Title: The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession
Author: Alexandra Robbins
Publisher: Dutton
Hardcover: 372 pages
Source: Chicago Public Library
Summary: (taken from Goodreads):
Alexandra Robbins goes behind the scenes to tell the true, sometimes shocking, always inspirational stories of three teachers as they navigate a year in the classroom. She follows Penny, a southern middle school math teacher who grappled with a toxic staff clique at the big school in a small town; Miguel, a special ed teacher in the western United States who fought for his students both as an educator and as an activist; and Rebecca, an East Coast elementary school teacher who struggled to schedule and define a life outside of school.
Interspersed among the teachers’ stories–a seeming scandal, a fourth-grade whodunit, and teacher confessions–are hard-hitting essays featuring cutting-edge reporting on the biggest issues facing teachers today, such as school violence; outrageous parent behavior; inadequate support, staffing, and resources coupled with unrealistic mounting demands; the “myth” of teacher burnout; the COVID-19 pandemic; and ways all of us can help the professionals who are central both to the lives of our children and the heart of our communities.
5/5 stars
This is an important book for anyone who has a stake in education, whether you work in it or are a parent who has a kid in it, this book details the struggles teachers and students face–the everyday struggles of simply learning material and gaining social emotional skills, and the struggles that simply shouldn’t be struggles, like lack of funding and unsupportive administration. However, Robbins doesn’t let the tough times overshadow the special moments that make teaching and education worth it. This book is a great balance of harsh reality and heartwarming inspiration.
Truly, this book has my heart. With my husband being a now-school librarian and a former English teacher, and having studied education, student taught, and tutored for quite some years myself, I see how teachers are consistently undermined and undervalued in their profession. This book speaks to those experiences but also shows just how dedicated most teachers are.
I love the combination of personal stories from Robbins’s correspondence to other teachers and data from studies and surveys. It provides a nice touch to show the human, emotional side of what the data represents. She goes through the school year, following three teachers in three different areas of the country. I fell in love with them and their stories. I cried when I read about the impossible situations they sometimes found themselves in.
Teaching is a tough job, made tougher by lack of administrative support and funding in many places. Robbins doesn’t shy away from the tough parts–where administration keeps painting over mold in a classroom, despite inherent health risks–where a special education teacher’s classes are overloaded with students, creating an unsafe environment. These are common situations many teachers find themselves in and often they don’t feel comfortable fighting against it because they don’t want to lose their jobs.
But Robbins also shows the rewarding part–the moment when you see a concept click with a kid–when a shy student feels safe and comfortable enough to come out of their shell–those wonderful times when a student calls you their favorite teacher and is so excited to see you and learn with you every day. It’s these moments that keep teachers going and that makes the profession so special. I love that she captured part of that.
I really loved this book for its honesty and its efforts to show a true glimpse of teaching. I think this is a great book to read for people who aren’t in the classroom every day to get a glimpse of just what is happening in education and be better informed as to what to advocate for when it comes to public education.
Purple People Readers 