I am honored to present today’s guest blogger, Ed Boland, whose recently released memoir, The Battle for Room 314: My Year of Hope and Despair in a New York City High School, has already attracted rave reviews from Andrew Solomon–author of Not Far From the Tree and The Noonday Demon—Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus and others.
Before training to become a therapist, I worked as a reading specialist and educationevaluator for the New York City Department of Education. I walked some of the same hallways depicted by the author. I can vouch for the authenticity of his vision. Ed’s voice, from the front line of the teaching profession, both gritty and elegant, points us towards needed improvements in our education system with humor, love and compassion.
Ed writes: I knew being a rookie New York City public high school teacher was going to be tough, but tough didn’t begin to describe it. In my first month alone, one of my ninth grade students hurled a . . . continue