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What Had Happened
What Had Happened is a piece of writing that is very difficult to classify in simple terms. At its heart, this book is a nonlinear narrative of one man's life as a teacher.
Ryan (Neumann) writes from a first-person perspective and tends to focus on the absurdities of the teaching life-the contradictions, the inconceivabilities, the students, the colleagues, the community.
In many ways, this book captures the tone of the classic text of this genre, Bel Kaufman's Up the Down Staircase. But Ryan's departure concerns his reliance on his own lived experiences as a teacher, coach, and citizen of his school and community, rather than Kaufman's multi-genre assembly of fictional documents. The effect, however, is quite the same.
Above all, Ryan relates how it feels to be a teacher, in and out of the classroom. This is not teacher-research in the ordinary sense. Ryan's focus is on the absurdity of the mundane. To many, the mundane aspects of teaching are comprised of tedious everyday events. To Ryan's eye, however, no day seems ordinary or everyday. With so many students, so much contradiction, so much activity, there's something to capture in every day at school, something that merits an introspective appraisal. And Ryan's appraisals are just hilarious-not in the joke's-on-you meaning of the term, but in his ability to render a mundane story into a life lesson and insight, delivered drolly and in his unique, often telegraphic style.
-Peter Smagorinsky
(Distinguished Research Professor of English)
If you've ever been a Teacher who thought, "Why am I doing this?"
A Student who asked, "Why does this matter?"
Or a Parent who wondered why it is so hard to keep really good teachers in the classroom...here's your answer.
-John Lackey
(Teacher)
Ryan (Neumann) writes from a first-person perspective and tends to focus on the absurdities of the teaching life-the contradictions, the inconceivabilities, the students, the colleagues, the community.
In many ways, this book captures the tone of the classic text of this genre, Bel Kaufman's Up the Down Staircase. But Ryan's departure concerns his reliance on his own lived experiences as a teacher, coach, and citizen of his school and community, rather than Kaufman's multi-genre assembly of fictional documents. The effect, however, is quite the same.
Above all, Ryan relates how it feels to be a teacher, in and out of the classroom. This is not teacher-research in the ordinary sense. Ryan's focus is on the absurdity of the mundane. To many, the mundane aspects of teaching are comprised of tedious everyday events. To Ryan's eye, however, no day seems ordinary or everyday. With so many students, so much contradiction, so much activity, there's something to capture in every day at school, something that merits an introspective appraisal. And Ryan's appraisals are just hilarious-not in the joke's-on-you meaning of the term, but in his ability to render a mundane story into a life lesson and insight, delivered drolly and in his unique, often telegraphic style.
-Peter Smagorinsky
(Distinguished Research Professor of English)
If you've ever been a Teacher who thought, "Why am I doing this?"
A Student who asked, "Why does this matter?"
Or a Parent who wondered why it is so hard to keep really good teachers in the classroom...here's your answer.
-John Lackey
(Teacher)
227 pages, Paperback
First published July 19, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 5, 2013
From the opening page: "So, for a while now, I've been writing about my observational experiences as a high school english teacher. Don't worry, the 'e' in english has been left lowercase for a reason. If you're reading this book, I am no longer an English teacher." You need to know why. Read Neumann's book.
June 19, 2013
After hearing all my classmates rave about having Neumann as a teacher, I'm jealous that I never had the chance to be his student. His book gives me a small glimpse of what I missed in his class. Really like the book Neumann.
June 9, 2013
I'm all for teachers revealing the truth in their experiences - versus the fictionalized truth that Hollywood loves - but the author's style left much to be desired.
September 9, 2014
Raw, funny, thoughtful, and compelling! Well done!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews