Educating Esme

I read many different works and articles on teaching before making the decision to return to school, but the one book that will forever stay with me is Educating Esme. I highly suggest that each of you look into reading this book before graduation as it is a wonderful example of bringing inquiry into the classroom. The book small and even though it is a couple hundred pages it is a very fast read ( two days max).

The book is the compilation of journal entries from Esme during her first year of teaching 5th grade at an inner city school. You are lead on a journey through ups and downs, twists and turns, and good and bad as you follow this fifth grade classroom. What I admire about Esme is she always went the extra mile. She developed strategic ways to really get to know her students and developed plans to fit their learning needs. Even when the principal of the school disagreed with her, she stood her ground and pushed through. Other teachers were jealous or pushed extra work on her, but she never stopped working for her children.

I find myself almost daily when I am looking over our science curriculum reverting back to Educating Esme. Even though it is cliche I often find myself thinking, 'what would Esme do?' Esme proved that even if your kids have a terrible home life or think they are going no where, you as a teacher have the power to change their life. You have the power to truly make a difference for that child. I can only hope to be as good of a teacher as Esme one day. For those that like data, Esme proved her methods were successful by having the highest jump in test scores from her students out of any other teacher in the school.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon. I know it is also available at the Green Hills library, so I imagine you can find it at other libraries in the area as well.

Amazon