Wife and Mommy

So I don’t have a third grader in my home, but I will one day (actually, I’ll eventually have three third graders, if they all make it to school-age!).  I figured I should be prepared and that was reason enough for me to read this book:  32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny:  Life Lessons from Teaching by Phillip Done.  

Bottom line:  Everyone should get a copy of this book and read it.  Teachers, non-teachers, parents, non-parents, students, non-students.  Everyone will be able to related to something in this book and will definitely laugh out loud at the humorous ways Mr. Done dealt with teaching situations.  

Mr. Done’s book chronicles one year of his 20 year teaching career, in easy-to-read, short vignettes.  I tore through this book and didn’t want to put it down!  I laughed at the conversations Mr. Done had with his students.  I laughed at Mr. Done’s lists:  common speeches he gives in a school year, the looks a teacher must master, the classes a teacher must pass at Teacher School.  I laughed at Mr. Done’s gaffes with the laminating machine, at garage sales and at his skills in using anything (and everything) in his classroom.

Mr. Done’s love of teaching and his students is clearly evident in the ways he handles unexpected situations.  A pet snake on the loose in the school?  No problem.  Class picture day?  Eh, go with the flow.  Making sugar cookies when the principal and board members enter the classroom?  Say a swear word and get over it.  :)

In all seriousness, Mr. Done has done a lifetime of good in his 20 years of teaching.  He does not focus on what is “wrong” with public education, but instead shares how he worked with his school and students to teach kids successfully.  His students are lucky to have had him as their teacher.  

I can only hope my own children will have teachers as gifted and dedicated as Mr. Done some day.