"This book has changed my life, as an educator and as a person." — Miss Remmers
From Amazon.com...
"In his bestselling book, Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire, readers were introduced to Rafe Esquith and his extraordinary students in Hobart Elementary School's Room 56. Using his amazing and inspiring classroom techniques, Esquith has helped thousands of children learn to maximize their potential. In Lighting Their Fires, Esquith shows that children aren't born extraordinary; they become that way as a result of parents and teachers who instill values that serve them not just in school, but for the rest of their lives. Framed by a class trip to a major league baseball game, Lighting Their Fires moves inning by inning through concepts that help children build character and develop enriching lives. Whether he is highlighting the importance of time management or offering a step-by-step discussion of how children can become good decision makers, Esquith shows how parents can equip their kids with all the tools they need to find success and have fun in the process. Using examples from classic films and great books, he stresses the value of sacrifice, the importance of staying true to oneself, and the danger that television can pose to growing young minds. Lighting Their Fires is that rarest of education books: one that explains not just how to make our children great students, but how to make them thoughtful and honorable people."
I was a little apprehensive before reading this book, it's the first in its genre that I've read and I was afraid it would be uninteresting and more of a 'how to' book.
I was wrong.
A few pages into this book and I realized how absolutely life changing it would be. Esquith effectively illustrates the importance of raising kids by using the analogy of a baseball game. He explains the importance of teaching children the importance of being polite, being on time, and taking responsibility for their learning. One of the things I love most about this book is the way that Esquith draws from other literary sources, whether it be Shakespeare and Mark Twain or Dr. Seuss. This book is filled with wonderful quotes that pertain to each topic presented. As a future educator, I also particularly loved when brings up specific books that teach kids a particular lesson, such as Inherit the Wind, Hamlet, or Oh, the Places You Will Go!
Without a doubt, this book has changed my life, as an educator and as a person. After reading this book, I googled Rafe Esquith and discovered how much of an impact he has had on education. Below are a few YouTube videos that I find absolutely inspiring. I highly recommend this book.
Favorite Quotes:
"Regardless of a child's personal choices, with direction a young person can be shown the importance of time" (14).
"It's essential for students to understand that three wasted minutes translate to an hour of missed learning opportunities per month. The best high school teachers value every second they can spend with their students, and burn from the word go" (15).
"Would it be such a terrible world if we raised saints and poets?" (26).
"I wasted time, and time doth now wast me" (35).
"Extraordinary young people are not necessarily brighter than their peers; they have merely developed sharper vision and see the picture more clearly" (78).
**Thanks to Caitlin from FSB Associates for sending me a copy of this amazing book