Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year FROM OUR EDITORS
Educating é is the autobiographical diary of a gutsy fifth-grade teacher, Esmé Raji Codell, who is so full of a lust for teaching and a love of children that no crumbling public school system or stagnant bureaucracy can get in her way. Her inner-city Chicago students face intimidating odds -- poverty, violence, gangs, miseducation, and a long line of adults who don't believe "these children" can ever amount to anything. Madame Esmé, however, is undaunted. Her diary reveals a woman with boundless zeal determined to be herself and to educate her children with every last drop of energy in her body. From a Zydeco Christmas pageant and a Multiplication Cha Cha to a Fairy Tale Festival complete with Frog Prince cupcakes and an Emperor's New Clothes Fashion Show, Madame Esmé creates an endless stream of whimsical (and educational) projects for her students to enjoy.
While one may not agree with her every teaching decision, it's impossible not to get a kick out of her verve and sassy attitude in the face of trouble. When her incompetent principal persists in calling her late at night, Madame Esmé handles the situation by returning his call at three o'clock in the morning, saying, "Oooh, did I wake you up? I'm so sorry. It's just that you called me so late. I knew you wouldn't call me so late if it wasn't terribly important" -- and has no further trouble with late calls. When another incompetent administrator moves a poster in Esmé's classroom, she responds in kind by marching into the woman's office and rearranging a plant. This woman, too, leaves her alone.
But Madamee Esmé is not just flip. When one of her boys and his mother need a place to stay because of a domestic violence problem, Esmé opens her own home to them. Another day, a student brings her two-year-old sister to school, so Esmé carries the child in her arms all day as she teaches, saying "What else could anyone do?" When a student is ashamed of the saris her mother wears, Madame Esmé dons one herself, and soon the girl and all her friends are wearing beautiful, silky saris to school. Yet no one ever seems to acknowledge her work, let alone thank her, and she is not even granted the graciousness of being left alone in her choice of names -- the principal persists in insisting she be called "Ms." Esmé. Despite the lack of support she receives, Madame Esmé devotes her entire life to her students, to the point where she has no time off and even her relationship with her boyfriend suffers.
Anyone who has been underappreciated or downright encumbered by a boss or bureaucracy will empathize with the story of Madame Esmé and be inspired by her ability to stick up for herself and her students with confidence. At the beginning of the school year, when some teachers tell her that her room is overstimulating, Madame Esmé responds to herself, "They are totally jealous because I have the most insanely beautiful classroom ever, of all time.... I feel sorry for any kid who's not in this room." She will not be put off, and she will not be toned down.
Teaching is hard work. In the public school system, teachers are cruelly overburdened. Dedication is overlooked. Innovation is scorned. Teachers like Esmé who take on the job with enthusiasm and love are precious to our society and our children. They deserve to be celebrated. In telling her own story, Esmé is honoring all teachers like her.
—Kate Montgomery
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Esme Raji Codell has come to teach. And she's not going to let incompetent administrators, abusive parents, gang members, weary teachers, angry children, dim-witted principals, or her own insecurities get in the way of delivering the education her fifth-grade students deserve. Fresh-mouthed and mini-skirted, Esme can be both pig-headed and generous, churlish and charming. As she embarks on her first year teaching in an inner-city public school, she quickly becomes a thorn in her principal's side. A twenty-four-year-old teacher with the enthusiasm of a ten year old, Esme is too willful to play bureaucratic politics, too dedicated to give up - and too young to know better. In Educating Esme, the uncensored diary of her first year, we find this irrepressible teacher wearing costumes in the classroom, dancing with the kids during rallies in the auditorium, rollerskating down the hallways, and putting on rousing performances with students in the library. Not just for educators and parents, this poignant and often hilarious chronicle gives voice to anyone who has ever had an irritating boss, struggled to be an individual in a bureaucratic abyss, given 105 percent without getting thanked, and yet cared so much.
FROM THE CRITICS
Rosenblum - Billboard
It's refreshing and inspiring to listen to this, the diary of Codell's first year as an ele6rhood. The 24 year old Codell is the teacher we all want for our children. She creative, intelligent, enthusiastic, and warm, with a ready sense of humor and a firm sense of discipline. Her bright, cheery, and productive classroom is the envy of all. Codell's voice is lively, youthful, and impish, and you almost see the twinkle in her eye as she relates her anecdotes.
Entertainment Weekly
Codell prettifies nothing...the imagination and irreverent wit...make this bristling journal well worth reading.
Publishers Weekly
Portions of Codell's diary of her experiences as a first-year teacher in a Chicago inner-city elementary school were first aired on WBEZ radio, in that city, as part of its Life Stories series. Subsequently rounded out into a book, the material still comes across like it's meant to be read aloud. Codell's voice carries the enthusiasm that--as a 24-year-old hardcore idealist--she brought to her difficult job. Hired for a brand-new school, she tells how she let her "na vet " work to her own advantage. She invented ways to engage her troubled, sometimes hostile students, relying on jerry-rigged visual aids, group craft projects, role-reversing skits and the like. Villains appear as well, such as her evil principal, Mr. Turner, a "homophobic, backward idiot." Codell throws herself into the reading, imitating her kids' voices, sounding truly exasperated at each obstacle she faces. Based on the 1999 Algonquin hardcover. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Children's Literature - Gisela Jernigan
Esme, a young, award-winning 5th grade teacher, in an inner-city, Chicago school, is described by Jim Trelease in the Afterword as being, "young, rash, exuberant, alternately innocent and street-wise, always child-wise, and sometimes irrational. But she is never irrelevant." Since this is the uncensored diary of Esme's first year of teaching, we experience unreasonable administrators, overburdened parents and unforgettable students, all brought to life by her vivid, often frank language. Although, not promoted as a how-to book for beginning teachers, it is truly inspirational to witness Esme's caring, challenging relationships with her students, and her enthusiastic, creative use of children's literature in all aspects of her teaching. Descriptions of how her room is decorated and her many imaginative activities, such as, a visiting author event and a homemade Time Machine to link history with children's literature, are especially fascinating. Throughout a year of frustrations and dangers, despair and triumphs, Esme's love for her students and for teaching always shines through.
Children's Literature - Jan Lieberman
Don't miss Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year. You will love this flamboyant, brilliant, caring, sometimes annoying but determined young woman whose ideas will knock your socks off. Her combative attitude towards her principal causes him despair. Her students come first, but don't call her Miss, Mrs. or Ms. At school, she is Madame Esme! Her fifth grade students live in inner-city Chicago facing the daily challenges of drugs, violence, abusive parents and poverty. Esme brightens their lives with the resolve that they are capable and can succeed if they're willing to work hard and follow basic rules. The time machine she makes from a refrigerator box for "travel through books" is a humdinger. Inside are books, a flashlight, a comfy pillow and one child. Anything is possible if you believe!
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