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I gave my daughter, "Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year", and a book on grad schools. Younger son got, "Admissions Matters" by Jay Matthews and middle son got a book on preparing Resume's. What are Mom's for after all?
My mother-in-law gave me a great lunch bag that has room for my wallet and keys. It sounds like a trivial thing, but it really simplified how much I have to juggle!
I gave my daughter, "Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year", and a book on grad schools. Younger son got, "Admissions Matters" by Jay Matthews and middle son got a book on preparing Resume's. What are Mom's for after all?
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Originally Posted by patriot201
Has your daughter read Educating Esme yet? I have very strong feelings about that book. I will be curious to hear what she thinks.
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Originally Posted by toobusytoday
Nope - too busy with grad school applications.
Ah! I wish her the best with those!
The below review (from Amazon) pretty much sums up how I feel about Educating Esme.
As a teacher who is fairly new to the profession, I enjoy reading of other teachers' experiences in their first few years of teaching. Therefore, I was excited to learn that the author of a young adult novel I enjoyed, Sahara Special, had written a diary of her first year teaching. I enthusiastically sought out the book and devoured it quickly. Unfortunately, I was left with a VERY sour taste in my mouth after reading Esme Codell's foul, egotistical, and often pessimistic words.
I found Esme Codell to be arrogant, conceited, and often thoroughly offensive. I am normally not at all offended by harsh language in books, on TV, or in movies. If it is used in an "appropriate" way, it normally doesn't offend me. However, in Esme's book, I found the language incredibly distasteful. There was no reason she needed to use most of the language she did. I was *floored* by some of the things she supposedly said to her colleagues and the administrators.
I wonder about this book... I wonder if it is "nonfiction" in the same way that A Million Little Pieces is "nonfiction." I question if the events in the book really occured. I have a hard time believing that a reasonable human being would say or do some of the things she said and did. For example, when she requested that every student have a dictionary and then, KNOWING that her student's father was on house arrest, mocked her student's family by saying, "Couldn't Asha's father pick one up on his way home from work sometime?", was unbelievable. "Madame Esme" acted in an incredibly insensitive manner toward her student and seemed PROUD that she had done so.
I am still floored at some of the things Esme said she did/said. There were several situations in which she belittled her students, was condescending towards parents and students, and was outright rude to her colleagues. I was horrified.
I just found another review that also captures how I felt:
This book was terrible. If this lady was teaching my childs class, I would jerk my child out of there as fast as I could. It is not ok to tell a little boy to "drop his pants" so that you can "su** his di**." Its not ok to use every curse word imaginable to describe your students. I will admit she is creative in her teaching methods, but I don't care if she can teach the most difficult children to learn to read; there is absolutely no excuse for her vulgar and offensive ways and actions. This lady should have her teaching license pulled. A teacher should be an example, a role model... She is most definitely not it. She is a terrible example of what a teacher should be and I can't believe this book is so highly praised. This book was a requirement in one of my education classes. I have included most of this review in my college paper of the book, so I thought I would go ahead and post it on Amazon as well. Do not waste your money. I didn't even bother re-selling this book. It is in the garbage- where it belongs. Oh, and I wouldn't be suprised if "Madame" Esme was on drugs while she wrote some of this diary of hers.... the poems are most disturbing!
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