I finished The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educator's Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child this weekend, after long trysts with non-printed media.
The Short Version: Famous educator, Ron Clark lays out his 55 rules for how to teach children to, essentially, be successful humans. Some of his rules cover homework and listening in class, but many more are about table manners and common courtesy.
My Take: The book contains a lot of truth, although the writing contains sleep-inducing cliches and is so relentlessly positive, it borders on pollyanna. If one were reading this as a how-to manual, one would have to read between the lines. Although Clark is a success at his chosen profession, that's because he has devoted his whole self to teaching, not because of 55 rules.
You know how, when you're a kid, and you see your teacher in the grocery store, and your little mind is blown because you see this person out of context? After reading this book, one wonders if Clark is ever out of context. He talks about baking brownies for his students every night, and taking them on week-long field trips, planning surprises for them... the logistics alone would take all my time, without any of that pesky pedagogy.
What he never directly says is, "You must give all of yourself to the children you teach, by means of convictions so deep and personal that I cannot convey why this is done. Only that it must be so."
This is not a complaint, but rather a caveat. The book contains excellent lessons about motivating people, especially the young form of people. But the rub is not the lessons themselves, as much as in applying them, and following through on them.
Like many supposed how-to books, I read this and wanted the how-to behind the book: How to WANT to do _______. Armed with that elusive giveadamn, I suspect many lessons would seem uselessly self-evident. Without it, they're an interesting, but baffling set of laws that you'll apply haphazardly.
It's good for teachers, and useful for students of leadership and motivation.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Essential, but Superficial
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2 comments:
I feel the same way about books that tell you the secret to writing. Volume after volume can be summarized by these steps:
"Sit down and write each word on a page. If the story is longer than one page, find another blank page and continue writing. Repeat until the story is finished."
Or you could say, "Don't try to write a book using rules you learned in how to books. That's impossible. Instead, only realize the truth...there are no rules."
I'm a day (or three) behind, but I had to respond to the proposed holidays post--I'm writing them all down in my calendar. I find your titles evocative in a wistful way. What a wonderful idea.
And, pirates and birthdays--what fun. Meredith looks mighty fine with her feathered/papered friend.
-deandra
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