Teaching Again: A Professor's Tale of Returning to a Ninth Grade Classroom

Teaching Again exposes the very human core of the teaching experience. This book is not just about teaching English/language arts; it is about the heart and soul of the vocation that is teaching. It is also not just about Tom Poetter, the English teacher; it is about every individual who has ever tried to educate, whether that act has taken place in a classroom, a church or synagogue, a museum, or at the kitchen table. Teaching Again brings to life the dance of questions that vie for attention in the mind of a teacher: How do I convince students that they want to learn to what I'm trying to teach? How do I make them understand that this is really actually important to them? And, perhaps most important, how do I get them to like me, and my discipline, in the process? These are the questions that all good teachers ask themselves at the beginning, middle, and end of every single day of their professional lives. Every moment of teaching is a human transaction, and Tom brings us right into the middle of that transaction. He allows the reader to see and hear and feel the tension of the tightrope he has chosen to walk with these students. The reader is right there for the thrilling "ah-ha!" moments, and we experience the anguish of his defeats.