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  • Published: 15 September 2004
  • ISBN: 9781400030835
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 224
  • RRP: $32.99
Categories:

There Are No Shortcuts



From a nationally renowned, fiercely idealistic fifth-grade teacher--a Disney National Outstanding Teacher of the Year and recipient of an Oprah Winfrey Use Your Life Award--comes this candid examination of his successes and mistakes over two decades in an inner-city classroom. FIRST TIME IN PAPERBACK.

Year after year, Rafe Esquith’s fifth-grade students excel. They read passionately, far above their grade level; tackle algebra; and stage Shakespeare so professionally that they often wow the great Shakespearen actor himself, Sir Ian McKellen. Yet Esquith teaches at an L.A. innercity school known as the Jungle, where few of his students speak English at home, and many are from poor or troubled families. What’s his winning recipe? A diet of intensive learning mixed with a lot of kindness and fun. His kids attend class from 6:30 A.M. until well after 4:00 P.M., right through most of their vacations. They take field trips to Europe and Yosemite. They play rock and roll. Mediocrity has no place in their classroom. And the results follow them for life, as they go on to colleges such as Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford.
Possessed by a fierce idealism, Esquith works even harder than his students. As an outspoken maverick of public education (his heroes include Huck Finn and Atticus Finch), he admits to significant mistakes and heated fights with administrators and colleagues. We all—teachers, parents, citizens—have much to learn from his candor and uncompromising vision.

  • Published: 15 September 2004
  • ISBN: 9781400030835
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 224
  • RRP: $32.99
Categories:

About the author

Rafe Esquith

Rafe Esquith is beginning his eighteenth year at Hobart Elementary School in Los Angeles. He is the product of the Los Angeles public schools and a graduate of UCLA. His many honors and awards include the 1992 Disney National Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, a Sigma Beta Delta Fellowship from Johns Hopkins University, Parents Magazine’s As You Grow Award, Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life Award, and an MBE from Queen Elizabeth. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Barbara Tong.

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