I saw a book the other day. The title made me chuckle because I could only imagine the little gems inside. The book is Tales from the Teachers’ Lounge by Robert Wilder. The publisher describes it like this:
From the critically acclaimed author of Daddy Needs a Drink—hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “consistently hilarious”—comes a series of irreverent, wickedly observant essays about what it really means to be a teacher today. With his trademark wit and wisdom, Robert Wilder dissects the world’s noblest profession—whether he’s taming a classroom full of hormonal teenagers or going one-on-one with the school bully.
Wilder was twenty-six when he found his true calling. Leaving a lucrative advertising career in New York, he got a job as an assistant first-grade teacher at a Santa Fe alternative school—and never looked back. Now he brings his unique perspective—as a teacher, parent, and former student—to a series of laugh-out-loud essays that show teaching at its most absurd…and most rewarding. With brutal candor he chronicles his own lively adventures in modern education, from navigating cutthroat kindergarten sign-ups to subbing for a class experi-ment gone wrong–and dares to tell about it.
He shares the surprising lessons he’s learned in the trenches of his profession, including how to bribe a four-year-old (his own) to stop swearing in a Lutheran preschool and the best way to teach moody teenagers…manage “helicopter” parents…and cope with bullies—whether of the school-yard, Internet, or parental kind. And he offers tough love for cheaters who log on to SchoolSucks.com, then puts to rest forever the question of why new teachers gain weight (hint: the free donuts don’t help).
In Tales from the Teachers’ Lounge, Robert Wilder charts life’s learning curve with a warmth and humor you don’t find in textbooks. By turns heartwarming, eye-opening, and uproariously funny, these pitch-perfect essays offer priceless lessons in life, family, learning, and teaching from a true lover of education.
Neither the author’s website nor the publisher’s website have excerpts or info directly from the book that I can see. However, Barnes & Noble online offers an excerpt. The author should highlight the excerpt because it’s pretty damn funny. Apparently Wilder went from a big-time NYC advertising job to teaching first grade at a private school in New Mexico. He refers to the school as a “local hippie school” and offers this insight:
Since this was my first teaching gig after a short career in the backbiting business some call advertising, I was eager to help these little critters learn to read and write and do the kind of simple math even the actors from Saved by the Bell could master. I imagined myself sitting next to a girl in pigtails, helping her sound out Dick and Jane books. In this hippie haven, I never saw the Janes, though, and dealt mostly with the dicks.
His descriptions from there cracked me up. I’m hooked.
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Ha! That sounds right up my alley–I’ll have to look for this one
Thanks, Helen!
by Fedora September 4th, 2007 at 10:09 amThis book sounds hilarious!
by Estella September 4th, 2007 at 2:09 pmI HAVE to read this one since i was a teacher for a long time. I could tell you of some happenings at school while I was there that would make your hair stand on end! or shake your head in wonderment.
by JOYE September 4th, 2007 at 3:30 pmWe had a very sexy young vice principal who brought me some levis to have one of my Home Economics students sew the hem in which one of my students was glad to do for him. He was going away on a weekend ski trip. He was always sending over things to be sewed and repaired. So….. I removed the back pockets and inserted frilly lace all around the edges of the poctet and re attached them. I folded the pants and put back into the plastic baggie he had sent them over in. On Monday, he came into my room after school very agitated and said, “Thanks alot! I was the only guy on the ski run with lace on my ass” Needless to say, he never again asked for us to do his mending for him.
I don’t know if I will pick it up, seeing as how I’ve got a hundred books waiting for me to read (yeah, like that’s ever stopped me from buying books!), but it does sound pretty funny.
by Stacy ~ September 5th, 2007 at 3:43 amI’m going to share this book with my daughter who is just starting her 2nd year of teaching HS English. She was almost set to quit due to all of her frustrations with kids who lack 1)motivation or 2) lack respect for their teachers and fellow students.
by Laurie G September 13th, 2007 at 3:18 amShe could definitely use a bit of humor everyday!