Teacher Man

Summary (from the publisher): Nearly a decade ago Frank McCourt became an unlikely star when, at the age of sixty-six, he burst onto the literary scene with Angela's Ashes, the Pulitzer Prize -- winning memoir of his childhood in Limerick, Ireland. Then came 'Tis, his glorious account of his early years in New York. 

 Now, here at last, is McCourt's long-awaited book about how his thirty-year teaching career shaped his second act as a writer. Teacher Man is also an urgent tribute to teachers everywhere. In bold and spirited prose featuring his irreverent wit and heartbreaking honesty, McCourt records the trials, triumphs and surprises he faces in public high schools around New York City. His methods anything but conventional, McCourt creates a lasting impact on his students through imaginative assignments (he instructs one class to write "An Excuse Note from Adam or Eve to God"), sing-alongs (featuring recipe ingredients as lyrics), and field trips (imagine taking twenty-nine rowdy girls to a movie in Times Square!).

 McCourt struggles to find his way in the classroom and spends his evenings drinking with writers and dreaming of one day putting his own story to paper. Teacher Man shows McCourt developing his unparalleled ability to tell a great story as, five days a week, five periods per day, he works to gain the attention and respect of unruly, hormonally charged or indifferent adolescents. McCourt's rocky marriage, his failed attempt to get a Ph.D. at Trinity College, Dublin, and his repeated firings due to his propensity to talk back to his superiors ironically lead him to New York's most prestigious school, Stuyvesant High School, where he finally finds a place and a voice. "Doggedness," he says, is "not as glamorous as ambition or talent or intellect or charm, but still the one thing that got me through the days and nights."

For McCourt, storytelling itself is the source of salvation, and in Teacher Man the journey to redemption -- and literary fame -- is an exhilarating adventure.

Review: "If you asked all the students in your five classes to write three hundred and fifty words each then you had 175 multiplied by 350 and that was 43,750 words you had to read, correct, evaluate and grade on evenings and weekends. That's if you were wise enough to give them only one assignment per week. You had to correct misspellings, faulty grammar, poor structure, transitions, sloppiness in general. You had to make suggestions on content and write a general comment explaining your grade" (187).

Teacher Man is McCourt's third memoir. I read Angela's Ashes years ago and can hardly remember it other than it was tragic and full of poverty. Although I have not read his second memoir, this third can easily stand on its own, not least of all because it feels like a lifetime removed from his Irish childhood. In Teacher Man, McCourt sums up his thirty year teaching career in New York City.

This book was different than I expected. First, I didn't expect him to weave so many anecdotes about his childhood into this book, mostly because his first two memoirs dealt exclusively with his earlier life. Second, I did not anticipate that he would be such a rascal, or at least that he would own up to it, at least. McCourt references how he finds his female high school students attractive, how he talks back to his superiors leading to him frequently losing jobs, how he hits students, his unhappy marriage, and about his failed attempt to earn a doctorate. "I toss the chalk again and miss it. It's on the floor. It is imperative that that chalk be retrieved. I bend to pick it up and there, inviting me, is Brandt's foot, offering itself. I grab it and pull. Brandt falls backward, bangs his head on the brass doorknob, slides to the floor, rests quietly as if contemplating the next move. Again there's a gasp from the class, Wow" (155). McCourt's honesty is refreshing. His exasperation with his students understandable. But I was taken aback by the fact that he occasionally gets physical with his students - but maybe that's his point, that when you're in the trenches of the classroom, it leads to events you would never expect of yourself.

I'm not a teacher. But I am a daughter of two and date another so the trials and triumphs in this book sound familiar to me. I think McCourt does a great job of both summarizing his teaching experience but also zooming in to show the reader individual students whose stories made a difference. I think he does a good job describing his frustration with school administration, the hours spent outside of class grading, the kids who don't want to work, the kids who work but still have low prospects, the kids who give you a moment of grace and make it all worthwhile. While reading, I had a hard time measuring the passage of time in this book. But that seems accurate as well - when you're in a fast-paced, demanding job, the years and students can start to blur together in your memory.

I loved his innovation as a teacher - his experiments with studying excuse notes and recipes, his analogies to off-the wall objects like ballpoint pens to explain grammar, his forays into field trips. I liked that when his creative writing class was popular, instead of gloating, he instead worries that it's because he has a reputation as an easy grader. Despite his flaws and his failures, I think Frank McCourt was a good teacher who had a very recognizable teaching career. I love that he has memorialized his experiences and cast light on a profession that is too frequently not given the credit it is due.

"I was more than a teacher. And less. In the high school classroom you are a drill sergeant, a rabbi, a shoulder to cry on, a disciplinarian, a singer, a low-level scholar, a clerk, a referee, a clown, a counselor, a dress-code enforcer, a conductor, an apologist, a philosopher, a collaborator, a tap dancer, a politician, a therapist, a fool, a traffic cop, a priest, a mother-father-brother-sister-uncle-aunt, a bookkeeper, a critic, a psychologist, the last straw" (19).

Stars: 4