Post by Frank Johnson on Mar 3, 2015 12:02:27 GMT -6
Review of Susan Kirk's "The Education of a Teacher" by Jim Jacobs
I ignored multiple responsibilities this past Saturday to read former Monmouth High School teacher Susan Van Kirk’s The Education of a Teacher (iUniverse, Inc., 2010). I could not put it down.
Sure, I suppose that some of my captivation with Van Kirk’s book is because, as with her, I am a former public school teacher. But I like The Education of a Teacher for reasons beyond the two of us being retired educators. To begin with, it’s often hilariously entertaining.
Take Van Kirk’s story of the former student, long out of her class, that Van Kirk encounters in the supermarket. He says he has something he’s always wanted to tell her, leading Van Kirk to think she is about to get the ultimate compliment for some life lesson or learning skill she taught the guy, only to be let down when he says, “You have really nice….” No, I won’t spoil it for you. You’ll have to find out for yourself what this middle-aged man thought was “nice” about his former teacher.
More than simply funny, Van Kirk’s stories are compassionate, but not sappy. She respectfully wraps her emotional arms around the students in each story as she helps them discover the best in themselves.
Van Kirk helps Brian, who is wheelchair bound, learn that he can use his imagination to run. Corey, a black kid from Detroit, who smashes records on the football field and on the track, is challenged by Van Kirk to access his real gift: brains.
Three of Van Kirk’s stories stand out as my favorites. She helps Barb “the Sneezer” overcome a disability that, in its own way, is just as debilitating as Brian’s. There is Jim, who comes from the “wrong side of the tracks,” putting himself in the teacher’s hands, as Van Kirk sands off his rough edges and gets him ready for a speech competition. Then, there are Wendy and Autumn showing up on Van Kirk’s doorstep on separate days during winter break shouldering awful burdens that they dump onto their teacher. The common sense and caring with which Van Kirk gifts each young woman provides a powerful testimony to the teacher’s dedication to her calling.
However, there was also a harrowing time for Kirk, when she faced a challenge to a book on a reading list in her class. She lost weight, couldn’t sleep, but stood her ground, arguing calmly that parents had the right to censor the book from their child’s eyes—but not make that decision for other people’s children. Van Kirk’s steadfastness in the face of intense pressure kept the book from being banned, in a sense rescuing the freedom to know and right to read in her small Midwestern high school.
Van Kirk is a fine writer. Her style combines a nimble mind with a very good—but not naïve—heart. She takes her readers by the hand, sometimes strolling and other times dancing with them through a fascinating journey. In this age of stilted education, when standardized testing is considered the “gold standard,” but all those tests do is regurgitate frigid numbers, Van Kirk brings us a very human story that fleshes out the emotional side of American education that has been so long neglected.
(More about the author Susan Van Kirk, who was born and reared in Galesburg, can be found at (www.susanvankirk.com)
The Education of a Teacher is a very good read.
Available in Hardcover, Paperback or Kindle Edition.
Click here to purchase
I ignored multiple responsibilities this past Saturday to read former Monmouth High School teacher Susan Van Kirk’s The Education of a Teacher (iUniverse, Inc., 2010). I could not put it down.
Sure, I suppose that some of my captivation with Van Kirk’s book is because, as with her, I am a former public school teacher. But I like The Education of a Teacher for reasons beyond the two of us being retired educators. To begin with, it’s often hilariously entertaining.
Take Van Kirk’s story of the former student, long out of her class, that Van Kirk encounters in the supermarket. He says he has something he’s always wanted to tell her, leading Van Kirk to think she is about to get the ultimate compliment for some life lesson or learning skill she taught the guy, only to be let down when he says, “You have really nice….” No, I won’t spoil it for you. You’ll have to find out for yourself what this middle-aged man thought was “nice” about his former teacher.
More than simply funny, Van Kirk’s stories are compassionate, but not sappy. She respectfully wraps her emotional arms around the students in each story as she helps them discover the best in themselves.
Van Kirk helps Brian, who is wheelchair bound, learn that he can use his imagination to run. Corey, a black kid from Detroit, who smashes records on the football field and on the track, is challenged by Van Kirk to access his real gift: brains.
Three of Van Kirk’s stories stand out as my favorites. She helps Barb “the Sneezer” overcome a disability that, in its own way, is just as debilitating as Brian’s. There is Jim, who comes from the “wrong side of the tracks,” putting himself in the teacher’s hands, as Van Kirk sands off his rough edges and gets him ready for a speech competition. Then, there are Wendy and Autumn showing up on Van Kirk’s doorstep on separate days during winter break shouldering awful burdens that they dump onto their teacher. The common sense and caring with which Van Kirk gifts each young woman provides a powerful testimony to the teacher’s dedication to her calling.
However, there was also a harrowing time for Kirk, when she faced a challenge to a book on a reading list in her class. She lost weight, couldn’t sleep, but stood her ground, arguing calmly that parents had the right to censor the book from their child’s eyes—but not make that decision for other people’s children. Van Kirk’s steadfastness in the face of intense pressure kept the book from being banned, in a sense rescuing the freedom to know and right to read in her small Midwestern high school.
Van Kirk is a fine writer. Her style combines a nimble mind with a very good—but not naïve—heart. She takes her readers by the hand, sometimes strolling and other times dancing with them through a fascinating journey. In this age of stilted education, when standardized testing is considered the “gold standard,” but all those tests do is regurgitate frigid numbers, Van Kirk brings us a very human story that fleshes out the emotional side of American education that has been so long neglected.
(More about the author Susan Van Kirk, who was born and reared in Galesburg, can be found at (www.susanvankirk.com)
The Education of a Teacher is a very good read.
Available in Hardcover, Paperback or Kindle Edition.
Click here to purchase