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Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56 QUOTES

Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56 QUOTES

1 " There are so many charlatans in the world of education. They teach for a couple of years, come up with a few clever slogans, build their websites, and hit the lecture circuit. In this fast-food-society, simple solutions to complex problems are embraced far too often. We can do better. I hope that people who read this book realize that true excellence takes sacrifice, mistakes, and enormous amounts of effort. After all, there are no shortcuts. "

― Rafe Esquith , Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56

2 " That's the beauty of art--we strive for perfection but never achieve it. The journey is everything. "

― Rafe Esquith , Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56

3 " Never compare one student's test score to another's. Always measure a child's progress against her past performance. There will always be a better reader, mathematician, or baseball player. Our goal is to help each student become as special as she can be as an individual--not to be more special than the kid sitting next to her. "

― Rafe Esquith , Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56

4 " The larger problem here is that many teachers are so desperate to keep their classrooms in order that they will do anything to maintain it. This is understandable—an “End justifies the means” mentality is at the heart of many explanations of how children are handled these days. Given some of the practically impossible situations confronting teachers today, it seems reasonable. But let’s be honest. It might be explicable. It might be effective. But it is not good teaching. We can do better. I know this because I’ve been there. I’ve fallen into the same trap. The simple truth is that most classrooms today are managed by one thing and one thing only: fear. "

― Rafe Esquith , Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56

5 " if you become angry over little things, the big issues are never even addressed. As "

― Rafe Esquith , Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56

6 " I teach my students that while rules are necessary, many of our greatest heroes became heroes by not following the rules. [...] Extraordinary people throughout history have done this, and if we want our children to reach such heights, they need to know the rules but see past a chart on the wall. There will be times when the chart is not there. More important, there will be times when the chart is wrong. "

― Rafe Esquith , Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56

7 " I thought to myself that if I could care so much about teaching that I didn’t even realize my hair was burning, I was moving in the right direction. From that moment, I resolved to always teach like my hair was on fire. "

― Rafe Esquith , Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56

8 " Our assessment of reading may begin with standardized test scores, but in the end we must measure a child’s reading ability by the amount of laughter exhaled and tears shed as the written word is devoured. "

― Rafe Esquith , Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56

9 " End justifies the means "

― Rafe Esquith , Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56