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Teacher Man: A Memoir (Frank McCourt #3)

by Frank McCourt

3.61 · rating details · 10,896 ratings · 1,252 reviews

Nearly a decade ago Frank McCourt became an unlikely star when, at the age of 66, he burst onto the literary scene with Angela's Ashes, the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir of his childhood in Limerick, Ireland. Then came 'Tis, his glorious account of his early years in New York.

Now here at last, is McCourt's long-awaited audiobook about how his thirty-year teaching career sh

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Hardcover, 258 pages

Published November 15th 2005 by Scribner (first published 2005)

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Sep 27, 2011

Luana rated it

· review of another edition

Titolo: Ehi, prof!
Sottotitolo: I libri non sono oggetti. I libri hanno l'anima

Caro Frank, è ormai la terza volta che ti scrivo, ti do del tu perché ti conosco da quando eri un moccioso e vivevi a Limerick, e anche se sei morto professore a New York, io ti ricordo così, come quell'infelice infante irlandese e cattolico.
Siccome ormai abbiamo la confidenza adatta, e non mi piacerebbe essere disonesta nei tuoi confronti, te lo devo dire, ho pianto per le prime trenta pagi...moreTitolo: Ehi, prof!
Sottotitolo: I libri non sono oggetti. I libri hanno l'anima

Caro Frank, è ormai la terza volta che ti scrivo, ti do del tu perché ti conosco da quando eri un moccioso e vivevi a Limerick, e anche se sei morto professore a New York, io ti ricordo così, come quell'infelice infante irlandese e cattolico.
Siccome ormai abbiamo la confidenza adatta, e non mi piacerebbe essere disonesta nei tuoi confronti, te lo devo dire, ho pianto per le prime trenta pagine di questo ultimo libro. Ho pianto per quell'ultimo, anche se stavi scrivendo della tua a dir poco verosimile esperienza con l'insegnamento; onestamente credo sia da pochi riuscire a far piangere per la commozione mentre si stanno raccontando degli episodi che farebbero ridere anche il mio tutor di privato che è sempre stizzito per via del fatto che non muoiono i docenti e non si becca la cattedra. Separarmi dalle tue parole è stata una scelta per me dolorosa, ma dovuta e di coraggio, di bisogno sopratutto, perché volevo sentirmi dire da te che nella vita bisogna farsi spazio, che della vita bisogna saper apprezzare con un sorriso anche quelle situazioni in cui uno ha voglia solo di rinchiudersi in un bunker e sperare che i Maya o chi per loro c'avesse visto bene.

Non te lo dico, anzi, sì te lo dico, a costo di essere banalmente ripetitiva o insulsa: darei tutto ciò che ho per poter tornare indietro nel tempo, iscrivermi al Liceo Stuyvesant di New York e assistere alle tue lezioni di scrittura creativa.
Non tanto per l'insegnamento della scrittura creativa, dato che non ne sapevi granché, quanto per l'insegnamento di vita che m'avresti detto facendomi vedere che a volte bisogna imparare a scherzarci su, anche quando fa più male. Sorrido ad uno schermo di computer a pensare a te in cattedra, sprovveduto, infilato a forza nel ruolo di insegnante, che cercavi più di apprendere che di insegnare, che non esaurivi mai la curiosità e leggevi come leggo io, Fitzgerald come se fosse un diamante, non uno semplice scrittore.

Forse son troppo di parte, forse dovrei scriverti due note di rimprovero sul fatto che bevessi troppo, e che predicassi bene e razzolassi male, ma tutto ciò che vedo tra le tue parole, che son l'unico elemento che ho per poterti conoscere, è un'anima bella innamorata della speranza. Un po' come io non sono, un po' come io vorrei essere.

Ho letto le ultime venti pagine con una lentezza quasi stoica, con una ripugnanza per la fine che mi addolorava passo passo, parola dopo parola perché sapevo che ogni parola era una in meno verso la conclusione delle tue memorie. In generale sono abbastanza pettegola, e quando scopro un autore nuovo la prima cosa che voglio sapere era se fosse sposato/poligamo/single, se avesse vissuto scandali e tutte le cose da classici rotocalchi rosa.
Ma la tua vita l'ho letta in queste tre puntate perché dalla prima riga della prima pagina delle Ceneri di Angela sapevo - anche se tu non lo sai -, che questi libri li avevi scritti per me, affinché io imparassi. E quindi, svestitami dei panni della pettegola, ho indossato quelli della sensibilità così che ogni tua singola parola mi ha trapassata da lato a lato lasciandomi un segno, un segno che fosse una risata della grossa viste certe cagate che hai combinato, un segno che fosse un insegnamento visto certe vite che hai vissuto, che fosse un sostegno, visto che mi sei più di quanto siano molti altri.

Siccome poi odio essere sentimentale, lo sono stata abbastanza, e voglio che tutti ti odino, così che nessuno compri i tuoi libri e si legga le cose che hai scritto a me, io ti saluto Frank.

...Grazie (less)

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Jun 11, 2008

Janean rated it

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This book is difficult to review. While I appreciated McCourt's attempt to recognize teachers (especially English teachers) and the work (often underappreciated) that we do, I felt that his theory of if we all "think outside the box" and try to be friendly with our students, than we will have a successful teaching career, a bit unrealistic, overly idealistic, and in many ways, condescending. While I do admire some of his methods, and enjoy his writing style, I found that the times ...more

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May 16, 2007

Kate rated it

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Recommends it for: teachers, avid readers

Shelves: nonfiction, memoirs

At first, I was a little disappointed, because the book went by so fast. He summed up 30 years of teaching in a little over 200 pages.

Then, when I thought about it, I realized how much it made sense. I've only been teaching for five years, and at times, it feels like forever, but at the same time, it's gone by so fast. I think McCourt captured that perfectly.

Also, I love his self-deprecating humor. There are many times when I feel like a fraud as a teacher, but I know...more

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Jan 04, 2008

Dusty rated it

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Recommends it for: Inexperienced teachers!

Shelves: read-in-2008

Frank McCourt: The Irish-American Larry McMurtry?

I ended up with mixed feelings about this book. I loved -- no, adored -- the first section of this wry, honest memoir. The second section was solid, also, but felt a little out of place. (My reaction: What? McCourt's in Dublin drinking, cheating on his wife, and not getting the doctorate he's supposed to be working on? What does this have to do with his high school teaching career?) The third section returns to and wraps up his teachi...more

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Aug 14, 2007

Tom rated it

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McCourt has a compelling style of writing, an extraordinarily masculine style (I don't know what this means exactly, but if I were ever to try to pin down what I thought made for "masculine" writing, I'd definitely look at McCourt's book, if only to avoid the traditional recourse to Hemingway). One thing that was nice about it was that it was a memoir that happened to be about a period in his life when he was a teacher -- i.e. that happened to be about teaching. It clearly wasn't a "...more

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Feb 25, 2007

E rated it

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Recommends it for: no one

i hated this book. i didn't like the style of his writing. i didn't like the way he talked about his teaching and what he did in his classroom. as i kept on reading, i was just like- dude- you are not a good teacher. but maybe it's just the way he presented himself.

when i got to the end, i was like- so. what was the point? but i guess the point was that this is part of his life story.

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Jul 20, 2011

K.D. rated it

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Recommended to K.D. by: Charles Van

Shelves: memoirs, series

My fourth book by Frank McCourt and I am still impressed.

Teacher Man (2005) is the last book of his 3-part tragicomic memoir and it is about his experiences as a teacher in at least 3 schools in New York. He spent 33 years teaching high school students before he retired at the age of 60 and wrote his first book, Angela's Ashes at the age of 66. The book changed his life tremendously. He won a Pulitzer in 1997. National Book Critics Circle Award in 1996. He met President Bush, Lady Di...moreMy fourth book by Frank McCourt and I am still impressed.

Teacher Man (2005) is the last book of his 3-part tragicomic memoir and it is about his experiences as a teacher in at least 3 schools in New York. He spent 33 years teaching high school students before he retired at the age of 60 and wrote his first book, Angela's Ashes at the age of 66. The book changed his life tremendously. He won a Pulitzer in 1997. National Book Critics Circle Award in 1996. He met President Bush, Lady Diana and other well-known personalities because of it. However, looking back, what he most treasured in his life was the opportunity to influence the many future American citizens. The schools were he taught at? vocational and technical school (McKee), adult education - teaching English to immigrants mostly mothers(New York City College of Technology) and later in the Harvard-equivalent for high school in the US: Stuyvesant High School where only the brightest high students are admitted. So, McCourt had enough challenges and to be able to survive that long means that he must have loved teaching. Afterall, teaching is said to be one of the noblest professions.

Although there is almost nothing about Ireland and his poor family background in this book, his funny and witty lines are still much evident. I particularly enjoyed his conversations with his students particularly the immigrants who did not know much about literature and grammar. Those poor immigrants who came to America during that time (early 70's to late 80's) barely knew English and thought of themselves as nobody and McCourt took patience in turning that wrong belief around. They ended up liking William Shakespeare and appreciating Hamlet. Something that I can relate with since I have not read Hamlet yet.

Ah, four lovely lovely books. It was nice knowing you, Frank McCourt!

I will now read those two books (Singing My Him Song and A Monk Swimming) by your brother Malachy McCourt (born 1931) and 1 book (A Long Stone's Throw (1998) by Alphie McCourt (born 1940). I wonder if these younger brothers of yours are also as brilliant as you are when it comes to writing memoirs :)(less)

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Mar 24, 2011

Amy rated it

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Shelves: re-reads

I read this book years ago, at the start of my teaching career. I can't remember if I was student teaching or if it was my first year, but nevertheless, I was a newbie. I actually started reading it again forgetting this was the Frank McCourt book I had read years ago. It took me about two pages to realize my mistake, but I figured I might as well finish it since I hadn't even remembered I had read it in the first place.
McCourt no doubt has some questionable pedagogy. Some of his out-...moreI read this book years ago, at the start of my teaching career. I can't remember if I was student teaching or if it was my first year, but nevertheless, I was a newbie. I actually started reading it again forgetting this was the Frank McCourt book I had read years ago. It took me about two pages to realize my mistake, but I figured I might as well finish it since I hadn't even remembered I had read it in the first place.
McCourt no doubt has some questionable pedagogy. Some of his out-of-the-box lessons are clever while others are downright ridiculous. He wrote he felt guilty not sticking to the curriculum, but I suppose sometimes it takes risks to discover gold. I feel a little cheated because we never get to experience a typical day in his classroom...there's no way he had his students reciting recipes every day throughout his decades of teaching. What did a regular day look like? He had to have touched on some of the curriculum throughout the year, but I suppose those stories may not have been as engaging.
What I did not appreciate was his manner regarding his marriage. He nonchalantly writes about cheating on his wife, claiming that it was a marriage doomed from the start. Ummm, when did that make it okay to have affairs? And, what are these stories adding to this book?
The best part about the book is the stories about students and their lives. I tell my students "teachers are people, too!" but maybe we sometimes forget that the same applies to our students. We see them in a bubble and make judgments based on their attentiveness in our class and their homework completion and perceived effort, but they have home lives and struggles, just like us. Oh sure, with the "troubled" kids, you can clearly see that there are outside forces pulling them from being a motivated student, but what about the others?
I sometimes get jealous that other teachers get to know more about their students' outside worlds. English teachers have papers, art teachers see their pieces rife with emotion, religion teachers have journals...what about math teachers? We get to see word problems. It's hard to start deep, provocative discussions around the topic "how to solve for x" (less)

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May 25, 2007

Alien Citizen rated it

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Also heard this one read by the author on cd. Not nearly as good as 'Tis. I liked hearing about his life and the impersonations of students was somewhat amusing, if not repetitive and grating on the nerves, but I actually felt like this story was a little cheesy. It seemed like he fell back on a lot of cliches of that old standby, the uplifting story of the teacher who makes a difference. I don't think that this was at all intentional and I'm sure that he probably was as honest about his tea...more

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Feb 23, 2008

Heather rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: no one

Recommended to Heather by: self

Shelves: nonfiction

I do not like this book. I thought, "He's a teacher, I'm a teacher. I should read it," and "He wrote 'Angela's Ashes' which people seem to like, so I'll read it." I wish I'd left it alone. I actually bought the book for someone else, but then I decided to read it myself and give her something else. I'm glad I didn't give it as a gift.

Frank McCourt was a high school teacher in New York and is an immigrant from......Ireland! He was actually born in America, but his ...more

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Mar 07, 2009

Mr. Z rated it

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"This is the situation in the public schools of America: the farther you travel from the classroom the greater your financial and professional rewards." While I can certainly related to and even laughed at many of McCourt's classroom challenges and adventures, I tried not to buy into the feeling of all being lost with today's students. No, the bulk of today's students don't appreciate their education nearly as much as they would have 50 years ago, but let's not blame our students for a...more

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Mar 06, 2009

Discoverylover added it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-2009, pc, re-reads

Frank McCourt has been a favourite of mine since high school where I read 'Tis and then Angela's Ashes, so when I saw a copy of the final book in his memoirs, I snapped it up, and read it. I enjoyed it so much that I passed it on the a friend from TColl, who enjoyed it just as much as I did, and so she passed it on to another friend of ours from TColl...so it's done a miniring among friends :-)

I'll probably take this one to the meetup on Tuesday :-)

From the back

"...more

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Feb 04, 2012

Anna rated it

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In Teacher Man, Frank McCourt relates his thirty-five year experiences as a classroom English teacher. He tells it in a straightforward simplistic style that lets the reader gain insight into what many classroom teachers in inner city schools face, teaching five classes of thirty-five students from diverse backgrounds, dealing with all the other things that are required in addition to teaching. His first days as a new teacher he becomes victim of his storytelling prowess. It doesn’t take long...more

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Jan 15, 2012

John rated it

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Shelves: books-i-own, biography-memoir

Almost As Good As "Angela's Ashes"

McCourties of the world rejoice! You have nothing to lose but your tears of woe anticipating when he'd return with his next book; the foremost memoirist of our time is back. Frank McCourt's "Teacher Man" is a spellbinding lyrical ode to the craft of teaching. It is a rollicking, delightful trek across nearly thirty years in New York City public school classrooms that will surely please his devout legion of fans, and perhaps win so...moreAlmost As Good As "Angela's Ashes"

McCourties of the world rejoice! You have nothing to lose but your tears of woe anticipating when he'd return with his next book; the foremost memoirist of our time is back. Frank McCourt's "Teacher Man" is a spellbinding lyrical ode to the craft of teaching. It is a rollicking, delightful trek across nearly thirty years in New York City public school classrooms that will surely please his devout legion of fans, and perhaps win some new admirers too. Truly, without question, it is a splendid concluding volume in his trilogy of memoirs that began in spectacular fashion with "Angela's Ashes". Indeed, we find much of the same plain, yet rather poetic, prose and rich dark humor that defines his first book, along with his undiminished, seemingly timeless, skill as a mesmerizing raconteur. Is McCourt truly now one of the great writers of our time if he isn't already, with the publication of "Teacher Man"? I will say only that he was a marvellous teacher (I still feel lucky to have been a prize-winning student of his.), and that this new memoir truly captures the spirit of what it was like to be a student in his classroom.

"Teacher Man" opens with a hilarious Prologue that would seem quite self-serving if written by someone other than Frank McCourt, in which he reviews his star-struck existence in the nine years since the original publication of "Angela's Ashes". In Part I (It's a Long Road to Pedagogy) he dwells on the eight years he spent at McKee Vocational High School in Staten Island. It starts, promisingly enough, with him on the verge of ending his teaching career, just as it begins in the lawless Wild West frontier of a McKee classroom (I was nearly in stitches laughing out loud, after learning why he was nearly fired on two consecutive days, no less.). Frank manages to break every rule learned in his Education courses at New York University, but he succeeds in motivating his students, raising the craft of excuse note writing to a high literary art. He finds time too to fall in love with his first wife, Alberta Small, and then earn a M. A. degree in English from Brooklyn College.

Part II (Donkey on a Thistle) has the funniest tale; an unbelievable odyssey to a Times Square movie theater with Frank as chaperone to an unruly tribe of thirty Seward Park High School girls. But before we get there, we're treated to a spellbinding account of his all too brief time as an adjunct lecturer of English at Brooklyn's New York Community College, and of another short stint at Fashion Industries High School, where he receives a surprising, and poignant, reminder from his past. Soon Frank will forsake high school teaching, sail off to Dublin, and enroll in a doctoral program at Trinity College, in pursuit of a thesis on Irish-American literature. But, that too fails, and with Alberta pregnant, he accepts an offer to become a substitute teacher at prestigious Stuyvesant High School (The nation's oldest high school devoted to the sciences and mathematics; its alumni now include four Nobel Prize laureates in chemistry, medicine and economics; for more information please look at my ABOUT ME section, or at history at www.stuy.edu or famous alumni at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_High_Sc... or Notables at www.ourstrongband.org.).

Surprisingly, Part III (Coming Alive in Room 205) is the shortest section of "Teacher Man". After having spent fifteen years teaching at Stuyvesant High School, you'd think that this would be this memoir's longest section, replete with many tales rich in mirth (Room 205, located a few doors from the principal's office, was Frank's room throughout his years teaching full-time at Stuyvesant High School.). Indeed I'm surprised that it is so brief. Yet there is still ample fodder for Frank's lyrical prose to dwell on, most notably a hilarious episode on cookbooks and how he taught his creative writing class to write recipes for them. He describes with equal doses of hilarity and eloquence, his unique style of teaching at Stuyvesant, which he compares and contrasts with math teachers Philip Fisher and Edward Marcantonio - the dark and good sides of Stuyvesant mathematics education in the 1970s and 1980s (I was a student of both and will let the reader decide who was my teacher while I was a student in Frank's creative writing class.) - but he still implies that his students were having the most fun.

Will "Teacher Man" earn the same critical acclaim bestowed upon "Angela's Ashes"? Who knows? Is it deserving of it? I think the answer is a resounding yes. Regardless, Frank's many devout fans - his flock of McCourties - will cherish this book as yet another inspirational tale from the foremost memoirist of our time.

(EDITORIAL NOTE 7/22/09: Elsewhere online I posted this tribute to my favorite high school teacher, and I think it is worth noting here:

I've been fortunate to have had many fine teachers in high school, college and graduate school, but there was no one like Frank McCourt. Without a doubt, he was the most inspirational, most compelling, and the funniest, teacher I ever had. I am still grateful to him for instilling in me a life-long love of literature and a keen interest in writing prose. Am still amazed that he encouraged me to enter a citywide essay contest on New York City's waterfront, and would, more than a year later, in my senior yearbook acknowledge my second prize award by thanking me for winning him money (His was also, not surprisingly, the most eloquent set of comments I had inscribed in my yearbook from teachers.). He is gone now, but I am sure that for me, and for many of my fellow alumni of his Stuyvesant High School classes, he will live in our hearts and minds for the rest of our lives.)

(Resposted from my 2005 Amazon review)(less)

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Sep 29, 2011

Rebecca rated it

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Lately I've been obsessing about what-I-will-do-when-I-finally-grow-up-quit-trying-to-escape-my-destiny-and-go-back-to-teaching-high-school-English. This book was on the shelf at the library with all sorts of dreary How-to teaching books, decorated with apples. But this is not a cutesy book with lists of activities. I recognized McCourt's name, but I haven't read anything else of his, so I had no expectations going in. It's a quiet, sort of sad, really funny story of an entire teaching career. I...more

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Sep 10, 2010

Alexandra Graßler rated it

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Frank McCourt ist den meisten wahrscheinlich bekannt, als der Autor des Bestsellers "Die Asche meiner Mutter". In seinem Buch Tag und Nacht und auch im Sommer schreibt er über seine Jahre als Lehrer. Absolut von der Leber weg. Ohne Beschönigungen beschreibt er über 30 Jahre seines Lebens.

Wie schwierig es ist, in einer amerikanischen Highschool mit den Teenager klar zu kommen, ihre Aufmerksamkeit zu erringen, nicht in den Klassen unterzugehen, sie in irgendeiner Form dazuzubr...moreFrank McCourt ist den meisten wahrscheinlich bekannt, als der Autor des Bestsellers "Die Asche meiner Mutter". In seinem Buch Tag und Nacht und auch im Sommer schreibt er über seine Jahre als Lehrer. Absolut von der Leber weg. Ohne Beschönigungen beschreibt er über 30 Jahre seines Lebens.

Wie schwierig es ist, in einer amerikanischen Highschool mit den Teenager klar zu kommen, ihre Aufmerksamkeit zu erringen, nicht in den Klassen unterzugehen, sie in irgendeiner Form dazuzubringen, auch geistig anwesend zu sein.

Er schildert, mit welchen Tricks seine SchülerInnen versuchen ihn vom Unterricht abzulenken und ihn mit Fragen dazu bringen wollen, dass er einfach erzählt. Und das macht er. Frank McCourt erzählt ihnen Geschichten aus seinem Leben, die unspektakulären Ereignisse, die ein kleines Leben ausmachen. Und er erreicht sie, sie hören ihm zu, bauen Vertrauen auf und es gibt Momente, wie er es nennt, in denen der Unterricht einfach wunderbar wird.

Das Buch zieht einen völlig in den Bann. Es passieren keine großen Dinge darin, es kommen sogar viele Dinge vor, die mit scheitern zu tun haben, wie seine Ehe. Er macht keine Karriere, weil er das gar nicht möchte. Er unterrichtet, Tag und Nacht und auch im Sommer. Daher kommt auch der Titel. Für mich jedoch ist der Originaltitel "teacher man" weitaus passender.

Tausende von SchülerInnen gehen durch seinen Klassen, tausende von Unterrichtsstunden hält er ab. Nachdem er es durch einen weiteren Schulwechsel auf eine sehr renommierte Highschool schafft, verändert sich sein Alltag vom Disziplinieren hin zu Unterricht in kreativem Schreiben. Er schildert uns Stunden voller Übermut, Singen von Kochrezepten und der Vielzahl von SchülerInnen, die in seine Stunden gehen möchten. Doch er verliert sich nie in einem Machtstatus, spielt seine SchülerInnen nie aus und steht manchesmal vor der Klugheit seiner Teenager in tiefem Erstaunen.

Es steigt die Welt in diesem Schmelztiegel auf, wie ihn die Jugendlichen zu bewältigen haben. Und sie finden in ihrem Lehrer einen Menschen, der ihre Welt kennt und ihnen nichts vormacht, der häufig selbst mit dem Leben zu kämpfen hat, der ihnen Geschichten erzählt, sie selbst zum Nachdenken anregt und sie dazu bringt, ihre eigene Geschichte zu leben.

Für mich ein wunderbares Buch, das ein Stück Zeitgeschichte mit dem Leben eines Lehrers verbindet, der einfach sein Leben lebt so gut wie er vermag. Der große Ruhm für ihn kam erst in seinen 60igern, als er bereits pensioniert war. Alle, die lehren möchten, finden hier ein ehrliches Wort und die Welt der Schule, wie sie ohne Illusionen ist. Geschildert von einem underdog, der manchmal Glück und manchmal Pech hatte.(less)

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May 15, 2010

Nicole rated it

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This is a perennial read for teachers, and is my second time around.

One of many meaningful quotes:

I know I'm exaggerating but it's like a boxer going into the ring or a bullfighter into the arena. You can be knocked out or gored and that's the end of your teaching career. But if you hang on you learn trick. It's hard but you have to make yourself comfortable in the classroom. You have to be selfish. The airlines tell you if oxygen fails you are to put on your mask...more

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Sep 23, 2009

Gary Brecht rated it

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They say “those who can’t, teach.” Francis McCourt proves to be the exception to that cliché. A Pulitzer Prize winner for his first book, Angela’s Ashes, McCourt spins the tale of an Irish immigrant whose road to assimilation takes a different path than the usual work on the docks or in the sweat boxes of the northeast. McCourt chooses the teaching profession in Brooklyn, New York. We see him struggling as he encounters the indifference and defiance of teens from the poorer sections of the city....more

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Jul 23, 2009

Drick rated it

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Shelves: teaching, education

Ironically and tragically, I began reading this book on the day, Frank McCourt died - July 19, 2009 - of cancer. This is the third of McCourt's books and like Angela's Ashes and Tis, this is largely autobiographical. While near the end of Teacher Man he does relate some of his more rewarding teaching experiences, most of the book recounts stories from his childhood that he told his classes, and for which he became famous. As such the book does not seem so much about teaching, as it recounts some...more

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Jun 14, 2009

Rima rated it

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While I really liked "Angela's Ashes," I wasn't so enthralled with "Teacher Man." Frank McCourt has an easy to follow writing style, and his narration on the audio version is good (many authors make terrible narrators of their own books but that's not the case here). I liked the descriptions of some of his students and his interactions with them, as well as how difficult being a teacher can be and the lack of preparedness new teachers face in their first year or two due to ...more

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Mar 24, 2009

Roberta rated it

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i'm fascinated, as usual by the negative reviews of this book. ive never read anything that spoke to me about teaching the way this book did, and about the rest of the stuff we're all to deal with in general. perhaps the people who dont get it arent rebels at heart...perhaps they are individuals who havent had a boss scold them or perhaps theyve just always felt in control. but i am grateful for this book, and moreso for frank mc court writing about everything he chose to detail in all three,...morei'm fascinated, as usual by the negative reviews of this book. ive never read anything that spoke to me about teaching the way this book did, and about the rest of the stuff we're all to deal with in general. perhaps the people who dont get it arent rebels at heart...perhaps they are individuals who havent had a boss scold them or perhaps theyve just always felt in control. but i am grateful for this book, and moreso for frank mc court writing about everything he chose to detail in all three, angela's ashes, tis, and teacher man with the voice with which he chose to portray them - humor. its humor, its all humor, which apparently some people didnt get...

im sure we all gravitate towards books that speak about our own experiences and from our own view point. so other than not being irish, ive dealt with alcholic loved ones, and being misunderstood and fired at work, and mostly, teaching the hardest population to teach, which i do in juvenile hall and camp in los angeles.

after wondering about how long it was going to be so hard...i found my copy of teacher man and skimmed through it - there it was, the scene about what you find in the classroom with the doo-whoppers in the back of the room singing...as nowadays we have "rappers" who not only constantly rap, but beat on the desk. and of course my favorite, the story of the sandwich on his first day, AND getting scolded by the principal, AND then bonding with his students over it. exactly which part of this book didn't people get? and condescending it certainly IS NOT. I LOVE YOU FRANK MC COURT, FOR GIVING ME PEACE OF MIND AND REMINDING ME THAT I SHOULD ALWAYS, ALWAYS WALK INTO THAT CLASSROOM WITH MY SENSE OF HUMOR IN TACT. Any teacher who walks in the room with out one, well you might think you are a "grand" teacher, but in the end, the best teachers are the ones who simply love their students, therefore love being a teacher.

especially an english teacher because the meaning is always more important than the spelling or punctuation...(less)

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May 29, 2011

Vasha7 rated it

This anecdotal memoir is self-revealing but also tells something about teaching and about the people he taught. McCourt has a constant urge to put himself down, and he reveals a lot of not-so-good things he did (the part where he hit a student was just about unforgivable), as well as constant doubt along the way. His past of fear and victimhood leads him to go on the attack sometimes when he feels threatened (he says "I wasn't tough, just desperate"); at one point a boy named Benny "...more

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Oct 31, 2010

Nancy Bielski rated it

· review of another edition

I am loving this book. I got this book from a friend for, I think, two reasons. It was my graduation present and I was going to continue school to be a teacher. And more importantly, I had the chance to meet and speak with Frank McCourt. In an almost comical situation, he ended up coming to a Business Comm class speaking to us about life. I hadn't read anything he'd written, and barely knew anything about him. He asked "Who in the room wants to be a teacher?" And our instructor ...more

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Nov 17, 2009

Chip rated it

Wow. Just finished "Teacher Man" and, when balanced against the author's recent passing, it is an extraordinary farewell from an extraordinary man... though he would be the first to tell you that his extraordinariness, if it exists, lies in his ordinariness. He lived. He told his story brilliantly, first with Angela's Ashes, then 'Tis, and finally Teacher Man. He lived, maybe not well, but thoroughly. He loved and was loved. He learned, and most of all, he taught us what he had l...more

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Jun 03, 2009

John Barrett rated it

· review of another edition

This author wrote ANGELA'S ASHES which I have not read, but the title of course intrigued me.

There is a lot of adult information and language, not for the junior high yet.

I could identify with this author on many different levels. I haven't cheated on my wife (or gotten a divorce). I teach junior high, maybe that's the difference (I guess I also teach fifty years after McCourt).

However, when he talks about the suitcase full of papers watching you from the ...more

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Apr 14, 2009

Simon rated it

· review of another edition

It was a little preachy and I find him obsessed with sex and always having a beer.

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Feb 05, 2012

Mrs. S rated it

· review of another edition

While parts of this book made me very, very happy, and I finished it with tears in my eyes, overall the impact was not quite as strong as 'Tis. That's hardly a dig, as 'Tis was one of just two five-starred books I read last month--and I found a lot to love in Teacher Man. Frank McCourt writes New York City teenagers like I suspect only a teacher can--completely on the nose in his characterizations of their group behavior, and at the same time painting each individual with such striking detail ...moreWhile parts of this book made me very, very happy, and I finished it with tears in my eyes, overall the impact was not quite as strong as 'Tis. That's hardly a dig, as 'Tis was one of just two five-starred books I read last month--and I found a lot to love in Teacher Man. Frank McCourt writes New York City teenagers like I suspect only a teacher can--completely on the nose in his characterizations of their group behavior, and at the same time painting each individual with such striking detail that they leap out and stick in your head. And so much of his frustration with bureaucracy and paperwork, etc, feels like it came straight from my own head. I suppose what I really wanted was more beginning--teacher memoirs are often too cutesy in their self-deprecation, or else they have an impossible sanctimonious tone: "I was letting my students down. Looking back, my one regret is that I only spent twenty-two hours a day working. I could have given them so much more, if only my spouse wasn't so unreasonable about spending time with me." (The only time I will go on record as rooting for a Patrick Dempsey character is in Freedom Riders. Those kids were great and all. But ughhhhh, that movie.) Anyway, Frank McCourt sounds like an honest-to-god overwhelmed young teacher. He really likes his students (mostly, sometimes) but the job as a whole does often feel like the walls are closing in, and he nails it. As a teacher who had a seriously rocky first year (hi there, students-of-mine, who unfortunately had a front-row seat for that) I am overjoyed to read someone writing this well about what it's like. It was almost hard to see him get better--even though my job has gotten a LOT easier, I'm still not the thirty-year vet he was by the end of the book.

Yikes. When people complain about reviews getting too personal, they usually mean the author's personal life, not the reviewer's. Ok. Well, these aren't really reviews, they're just a good place to keep what would otherwise be free-roaming blog rambles. Anyway, bottom line: if you are a teacher, especially in a big city public school--pick this one up. If you're about to be a teacher...maybe wait till you're a year or two in? (less)

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Jun 02, 2011

Rae rated it

· review of another edition

I read this right at the beginning of my first year teaching. I actually would like to read it again now that I've been teaching for a while and see if my opinion of it changes. I remember making faces at the book while reading it, but I can't remember exactly why.

However, this morning, while doing EOC remediation with my freshmen who didn't pass the test the first time, I thought of a lesson that McCourt did. To explain what a "complete sentence" was, he took a pen apar...more

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May 21, 2009

Helynne rated it

· review of another edition

Once again, McCourt's wonderful writing style kicks back in as he writes of his teaching career in New York City's public schools. As a native-born American, raised in Ireland, then transplanted back to the city of his birth, he is constantly asked, "Do I detect an Irish brough?" The fact that he never lost his charming accent is a positive force as he plunges into the daunting task of keeping lower-income New York teens on track with their high school education. The students soo...more

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Mar 18, 2009

Jackie added it · review of another edition

I found value reading this book from his experiences as a high school teacher. He was born in America, however he lived most of his growing up years in Ireland during the 1930's-1940's. Due to his upbringing, it seemed he struggled with figuring out what kind of teaching style he wanted to have, though he did want to connect with the students positively.

On page 19, I liked his description of what a teacher is- "In the high school classroom you are a drill sergeant, a rabbi, ...more

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About Frank McCourt

Francis "Frank" McCourt was an Irish-American teacher and author. McCourt was born in Brooklyn; however, his family returned to their native Ireland in 1934.

He received the Pulitzer Prize (1997) and National Book Critics Circle Award (1996) for his memoir Angela's Ashes (1996), which details his childhood as a poor Irish Catholic in Limerick. He is also the author of 'Tis (19...more

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“Just let them sit in the goddam sun. But the world won't let them because there's nothing more dangerous than letting old farts sit in the sun. They might be thinking. Same thing with kids. Keep 'em busy or they might start thinking.” — 8 people liked it

“There are so many ways of saying Hi. Hiss it, trill it, bark it, sing it, bellow it, laugh it, cough it. A simple stroll in the hallway calls for paragraphs, sentences in your head, decisions galore.” — 3 people liked it

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