Rating: 
Summary: SPECTACULAR BOOK!
Review: This book is magnificent.I suppose that many of the teachers who don't like the book perhaps don't understand her situation, but having taught in a school much like hers for 4 years, I can completely relate.This book is not only a must-read, but I predict many will read it several times.
Rating: 
Summary: A delightful tidbit
Review: I've taught for 12 years and am interested in anyone's take on this challenging profession. I read this book quickly, like a bon-bon. It was enjoyable but gave me no lasting impression. In our state, "The One Hundred Dresses" is required reading for third grade and I'd rather read it than this book. She reminded me of the countless first year teachers I would see every year. Sparkling in September and swooning and gone in June.
Rating:
Summary: Educating Us All
Review: This was an excellent account of what many teachers have to go through. I could really identify with Esme and the struggles she endured as a teacher. A lot of people may criticize this book because Esme sugarcoats nothing!
Rating:
Summary: ...very entertaining reading...
Review: I loved this book. I'm glad I did not listen to the negative reviews below. This is a PERSONAL narrative--the journal of one woman in one school--and I found it very entertaining, moving, and believable. Esme has the exuberance and ego of youth, and why not? My one and only criticism: I found her use of profanity unnecessary and off-putting. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. As for the incident in the boys' bathroom with Esme and her mentor and the foul mouthed boy: Ismene took a BIG risk, but it was SHE who took it, and it paid off. It did not seem awful to me, but rather quite funny. Would/should all of us take such a risk? Definitely NOT. But Ismene did, and good for her. This book does not pretend to be about all teachers; it does not pretend to be humble. It's Esme's diary, and I'm quite glad I read it. I highly recommend it to teachers and non-teachers alike.
Rating:
Summary: a good perspective
Review: I have read negative responses to this book, however as a pre-service teacher, I found much inspiration in Esme's journal entries. She had so many wonderful practices in the classroom and continued to strive for those even with uncooperation by the administration and parents. Lots of fun, smiles and laughs for me with this book. A must read for any pre-teacher.
Rating: 
Summary: Soon to be teacher
Review: I was deeply moved by the time I read the Epilogue. Returning to witness the 8th graduation of her 5th grade class is a bittersweet experience for Esme. She becomes completely aware of what she is missing. It is a catharsis for her. She reflects "Why aren't I happy? I left an abusive job for a dispassionate one." With due respect, I did not find this book light hearted, irreverant and humourous, as other reviewers did. I felt deeply for her. Esme was doing an exemplary job, going way over the top, caring deeply for those children, winning awards, raising standardized test scores, only to be harangued by her idiosyncratric boss over incidental details. To me her cavalier attitude was a mask, a front, a coverup for her true feelings of wanting affirmation, wanting a "thank you". Anyone, whether it be a teacher, a secretary, a woman, a wife, can relate to how Esme felt. The utter despair of giving and caring so much only to be criticized because there's no coffee, or you didn't cross your "T's" and dot your "I's." You could save the world, but if you didn't get a report out, put dinner on the table, or launder the right socks, it is you who must apologize, and it is your efforts that go unrecognized. I found Esme charming, warm and loving, and if she were my children's teacher I would have "thanked her" over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: Remembering my first year
Review: Reading Educating Esme brought back strong feeling (both positive and negative) of my first year,1968, as an inner city school teacher. No,she doesn't have THE answer, but then , who does? My greatest pleasure was passing this book along to my daughter, who is now neck deep in her first year of inner city teaching. It was a lifeline for her to know that others have experienced this manic depressive world and not only survived but felt blessed to have had the experience.
Rating:
Summary: it's a diary
Review: I just finished reading this book, in one sitting. I was surprised to find the strong gut reactions that have prompted people to review it here. It is, after all, a diary, not a textbook on teaching methods or a technical report on the state of public education. While I am sure it was edited before publication, it is still a diary, and sounds like it might be very much the way it was actually written at the time. A diary is not written while worrying about what other people will think of it. It is a space for your personal feelings and experiences. After all, if Esme Codell was trying to glorify herself as a teacher, why would she leave in passages describing those days when she just doesn't care, or hates the children she's teaching? This book is one person describing her experiences in her first year of teaching. Any new graduate, not just new teachers, leaving school with a degree in something they love, sure that they now have the knowledge and ability to change the world, will identify with Esme Codell. Whether or not you like her, or agree with her methods, that isn't the point of her writing. What she is sharing are her own personal feelings and experiences during her first year of teaching. How many other people out there would be willing to share their diaries, even edited, with others? Like her or not, you have to give her credit for what she did. After all, if we only read books written by people we like and whose ideas we agree with, it would be a pretty boring life! Note for librarians: the part where the author compares hookers to librarians is a blast, and it's meant as a compliment too!
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT BOOK! A MUST-READ!
Review: I am amazed that "Please" is so shallow and rude. This book is excellent, and a must-read for all schoolteachers, librarians, or anyone interested in people's experiences as teachers, students, etc., in a big city. I am a librarian, and many people have read and enjoyed this book. Also, I knew Esme many years ago, and she is smart, witty, upbeat, etc.-a GREAT person to know. I cried and laughed along with her. Thanks, Esme for your diary!
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Summary: SHE DIDN'T WRITE IT FOR THE VETERANS
Review: She knows that she is not the hero. She knows she did not win, rescue anyone, or even persevere. But she did want to tell future educators that teaching is no slice of cake. It is a DIARY. What do most people write in their own journals? THEIR thoughts. THEIR injustices. I met this woman and heard her speak at a future educators' seminar. She is feisty and spirited, just how I feel, and she knows that this book will affect people like me. Most schools are in between the 'all time lows' and the 'all time highs...' However, we need to know that the low is out there and that those schools also have the most important focus of education, just like any other school: children. Not every school is equipped with creative and spirited teachers and administrators who support you in all your teaching endeavors. If you have been teaching for many years, read it and remember the hell of your first year (as so many teachers agree) and the pride of a fresh graduate spouting the theories of Conant and Gardiner. If you are a new or to-be teacher, than get the most important lesson out of it, whatever it may be. For me, sometimes it is good to hold on to your own theories. You don not always have to conform to ways that disagree with your heart.
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