In terms of reading all together, if a book does not grab my attention I will never finish it. While this book was an assignment I genuinely enjoyed reading it and feel that I have learned more then I thought I would have. Throughout the book I tried to find meaning and explanation, but it wasn’t until I just read it, rather then trying to analyze it, that I could see what he was doing.
I loved the part of the book (which starts on page 123) where he takes a simple “click” pen and uses it to describe sentence structure. I swear if I teacher had ever explained it to me like that I may have had an easier time understanding the different parts. With out just one part of the pen/sentence, it can not work. He may have made it a little simpler by giving each part of the pen a different name such as noun, verb etc. and then “put the sentence together” But I felt he at least reached the kids and did a good job.
I also really enjoyed the part of the book where he made an assignment out of all the excuse notes (starts on pg. 83). You probably would not get away with the Adam and Eve ones today, mainly due to issues with religion, but to have the students doing things they already know how to do to boost their confidence in the class is a great way to approach a subject. A great line form this section is “Their smiling. They know. We’re in this together. Sinners.” Everyone in the class knows at one point or another they have written a note like this, and the fact that McCourt never turned them into the principle basically makes him god to the students. I wish I had the opportunity to write excuse notes in high school or middle school. How great would that have been!?!
I feel as though McCourt’s life was mirrored through his students. There were many instances when he wanted to help his students but felt as though it wasn’t his place and he was also scared to do so. But his antics kind of piss me off. McCourt gets so down on himself throughout this book and feels as though he can not teach and that he truly doesn’t know how. It makes me angry that he never really puts fourth the effort to get to really know his students, such as the boy with the jar of paint. And it really bothers me that through all the years that he taught the best of his teaching career was at a rich school where the students behaved and where he didn’t really have to start from scratch with teaching his subject. While a situation like this would obviously be EASIER for a teacher, if you can not help those students who truly need it then are you really helping anyone at all? Including yourself? I don’t think so. As I stated before, his life was somewhat mirrored through his students. So what, when he had a good class he was a good teacher? NO! That’s not how it should be, if you are going to be a teacher, even if it’s all you could think of for a profession, you need to be able to reach all students good OR bad!
Yet I feel as though I am not here to criticize how that man taught for so many years, these are merely observations. But I must admit, McCourt doesn’t just tell you about the classroom, he pulls you into it with him. And im sure if he hadn’t I would not have even been interested in reading the book at all. The only thing I am somewhat left puzzled with is how he actually approached writing the book. He talks about his past and how difficult of a life he had when he was a child and I am wondering if it is extensions of his other books? OR if he throws his past in there to give descriptions and maybe reasons to why he is the way he is and teaches the way he teaches. I just feel as though some of the past experiences he writes about really have nothing to do with the story. It may be me not understanding what he was getting at but, even still, I thought the book was overall very interesting and thoroughly enjoyed it.
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