A third memoir from the author of the huge international bestsellers Angela's Ashes and 'Tis. In Teacher Man, Frank McCourt reads his own account of his illustrious, amusing, and sometimes rather bumpy long years as an English teacher in the public high schools of New York City. Frank McCourt arrived in New York as a young, impoverished and idealistic Irish boy - but who crucially had an American passport, having been born in Brooklyn. He didn't know what he wanted except to stop being hungry and to better himself ...
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A third memoir from the author of the huge international bestsellers Angela's Ashes and 'Tis. In Teacher Man, Frank McCourt reads his own account of his illustrious, amusing, and sometimes rather bumpy long years as an English teacher in the public high schools of New York City. Frank McCourt arrived in New York as a young, impoverished and idealistic Irish boy - but who crucially had an American passport, having been born in Brooklyn. He didn't know what he wanted except to stop being hungry and to better himself. On the subway he watched students carrying books. He saw how they read and underlined and wrote things in the margin and he liked the look of this very much. He joined the New York Public Library and every night when he came back from his hotel work he would sit up reading the great novels. Building his confidence and his determination, he talked his way into NYU and gained a literature degree and so began a teaching career that was to last 30 years, working in New York's public high schools. Frank estimates that he probably taught 12,000 children during this time and it is on this relationship between teacher and student that he reflects in Teacher Man, the third in his series of memoirs. The New York high school is a restless, noisy and unpredictable place and Frank believes that it was his attempts to control and cajole these thousands of children into learning and achieving something for themselves that turned him into a writer. At least once a day someone would put up their hand and shout 'Mr. McCourt, Mr. McCourt, tell us about Ireland, tell us about how poor you were...' Through sharing his own life with these kids he learnt the power of narrative storytelling, and out of the invaluable experience of holding 12,000 people's attention came Angela's Ashes. Frank McCourt was a legend in such schools as Stuyvesant high school - long before he became the figure he is now he would receive letters from former students telling him how much his teaching influenced and inspired them - and now in Teacher Man he will share his reminiscences of those 30 years as well as revealing how they led to his own success with Angela's Ashes and 'Tis.
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Add this copy of Teacher Man: a Memoir to cart. $0.99, good condition, Sold by Zoom Books Company rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lynden, WA, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Scribner Book Company.
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Frank McCourt's "Teacher Man" was given to me by a friend at a time when, late in life, I decided I HAD to teach English Literature. I knew I was in for a struggle but I was confident that I loved my subject so much I was positive that I could make my students love it, too. I failed. I was at a school where cheating was common, no one had the desire to learn, teachers were not respected, and there was no discipline. I think the giver of this gift was trying to show me that I was not the only one who had problems with students! Too bad I didn't have the stomach to tough it out.
McCourt is a fine writer with that Irish melancholy that makes one identify with him on many levels.
It is interesting that, of all the movies I showed my classes in an attempt to get them to see that themes are eternal, they loved the screenplay of "Angela's Ashes" the best. This other work by McCourt will break your heart, yet he tucks in enough humor to keep you from killing yourself. His descriptions are without parallel, and the Irish village is a microcosm of the world--his, ours, and anybody's. Due to lots of begging, I showed the movie twice.
Please read this. It's a wonderful book and is way easier to get through than James Joyce. Plus, the reader has no doubt about what he's reading, while dipping into Joyce takes a priest and a seeing eye dog.
Cassey
Apr 30, 2009
A must read for anyone contemplating teaching.
Fast easy read. Inspiring and funny without the morose tragedy of his Angela's Ashes.
ohrenberg@gmail.com
Oct 30, 2007
Another hit
Other than Teacher Man Frank McCourt has brought us many great novels such as 'Tis and Angelas Ashes. Teacher Man chronicals the life McCourt experienced in his many years as a high school teacher. The book describes how the psyche of adolescent childrenhas changed from the 60's to today and also points out some of the short comings of the public school system. While not as powerfull or heart breaking as his previous 2 novels Teacher Man is still worth giving a read just dont expect to be blown away.
