Hyper-Text Essay
I was given the book Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year to read for Mr. Reynolds class. The book is a personal diary written by Esmé Raji Codell in 1999. Esmé is starting her first year teaching in a Chicago public school. Esmé definitely has a difficult first year teaching. Her boss, Mr.Turner, always tends to call on her for help or is always on her case. Esmé likes to be called, Madame Esmé, and Mr.Turner is not fond of this happening. Esmé is the kind of teacher who wants to do things her way, not the way everyone else does. Some of the teachers at the school don't agree with the way she teaches or handles situations. Within Esmé's first year teaching, she has seen it all. She has gone from getting punched in the face by a student, to having a student bring their baby brother to school. The kids in her class don't come from wealthy families and most of them don't have a good home lifestyle. Esmé grows as a person and learns how to be an exceptional teacher within a year.
Review
I am someone who doesn't enjoy reading. The only books I have ever really enjoyed reading are Twilight or The Notebook, the books Mr. Reynolds always tells us are "crap." When Mr. Reynolds told us that he would be picking out a book for us to read, I was not very excited. However, when I found out what book I was going to be reading, I felt more at ease.
I knew this book would be right for me because I have always had an interest in teaching, and hope to be an elementary teacher in the future. I didn't expect the book to be about what it really was. I work with kids everyday that are trouble makers, but not to the extent that she does. This book definitely opened my eyes to what teaching is all about in some schools.
One of the key parts of this book is where it takes place and the lifestyle these kids have. The books takes place in the heart of Chicago, Illinois. This is a very poor and crime related area. In her class, Esmé has a wide variety of kids from different backgrounds and races. They all have one thing in common though, they are faced with poverty.
Living in poverty can have an impact on a child's education and development. It can impact them at an early age and continue to affect them through high school.
Another factor that can impact a child's education is having a bad home life. If a child doesn't have a good support system at home, it can take a toll on them. They aren't getting the attention and love they need which can have a negative impact on them and their education.
In Educating Esmé, B.B becomes involved in a gang because he doesn't necessarily have the best home life. The people B.B is surrounded by have impact on him and push him to become violent. When B.B's mom finds out he is involved in a gang, she starts to punch him repeatedly in front of Esmé. When Esmé goes to comfort B.B, his mother comes back and says, "Don't baby this son of a bitch, his stupid ass doesn't deserve it." She then punches him one last time and then leaves.
All I can think about when this happens is, how can a mother ever do this to her child?
B.B does not have a good home life and because of this, he tends to act out in class. He is always getting in trouble, but is used to nobody caring about what he does. Esmé has to constantly talk to B.B about his behavior towards her and the other kids. I believe that B.B turns to a gang because it makes him feel like he is apart of something. Since B.B is involved in a gang and comes from a poor family, it is stopping him from getting the education he needs.
Twanette is another kid who acts out in Esme's class. Esmé's ends up calling Twanette's mother to discuss his behavior in class. Twanette's mother becomes upset and tells Esmé that she beats her son with a belt every couple of months. She then apologizes for being behind schedule and says that she will make up for it tonight.
Instead of just talking to Twanette about his behavior, his mom decides it is better to beat her son. This can have an impact on Twanette because he isn't getting the love that he needs from his mom.
There is another kid named Ozzie who doesn't have a good home life. He really has no one to depend on and has never had a stable family or place to live. His mom's old boyfriend was a drug fiend who set the hotel they were living in on fire and burned it to the ground. Then Ozzie, his mother, and Ozzie's brother, Mohammed, were homeless for a couple months. Ozzie then got a new stepfather who beats him up and calls him a "pussy" when he cries over it. His stepfather won't obey the restraining order and at one point Ozzie ends up putting a gun to his stepfather's head. Ozzie is usually a gentle kid, but everyone was pushing him to his limits.
In another scenario, Esmé asks the students to buy a dictionary for the classroom. A mother of a student from Esmé's class doesn't agree with this idea. Her daughter, Asha, doesn't come from a wealthy family. Asha's dad is in prison so the family is very poor. Asha gets a dictionary donated to her because she can't afford to buy one. Because Asha's family faces poverty, she is not able to afford some of the school supplies she needs to help her get a good education.
A topic that ties into this book is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. There are five different stages and, if one stage is not met, you cannot move onto the next stage. Many of the kids in Educating Esme can be applied to this. The first stage is the basic needs you need to survive which are food and water. The next stage is safety needs which includes having a safe, secure, and stable place to live. Some of the kids in Esmé's class don't meet this stage. They live in a shelter, hotel, or are even homeless. Since they don't meet this stage, they can't move onto the next stage which is belongingness. This stage is about friendships, relationships, and loving someone or being loved. The next stage is esteem needs which is your self-esteem, confidence, and achievements. The final stage, which most people don't reach, is self-actualization. This stage is a person's creativity, morality, spontaneity, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts.
Esme was able to connect with the kids more and more throughout the book. Kids need to know that you care about them or that you want them to be successful. Sometimes a teacher is the only person a child has that cares about them. A TED Talk by Rita Pierson shows the importance of a teacher forming a relationship with their students. In this book, Esmé is that person that the kids can rely on. The kids were able to trust her and open up to her more towards the end of the book. She was there for the kids when no one else was.
Esmé is the kind of teacher who wanted to do things her way and didn't want to conform to what others thought she should do. She came up with some new projects to engage the kids. She gets an author to come to the school to talk about a book, creates a time machine to help teach the kids about history and reading, does the cha-cha to help teach the kids about multiplication with double-digit numbers, and even tries to get a "Fairy Tale Festival" started.
Through all of the creative things she tried, she was able to engage the students and make them want to come to school. She had to deal with kids who came from different backgrounds, didn't have a place to live, didn't have a good and stable family, and kids who were even getting involved in gangs. Even after all of that, she was still able to create a connection with them and become a successful teacher.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in becoming a teacher or is already a teacher. It is an interesting, engaging, and eye-opening book. It has helped show me what teaching is about and how to connect with different kinds of kids. It has made me even more excited to become a teacher so I can have my chance at helping kids get an education and making a difference in their life. One of my favorite quotes from Educating Esmé is, "Everything they become, I also become. And everything about me they helped to create (Codell 194).
I knew this book would be right for me because I have always had an interest in teaching, and hope to be an elementary teacher in the future. I didn't expect the book to be about what it really was. I work with kids everyday that are trouble makers, but not to the extent that she does. This book definitely opened my eyes to what teaching is all about in some schools.
One of the key parts of this book is where it takes place and the lifestyle these kids have. The books takes place in the heart of Chicago, Illinois. This is a very poor and crime related area. In her class, Esmé has a wide variety of kids from different backgrounds and races. They all have one thing in common though, they are faced with poverty.
Living in poverty can have an impact on a child's education and development. It can impact them at an early age and continue to affect them through high school.
Another factor that can impact a child's education is having a bad home life. If a child doesn't have a good support system at home, it can take a toll on them. They aren't getting the attention and love they need which can have a negative impact on them and their education.
In Educating Esmé, B.B becomes involved in a gang because he doesn't necessarily have the best home life. The people B.B is surrounded by have impact on him and push him to become violent. When B.B's mom finds out he is involved in a gang, she starts to punch him repeatedly in front of Esmé. When Esmé goes to comfort B.B, his mother comes back and says, "Don't baby this son of a bitch, his stupid ass doesn't deserve it." She then punches him one last time and then leaves.
All I can think about when this happens is, how can a mother ever do this to her child?
B.B does not have a good home life and because of this, he tends to act out in class. He is always getting in trouble, but is used to nobody caring about what he does. Esmé has to constantly talk to B.B about his behavior towards her and the other kids. I believe that B.B turns to a gang because it makes him feel like he is apart of something. Since B.B is involved in a gang and comes from a poor family, it is stopping him from getting the education he needs.
Twanette is another kid who acts out in Esme's class. Esmé's ends up calling Twanette's mother to discuss his behavior in class. Twanette's mother becomes upset and tells Esmé that she beats her son with a belt every couple of months. She then apologizes for being behind schedule and says that she will make up for it tonight.
Instead of just talking to Twanette about his behavior, his mom decides it is better to beat her son. This can have an impact on Twanette because he isn't getting the love that he needs from his mom.
There is another kid named Ozzie who doesn't have a good home life. He really has no one to depend on and has never had a stable family or place to live. His mom's old boyfriend was a drug fiend who set the hotel they were living in on fire and burned it to the ground. Then Ozzie, his mother, and Ozzie's brother, Mohammed, were homeless for a couple months. Ozzie then got a new stepfather who beats him up and calls him a "pussy" when he cries over it. His stepfather won't obey the restraining order and at one point Ozzie ends up putting a gun to his stepfather's head. Ozzie is usually a gentle kid, but everyone was pushing him to his limits.
In another scenario, Esmé asks the students to buy a dictionary for the classroom. A mother of a student from Esmé's class doesn't agree with this idea. Her daughter, Asha, doesn't come from a wealthy family. Asha's dad is in prison so the family is very poor. Asha gets a dictionary donated to her because she can't afford to buy one. Because Asha's family faces poverty, she is not able to afford some of the school supplies she needs to help her get a good education.
A topic that ties into this book is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. There are five different stages and, if one stage is not met, you cannot move onto the next stage. Many of the kids in Educating Esme can be applied to this. The first stage is the basic needs you need to survive which are food and water. The next stage is safety needs which includes having a safe, secure, and stable place to live. Some of the kids in Esmé's class don't meet this stage. They live in a shelter, hotel, or are even homeless. Since they don't meet this stage, they can't move onto the next stage which is belongingness. This stage is about friendships, relationships, and loving someone or being loved. The next stage is esteem needs which is your self-esteem, confidence, and achievements. The final stage, which most people don't reach, is self-actualization. This stage is a person's creativity, morality, spontaneity, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts.
Esme was able to connect with the kids more and more throughout the book. Kids need to know that you care about them or that you want them to be successful. Sometimes a teacher is the only person a child has that cares about them. A TED Talk by Rita Pierson shows the importance of a teacher forming a relationship with their students. In this book, Esmé is that person that the kids can rely on. The kids were able to trust her and open up to her more towards the end of the book. She was there for the kids when no one else was.
Esmé is the kind of teacher who wanted to do things her way and didn't want to conform to what others thought she should do. She came up with some new projects to engage the kids. She gets an author to come to the school to talk about a book, creates a time machine to help teach the kids about history and reading, does the cha-cha to help teach the kids about multiplication with double-digit numbers, and even tries to get a "Fairy Tale Festival" started.
Through all of the creative things she tried, she was able to engage the students and make them want to come to school. She had to deal with kids who came from different backgrounds, didn't have a place to live, didn't have a good and stable family, and kids who were even getting involved in gangs. Even after all of that, she was still able to create a connection with them and become a successful teacher.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in becoming a teacher or is already a teacher. It is an interesting, engaging, and eye-opening book. It has helped show me what teaching is about and how to connect with different kinds of kids. It has made me even more excited to become a teacher so I can have my chance at helping kids get an education and making a difference in their life. One of my favorite quotes from Educating Esmé is, "Everything they become, I also become. And everything about me they helped to create (Codell 194).
Works Cited
Codell, Esmé R. Educating Esmé: Diary of a Teacher's First Year. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2009. Print.
