I just read two books by English professor, Mark Edmundson. The first, Teacher: The One Who Made the Difference interested me because I am a sucker for a good teacher memoir. I had read reviews of it and thought it would satisfy my curiosity. Edmundson recounts his high school philosophy teacher who expected so much of his students and how that greatly impacted his own future teaching, not to mention his life. He goes back in time to when he was a football player who was headed to community college and how this teacher showed him how to think and the difference that made to him. The book is humorous, though a bit rambling and I was hoping there would be more substance on what it was exactly that this teacher did to engage his students. This is an important topic to me and I wanted more.
The second Edmundson book I read is aptly titled Why Read. This time Edmundson takes us to his own teaching of humanities and looks at why students need an integrated humanities course that is centered on great texts. He examines the kinds of thinking that these texts engender and the ways they can give our society hope and meaning. I really like his ideas and his compelling arguments. However, I am not a fan of his rambling style. His ideas run from one to the next but do not seem to be organized coherently. I may draw from this as I teach reading but only in segments as its argument is not always clear.
I would recommend both of these books but only for entertainment and interest, not instruction for how to read or teach. They helped me think about my own teaching and reading but didn't extend my thinking too much. Oh well.
Teacher: http://www.amazon.com/Teacher-One-Who-Made-Difference/dp/0375708545/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1314803329&sr=8-3
Why Read: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=why+Read&x=0&y=0
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