Veteran, award-winning teacher Phil Done (32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny) has knocked it out of the park again with his recently released The Art of Teaching Children: All I Learned from a Lifetime in the Classroom by Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster. After thirty-three years of teaching children, mainly in CA public schools, Done retired from the classroom.
It was then that he decided to write down everything he’d learned about working with kids. Filled with Done’s trademark charm and humor, The Art of Teaching Children offers guidance and wisdom, advice and assistance, encouragement and inspiration to all who work with children. From the first-day-of-school jitters to the last day’s tears, the book explores a teacher’s craft, the classrooms they work in, the curriculum they teach, the challenges they face, and the reason all teachers do it—the children.
Part teachers’ guide, part shot in the arm, and part pep-talk, The Art of Teaching Children is for anyone who has ever followed muddy tracks to a student’s desk, corrected papers while watching late-night TV, snitched candy from the classroom goody jar, pulled the white screen down too far and wasn’t able to get it back up, or explained that being a rock is an important role in the school play.
It’s for teachers who want to re-energize their batteries and get back their spark. A testament to educators and the students they work with, the book is the perfect companion for teachers who need a quick pick-me-up, a long heart-to-heart, or a momentary reminder that they’re not alone.
In the book, Done tackles topics that you won’t find in any other teaching book, including Back to School Night nerves, teacher pride, lessons that bomb, the Sunday Blues, Pinterest envy, teacher guilt, and the things they never warn you about in “teacher school” but should, like how to survive lunch supervision, recess duty, and field trips! Done also addresses some of the most important issues schools face today: bullying, excessive screen time, unsupportive administrators, the system’s obsession with testing, teacher burnout, and the ever-increasing demands of meeting the diverse learning needs of students.
Just as in Done’s celebrated first two books (32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny and Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind) The Art of Teaching Children is packed with first- rate storytelling and boundless compassion—a must-read for new and veteran grade school teachers alike and anyone who aspires to become one.
About the author
Phillip Done taught elementary school for thirty-three years and was the recipient of the prestigious Charles Schwab Distinguished Teacher Award, a Teacher of the Year in California, and a nominee for Disney’s Teacher of the Year. He has taught in public and private schools in the United States and internationally. He has also served as an educational consultant around the world. Additionally, Done has worked as an on-set teacher for child actors in television and film. Done’s writing about education has appeared in Real Simple, Instructor, Parent, NEA Today, and Reader’s Digest. He lives in Budapest, Hungary.
