0 ratings | 0 reviews | avg rating:0.0

Ron Berler’s Followers (3)

Ron’s Bookshelves

to-read (1)
currently-reading (1)
read (0)

Ron’s Friends

Ron hasn't connected with his friends on Goodreads, yet.

Ron Berler

Goodreads Author

Born

in New York, The United States

Website

http://www.ronberlerbooks.com

Genre

History, Fiction, Historical Fiction

Influences

Tracy Kidder, David Halberstam, Truman Capote ...more

Member Since

February 2013

edit data

I have spent a large chunk of my life either in school or thinking about school. When your mother is a lifelong teacher (fourth grade) the issue is hard to avoid. My first paid writing was about school – while a high-school senior, I wrote a weekly news-about-campus column in the local Westport, Conn., Town Crier, for which I earned three dollars a week. Not as much as I had pocketed from my first media-related job, delivering the Bridgeport (Conn.) Post, at age 11, but it was a start.

I began my current writing gig shortly before graduating Northwestern University. A professor of mine whose second job was music editor of the Chicago Tribune encouraged me to freelance for his paper. I reported on drag racing, the Jackson Five and the art of I have spent a large chunk of my life either in school or thinking about school. When your mother is a lifelong teacher (fourth grade) the issue is hard to avoid. My first paid writing was about school – while a high-school senior, I wrote a weekly news-about-campus column in the local Westport, Conn., Town Crier, for which I earned three dollars a week. Not as much as I had pocketed from my first media-related job, delivering the Bridgeport (Conn.) Post, at age 11, but it was a start.

I began my current writing gig shortly before graduating Northwestern University. A professor of mine whose second job was music editor of the Chicago Tribune encouraged me to freelance for his paper. I reported on drag racing, the Jackson Five and the art of panhandling, among other topics, and then found my niche after taking over as manager of a local Little League team, a position I would hold for 20 years.

Youth issues. It was the best beat I ever had. Children – if they trust you – have no self-editing mechanism. They have the refreshing habit of telling you exactly what they think. I began by writing on sports matters – a 12-year-old baseball star faced with pressure from fellow players to carry the ball club; the loneliness of a Korean child eager to assimilate at his school, who had to beg his father to let him try out for the middle-school basketball team. That led to a weekly, general interest youth-issues column in the Tribune – a job that returned me to school. I spent two or three days a week chasing stories in Chicago-area classrooms.

Eventually I moved to New York and became a senior editor at React, a teen newsweekly published by Parade. Later I served as editor in chief of NBA Inside Stuff, a pro basketball magazine for tweens published by Sports Illustrated For Kids. Along the way I wrote one children’s book (The Super Book of Baseball) and edited another (Rising Stars: The 10 Best Young Players in the NBA). My work has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Sports Illustrated, Men’s Journal and Outside, among other publications.

Then, four years ago, I married a Norwalk, Conn., elementary-school speech pathologist and began mentoring troubled boys in her building. It led to the idea for Raising the Curve. Once again, I was back in school.
...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Ron Berler questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Ron Berler’s books

Average rating: 3.66 · 147 ratings · 31 reviews · 3 distinct works

	Raising the Curve: A Year Inside One of America's 45,000* Failing Public Schools 3.66 avg rating — 146 ratings — published 2013 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Super Book of Baseball really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1991 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rising Stars 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

5 posts
Ron Berler's Blog

College Goes to Prison

By Ron Berler
Chicago Tribune
Jan. 25, 2016

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/op...

Should Rob Garite have been eligible for a Pell Grant?

Garite was 15 years old on the night in November 1991 he and four teenage toughs lured a 17-year-old Chicago gang member and coke dealer to a remote field in rural Wauconda Township, in northern Illinois. Their intent was robbery. Garite and the elder two of his co Read more of this blog post »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on February 03, 2016 12:04 • Tags: education, pell-grants, prison

View all 5 posts »

Ron is Currently Reading

Ron Berler is currently reading

The Given Day (Coughlin #1)

by Dennis Lehane (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Feb 08, 2013 09:39PM

Ron’s Quotes

“Ain't no sense worryin' about the things you got control over, 'cause if you got control over 'em, ain't no sense worryin'. And ain't no sense worryin' about the things you don't got control over, 'cause if you don't got control over 'em, ain't no sense worryin'.”
― Mickey Rivers

tags: philosophy

18 likes