Review of TEACHER TO TEACHER by Mike Walker by Radine Trees Nehring, author of DEAR EARTH: A LOVE LETTER FROM SPRING HOLLOW and the TO DIE FOR series of mystery books.
"The riches from teaching," Gravette educator Mike Walker says in his new book, TEACHER TO TEACHER, "lie in the experiences we have with our students. If we don't find students our primary interest, it is time to leave the field of education."
Most of us would say that only makes sense. And yet many of us know those who have jobs where they suffer burn-out, frustration, boredom, and are just putting in time for a pay check. Can we expect the teaching profession to be any different? Haven't we all heard about difficulties teachers face today; how they must often attempt to reach young people (and sometimes parents) who are uncooperative, uncaring, disruptive, and aren't prepared to appreciate the value of education? What would you and I do if we faced these challenges? What can teachers do?
TEACHER TO TEACHER gives us answers to those questions. Though it's meant to be, as the title indicates, a sharing of inspiration from one teacher to others in the same profession, it's much more than that. It might also be called a book of inspirational guidelines for all of us. Yes, it is an expose' of what is best and worst in the teaching profession, but it doesn't stop there. It offers answers any of us can use.
Though strongly Christian, giving Christian solutions to teaching problems, this is no whitewash. That's what makes it ring true as a trustworthy look inside the world of education.
We learn about teachers who inspire their students, going into classrooms each morning in anticipation of the coming day's opportunities. But we also read of teachers who have lost the spark and are merely putting in time, or worse.
Walker
Most of the timeWalker'
In one such example, he tells how he applied the story of the barren fig tree (See Luke 13: 6-9) to a young man, a resistant learner already in trouble with the law. The school principal expected problems with this student, and toldWalker Walker
Other applications of parables are sometimes humorous, as in this one, based on the parable of the doorkeeper from Mark 13: 33-37. Jesus tells us that a man goes on a journey, leaving his servants in charge. He points out that the servants should always be on watch because they do not know when their master will return. Though most Christians are familiar with the religious implications of this parable, it offers other possibilities for inspiration. InWalker'
Have you already thought of ways you could apply these two examples in your life, whether you are a teacher or not? I certainly have. And the book offers thirty-six more such valuable life lessons from the Bible, and from Mike Walker's thirty years of experience in the classroom.
I found TEACHER TO TEACHER educational, insightful, and inspirational. But, most of all, as I finished the book, I was thinking of Jesus as a teacher!
( Check out Radine's website: www.radinesbooks.com :)
"The riches from teaching," Gravette educator Mike Walker says in his new book, TEACHER TO TEACHER, "lie in the experiences we have with our students. If we don't find students our primary interest, it is time to leave the field of education."
Most of us would say that only makes sense. And yet many of us know those who have jobs where they suffer burn-out, frustration, boredom, and are just putting in time for a pay check. Can we expect the teaching profession to be any different? Haven't we all heard about difficulties teachers face today; how they must often attempt to reach young people (and sometimes parents) who are uncooperative, uncaring, disruptive, and aren't prepared to appreciate the value of education? What would you and I do if we faced these challenges? What can teachers do?
TEACHER TO TEACHER gives us answers to those questions. Though it's meant to be, as the title indicates, a sharing of inspiration from one teacher to others in the same profession, it's much more than that. It might also be called a book of inspirational guidelines for all of us. Yes, it is an expose' of what is best and worst in the teaching profession, but it doesn't stop there. It offers answers any of us can use.
Though strongly Christian, giving Christian solutions to teaching problems, this is no whitewash. That's what makes it ring true as a trustworthy look inside the world of education.
We learn about teachers who inspire their students, going into classrooms each morning in anticipation of the coming day's opportunities. But we also read of teachers who have lost the spark and are merely putting in time, or worse.
Most of the time
In one such example, he tells how he applied the story of the barren fig tree (See Luke 13: 6-9) to a young man, a resistant learner already in trouble with the law. The school principal expected problems with this student, and told
Other applications of parables are sometimes humorous, as in this one, based on the parable of the doorkeeper from Mark 13: 33-37. Jesus tells us that a man goes on a journey, leaving his servants in charge. He points out that the servants should always be on watch because they do not know when their master will return. Though most Christians are familiar with the religious implications of this parable, it offers other possibilities for inspiration. In
Have you already thought of ways you could apply these two examples in your life, whether you are a teacher or not? I certainly have. And the book offers thirty-six more such valuable life lessons from the Bible, and from Mike Walker's thirty years of experience in the classroom.
I found TEACHER TO TEACHER educational, insightful, and inspirational. But, most of all, as I finished the book, I was thinking of Jesus as a teacher!
( Check out Radine's website: www.radinesbooks.com :)