Year 9, Book 28

28. Crash Course: The Life Lessons My Students Taught Me by Kim Bearden

Kim Bearden shares the experiences she has had teaching over the past three decades specifically focusing on her time at the Ron Clark Academy. For teachers who are reading the book she provides activities to think about at the end of each chapter. Even though I am not a teacher myself I enjoyed reading her stories. However, I do feel like she makes things sound a little too easy for most people teaching poor and inner city students. The Ron Clark Academy is an acclaimed school and gets lots of press and thus lots of opportunities that not all schools get. I don’t discount all the great work that the teachers and administrators at that school do with students who come to them from not the best of places, but I think that a lot of the great things they are able to do at their school are made much easier by the large donations and publicity they get that not every inner city school is going to be able to benefit from. I’m glad her kids are getting the opportunities that they are. I just wish all America’s kids could be so lucky. I give it a 6 out of 10.