Must Read: Schooled
About 8 years ago, I met Stephanie Jankowski of When Crazy Meets Exhaustion through some sort of blogging something. Specific, right? I have no clue how I’ve made friends with several of my bloggy friends, but I distinctly remember connecting with Jankowski as we were both online English teachers married to math teachers. We both had a boy and a girl, and we just clicked. So I knew when Jankowski published her book, Schooled, it was a no-brainer for me to grab my own copy and dig in. Good choice on my part!
Relatable
Throughout Schooled, I felt like I was basically living my own teaching experience. Jankowski writes about that awkward feeling of being barely any older than your students and that embarrassing moment when one of your colleagues somehow forgets that you’re a teacher and fusses at you for not having a pass.
Jankowski describes with bittersweet perfection the pain of losing a student to a senseless car accident. How this loss cannot be explained or forgotten but that life does – and must – go on.
And Jankowski makes me laugh in solidarity at the ridiculous yet creative excuses students (and even their parents) can present for not having homework or not being at school on time and everything else under the sun.
Realistic
Have you ever been put in charge of a group you weren’t sure about? Maybe students convinced you to be their sponsor, and you accept out of the goodness of your heart only to discover that in the end, they’ve taught you more than you could have ever imagined?
Or perhaps you’ve made the shift from face-to-face brick and mortar teaching to the online world like I did for almost a decade only to realize that people aren’t much different from the folks you encountered in the workroom — only this time, they’re behind a screen in yoga pants.
And maybe you’ve had to present an award or make an announcement but then goofed that entire experience by jumbling up your words and gracing everyone in the audience with a major, huge language faux pas?
Jankowski’s stories are so true to the teacher experience that it’s impossible to not read and nod your head at the same time.
Get your own copy!
Jankowski has seen it all and shares it all in Schooled. If you’re a teacher, read it. If you know or love a teacher, get it for them so they can read it. It’s well worth every penny.
Purchase your own copy of Schooled by visiting When Crazy Meets Exhaustion!
I purchased a copy of Schooled for my own reading pleasure and loved it enough to write a review. I was compensated in no way by the author or publisher.
My blogging group has linked up in March with the theme of Read Across America. Check out what my fellow bloggers posted!
Karen of Baking in a Tornado has Pepperoni Parmeson Crescents!
Tamara of Part-Time Working Hockey Mom has Reading Across America
PJ at A ‘lil HooHaa has BUJO: Reading, Writing, and Learning to Journal in Middle Age
Melissa at My Heartfelt Sentiments has Tell Your Story – Read Across America
THANK YOU so very much for taking the time to read and then write about Schooled! It was a true labor of love and I’m incredibly grateful you enjoyed it!!! xoxoxox
So funny, isn’t it, how many people you meet online through blogging and have so much in common with. I don’t remember how I met half of them either, but I’m glad I did.
I have been (online) friends with Stephanie for – let me count – 7 years, I think? She was pregnant with Lyla. Such a wonderful family.
What an absolutely delightful book!
I’ve always thought that teaching is second only to parenting. And, at times, a teacher has more influence on a student than their own parent.
I have never heard of this book before but it sounds wonderful. Teachers go through so much on a daily basis and it is so easy for us to get negative but it sounds like this book focuses on the wonderful parts of being a teacher. Thanks for the recommendation.
I’m catching up on some of the past challenges finally … but good review. My brother is a teacher. I might have to look into this for him. Though I am not a teacher, I do work in two school districts… and it can be a crazy world, that’s for sure!