Teacher Man - A Review - Lessons in Empowerment Teaching High School Students

In Teacher Man, Frank McCourt describes his early experiences teaching in the New York City public school system in the fifties and sixties. It is a tough journey for young Frank McCourt in the teaching world. He struggles with the hierarchy of teachers who disapprove of his methods of telling personal stories as a young boy growing up in Ireland. Throughout his High School teaching posts, his administrators and colleagues advise him to stick to the books, to avoid personal interest in students, to stick with the curriculum in order to survive in the educational system. He comes very close to quitting and it is his belief in his self-worth and principles as a teacher that become both empowering in terms of his influence to his students and self-revealing to his own identity as an educator and human being. Eventually, he is able to live up to his potential as both.This memoir presents a struggle of McCourt's thirty five years as educator who tries to find his own voice in the
classroom alongside his superiors. His teaching beliefs and values often set him aside from other teachers, and he is also challenged by the often inaccurate views and sometimes inhuman treatment towards immigrants. He never fully believes he belongs to the American dream: like an immigrant, he is always an outsider looking in.Like every teacher starting out, he constantly questions his initial motives to become a teacher but his self-worth is marred by the illusions of making it big in the teaching world. His immigrant background often interferes with his ability to make it as a teacher. This is a story of a 'teacher man' who rose above his own personal circumstances and as a result, changed his own personal destiny and affected the minds and hearts of thousands of New York City High School students who possessed little or no self-worth nor future. He inspired them to enjoy learning and to pursue a college degree, which was mainly unthinkable for them.Often Frank McCourt's
style of writing is similar to the way he teaches: he uses mainly personal anecdotes focusing on his many students' charming dialect, racial slurs, dialogue, interaction and setting. As a result, the reader gets a strong picture of McCourt's early struggle and how he overcame them. As a teacher myself, I identified with his early lack of confidence in the light of experimenting with various teaching possibilities until he finds the right style and voice - the journey of every teacher. This book reawakens the purpose for every teacher. In the end, Frank McCourt's message is quite clear: always remember where you came from and the importance of your role as an educator even if your pockets remain empty.

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