Among Schoolchildren (Bookcassette(r) Edition)

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Summary: Among School Children: A review
Review: I am a college student and I had to read this book for an education class. Usually I do not enjoy and often I do not finish assigned readings. This book, however, I both enjoyed and finished. The author told the story of a year in the life of a fifth grade teacher. By the end of the book, I felt as if I knew her and many of her students quite well. Tracy Kidder did a great job of condensing a year's worth of school into one book and yet giving a thorough picture of the trials and joys experienced by both teacher and students. I would recommend this book to all those involved in education including parents and also to anyone who loves children and the human spirit.

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Summary: Read between those lines
Review: Kidder has took a real teacher, a real classroom environment and the real world and brought them together for an educational experience for the reader...This is just like sitting down with your best schoolteacher friend and listening to her experiences.. You feel like your there.. You get mad when she does, and sad when she does.. I truly agreed with a lot of her opinions but I also disagreed with some of her views.. But thats okay.. You have to learn whats out there to understand yourself better.. Mrs. Zajac could have been one of my teachers. I loved her.. I was just as frustrated with Clarence and even agreed with the children in her room...So see, this story is really wrote from all sides.. In the long run, who really benefits from this book? The students because we will be better teachers from it. I couldn't quite give it a 5.. I'm not sure if it was the racial tension or just the way it ended.... I really wanted it to go on and on... I recommend this book for reading to anyone that is going to work with children.. It can be very beneficial to all concerned parties...

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Summary: I have a 5th grader, had one last year, & the year before
Review: I have a fifth grade son this year, and a sixth grade son, and a seventh grade son-- 3 fifth graders in a row. For this reason, I chose to read "Among Schoolchildren" for my college journalism course. I was disappointed in the book. ~Maybe what was most disappointing is that I have seen teachers handle students as well as Mrs. Zajak, and even better, yet they have not been characterized as being so angelic as she. Even on her bad days at her worst moments, Tracy Kidder portrays her as being better than the rest of us. ~I would not gush over the book being "easy to read" because it is written for adults and we should expect to have to think a little when we read a book. We should not be told what to think. We should come around to that on our own. ~I will admit that the last half of the book was more enjoyable to me than the first half. But one thing that bothered me throughout is that in characterizing Chris Zajak, Kidder left out much of the feeling and devotion she surely felt toward her own children. Realizing the story was still about her class, Kidder could have done a better job rounding out his "character" of Chris Zajak, and could have endeared her more to me, for one, by giving the reader a broader sense of who she is. ~Though not a teacher, I spend many hours in classrooms, classrooms whose students are disadvantaged. Many of those students are minoritites: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans. There are also many poor Anglo children, and many of these children are from broken homes, or homes where education is expected to take place fully at school. My view of education is an informed view; I am not merely spouting off without knowing of what it is I speak. ~That said, it may be an enlightening book to one who has spent no time at all in a classroom.

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Summary: Among Schoolchildren
Review: The author Tracy Kidder did an excellent job writing this book. This book gives the reader a very good outlook on what its like to be a teacher. I would recommend anyone who is an education major to read this book. The gives many ideas about teaching, and shows many different techniques that can be used in difficult situations. This also shows that teaching is not what everyone makes it out to be.

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Summary: The School Day to Day
Review: This book focuses on the day to day narrative on the life of a school teacher and her students, while here and there adding some comments about the larger picture of education in the United States. So this larger view comes in and kind of hints at what the author wants to express. All in all, it was a worth read.

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Summary: Interesting, Funny and Helpful!
Review: I just recently finished reading Among SchoolChildren for an education class that I am taking in college & I found the book VERY easy to read, humerous, inspiring & very useful! I loved the way that Mrs. Zajac treated her students individually and never riticuled them. She was a teacher that I would consider very dedicated and devoted to teaching. I think that it is a great book to read for anyone who is considering becoming a teacher because the book shows what it is really like being a teacher. There are so many people who think that teaching is easy so I also recommend this book to anyone who is not an education major because it makes you appreciate what teachers actually do!

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Summary: Easy to Read
Review: I found Among Schoolchildren to be a very helpful and informative book. The way in which Mrs. Zajac handled each situation with a different perspective was inspiring. She truly saw the differences in each child and strived to approach them in that manner. I found the techniques she used to reach each student very interesting. I hope that I can be a teacher that doesn't ignore differences but rewards them in an appropriate way.

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Summary: Read it 15 times and will 15 more!
Review: This is a wonderful book! Probably one of the best I've ever read. I am becoming a teacher and this book was incredibly helpful. You cannot put it down. Tracy Kidder did a wonderful job writing about Ms. Zajac and her classroom! READ IT!

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Summary: Mrs. Zygote's Classroom
Review: I have recently finished reading Among Schoolchildren and found that it was a very interesting book. I recomend it to anyone who is thinking of becoming a teacher because it describes the ups and downs of everyday school life and the problems that sometimes arise. It also gives very helpful tips for teachers of any age level. The main theme of the book is to love the children who you teach no matter who they are or how bad they are and to never give up on them.

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Summary: the best book about teaching and schools I have ever read
Review: Among School Children is the best book I have ever read about teaching and schools. Mr. Kidder's book depicts what is best and worst about schools at the same time. The star of the book is the teacher and she represents all the frustrated rest of us. Just let them teach and leave the politics and bureaucracy out of it.