after the bell

The August 14, 2007 episode of public radio’s The Story  focused on Rafe Esquith’s views of students and teaching.  Mr. Esquith is a fifth grade teacher in Los Angeles and has written a book called “Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire – The Method and Madness Inside Room 56.”  What caught my ear in this story was Mr. Esquith’s description of how his ESL students came after class to act in Shakespeare’s plays. Over the course of the interview, he expressed the concerns of many of the teachers that I have known who were trying to transform their students over the course of the school year and have a lasting effect on their lives.  He doesn’t claim to be a perfect teacher by any stretch, but his message to new teachers is an important one.  You should be able to find the story, a link to Esquith’s web site and the show’s podcast by following the link above.