One Day, All Children...: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach For America and What I Learned Along the Way
Author: Wendy Kopp
List Price: $23.00
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ISBN: 1891620924
Publisher: PublicAffairs (10 April, 2001)
Sales Rank: 68,825
Average Customer Rating: 4.75 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 4 out of 5
An inspirational short read
In less than 200 pages, Ms. Kopp details every step she took in establishing Teach for America, the national teaching corps for recent college graduates. Chapters 1-9 are a primer for fundraising techniques, non-profit organizational set-up and strong management skills. But, Chapter 10, the most interesting by far, is a lengthy description on what makes good educators. You may be inspired enough to join in the efforts in ensuring excellent education for all children in this great nation of ours.
Rating: 4 out of 5
An Idea Acted Upon....
One person, and idea, and a difference. Wendy Kopp detailed the relentless cycle of securing grant money to meet payroll to keep the organization afloat. Often the life of this organization was within days of sinking, but alas, the golden check was cleared. She is a very gifted networker, who managed a large organization without management experience until she handed over the operational reigns to those who knew what was going on. This account is from the perspective of the person who created the organization and ran it, so this should be taken into account. Their was heavy emphasis on recruiting graduates from Ivy League universities, which is good, because the students they would be teaching almost never have access to teachers with Ivy League educations and exposure. Those not in the Ivy Leagues seemed to not have a shot, although they could have made a significant impact. The reason why Teach For America exists in the first place in my opinion, is because the monopolistic public school system is an outright systematic, bureaucratic disaster today. TFA is a needed action, but also puts a band-aid on a bullet wound that is bleeding like a sieve. Recommended to young, new teachers, that are still idealistic and haven't become cynical, burned out, or moribund yet because of politics, administrators, and idiotic school policies.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Success against the odds!
Read the book in one day! Even though you know the outcome, it has the pull of a fiction novel as you read through the ups and downs of building TFA.Kopp shows that vision, persistence and optimism can beat the odds when it comes to a good idea. She also demonstrates that all good ideas hit big speed bumps and resiliency is key with some insightful stories.
In addition there is a fairly specific prescription for what makes for a good teacher at the end of the book. This isn't philosophical musings--this is exeperiential lessons being laid out by Kopp.
If you feel like being uplifted and gaining some knowledge on what makes a good teacher operate--read this book.
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