Educating Esmé by Esmé Raji Codell

As students, you know what teachers are like, right!? Well, after reading this diary of an amazing, innovative, creative, enthusiastic, first-year teacher you might change your mind. Did any of your teachers ever build you a time machine, buy classroom books with their own money, or let a trouble student be teacher for a day? Did you ever have classroom subjects such as “Puzzling”, “Mad Scientist Time”, “Time Traveling and World Exploration”, “Art of Language”, and “Free Reading Time”? Ever had a teacher roller skate down the hall or create a fairy tale festival? No? Well, then it’s time you met Madame Esmé, who chronicles her first year of teaching in an inner city Chicago school, where one classroom window is riddled with bullet holes, obscenities often fly from students’ mouths, and parents are known to abuse their children in the halls. If you’ve ever considered teaching, had a great teacher, or just think it’s about time that you met one, then it’s time for you to experience Esmé.