Rafe Esquith

Rafe Esquith is a brilliant teacher and an incredibly hard-working public servant, but despite all that, he comes off as a total (excuse my language) asshole. The vitriol! The narcissism! The disdainful, self-righteous mockery of anyone who doesn't share his talents and beliefs!

This is not what I expected from Mr. Esquith. And, to be fair, in the book he acknowledges that he's not perfect and still strives to be kind to others. I'd like to think that this, his first book, was a kind of show more exorcism of his frustrations, and that he has since let go of some of his anger and spite. I hope he's made a lot of money and isn't struggling so much financially, because I'm well aware of how financial struggle can wear away your peace of mind and make you feel like the world is against you. Esquith certainly seems to believe that even some of the people who believe in him are only interested in wasting his time or getting in his way.

But I'm not telling you skip this book. In reading it, try to do something I think Rafe Esquith didn't do in writing it: give him the benefit of the doubt and trust that, even though his attitude can be appalling, he still has good ideas and is worth listening to. show less

This was pretty much a There Are No Shortcuts Part II...which I certainly welcomed, and Esquith goes into more detail about his unique and exhausting teaching methods. My only hesitation after reading the two books and watching The Hobart Shakespeareans is that he, at times, makes petty comments about his colleagues who fail where he succeeds. He seems to want to give his students this "I'm the only person who will care about you" mentality. Maybe it's just me (I'm often prone to conspiracy show more theory interpretations)--I can see where this may come from, but it seems like he could be a bit more diplomatic, rise above it a little better than the people he appears to put down. Looking past this, Esquith's efforts nevertheless prove as an example of how creative the classroom can be if we, as teachers, are willing to take it there. show less

It's one thing to hear suggestions about becoming a better teacher from administrators who clearly became administrators in a desperate move to escape the classroom, and from outside consultants who are paid to take a cursory look at schools and offer up some changes that will prove lucrative to said outside consultants.

It's another thing to hear thoughts from a man who has given up his life to education. Rafe Esquith. Thirty years in the classroom. Students who return year after year to show more share their successes. Devoted. Rigorous. Fun. A great teacher.

Yes, I would listen to such a man.

And what does such a man, such a teacher, have to tell us, us real teachers? What is his real talk?

Here's a little. (I'm not going to share too much because, if you like it, you really need to support Rafe and help him save money to buy a new kitchen for his wife. No administrator is ever going to use this book in an inservice; we need to support our own kind, folks.)

You are going to have bad days. (Really? Even Rafe? He tells us, yes.)

Haters. (If you've ever worked in a school, sadly, you know this is true.)

And, most shockingly...Leave some children behind. (Remember: that's RAFE saying this. He does not shy away from truth.)

Go ahead and buy the book. You will not regret it, I think. It will help you. And you will help Rafe's wife get a new kitchen. show less

Lighting Their Fires: Raising Children in a Mixed-Up, Muddled Up, Shook Up World by Rafe Esquith is basically as the title promises a guide to upbringing children to be all they can be. I don't have children, but I interact with children on a daily basis, as a student teacher. (I haven't dropped out of the program yet, thank goodness!) Rafe uses baseball to structure his book instead of chapters, there are innings. Anecdotes are used to further illustrate his point. Also each chapter show more includes a section about what to put in a child's backpack. The backpack thing is a metaphor, i.e. place a sense of time in your child's backpack.The main lessons I learned from Esquith was that we should allow students to be creative (yes, that sounds about right), children need to maintain a sense of time management (well, as long as they aren't constantly staring at the clock 5 minutes before class ends), kids need to learn good decision making skills, and students ought to work hard (i.e. if you must sweep the streets, sweep them like Shakesphere). For the most part, I agree with Rafe. None of the information in the book was particularly new to me. However, it is always nice to have a refresher in basic pedagogy. I think the time and the money Esquith spends on his students is admirable, but as an educator, not something I would prefer to emulate. I know I sound terrible, but as much as I enjoy teaching, I want to have a life outside of it and I recognize that is completely okay. To be quite honest, I feel like Esquith comes across as a bit arrogant in his writing, I understand that he is super-teacher and doesn't make mistakes and teaches until 7 pm and also on Saturdays, but in reality not a lot of teachers can do that. I also thought the writing came across as simplistic, BUT it's not too terrible compared to the academic stuff pedagogy writings I had to read for class.If you are interested more in the useful teaching tips/ideas, I would say read Teach Like Your Hair Is On Fire by Esquith, it's a bit better, and in my opinion more interesting. Again, I am biased because I don't have children of my own, therefore I kind of ignore the parenting things. show less