All teachers must read this book. A reminder and an inspiration of what we do and why we do it. We can't all be this author, but we should aspire to be our very best. As the man says to his students "If you're going to do something, do it well."

Rafe has years of experience teaching and he spells it all out in this book. I skimmed through a few parts that were not relevant to me, but there was so much good information in here. I especially loved his description of his paycheck system and how it will teach students real life skills.

Love some of the ideas in this book. Some of them would be hard for me to accomplish in the classroom because I do not teach at a year round school. The ideas I can use, however, I am looking forward to trying them out this coing school year!

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME BASEBALL?!

I was given this book as a congratulatory gift when I received my degree in elementary education in 2007. I ultimately decided not to follow through with student teaching and put this book in a box to be forgotten about along with my former career aspirations. Earlier this year I became a new parent and rediscovered this in the same old box, looking just as new as the day I received it. My child is nowhere near school age but she'll be there before long and the author claims this is just as useful a guide for parents as it is teachers, so I finally decided to read it.

This definitely more for teachers. It contains useful ideas for parents - you may have to read between the lines - to supplement their child's education because 99% of classroom teachers will not be able to provide a fraction of what Esquith's Room 56 offers. It's unrealistic, a utopia.

In a sense, Room 56 offers the type of education all kids deserve with every subject reinforcing each other, truly educational field trips, and robust music education. Esquith's students learn that hard work is the only sure path to success so he provides voluntary overtime. His students can spend up to 12 hours a day in the classroom if they so choose, improving their math and problem solving skills and practicing Shakespeare. It seems a bit much but if my child wanted to excel and do more schooling, I wouldn't have a good reason to say no that wouldn't come off as selfish.

I agree with so much of the heart and motivation behind the methods described within this book and I don't doubt that Esquith has helped hundreds of children succeed, but I think this book is only about half-honest with its premise. I had a difficult time getting past the author's personal biases and hypocrisy. He comes off as much self-promotional as he does inspirational; he promotes humility while being self-congratulatory; he derides pop stars while teaching his students to play songs by some of the most popular musicians of all time. And he really really really loves baseball.

Lastly, and maybe it's just me, but the anecdotes don't come off as believable. The dialogue in nearly every one reads as though he's having a conversation with himself. I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

⭐⭐ (I was going to give it 3 before I realized his best advice was borrowed from someone else)

I don't think I'm going to finish this book. It was entertaining for a bit, but just didn't grab me enough. I recommend it if you are teaching K - 12, particularly in the lower range. Some of the specific examples he starts getting into were harder to generally apply to teaching principles though.

I got about halfway through this book when I lost interest. However, I think it is very useful and has some great ideas for educating at-risk youth. I skimmed through the parts in which I was interested and sort of ignored the other parts, but it was okay. I didn't see much in the way of classroom management, but his ideas were useful. One game he suggests, Buzz, was a big hit with students when I tried it.

The essence of Rafe Esquith's philosophy on teaching (he teaches 5th grade), as I understand it, is caring. He sees all his students as beautiful. It comes through in the text, both explicitly and underneath the lines of his down-home, here's-what-I-like-to-do prose. And when you finish reading--if my own experience is any measure--you'll care more, too.

Esquith has devoted his life to teaching--he works with students Monday through Friday from 6:30am till 5pm--and that workaholic dedication, and the safe place he creates in Room 56, more than the lesson plans he reproduces in this book, would seem to account for his phenomenal success (e.g., each year, his inner city L.A. students treat each other with respect, learn to play instruments, perform an unabridged Shakespeare play, and excel on standardized testing).

But how much of Esquith's teaching methods for fifth graders apply to teaching, say, college? Hard to say. Should we teach "character, honesty, morality, and generosity of spirit" in college? I'd like to think so.

I really enjoyed reading this, particularly to develop different ways of thinking when it comes to teaching and relationships. It's funny because, while it is centered around an elementary school teacher and class, I still took a lot away from the text as a secondary ed person. (I was actually given this book by my freshman high school English teacher when I returned last year to observe her classes over spring break!--it was nice to also read the notes she left behind)

I am not a 100% believer, but I definitely was inspired by this book, both as a parent and a person planning to homeschool.