Book Review

Mathews, Jay. Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin of Chapel Hill, 2009. Print.

Work Hard. Be Nice. is the story of how two Teach for America Alumni started KIPP charter schools. The author Jay Mathews, a well-published author of education in America, writes the book as a narrative as he follows the two main characters: Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin through all their many challenges and triumphs. Since this book is meant as an insiders look into the history of KIPP it provides insights into how to be an effective teacher in the classroom and outside of the classroom, the inner workings of charter schools and how they are created, and finally it provides a critical review of charter schools like KIPP, and whether or not they are the silver bullet of education reform. In this paper I will summarize of each of these topics and connect each topic to how it can improve my teaching as a first year teacher with Teach for America.

I. Effective Teacher Inside and Outside of the Classroom

Work Hard. Be Nice. proves without a doubt that Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin are very successful teachers. They are and compatriots at their schools, including Frank Corcoran, a Notre Dame alumnus, routinely won Teacher of Year awards. Countless visitors attested to the fact that these guys could each low-income kids to succeed. These guys were so successful because they employed their 5 Pillars of KIPP. First, they set high expectations for their kids, in terms of the academic and behavioral. 2. They had parents commits and students commit in written contracts to this success. 3. They taught until 5:00 and had 3 week long summer courses. 4. They had teachers who ran the classroom and the principals who ran the school with complete control. 5 Everything boiled down to results.

These were the five things that KIPP claimed as their reasons for success. However, I noticed that they did other things that could be used in any classroom. First, everything about their classrooms was about learning, right down to the vocab clouds on the ceiling. Even if a kid was staring-into-space they were learning. This is something that I don’t do in my Spartan classroom. Second, they built a culture of learning, where the cool thing was to be learning, to be smart, and everything revolved around that. Punishments of being put on the porch were designed so that they would want to return to this learning environment. Three, they also used a lot of different mnemonics and games to make learning fun. I don’t do this. Four they also teach a lot of study skills and critical thinking, which my kids lack and I wish I knew how to teach. I want to be able to teach these skills but I don’t know how you teach a kid to have critical thinking. Fifth, and most importantly they would do whatever it takes from getting that parents involved to completely changing teaching styles in order to succeed.

In terms of outside of the classroom, these guys were always looking for mentors who they could watch and learn from. This was the biggest take away, they found good teachers and simply copied. This is something I need to do more of as well.

II. Charter Schools

Charter schools can be more efficient because they are easier to create a culture of learning and separate this culture from previous experiences. When a child enrolls in a charter school, the entire school can be a different experience from their past home-life or school life. Its hard for a single teacher to do that because you never know what’s going to happen before or after they leave that classroom.

In terms of creation, it seems that basically anybody with an idea, the motivation, and the money could start their own school. The key thing is always money and in this case it came from the founders of GAP. Money is just as important at Campbell, and in order to make sure the teachers are supplied with the proper equipment, we always have to seeking new ways to get money.

III. Critique of KIPP

The last few chapters of the book took a more critical eye to KIPP and raised a number of points to why KIPP might not be a silver bullet. Number one, KIPP creams the students who have parents who care. If it’s something they have to sign up for then its getting the better parents. Although the techniques that KIPP employs are good, its not sure that they will work for every school. However, regardless of its expandability, KIPP has allowed hundreds of low-income students who wouldn’t go to college go to college, and as long as its doing that its doing a good thing.