decade; no matter what the educational reform pundits say; no matter what the school rankings are; teachers and students will get very little learning done before there is a climate of trust in the room. "Kids don't care what you know, until they know you care." This quote was advise I got from a mentor nearly...more

Some good advise for young teachers never seems to change. No matter what the decade; no matter what the educational reform pundits say; no matter what the school rankings are; teachers and students will get very little learning done before there is a climate of trust in the room. "Kids don't care what you know, until they know you care." This quote was advise I got from a mentor nearly fifteen years ago and it is still true. In this age of standards, high-stakes tests, and teacher effectiveness and learning being reduced to a number, we would all do well to ask the question, "At what cost?" Sure, this new approach or new curriculum may raise test scores, but at what costs? Sure, this strategy may make a classroom more orderly, but at what costs? Are we really more effective if children score higher on the test, but also learn to hate learning? Can we really bubble in creative thought? Can we really measure curiosity?   hide

loved the part about fancy language and meta jargon

Really enjoyed this book...many good points are made. It helped me to feel like I was still in the classroom even though Im not. I would recommend this to my teacher friends

Just finished reading this book. It was a heartfelt book; yet I felt that more of the inspiration came from what the new/young teacher was doing, rather than what Mr. Kozol was commenting on. Still worth reading, for all those teachers, or aspiring teachers, out there.