When Teachers Talk *review*

I went through school blissfully unaware of what my teachers may have been going through everyday. I looked at my various principals through the years as there to help. I had no idea that they may have been wolves in sheep's clothing when it came to how they treated the teachers. I'll never know if my principals were among the good or if they were tyrants making my teachers' lives miserable. So why am I thinking about this now? Because I was given the opportunity to read the book When Teachers Talk by Rosalyn S. Schnall.

Schnall interviewed 500 Chicago Public School Teachers. She took their stories and published them in their own words to show how many, not all, principals abused their position of authority causing uncomfortable at best to horrible work conditions for teachers, also showing how this kind of abuse effected the students.

I'll admit, I'm naive, it never would've occurred to me that a principal would mistreat their teachers and play the political games rather than do what is best for the students. Heck, in second grade I had the worst possible teacher in the world. Seriously, I'd place her up against any other teacher anywhere for comparison and I'm sure she'd come out as the craptacular winner. She was AWFUL! I spent a year being completely miserable because she was so mean, and I was quiet about it. My mom didn't know the daily emotional abuse I was taking until the end of the school year. And yet, she kept her job for many more years after that. I found out later, as an adult, when I ran into my former third grade teacher (by the way, this teacher was my best teacher ever, she was better than any other teacher I had from preschool through college...AMAZING!) that all the teachers in the school applauded when this awful teacher retired because she was awful to everyone. Anyway, I guess this kind of thing lead to my naivety. Because seriously, how could principals be abusive to their teachers when horrible teachers like that keep their jobs? But from reading the situations these Chicago Public School teachers went through it's clear there's a problem out there.

I'm left wondering if I even want to send my children to public school. Will their schools, while much smaller, face the same awful situations that the Chicago schools face? Will their teachers be that unhappy? Will their teachers' health suffer as the Chicago teachers' health did? Will their teachers quit because of the principals here as many in Chicago did?

This book was definitely an eye opener and I'll be paying close attention to my children as they go through the school system. This coming Fall my oldest will be entering school and I'll finally have a chance to check things out for myself. I'd definitely recommend this book for any teachers, principals, assistant principals and anyone else working in education. It's not necessarily an easy read and is long, but it is interesting and more than a little horrifying for someone as clueless as I was.

Book information:
Paperback: 512 pages
Publisher: Goldenring Publishing, LLC (November 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0578005638
ISBN-13: 978-0578005638

I received a review copy of When Teachers Talk to help facilitate this review. No other form of compensation was provided. The opinions expressed are my own.