The Secret Lives of Teachers

by David Halle, Anonymous, Horace Dewey

Welcome to “East Hudson,” an elite private school in New York where the students are attentive, the colleagues are supportive, and the tuition would make the average person choke on its string of zeroes. You might think a teacher here would have little in common with most other teachers in America, but as this veteran educator—writing anonymously—shows in this refreshingly honest account, all teachers are bound by a common thread. Stripped of most economic obstacles and freed up by anonymity, he is able to tell a deeper story about the universal conditions, anxieties, foibles, generosities, hopes, and complaints that comprise every teacher’s life. The results are sometimes funny, sometimes scandalous, but always recognizable to anyone who has ever walked into a classroom, closed the door, and started their day.

This is not a how-to manual. Rather, the author explores the dimensions of teaching that no one else has, those private thoughts few would dare put into a book but that form an important part of the day-to-day experience of a teacher. We see him ponder the clothes that people wear, think frankly about money (and the imbalance of its distribution), get wrangled by parents, provide on-the-fly psychotherapy, drape niceties over conversations that are actually all-out warfare, drop an f-bomb or two, and deal with students who are just plain unlikeable. We also see him envy, admire, fear, and hope; we see him in adulation and uncertainty, and in energy and exhaustion. We see him as teachers really are: human beings with a complex, rewarding, and very important job.

There has been no shortage of commentary on the teaching profession over the decades, but none quite like this. Unflinching, wry, and at times laugh-out-loud funny, it’s written for every teacher out there who has ever scrambled, smirked, or sighed—and toughed it out nonetheless.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Memoir

272 pages, ebook

First published August 24, 2015

Reviews

[Yichen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brief shockers like a parenthetical description of the author's stance as an older white male history teacher on usage of the N word aside, the stories presented here are of the ho-hum "quotidian" (a word the author seemed to use often) in-school variety.

Anyone hoping for "juicy" stories about scandals at work or at home would leave disappointed. Anyone looking for a peek at the human being who happens to be a teacher apart from his profession would leave likewise disappointed. There are mentions of internal friction between staff members, between this teacher and parents, between teachers and students, and between teachers and administration, but the ones directly experienced by the author and related here are relatively low-key. There are mentions of the author's family and brief snapshots of little things he does outside of work, but those are few and far between, and feed into the larger story of Being a Teacher at School. Maybe that just points to how difficult it is to disentangle one's profession from the rest of one's identity? The author does come off as a contemplative individual who wants to appear honest and who wants to be liked. There is that.

So, anyway. Surprise? The secret lives of teachers is not exactly HBO material.

While I agree with the author that there is both a dearth of teachers who tell their stories like it is and a dearth of policy-makers who are, were, or even trust teachers, I'm not sure how much help these particular stories would be in helping policy-makers address how practical specific reforms are. The vignettes are sometimes charming, sometimes contemplative, sure, but beyond a nudge for top-down reformers that teachers are people who are in this profession for a reason and need to have their voices be heard, I'm not seeing anything that policy-makers might consider.

Though, I suppose, this nudge that teachers' voices deserve consideration is valuable by itself in the current cycle of the politics of education.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is decent. It's honest, plain, and thoughtful.
When I saw this title, I thought it would be some sort of fascinating "inside scoop" on teachers' lives. But it's not. The author himself, in the afterword, writes that in this book he hopes to describe the work of teaching (in and outside the classroom) to others so that they may understand better - whether they are teachers or non-teachers. If you're interested in that, then this may be something you'll like.
Totally putting aside the fact that he uses the n-word in his classroom, overall, I didn't mind reading the book. I don't love it, but I don't hate it.

[John Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not quite the book I expected from the title and the lack of a named author. I was expecting more of an expose of all that was wrong with schools but instead got the reflections of a high school social studies teacher at an elite private school in New York City about his life as a teacher. I found that he captured the life of a teacher well, even with the lack of his being in the real "trenches." As someone who is recently retired after spending about forty years as a teacher, I found much that I could relate to in this book. More of a meditation on teaching, than an expose.

[Kai Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's no secrets revealed in this book, but I wouldn't attribute the fact that this book is mistitled to the author: You can always imagine what publishers talk authors into.
If you can ignore that you won't get what the title promises you, this is an interesting book about the actual life of teachers.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

The students, the fellow teachers, the admin, and the neckties: all are covered in this book by a teacher at a NY school that is harder to get into than the Ivy league.

[Yisu Z. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful teacher reflection on life, the profession, and the educational process.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an intriguing read from cover to cover. Written by a teacher who is currently teaching, this analysis and description of what it means to be a teacher was relatable and affirming. As a teacher myself I'm glad one of my own is sharing with the world the highs and lows of being an educator. The brutal honesty was refreshing. There's no hiding the complex relationships and situations teachers have to navigate from day to day.

[Margaret Carlson-Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any educator will relate to this book. Very well written and works well structurally. Unfortunately, several typos, which were a bit distracting. All in all, a very enjoyable read.

[Susan]

There are insights about the school system, but I'm really not in the mood for a privileged narrative from an older straight white male right now.