"My Posse Don't Do Homework" - Softcover

LouAnne Johnson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312951639 ISBN 13: 9780312951634

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 1993

Synopsis

They were called "the class from Hell": 34 inner-city sophomores whose last teacher had been "pushed over the edge". Now they have a new teacher: a pretty, 98-pound ex-Marine who would bully, bluff, and bribe her students into caring about school. The major motion picture starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Andy Garcia will be released in December. Excerpted in Reader's Digest. Martin's.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

Another funny, alarming look at a city school from a dedicated, unconventional teacher. When former Navy and Marine servicewoman Johnson (Making Waves, 1986) took over the pseudonymous ``Parkmont High'' classroom of a teacher who'd had a breakdown, she found herself surrounded by unruly, unmotivated students partial to Atom Bomb cologne and thunderbolt hair styles. At first, they tried the usual tricks, and Johnson, like others before her, nearly despaired (``I shook my head, and bit my lower lip, trying not to cry''). But she persisted, using an original mix of boot-camp tactics and genuine warmth, and, one by one, the students responded--like Danny, ``an advanced thinker caught in the body of a remedial student,'' who, inspired by Johnson's parakeet, turned from marginal to remarkable; or Curtis, who'd had a blank journal all year until The Merchant of Venice seized his imagination (``I never had anything to say before''). Along the way, Johnson learns a few lessons of her own, from simple management skills (``outshouting kids is like trying to teach a pig to sing'') to, most reluctantly, the hard facts of life (``You can't save a kid who doesn't want to be saved''). We've been up this down staircase before, especially in the late 1960's when an armful of books (by Kozol, Kohl, Herndon) first dramatized great inequities in school systems and the sad shuffle awaiting those least able to speak up for themselves. Johnson shows the importance of basic respect, constant encouragement, and unorthodox teaching strategies for a generation (another generation) of disenfranchised students. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal:

Johnson, a former Marine, offers a humorous account of teaching at an American high school. Johnson's "posse" consists of disenfranchised teens attending Parkmont High School in California. As the new teacher on the block, Johnson exhibits the energy and idealism to motivate her students. Although her methods are often unorthodox, the problems they address are real enough. Claiming that she succeeds where others have failed, Johnson writes of her students with humor and sympathy, but fellow teachers are stereotyped as overworked and uninspired. This book will circulate in libraries serving student teachers and in-service veteran teachers.
- Nancy E. Zuwiyya, Binghamton City Sch. Dist . ,
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0312951639
• ISBN 13: 9780312951634
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 278