summary

the book is about a teacher named gregory michie. He moves from north carolina to chicago were he wants to teach inner city students. He doesnt really know anything about being a chicago dweller and life here is very different than life in N.C. He realizes this right off the bat in his first classes. When he finds out that these young students know much more about this harsh world then even himself. During this book it goes through his teaching career and also through some of his students that have a big impact on his life and teaching career. Such students like Tavares, Armando, and Nancy all have there own stories of success and struggle which he learns about after he tracks them down several years later after teaching them or they track him down. Mr. Michies story is a realization of the fact that public schooling is less than adaqut and need to change its policies or america will end up with more and more ignorant youth. It also proves that there arnt many schools working hard for there students. The ending of the book ends with a barrack obama style change speech that basically goes on to say we can make a diffrence and we can change the world.

Likes and dislikes

The book was up and down for me. It was a book that you can relate to and then it is a book that seems some what over the top in the sense that i dont think the kids he taught sounded as smart as he made them sound. I pretty sure i didnt sound like that in junior high, Some things that i liked about the book was that it had personal stories for the kids. That is really cool because then you get to know the kids stories. I liked that it didnt really just sit on the fact that he was teaching one race it was very diverse. Some things i didnt like was that it seemed like he change alot of the students words around to sound alittle more smart then they were. He doesnt seem to understand you can change a story by adding a the or a then. Do you understand what i trying to say. One word can change a story. I also didnt like that he made these students all seem like they had to unlock there true potential crap. Like a kung fu movie. All and all the book was alright like i said in the beginning i need to read reviews before i pick books up.

THE END

The ending I expected to end that way. With a cliche and dumb barrack Obama style ending. "We can make a difference. We can change the world" This was the last two sentences in the story. It really doesn't make sense to the stories entirety but i guess this style of writing must be hard to think of a good ending to books. So i leave with this that i took from this story. When there is a mountain, hill, or large land mass in general there are always going to be someone wanting to conquer it. With every student there is the same situation but going two ways. There is always a student trying to conquer his goals and make better of him self and then there is the student that doesnt care. There is where there will be teachers to try to conquer that student and try to make him better. What im trying to say is that nothing is left untouched and there is always gonna be someone that thinks they can conquer it all. Gregory Michie believed that all these students want to reach new heights but words said dont always mean truth. HE was to busy trying to make a diffrence and change the world he didnt even think that what if these kids dont care.

LIFE WITH MEANING

"It's the action, not the fruit of the action, thats important. . . It may not ne in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. but that doesnt mean you stop doing the right thing. you never know what results come from your action. but if you do nothing, there will be no result" -Mohandas gandhi I had to stop and think for a couple of moments when i read this quote in the book. It exemplifies what the book is trying to get across and it also is something to live by. You need to continue and try everything you can to do right even if you dont know that you will be doing right it never hurts to try.

Well im not gonna go through every personal account with each student because there is more then i expected. So far the book is really good. Its not a book that has mystery or is filled with twists. Its a book that i would say is just a lesson learner for people who opens its pages. it is simply a teachers manual in teaching kids that are less fortunate then other students. It is enjoyable at some parts and slow in others but none the less it is interesting.

ARMANDO

He was the funny kid in class. He of course like most kids that had a impact on mr. michie was a bad student. He wasnt a bad kid just a student that wasnt very motivated. year later when he talked to him agian he was working hard and saving up money to be able to continue with life. He is trying hard to pass high school because his dad doesnt want him to be working like a rabbit all his life in landscaping like him. He is trying hard not to get suspended as much anymore.

HECTOR

After he stopped teaching at a predominantly African American school he was given a job at a predominantly Hispanic school. This is where he met hector. Hector was a student that was crying for attention but hid behind a tough young gang banger. He was only in sixth grade and he was looked at by many teacher as a older criminal. Hector had a lot of problems. He went to juvenile and dropped out of school. He hated school. HE said that he never learned anything because the teacher were just talking not teaching. I understand that. Just cuz your a teacher doesn't mean the students will learn anything from you. You need personality to be a teacher. He said that he dropped out becuase high school didnt teach him with activity or hands on it was all notes. Hector became a very heavy gang banger and continued to mess up his life.

TAVARES

this was the first student that he visits in the book. He is a young African American male that he taught 8th. He was always the most out spoken kid in his class. The kid that was always the worst and always wanted to cause problems with the teacher or lead everyone off topic. When he spoke to him years later, he regretted a lot of his life because of a lot of it was just doing bad things like selling drugs and being bad. Tavares is a good kid in a bad situation. He said he knew what he was doing and that you not always bad because you want to, sometimes you have to be a criminal cuz you have to. I understand that.

BEFORE I GO ANY FURTHER. HERE A SOME INTERESTING STUFF ABOUT CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS. LINKS BELOW.
LINK 1
LINK 2
LINK 3

In the book you go through many personal account with students after he has taught them. HE tracks them down to visit with them to see how they have continued through there lives. In the next couple posts im gonna tell you about each student. Some of the students seem to be living there generic poor kid story but all of them have an insight into what it is to survive.

EXCITED ABOUT QUOTES

At the start of every chapter there are quotes. I know something worth passing up to continue your reading of the book but dont. Seriously stop and read the quotes. Some of are from students, others from famous people all giving a valuable peice to this books final recipe. They give voice to this book and add some great knowledge from people like gandhi to tupac all revolutionaries in the ways of thinking. SO STOP IF YOU SEE A QUOTE. READ IT

COMING OFF TO A BAD START

This book couldn't have started off with a worse beginning. It was a bit boring and was very dry. I doubted picking this book to read and definitely was just about to give it up to look for something more interesting. I am not one to judge a book by the first pages so i continued through the struggle and it began to progress into something interesting. The beginning was about his life before moving to Chicago. The most generic start to a book and one of the most boring. I give a thumbs up for not dragging it on for chapters. It was a couple of pages and then starting with the actual story. Which was a relief and so we begin the story. I always read review now before i read a book so here is a couple go ahead read it and decide is this worth reading.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3935/is_200001/ai_n8878969/
http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780807738887-1