I finished all three books . Love this author ! I appreciate the fun humor of the Irish . Some really great stories in this novel .

This book was fine. Maybe I'm missing the point of this book, but it didn't inspire me as a teacher. It didn't make me question or evaluate my teaching practice. I'm not in awe of McCourt's teaching style or success. He has an interesting life story, as told in ANGELA's ASHES, but I find his teaching life (or at least his telling of it) unremarkable. I don't think all teachers need to have a remarkable story, but if you're going to write a book about it, you should tell more about your 30 years of teaching than just one good class where students brought in food and sang to recipes. I also find it interesting that he struggled in the classroom until he taught at a private school, where according to him, he didn't have to deal with behavioral issues.

Not as good as Angela's Ashes, better than 'Tis. McCourt is unfailingly honest about what it was like for him to teach English at four high schools and one college of varying levels of quality. Unfortunately, what it was like for him was pretty bleak. Well-trained in the Catholic art of Examining your Conscience (his words), McCourt also supplies a ready stream of insights into his personality. I can't fault him for this, but it made me sad for this Irish American who was so consistently hard on himself. What works best are the moments where he connects with his students, whether vocational students just trying not to fail high school to the brightest and best of Stuyvesant High. I came away with a higher appreciation of the struggles high school teachers face.

Aunque a veces tiene un humor demasiado amargo (o adulto) y presuntuoso... sigue siendo un libro casi excelente. La descripción de lo que es ser un profesor y los ejemplos cotidianos... ah, es tan inspirador y a la vez tan cierto. Siendo profesora yo misma, y años después, puedo decir que los alumnos no han cambiado. Tampoco los que luchamos contra ellos y, a la vez, procuramos amarlos. Porque sí, hay mucho amor involucrado, y es que no puede hacerse esa labor de otra manera.

Consuela, además, saber, que McCourt también a veces se lo comieron con papas fritas, jajaja, por mucho que su gracia incluso haya llegado a significarle un Pulitzer Hace que uno se sienta menos sola en el momento de la caída épica. No es mentira que dar una clase suele ser una lucha y, en palabras del autor, no porque los alumnos sean malos, sino que porque son humanos y se aburren y además son muchos, mientras que el profe es solo uno, solitario frente al aula. Y toda esa energía rebosante, el ocasional despliegue malévolo... no es a propósito. Todos hacemos (en general) lo que podemos.

Terminar la saga (tercer y último librio autobiográfico), me dejó con un gusto dulce, pero también con un resquicio amigo. No es culpa eso último, en todo caso, de McCourt: éste no hizo más que cumplir con el sino de todos los seres vivientes, nacimiento, crecimiento, declive y despedida y además contarlo, y contarlo bien. Quizá es solo que estoy sentimental. Ya he dicho que me ha tocado mucho leer sobre esos temas. No sé si ha sido una casualidad o es que simplemente se escribe más cuando uno está tratando de dejar ir, en especial la vida. El hombre no sólo estaba describiendo su propio viaje, sino que también despidiéndose. Aunque, para ser franca, apenas habla de los años posteriores del ocaso. Así que, s��, quizá sí estoy siendo sentimental.

Agregaré que tampoco me gustó su absoluta falta de empatía con su matrimonio... su auto-condescendencia por así decirlo, y en especial porque ni siquiera se lo cuestionó, ni siquiera fue un tema: (spoiler) ser infiel sin culpa y además emborracharse tantas veces de lo lindo. Mal, McCourt. Se aprecia que fueses sincero, pero... bueno, a veces las personas queremos creer que el género humano es mejor que eso y etcétera. En palabras más directas: qué onda tú (léase con profundo tono reprobatorio).

Sin embargo, en conclusión y de todas formas, me pareció un libro BUENÍSIMO. Una joya de veridismo, en especial para los profesores y escrito, en general, con mucha gracia. Se nota la experiencia de tantos años en aula, el dramatismo añadido y practicado que uno aprende en clases para mantener la atención del "público". Se nota el ojo aguzado. Y se nota el afecto.

This book is difficult to review. While I appreciated McCourt's attempt to recognize teachers (especially English teachers) and the work (often underappreciated) that we do, I felt that his theory of if we all "think outside the box" and try to be friendly with our students, than we will have a successful teaching career, a bit unrealistic, overly idealistic, and in many ways, condescending. While I do admire some of his methods, and enjoy his writing style, I found that the times when he let his true sentiments show (like telling a kid to stop being so ignorant and have some respect for the English language, or having days where you were just sick of whining teenagers...does that make me mean or already jaded?)or when he simply let the student anecdotes speak for themselves, were my favorite parts of the book. I do think this is a more honest perception of teaching (especially the first part where he is working in the "tougher" schools during his first few years) than many other movies I've seen that try to portray teaching. Some of the autobiographical stuff could have been left out--too much information sometimes.

Questo terzo libro si stacca nettamente dai due precedenti che compongono la trilogia. Non c'è una storia narrata con continuità ma una serie di aneddoti che si incastrano a puzzle nel secondo volume, che paese l'america. Appare come un resoconto sull'attività di insegnante in america del prof McCourt. Il libro scorre lento e non cattura come i precedenti. Nonostante questo, la sua lettura completa episodi della carriera di insegnante di McCourt raccontandoli sotto un diverso punto di vista.

It's very hard to get teachers Like Frank McCourt now adays.
Great book:(

DNF at 15%. This definitely didn’t work for me. He overdid it.

Iedere docent zou dit boek moeten lezen, want dit gaat eens niet over lesplannen, doelen, aspecten en werkplanners, maar over hoe het echt is om voor de klas te staan in alle openheid en eerlijkheid, maar wel met kennis van zaken in een voortdurende zelfreflectie.

This is my favourite of Frank McCourt's books. I found Angela's Ashes just too unremittingly bleak.

Teacher Man is not all about teaching as it tells of how he lives in New York before accidentally becoming a teacher. Anyone who's ever been in a classroom and especially teachers will 'enjoy' his descriptions of being in a room with a group of kids who would rather eat dirt than listen to him. But he succeeds through his having 'kissed the Blarney Stone' and tells tales (mostly true) of his life. McCourt writes with the honesty of someone who has actually done all he writes of.

His advice to a new teacher is great: 'You have to make yourself comfortable in the classroom. You have to be selfish.'

Fabulous book......And I just read it again for the third time. It restores my faith in the value of teaching and the idiocy of those who decide on education policy.

Onvan : Teacher Man (Frank McCourt, #3) - Nevisande : Frank McCourt - ISBN : 743243781 - ISBN13 : 9780743243780 - Dar 272 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2005

Not as heavy in subject matter as his other works, but still peppered throughout with that Irish wit that is a trademark of McCourt. There's a bonus in the audio version in that the narrator is McCourt. So, along with his wit you also hear his specific intonations, dialect, tone, and accent which enhances things even further and gives exact meaning to his words.
McCourt's teaching methods for creative writing are innovative for the times they occurred in, and made for a very entertaining story.