About this title: Frank McCourt, the author of ANGELA'S ASHES and 'TIS, wraps up his trilogy of memoirs with this account of the 30 years he spent teaching in New York public high schools, from his rocky beginning as a young man teaching English in a vocational school to his eventual destination--the rarefied halls of the elite Stuyvesant School. Throughout, McCourt was continually devising clever schemes to catch students' interest (which often succeeded) and fighting against the red tape and stultifying restrictions thrust upon him by school bureaucrats (which often resulted in his being fired).
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Date Published: 11/2005
ISBN-13:9780743243773ISBN:0743243773
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 258 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Scribner
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780743243773ISBN:0743243773
Description: Acceptable. A readable copy. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (the dust cover may be missing). Pages can include considerable notes-in pen or highlighter-but the notes cannot obscure the text. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Scribner
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780743243773ISBN:0743243773
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Scribner
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780743243773ISBN:0743243773
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Scribner
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780743243773ISBN:0743243773
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. Return Policy Any defects, damages, or material differences with your item, must be reported to us within 7 days of receipt of the item or 30 days from date of shipment. The returned merchandise must be ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780739469347ISBN:0739469347
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Scribner
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780743243773ISBN:0743243773
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Scribner
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780743243773ISBN:0743243773
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Description: Fair. Dust Cover Missing. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Dust Cover Missing. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Dust Cover Missing. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
"They say "those who can't, teach." Francis McCourt proves to be the exception to that cliché. A Pulitzer Prize winner for his first book, Angela's Ashes, McCourt spins the tale of an Irish immigrant whose road to assimilation takes a different path than the usual work on the docks or in the sweat boxes of the northeast. McCourt chooses the teaching profession in Brooklyn, New York. We see him struggling as he encounters the indifference and defiance of teens from the poorer sections of the city. He places us in his classroom as he handles the challenges offered by high school students who are unmotivated. He is a teacher facing thirty kids in five classes a day. What the reader learns is that there are no hard and fast rules for surviving this hostile environment. One has to find one's own way. McCourt succeeds sufficiently enough to be invited to teach English at one of New York City's most prestigious high schools.
You will be entertained by the ways in which McCourt discovers, through trial and error, how to kindle within his students the desire to learn. And near the end of his tale we see him retiring from a long teaching career as a creative writing instructor who never has written a book...until he turned sixty-three. It's a remarkable story."
"Funny, entertaining, and heartfelt. Wonderful autobiography and told by the author (RIP) on the audiobook.
"Six years later I met Bob on Lower Broadway. It was a January day but he was attired as usual in short pants and Orson Welles jacket. He said, Hi, Mr. McCourt. Great day, isn't it? It's freezing, Bob. Oh, that's OK. He told me he was already working for a farmer in Ohio, but he couldn't go through with the pig thing, that would destroy his parents. I told him that was a good and loving decision. He paused and looked at me. Mr. McCourt, you never liked me, did you? Never liked you, Bob? Are you joking? It was a joy to have you in my class, Jonathan said you drove the gloom from the room. Tell him, McCourt, tell him the truth. Tell him how he brightened your days, how you told your friends about him, what an original he was, how you admired his style, his good humor, his honesty, his courage, how you would have given your soul for a son like him. And tell him how beautiful he was and is in every way, how you loved him then and love him now. Tell him. I did, and he was speechless and I didn't give a tinker's damn what people though on Lower Broadway when they saw us in a long warm embrace, the high school teacher and the large Jewish Future Farmer of America." 239-240"
"Ironically and tragically, I began reading this book on the day, Frank McCourt died - July 19, 2009 - of cancer. This is the third of McCourt's books and like Angela's Ashes and Tis, this is largely autobiographical. While near the end of Teacher Man he does relate some of his more rewarding teaching experiences, most of the book recounts stories from his childhood that he told his classes, and for which he became famous. As such the book does not seem so much about teaching, as it recounts some experiences that MCourt recalls that are remotely and indirectly related to his teaching. I must say there was adisconnect between the prasweorthy tributes to him following his death, and McCourt's self-deprecating, somewhat cynical tone abouat his own teaching. However as a teacher, I did find the last section of the book, where he outlines some of his more innovative teaching techniques, to be interesting. Long before "learner-centered teaching" became vogue, McCourt was doing that by teaching writing by having students write excuse notes from their parents and singing recipes. So while this book is written a bit unevenly, for those who like McCourt, this is an enjoyable read."
"While I really liked "Angela's Ashes," I wasn't so enthralled with "Teacher Man." Frank McCourt has an easy to follow writing style, and his narration on the audio version is good (many authors make terrible narrators of their own books but that's not the case here). I liked the descriptions of some of his students and his interactions with them, as well as how difficult being a teacher can be and the lack of preparedness new teachers face in their first year or two due to issues not covered in training. But I had four main problems with this book. First, McCourt really didn't seem to like his students that much. Every now and then in some stories he'd show some affection for his students, but that generally didn't seem to be the case. And if he doesn't like students, why did he become a teacher? Second, I understand that teaching is a difficult profession, but at first McCourt goes on and on about how hard it is that I wouldn't have been surprised to hear the violin start to play on the audio version. Third, there's too much of a self-congratulatory start to the book when he goes on about the success of "Angela's Ashes." Good for him, but what is the purpose of stressing that so much? And finally, he didn't paint a sympathetic picture of his wife. It's clear from the book that they had a troubled marriage, but she was always portrayed in a negative light."
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