The movie was good…but not as good as the book.“
Well, Taylor Mali’s What Teachers Make: In Praise Of The Greatest Job In The World is good…but not as good as the poem. (Yes, go watch the performance; it’s worth it. I’ll wait here.)
Back already? Well, now you know why I say that this book not being as good as that poem is not an insult*. In fact, the book is excellent—a tightly packed, engaging, and powerful argument in defense of teachers and the work they do.
Mali speaks from experience. He spent nine years as a classroom teacher in a variety of settings and several of his best poems draw from that experience. Some, like I’ll Fight You For The Library: A Poem In Four Letters and Tony Steinberg: Brave Seventh-Grade Viking Warrior, are included in the book and enriched by the background details Mali provides here.
Crossposted at: http://masscommons.wordpress.com/
