I just finished “Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire.” This book is an account of Rafe Esquith’s experiences teaching at Hobart Elementary School. Rafe Esquith has an amazing amount of energy. He goes above and beyond for his students. What I found most impressive was his ability to form extremely close bonds with his students. The children really know that they can trust and confide in him. He even has a large number of former students that volunteer to participate in the activities he sponsors for his current students. Rafe takes normal students, many from poor families, and shapes them into exceptional students. Esquith shares his techniques and opinions about what he believes learning should be. Esquith doesn’t just teach his students normal subjects like math and social studies he incorporates critical thinking, music, and art into his lessons. I really like that Esquith uses media like film, and music as a way to keep the students interested and allow them discover their talents. Rafe Esquith is most famous for is his Hobart Shakespeareans project. The Hobart Shakespeareans are a group of young actors from his fifth grade class, that give truly wonderful performances of classics like “Hamlet” and “Macbeth” to audiences all around the country. They have even gotten praise from actors like Ian Mckellen and Michael York. I thought I would share a great video I found online that shows the students performing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGXXLoG6vm8
Rafe is an exceptional teacher and this translates into his students’ lives. They are encouraged and even seem to yearn to continue under his instruction even after they have left his class. He is able to reach his students in a way that many teachers I feel are never able to do. It takes time, desire, effort, and the effort that he displays is great. Education is too often done using only the basics with a lack of creativity, but Rafe is able to tie in so much more to all that he teaches in his classroom. The extra lengths he takes clearly have impacts on his students.
This piece offered a lot of good ideas that Rafe used, and I absolutely loved how he included links and places to go to use what he did. For instance finding the best books to use (p. 37), book study guides (p. 41), maps (p. 87). He includes not only his ideas, but sources to back up those ideas.
Mr. Esquith’s book impressed me with its refusal to adhere to the traditional method of teaching with “fear” in favor of a new method based on “trust”, dependability, logical punishments, and being a role model in that unreasonable demands are not made and stress is kept at a minimum. I appreciated the section on managing the classroom with fear because in some classrooms I was one of the students who was scared “of being scolded and humiliated, of looking foolish in front of peers, of getting bad grades” and I am sure that when I begin teaching I will be “afraid of looking bad, not being liked [by peers]…listened to, of losing control” at least once and probably more (4). But Esquith gives teachers methods to help alleviate the stress this fear causes students and teachers alike. It is easier to learn in a low-stress, trustful, safe environment and students deserve a place where they can count on fair consequences and respect when everything else in the world may be an uncertain, neurotic whirlwind. At my elementary school we actually implemented a version of Mr. Esquith’s plan from chapter eleven, “Taxman” (133-141). The students had their own currency, jobs, banks, rent payments etc… only my elementary school expanded the program to include all the grades, issued a school-wide currency, and in effect created an entire “village” of newspaper reporters who investigated community issues and issued a student-run school newspaper, bankers, police officers, firemen (who were responsible for helping during drills), judges, lawyers, teachers (students tutoring students), tailors, jailers etc… We even had a weekly marketplace where students bartered or sold items and paid with the currency. Leftover currency was used for an auction at the end of the year just like at Esquith’s school. If I was in charge of a school I would implement this program. It taught the students about thrift, real-life economics (rent, bills), responsibility, the job market (you could get fired or quit and have to go to the unemployment “agency” so you could pick another available job), and consequences (if you run in the hall you’ll get arrested, go to court, and have to pay a fine. Some students went to jail). The program even helped them find an interest they might like to continue in college or as a career. Mr. Esquith believes that a child is only able to “grow into a truly special adult—someone who thinks, considers other points of view, has an open mind, and possesses the ability to discuss great ideas with other people” if they love reading and I agree (33). To this end I would like to augment assigned readings from the curriculum with film adaptations using Mr. Esquith’s methods. I think English teachers in this respect are very fortunate; there are some amazing adaptations of novels and plays (BBC is a fantastic source for multiple different viewpoints of British literature) and when used appropriately they can help explain archaic terminology, spark imaginations, and create discussions on everything from set design, to plot and characterization. I want my students to create their own unique, artistic, literary expressions, in order to do that they need to know what inspiration already exists, what has been done, which cliches to avoid, and how past/present techniques can be augmented or rejected in their own individual work. To be an innovative writer it helps if one already knows the basics of language, the rich literary history they are inheriting, and the various ways it has been inspired by, and inspired, other art forms.
I just finished “Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire.” This book is an account of Rafe Esquith’s experiences teaching at Hobart Elementary School. Rafe Esquith has an amazing amount of energy. He goes above and beyond for his students. What I found most impressive was his ability to form extremely close bonds with his students. The children really know that they can trust and confide in him. He even has a large number of former students that volunteer to participate in the activities he sponsors for his current students.
ReplyDeleteRafe takes normal students, many from poor families, and shapes them into exceptional students. Esquith shares his techniques and opinions about what he believes learning should be. Esquith doesn’t just teach his students normal subjects like math and social studies he incorporates critical thinking, music, and art into his lessons. I really like that Esquith uses media like film, and music as a way to keep the students interested and allow them discover their talents. Rafe Esquith is most famous for is his Hobart Shakespeareans project. The Hobart Shakespeareans are a group of young actors from his fifth grade class, that give truly wonderful performances of classics like “Hamlet” and “Macbeth” to audiences all around the country. They have even gotten praise from actors like Ian Mckellen and Michael York. I thought I would share a great video I found online that shows the students performing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGXXLoG6vm8
Rafe is an exceptional teacher and this translates into his students’ lives. They are encouraged and even seem to yearn to continue under his instruction even after they have left his class. He is able to reach his students in a way that many teachers I feel are never able to do. It takes time, desire, effort, and the effort that he displays is great. Education is too often done using only the basics with a lack of creativity, but Rafe is able to tie in so much more to all that he teaches in his classroom. The extra lengths he takes clearly have impacts on his students.
ReplyDeleteThis piece offered a lot of good ideas that Rafe used, and I absolutely loved how he included links and places to go to use what he did. For instance finding the best books to use (p. 37), book study guides (p. 41), maps (p. 87). He includes not only his ideas, but sources to back up those ideas.
Mr. Esquith’s book impressed me with its refusal to adhere to the traditional method of teaching with “fear” in favor of a new method based on “trust”, dependability, logical punishments, and being a role model in that unreasonable demands are not made and stress is kept at a minimum. I appreciated the section on managing the classroom with fear because in some classrooms I was one of the students who was scared “of being scolded and humiliated, of looking foolish in front of peers, of getting bad grades” and I am sure that when I begin teaching I will be “afraid of looking bad, not being liked [by peers]…listened to, of losing control” at least once and probably more (4). But Esquith gives teachers methods to help alleviate the stress this fear causes students and teachers alike. It is easier to learn in a low-stress, trustful, safe environment and students deserve a place where they can count on fair consequences and respect when everything else in the world may be an uncertain, neurotic whirlwind.
ReplyDeleteAt my elementary school we actually implemented a version of Mr. Esquith’s plan from chapter eleven, “Taxman” (133-141). The students had their own currency, jobs, banks, rent payments etc… only my elementary school expanded the program to include all the grades, issued a school-wide currency, and in effect created an entire “village” of newspaper reporters who investigated community issues and issued a student-run school newspaper, bankers, police officers, firemen (who were responsible for helping during drills), judges, lawyers, teachers (students tutoring students), tailors, jailers etc… We even had a weekly marketplace where students bartered or sold items and paid with the currency. Leftover currency was used for an auction at the end of the year just like at Esquith’s school.
If I was in charge of a school I would implement this program. It taught the students about thrift, real-life economics (rent, bills), responsibility, the job market (you could get fired or quit and have to go to the unemployment “agency” so you could pick another available job), and consequences (if you run in the hall you’ll get arrested, go to court, and have to pay a fine. Some students went to jail). The program even helped them find an interest they might like to continue in college or as a career.
Mr. Esquith believes that a child is only able to “grow into a truly special adult—someone who thinks, considers other points of view, has an open mind, and possesses the ability to discuss great ideas with other people” if they love reading and I agree (33). To this end I would like to augment assigned readings from the curriculum with film adaptations using Mr. Esquith’s methods. I think English teachers in this respect are very fortunate; there are some amazing adaptations of novels and plays (BBC is a fantastic source for multiple different viewpoints of British literature) and when used appropriately they can help explain archaic terminology, spark imaginations, and create discussions on everything from set design, to plot and characterization.
I want my students to create their own unique, artistic, literary expressions, in order to do that they need to know what inspiration already exists, what has been done, which cliches to avoid, and how past/present techniques can be augmented or rejected in their own individual work. To be an innovative writer it helps if one already knows the basics of language, the rich literary history they are inheriting, and the various ways it has been inspired by, and inspired, other art forms.