Chasing Hellhounds: What My Students Taught Me

By Marv Hoffman

Chasing Hellhounds: What My Students Taught Me This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1571312145
• ISBN13: 9781571312143
• Release Date: November 1996
• Publisher: Milkweed Editions
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

a must read for those interested in education and reading

very well written. Favorite passages include the following. It is the unchanging school ballet - order and authority aligned against limit testing and restlessness. 18 (on his in-class "library") Every year, a certain percentage of the collection walks out from under my porous record-keeping system, but I console myself with visions of these books on bedside tables or sharing valuable shelf space with Al Green and Boys II Men. 20 For three years, I watched some wonderful word magicians ignite children's interest in language, instill in them the realization that words can be pleasurable, not the leaded mallets with which they had been bludgeoned into muteness in the previous classrooms. 42 There was a second group of parents and kids who desperately needed the school and were determined to make it work. These were the misfits, kids unsuited for what passed for the normal teenage world. For them, the goal was not so much achievement as sheer survival, negotiating the treacherous straits of early adolescence en route to a less judgmental, more tolerant adulthood. 67 The work of teachers arouses as little curiosity from the general public as that of garbagemen and mechanics. Perhaps the fact that all of us have spent at least twelve years in the thrall of one teacher or another is sufficient to convince us that we already know all we ever care to know about teaching. 81 (the classic school desks) Is there an official name for those cursed objects with the fixed arm on which to rest your test paper or your binder? Strapped into this contraption, every man is alone, pitting his triumphs against those of his adversaries, never to reach out and join forces with them. 83 Where does the teacher's desk go, and what does that tell us about the guy who operates in this space? Does he hold court from behind or does he just use it as a place to unload his papers? 83 the whole thing on selecting books for the class year, pages 84-92 As my lists of possibilities proliferates, I get excited over the prospect of introducing some of the books I love to an audience innocent of them. 84 I'm partial to books that open out onto other vistas - literary, political, psychological. 85 In general, I don't believe in textbooks for English students at any level. There are real books students can and should be reading regardless of age or ability. Textbooks will never produce literate adult readers. 85 ...when it's clear that even at the early grade levels, the way to promote reading is by exposing kids to the plethora of good books capable of exciting them about reading. 86 Students need to inhale great quantities of literature in their school years in order to get a reasonable sampling of the universe of inspired and inspiring writing they can choose from as independent adult readers. 86 Providing a good education means attuning students to the fact that there are a richness and diversity of cultures, experiences, and styles that await... 8

Educational Writing at Its Best

Teaching is one of the most difficult jobs. When you read Marvin Hoffman's beautifully written book, however, you realize that it is a noble profession and one where a dedicated, insightful teacher truly has a profound impact of the lives of young people. This book is inpirational. The depth of Mr. Hoffman's humanity comes through the vignettes. I work in a school and whenever I need a reminder of why I entered education, I pick up "Chasing Hellhounds..." It is outstanding!