Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire

Ethan McNeill

Esquith, R. (2007). Teach like your hairs on fire: the methods and madness inside room 56. New York: Penguin Books.

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RAFE ESQUITH ROOM #56

• Teaches at Hobart Elementary School
• Has taught for 22 years at the time this book was published
• Has won multiple awards such as the American Teacher Award and the National Medal of Arts
• Had a revelation about teaching after he started his hair on fire while helping a student

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TRUST VS. FEAR

• Many classrooms are built on fear
• Classrooms must be built on trust
• Teachers must be dependable and act as role models
• Discipline must be logical
• Base classroom dynamics on trust

SIX LEVELS OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

• Lvl 1: I don’t want to get in trouble
• Lvl 2: I want a reward
• Lvl 3: I want to please somebody
• Lvl 4: I follow the rules
• Lvl 5: I am considerate of other people
• Lvl 6: I have a personal code of behavior and I follow it

READING FOR LIFE

• A difference focus: reading as a passion
• At the library
• Making things relevant

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WRITING

• Schools have increasingly given students less chances to write in school in favor of testing
• Grammar: grammar practice in the morning
• Essay of the week
• Monthly book report
• Young authors project