Esquith’s thesis states: Embrace your mistakes, and learn from them. Through reflection and failure, and the understanding that there are no shortcuts, those dreams you have of changing lives will not simply be dreams. The author achieves the stated purpose of the book and so much more. This book gives advice to teachers that we as a whole need to hear. Esquith candidly tackles the three stages of life for the career teacher and offers encouragement to see them through the difficult early years, advice on mid-career classroom building, and novel ideas for longtime educators. Rafe Esquith has taught elementary school children in a public school in Los Angeles for thirty years. His book is full of stories and ideas to motivate rookies or veterans. This book is designed to encourage teachers to look for new ways to do things, different ways to work with students and the ability to motivate them into wanting to be better. Rafe sets expectations for students, in how he deals with discipline issues and how he deals with difficult students. Esquith has high expectations of his students and expects them to live up to these. The students that do not deviate for his expectations participate in extra-curricular activities. Rafe deals with students with diverse abilities and attempts to balance the playing field with high levels of motivation. …show more content…
He stated in the last part of the text “There is nothing wrong with being a teacher for thirty years” I agree, however, if you choose to leave the classroom there is nothing wrong with that either. Another weakness in the book that I noted was he was somewhat quick to make statements about Common Core standards. It was obvious in several places in the book that he was waiting for the pendulum to swing in the opposite direction. In his thirty years I am sure that he has seen it come full