The Overly Honest Teacher

“When a teacher gives anything other than glowing feedback, it's tough to keep from slipping into a defensive stance. Enter The Overly Honest Teacher...written by seasoned educator and administrator Meredith Essalat, M.Ed. The Overly Honest Teacher is filled with tangible advice from how to best communicate with your children's teachers to how to start your kids' school day off on the right foot.” –Amy Lupold Bair, Founder of Resourceful Mommy Media, LLC All parents want their children to have the tools to vocalize their emotions—to own their opinions, their fears, and their views of the world. But parents don’t always feel prepared to take on the role of model adult. As both a teacher and a school principal, Meredith Essalat has lived the daily challenges of helping children navigate through their young lives. She has seen the struggles that parents have as they balance long working hours with the demands of home life. She sees that it’s the teachers who are often caught in the middle. In an effort to stop pointing out each other's flaws—and instead letting kids know they are supported—Essalat offers hard-won pointers that enable parents, teachers, and students alike to encourage one another with accountability. Combining humor with straightforward, practical advice, The Overly Honest Teacher educates parents on how to embrace everyday parenting gracefully. The results will be well-adjusted, positive, enthusiastic young adults ready to work hard and learn vastly.

It was never in author Joe Gilliland’s plan to become a teacher, certainly not a college teacher and most certainly not an English teacher. But that’s what happened, and he’s never looked back. In A Teacher’s Tale, he explains, how by neither planning for nor seeking a life of learning and teaching, lacking a syllabus or lesson plan, he discovered that a life in academe lay in his path—a path he’s followed for more than fifty years. A Teacher’s Tale begins in 1932 with Gilliland’s first experiences in schooling and concludes in the summer of 1955 just as he completes his apprenticeship and stands on the brink of becoming a qualified instructor in a small college in east Texas. This memoir presents a collection of stories about his experiences as a teacher and a college student. A story of schooling deeply immersed in the arts and humanities, A Teacher’s Tale shares Gilliland’s love of the university and how it compelled him to seek a life devoted to teaching, primarily in the community college arena. Through this narrative, he brings together a philosophy of higher education based on the importance of arts and humanities in today’s high- tech world.

Hopeful, hilarious musings and serious advice for new teachers from the formerly anonymous blogger behind Love, Teach. Every teacher will tell you the first years are the hardest, and even the most confident of the pack sometimes ask themselves, Am I cut out for this? Kelly Treleaven, the teacher and once-anonymous blogger behind Love, Teach, wants you to know that you're not alone, and that yes, she has cried under her desk, too. Treleaven's blog has become a sensation in the education world, known for its heartfelt, high-spirited dispatches straight from the trenches and its practical advice. In Treleaven's debut book, she gives rookie teachers the advice she wishes she'd had when she started out in a large district in Houston. From logistical questions like how to prep and organize a classroom, to deeper issues like how to build relationships with students, navigate administration, and avoid burnout, Love, Teach is an essential book for anyone working in education today or considering the profession. With raw feeling, humor, and a razor-sharp perspective, Love, Teach supports teachers in their fight for a better future, and helps them celebrate the victories, large and small.