Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire

The book “Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire” by Rafe Esquith is a must read for everyone who has passion for teaching. It is a must read for those who are in the teaching profession and even for students so that they will be able to know the value and sacrifices of teachers. It is based on personal stories and perspectives of the author which made the book more enticing since readers can find themselves united with the author’s experiences.

Readers will find some advantages and disadvantages within the book but its overall appeal leaves good messages and strategies to people. Basically the book is divided into three parts: There’s No Place Like Home for part one, The Method for part two and The Madness for part three. Each chapter provides significant information about the author’s lives along with his personal and teaching experiences. On the books first chapter, Esquith tries to divulge his own tips on how to earn students’ trust and how to be selfless.

I consider this as the advantageous part of the book because it gives readers the various techniques which they can utilize in their teaching careers. Teaching is a noble job and through the sacrifices of teachers, more professionals are made and well prepared for the future. The last and third part of the book is entitled The Madness, I believe this made the book quite a disadvantage for readers. On this part, the author discusses his extra curricular activities that he does with his students.

There are discussions that emphasized their trip to Washington D. C, the Feed of the World project and the Hobart Shakespeareans. Most of the time he losses time for his family and friends because he gives total devotion to his profession as a teacher. This can be considered as Esquith’s philosophy in teaching since he sacrifices personal affairs for the sake of educating his students. However, it hinders the chances of building personal relationships even better on the case of Esquith and his family and at is also similar to his students and their families.

He sacrifices time, money and effort to give the needs of his students. The character of Esquith is very saintly on the book. This fascinated me because in this fast changing world, most teachers are only after their compensation from their jobs. The author is a clear manifestation of qualitative education which cannot be replaced by any material possession. Indeed, education is the only thing that a person can leave to their children.

In the book Teach like Your Hairs on Fire, Esquith treated his students like his own children that he is willing to risk everything so that all of them will inherit something that they can utilize in the future. Being a public school teacher is really difficult, but the story of Esquith proves us that there is no such thing as hard as long as you have the will to survive. The author wanted to assert that he is willing to undergo and take the hardship of learning together with his students rather than allow them to taste the bitterness of ignorance.