[3XF]≡ Download Free Breaking the Silence My Final Forty Days as a Public School Teacher M Shannon Hernandez 9781626529625 Books

Breaking the Silence My Final Forty Days as a Public School Teacher M Shannon Hernandez 9781626529625 Books

Download As PDF : Breaking the Silence My Final Forty Days as a Public School Teacher M Shannon Hernandez 9781626529625 Books

Breaking the Silence My Final Forty Days as a Public School Teacher M Shannon Hernandez 9781626529625 Books

I enjoyed this book. Hernandez is a good writer, and any teacher can relate to some of the traumas she suffers--including a mysterious charge against her that nobody will inform her of--but my, what a healthy self-esteem this woman has! I bought it on a kindle, and as I was reading, I began highlighting some of her over-the-top statements she made about just what a wonderful teacher she was. She cares more than anybody, she makes children feel incredibly loved by sharing a yogurt, her students were on task 180 days a year, her specialty was her incredible empathy. If all this was true, she certainly did a terrible thing by leaving the profession. The poor 6th and 7th graders who were denied the pleasures of being in her class!

I don't mean to make fun of Ms. Hernandez. She probably was a very good teacher and most of her complaints are valid, to be certain. I think that this book just shows the difference between a self-published book and a "regular" book. She needed an editor to tone it down, I think.


Tags : Breaking the Silence: My Final Forty Days as a Public School Teacher [M. Shannon Hernandez] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. After 15 years in the teaching profession, three <b>gut-wrenching realizations</b> forced M. Shannon Hernandez to recognize that she must leave the career she loved so dearly,M. Shannon Hernandez,Breaking the Silence: My Final Forty Days as a Public School Teacher,Mill City Press, Inc.,1626529620,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Personal Memoirs,Biography Autobiography,Body, Mind & Spirit : Inspiration & Personal Growth,Education : General,General,Inspiration & Personal Growth,Personal Memoirs

Breaking the Silence My Final Forty Days as a Public School Teacher M Shannon Hernandez 9781626529625 Books Reviews

I wish I could leave a copy of this book in every teachers' lounge across the nation. It is a quick read that will have you nodding your head both in agreement and in disgust. It is actually difficult to read without a highlighter because there are so many notable statements that Hernandez makes about education, her students, her feelings, and our nation that should be brought to the attention of every American that has a stake in the U.S. Public School system. Hernandez has a special talent of writing elegantly and directly about tough issues that teachers are dealing with today. It makes me sad that so many passionate teachers, like Hernandez, are leaving the profession, I hope this book helps to wake up our nation's policy makers to listen to what teachers have to say about improving our school system.
All I have to say is WOW! This book is an eye opener for those who have no clue what actually really happens in public schools. I often hear teachers that I observe speak poorly of the education system and how they fear for their jobs every single year they get evaluated. I am actually pursuing an early childhood education and I always had a problem with these crazy rules in the education system. This book really gives you an insight of how life is in an actually classroom. Shannon talks about her feelings and addresses the fact that students need to be loved and not be treated as if they are lab rats, which is what the education system is all about (testing). Shannon shows you what it is to be a real caring teacher and not just a teacher who just teaches and leaves the class. She went and goes above and beyond for her students and this is the kind of teacher I want to be and wish I had! I am sure if all teachers were the way Shannon is- then maybe we wouldn't have a bunch of drop outs and students who get involved in gangs and other sorts of drama. This is the kind of teacher we all need to be! She spoke up- broke the silence. We all have a say. MUST READ!!!!!!!!
True or False (in your opinion)
1. [Educational] Policymakers are severely disconnected from the realities of the classroom.
2. Teachers are overworked and challenged by poor working conditions, resulting in productivity loss.
3. We have stopped educating the whole child [in traditional schools across America].

Now, depending on your responses to the prompts above, you'll have a varying level of interest in reading Shannon's memior, "My Final Forty Days as a Public School Teacher."

I've known the author for more than a year, and as soon as the paperback book arrived in my mailbox I knew I was going to go on a journey.

(Full disclosure I purchased my copy at full price AND I wrote a endorsement for the back cover of Shannon's book. I read the "galley" copy as an electronic PDF; but, when you purchase and hold this book in your hands the relationship is that much tighter.)

Are you a parent? A policymaker? A teacher? A student? A school administrator? A concerned American citizen? Wherever you are along the spectrum of involvement in this "national crisis," you're going to relate to the information, I promise there will be parts of Shannon's experience that resonate with you.

To get you thinking, let's just take a look at some of her stated "goals" now that she has left the public education classroom
+ Breakfast and yoga with my husband and cat each morning
+ A four-day workweek
+ The ability to travel when I want and for as long as I want
+ Bathroom breaks when the urge hits!
+ To make a difference in the lives of others
... what do YOU think? Too much to ask? Not enough to hope for?

You see, I taught high school as well (this is why I'm finding so much power in this book) and I can relate to every one - and more - of her goals. As you read through her book outlining her experience over what became her "last 40 days" as a teacher, ask yourself the kinds of questions you know you need to be answering. In fact, if you skip to page 117 of the book, Shannon opens her heart, her mind, and her address to you. I know she'd love to continue the conversation, and even give you a writing prompt or two that is bound to get you thinking.

There are MANY "favorite" parts of this book, so let me just highlight a few...

Page 5 - Have you ever had to "let go" of something? How about letting go of something you hold near and dear to your heart; as in, "This is what needs to happen/be done, and it's NOT happening/being done..." The story she tells of calling a parent, and the conversation she has that makes her shake her thinking and belief to the very core is enough reason to buy this book. Today.

Page 39 - Shannon describes a lesson that "took a turn" away from the original, scripted lesson plan as the class she was managing approached a topic that some adults - nay, MOST adults - would have a tough time address "How can we forgive those people in our lives who have caused us pain?"

Page 59 - Ok, will you stand up for what you believe in? Will you state - publicly and loudly - what you see as "potential" in the world, even if it may cause pain, rock ships, and perhaps even sever relationships? In my study of the human mind (and the human condition) I know that we learn primarily in two ways (1) our own experiences, and (2) other people's experiences. Let Shannon share her experience, and see if that moves you in any way. It does me.

Page 69 - Ok, I can TOTALLY relate to her discussion on the "economies of scale" of how us teachers are taught to look at the world. I won't bore you with stories (I taught for 5 years in the mid 1990's), but I remember going "door-to-door" to offices in our local town asking them to donate "leftover" paper so I had materials for my classroom. Let Shannon tell you in her book about the evening she realized there's a real difference between how some people look at money, and how other people do...

Page 78 - Want to change the world; change YOUR world? Use the two words Shannon writes a story about. Watch what happens.

Page 88 - Ok, you have to have read from the beginning (especially pages 58-60) to get the significance of the story she tells about what happened with only 9 days before leaving her classroom for the very last time. Beautiful. And difficult.

So, I can remember so much about my own experience leaving the classroom. Though I only taught for a third as many years as Shannon, we have a lot in common. For those of you interested in a "slice of life" in to what it could be like for some teachers who care so much, are so conflicted about the current system, and have really, REALLY big dreams...please read this book.

In the afterword of the book, Shannon writes, "Are you on a quest for something 'better?' If you are, my sincere hope is that you continue to explore the new life you so deeply year for."

It starts with a dream, my questions to you are

Will you let that dream emerge from your own creativity and hope?

Or, will you wait until the world backs you in to a corner and makes you fight for it?
I enjoyed this book. Hernandez is a good writer, and any teacher can relate to some of the traumas she suffers--including a mysterious charge against her that nobody will inform her of--but my, what a healthy self-esteem this woman has! I bought it on a kindle, and as I was reading, I began highlighting some of her over-the-top statements she made about just what a wonderful teacher she was. She cares more than anybody, she makes children feel incredibly loved by sharing a yogurt, her students were on task 180 days a year, her specialty was her incredible empathy. If all this was true, she certainly did a terrible thing by leaving the profession. The poor 6th and 7th graders who were denied the pleasures of being in her class!

I don't mean to make fun of Ms. Hernandez. She probably was a very good teacher and most of her complaints are valid, to be certain. I think that this book just shows the difference between a self-published book and a "regular" book. She needed an editor to tone it down, I think.