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Title: Smugness at it's best
Review: As a third year teacher, I am constantly on the look-out for teacher memoirs that can give me some sense of belonging. This book, however, is more of a list of things that "Madame Esme" did right in her first year of teaching. It's hollow, incredibly smug, and rings untrue for me. I can't believe that this woman actually DID teach for a whole year ... everything she tries as a teacher seems to have worked, and I believe if you were to ask her, nothing would have gone wrong. Hollow, useless ... although funny at times, I suspect that's more because she's a good writer rather than a good teacher.If you are a student teacher or a first year teacher thinking about buying this book, you're much better off reading bellhooks, who, though she is a college professor, knows more about pedagogy in her little finger than Esme Codell (or "Cordell" as her maligned principal refers to her) knows in her whole body.This is not the realistic world of teaching!!!
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