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342nd out of 395 books
—
334 voters
I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High
by
Tony Danza
I’d Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had is television, screen and stage star Tony Danza’s absorbing account of a year spent teaching tenth-grade English at Northeast High -- Philadelphia’s largest high school with 3600 students.
Entering Northeast’s crowded halls in September of 2009, Tony found his way to a classroom filled with twenty-six students who were dete...more
Entering Northeast’s crowded halls in September of 2009, Tony found his way to a classroom filled with twenty-six students who were dete...more
ebook, 272 pages
Published
September 11th 2012
by Crown Archetype
(first published August 14th 2012)
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I picked up this book for a couple of reasons. As a librarian in a small town with a small crop of kids who have been acting up increasingly lately, I felt I could benefit from a story of a self-proclaimed "rookie teacher" with only an inkling of how to actually teach, and how to reach and relate to high school kids. That's not to say Tony Danza was born yesterday; he has a degree in history and wanted to become a teacher before he became a boxer (!!) and then an actor. I admire him for taking s...more
I've always liked Tony Danza and I know I'm not alone in that sentiment. It's not just the characters we've seen him play but somehow he's always seemed "genuine". Now I've never been a teacher but I've certainly been a student for a whole lot of years and I've been a parent to two children who have made it through the school system successfully. I've had ample opportunity to observe teachers in action and have always felt a reverence for them and what they do.
This book is a great portrayal of w...more
This book is a great portrayal of w...more
Jun 26, 2012
Rachel Watkins
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
public school teachers, education reform geeks, teachers, parents
Recommended to Rachel by:
Random House rep
Shelves:
arc
As an education reform nerd and public school advocate and volunteer who is closely monitoring the defunding of public schools on a legislative level across the U.S., this book hit close to home. I taught school before NCLB and things are so different now. I appreciated Mr. Danza's humility and deep dedication to his students during his one year teaching experiment. The epilogue is full of insightful commentary based on his experience in a Philadelphia h.s. I agree with this statement wholeheart...more
I was intrigued when I saw the ads for this book, because I’ve always found Tony to be a likable guy, and somehow I missed the A&E series when it aired. I wasn’t aware that before he was sidetracked by boxing, then acting, that he’d planned to be a teacher.
I ended up with new-found respect for him. I wouldn’t voluntarily spend 5 minutes in a high school classroom-- even a wealthy suburban one--and he stuck it out for the whole year in inner city Philly even after the tv crew deserted him.
It...more
I ended up with new-found respect for him. I wouldn’t voluntarily spend 5 minutes in a high school classroom-- even a wealthy suburban one--and he stuck it out for the whole year in inner city Philly even after the tv crew deserted him.
It...more
Two things about me that you may need to know for this review to make sense. I am unemployed high school special education teacher who desperately wants to have my own classroom again. I don’t watch reality tv shows. Almost ever. (I did enjoy “Queer Eye,” but not religiously and that was a long time ago.) If that means I don’t know anything about the Kardashians, or non- professional singers or dancers, or a family of polygamists, that’s usually fine with me.
Amazon Vine provided a paragraph blu...more
Amazon Vine provided a paragraph blu...more
Tony Danza is one of the underrated people of our time, really. Most of my generation, and the following ones, probably missed his hit sitcoms like "Who's the Boss", but back in the eighties he was quite the celebrity. And such he might still be, if he were the kind of person that puts the demands of his pocket before his principles. It annoys me when I'm reminded how old he is; I wish our generation had celebrities of that caliber.
Out of a strong passion for teaching, Danza signs up to teach fo...more
Out of a strong passion for teaching, Danza signs up to teach fo...more
Tony Danza taught a tenth grade class for a year at Northeast High in Philadelphia. It was filmed for a reality show. Danza made clear from the beginning that he did not want it to go the usual reality show route, where they script situations beforehand and have the participants act out these situations. He wanted it to be a straight-up documentary. After filming for a semester, the producers decided there was not enough drama and did not think it would make a good show, so they pulled the plug....more
I have the highest respect for teachers. Their impact on society as a whole and students in particular is so crucial that, in my view, it is the most significant role any person can undertake. Teachers have the overwhelming responsibility and incredible ability to make or break a child's future. Great teachers are rare and those are the ones who are born with a burning desire to educate. I think Tony Danza is one of those people.
It's very clear that the year Mr. Danza spent teaching changed his...more
It's very clear that the year Mr. Danza spent teaching changed his...more
Tony Danza's account of his year spent teaching English Literature to sophomore students at Philadelphia's largest high school.
Tony takes readers through the events that inspired this bold career move and his background credentials that made such an endeavor even possible. Having a great respect for teachers, I was blown away by the effort and energy he brought to this project. He had some amazing ideas to bring units to life and engage his students in the curriculum. I related to his dual role...more
Tony takes readers through the events that inspired this bold career move and his background credentials that made such an endeavor even possible. Having a great respect for teachers, I was blown away by the effort and energy he brought to this project. He had some amazing ideas to bring units to life and engage his students in the curriculum. I related to his dual role...more
I'd like to suggest that Tony Danza continue to pursue his dream of teaching. This memoir did a pretty good job of exposing the pressures and challenges teachers face today. Clearly Danza did not experience a true first year of teaching, having only one class. And he acknowledges that. But what he did show was that given the opportunity to spend enough time with students, wonderful things can happen. Smaller class sizes, more teachers, freedom to be innovative, higher salaries, support, support,...more
I can't really explain how much I enjoyed this book. It's not deep, lasting literature and I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but reading someone's perspective on education was close to home for me. Tony Danza, the actor from the 80s sitcom "Who's the Boss?", that show with the randy old lady and where Alyssa Milano's hair was it's own character, finds his acting career fading and his personal life slowly falling apart. He confides in a friend that he is considering becoming a teacher. It had...more
This book is surprisingly tedious and uninspiring. While Danza tries to claim to inspire children in a Philadelphia high school, he comes across as kind of clueless and even at times dumb. From not following school rules to getting an alcoholic drink while chaperoning kids on a school field trip to improperly giving students extra time on a standardize test, he indicts himself as a guy whose heart may be in the right place but his head doesn't get how to teach.
Danza tries his best to convince us...more
Danza tries his best to convince us...more
When I started listening to this book I had some misgivings about what he would say about teaching, being a retired teacher myself. But I really enjoyed it. Granted, he only taught one class of twenty-six sophomores in high school for a "double period", meaning 90 minutes, but he does address that, giving his admiration to teachers who teach many classes with 150 students. In my school make that 220 to 240 students. His small numbers allowed him to become involved in the lives of his students in...more
If you're my age [1], the first thing you think about when you hear Tony Danza's name is the show Who's The Boss? Honestly, I remember nearly nothing about that show except that it was set in Connecticut (which I only remember because that's where I was living when it was on) and that Danza played some kind of live-in... servant? Housekeeper? For a divorced career woman?
Hold on, let me check Wikipedia to see if I even got that much right.
I did? Oh, good.
Anyway, Danza kind of slipped out of my cu...more
Hold on, let me check Wikipedia to see if I even got that much right.
I did? Oh, good.
Anyway, Danza kind of slipped out of my cu...more
Here's what I thought:
* Tony Danza had balls to even set foot inside an inner city high school...former boxer or not.
* I admired his desire to be the best teacher he could be. He made it clear that was his main objective even though an A&E show was produced from the first semester.
* He learned from his mistakes...he learned from other educators...he learned from his students.
* He acknowledged the brokenness of the educational system in America and how it's only getting worse. He also gave cr...more
* Tony Danza had balls to even set foot inside an inner city high school...former boxer or not.
* I admired his desire to be the best teacher he could be. He made it clear that was his main objective even though an A&E show was produced from the first semester.
* He learned from his mistakes...he learned from other educators...he learned from his students.
* He acknowledged the brokenness of the educational system in America and how it's only getting worse. He also gave cr...more
As a first year teacher, I can really relate to a lot of what Danza went through. I watched the series Teach, and this book is a fleshed-out version of the show, which I enjoyed. I think Danza captures the insanity of teaching: staying focused on the students, getting and keeping them engaged, how downtrodden you can become, and how easily one word from one student can either ruin or make your entire day.
Danza tends to ramble on a lot about himself, and this book is just as much about him as it...more
Danza tends to ramble on a lot about himself, and this book is just as much about him as it...more
This book was fantastic. Tony Danza taught for a year at an inner city high school as part of a reality TV show called Teach for A & E and faced the challenges that teachers everywhere face. It seemed like every page I turned I was nodding my head saying "I've seen that" or "I've heard that happen before." What was amazing is how well he characterized the teachers here who are absolutely dedicated to their students and must act as teacher, parent, coach, counselor, and friend to these studen...more
Relative to other hero-teacher memoirs, Mr. Danza's story is far less obnoxious and unbelievable than, say, "The Freedom Writer's Diary." This is, in part, because Danza acknowledges that his far-from-realistic teaching load (a single class of 30 students!) and the incredible incentives he can afford (trips to NYC! DC! Flip video cameras! Copies of Twilight for everyone!) are not available to all teachers. Danza focuses instead on the difficulties and complex demands that teachers face on a dail...more
It was the epilogue that earned this book it's fourth star from me. Up until then it was running at around three stars. First and foremost, let me say how much I admire Tony Danza's courage to do what he did and to speak out about his experience in a way that I dearly hope the American public will hear. He did a brave thing to enter a classroom and essentially a new career with no classroom experience. He came to teaching with the right attitude and his heart was very much in the right place. He...more
A phrase used extensively in the reality show “The Bachelor” is “I’m not sure he’s here for the right reasons”. This is usually said by a competitor who thinks another competitor is there not for true love, but for fame or career. This is the question I had about Danza, keyed largely based on his foray into reality TV pitches before he actually gets a teaching job. He begins the book talking about his life-long desire to be a teacher, but when he gets his job and comments about a news story sayi...more
Well, I didn't really intend to finish it in one sitting, but it was better than I expected. Some parts were a little too after-school feel-good movie-like, and I couldn't help but think that it was a stunning piece of stunt literature from someone who knew he'd only be spending a year in the classroom. The writing is engaging and it's easy to visualize the day-to-day workings of his class, and he does present a balanced view of teachers in general, the good and the bad. It was reassuring that h...more
This non-fiction book was a whole lot better than I thought it would be! I always liked Tony Danza from his TV shows. In this book, it's the kids that steal the show. That's not to say that Danza isn't good, he is. I enjoyed this book very much—it made me realize how difficult teaching actually is. I sure wish I could have seen the A&E show about his class, but this book will have to do. Loved it!
(Gerard's review)
“I’d Like to Apologize To Every Teacher I Ever Had—My Year as a Rookie Teacher...more
(Gerard's review)
“I’d Like to Apologize To Every Teacher I Ever Had—My Year as a Rookie Teacher...more
Reading this..."book" was a harrowing experience. I kid you not. The fact that this is what we are passing off as literature is unnerving, to say the least. The book is flat out garbage, painful to read, a struggle to get through. It might be my own fault, but I did not realize I was purchasing a self-absorbed auto biography. He even refers to himself IN THE THIRD PERSON. I could have died. Every two paragraphs he has to mention how he broke down into tears, and how his kids got him through the...more
Tony Danza's account, deeply personal and heartfelt, of his first year teaching 10th grade English in a Philadelphia high school. He talks about his commitment, not just as part of A&E's reality television series based on this "experiment," but over and above that, to work hard for his students to help them succeed. Granted that (and as he is more than willing to admit himself,) he had it far easier than his colleagues by being responsible for only one group of students instead of the usual...more
As someone who moved to Philadelphia to teach and spent two years teaching in the public schools, I could totally relate to Danza's experiences as a rookie teacher here. I did watch the show that was filmed of the first part of his teaching year ("Teach" on A&E) and as with the show, there are parts of the book where I just winced at what he's doing. The things Danza does that make me wince are the things most new teachers do (talking too much, focusing initially on whether the kids like you...more
When I picked this book up, I had no idea what I was in for. Tony Danza? A teacher? It irritated me that he was able to teach English while having taken classes for History, but so it goes. This book irked me (Mr. Danza did spend long paragraphs immersed in his own self-doubt, emotion, etc.; he drank alcohol on a school trip), and humbled me (some of the students whose lives he touched genuinely seemed better for it). It appeared that he wanted to actually teach in order to change lives and bett...more
I will say that I am both an education student and a cynic. I picked up this book initially because I was interested in someone's first year of teaching and what I could look forward to. It wasn't until I got the book from the library that I realized it was that Tony Danza.
Needless to say, once I figured that out, I was instantly skeptical. Was this some over the hill gimmick to reignite a career? But I decided to put doubt aside and read it. I figured I'd get something out of it at the very lea...more
Needless to say, once I figured that out, I was instantly skeptical. Was this some over the hill gimmick to reignite a career? But I decided to put doubt aside and read it. I figured I'd get something out of it at the very lea...more
This is Tony Danza's book about teaching one class during one academic year in a public school in Philly, while trying to film a reality show about it that didn't really take off.
His celebrity definitely shines a light on urban public education, though I'd hardly call his experience legit, since he only taught one class for one year. To be fair, he repeats this throughout the book to credit his colleagues, who taught five.
Personally, I get annoyed by aggrandizing people who teach for a year and...more
His celebrity definitely shines a light on urban public education, though I'd hardly call his experience legit, since he only taught one class for one year. To be fair, he repeats this throughout the book to credit his colleagues, who taught five.
Personally, I get annoyed by aggrandizing people who teach for a year and...more
Some of the reasons that Tony Danza gives for chronicling his time as a first-year teacher at a large, urban high school in Philadelphia are: to show what a big American high school is really like and; to show the humanity of the children and the people who work with them. In this regards, he largely succeeds. He went in originally trailing a production crew in anticipation of making a reality show for A&E but how realistic is it to have only one English class, a team to help with research a...more
When you read this book, it feels like Tony Danza is standing in front of you, telling you his stories. And, boy, does he have some stories to tell about his year as a rookie teacher in an inner city high school. As a former teacher myself, there are times I wanted to shake him, and tell him to "get a clue," especially in his frantic first few lessons with his students. But I think any teacher can relate to the terror of standing in front of a group of adolescents, and feeling like a fake and a...more
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Perhaps best known for starring on some of television’s most beloved and long-running series, including Taxi (1978–1983) and Who’s the Boss (1984–1992), Tony Danza has also established himself as a stage and screen star, and he is indisputably one of America’s most iconic performers.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Danza received a wrestling scholarship to the University of Dubuque in Iowa, where he e...more
More about Tony Danza...
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Danza received a wrestling scholarship to the University of Dubuque in Iowa, where he e...more
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“And whether or not the educators who are trying to raise up America's students can actually set and meet higher academic standards, our cultural values make their job next to impossible. It's so much easier for pundits and politicians to point out figures and blame the people who are in the trenches every day than it is to get in there with them, or even to find out what actually goes on in those trenches. It's so much easier for parents to blame teachers when their kids get in trouble than to do the heavy lifting required at home to keep kids on track. And it's so much easier for us as a nation to cross our fingers and hope that we'll "get lucky" with the innovative "solutions" being tested on America's schools today than it is for us to roll up our sleeves and invest our own time, talent, and money in the schools that are even now-- with or without us-- shaping our nation's future.”
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Dec 05, 2012 10:09am