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Dragons In My Classroom Reviewed by Bee Lindy of Bookpleasures.com
- By Bee Lindy
- Published July 7, 2022
- Biographies & Memoirs
Bee Lindy
Bee Lindy has been writing book reviews since she was a child. Her notebooks are full of reviews that she wrote before she had her first personal computer.
Before the advent of the Internet, Bee had her first personal computer, and has been saving reviews on computer files ever since.
Her first reviews appeared in her high school and college news papers many moons ago.
More recently she has written reviews as a guest reviewer on various book blogs.
Professionally, she is a fundraiser for various non-profit organizations which entails a great deal of writing. Bee lives with her husband and two dogs.
View all articles by Bee Lindy
Author: Barbara Kennard
Publisher: She Writes Press
ISBN: 978-1647423650
Dragons In My Classroom,
is the story of a woman who thought that she had gotten all that she
could out of her career, only to find out that there was so much left
to receive.
Barbara Kennard took her job as a teacher seriously. From the age of six years old, she knew that she wanted to teach. Kennard's first grade teacher, Miss Gluding was exactly the sort of kind, compassionate teacher that Kennard longed to be like, herself.
After obtaining two masters degrees, Kennard began teaching at a Montessori school in 1983 and eventually moved into teaching Special Ed a few years later. For seventeen years, Kennard taught at different schools until she eventually began to worry that she was getting burned out.
Teaching just wasn't
making her feel as fulfilled as it used to. Kennard did not feel that
she was able to hold her students to the standard that she knew they
were capable of achieving because of push back from the
administration and parents.
All but ready to give up on her lifelong dream, Kennard was at a crossroads of life. But soon, she was told about a teacher exchange program with a school in Oxford, England.
The school was called the Dragon School and Kennard would soon find that the students and faculty there were very different from what she was used to in the States. Kennard's time at the Dragon School would change her life for good, and change the way that she viewed herself forever.
A fascinating look at both the American and English education systems through the eyes of a teacher, Dragons In My Classroom, is a great read and one that changed my views on a lot of things about how we view teachers in the U.S. Kennard's experiences with teacher burnout were certainly not singular, and it is something we should all be thinking about it regards to our teachers now, too.
About Barbara Kennard
Barbara Kennard taught English and performing arts to elementary, middle, and high school students from 1980 to 2015 and has received two teaching awards: The Christa McAuliffe Award for Teaching Excellence and The Barbara Kennard Sixth Grade English Prize, established in her name at The Fessenden School by a Fessenden family.
Barbara lives in Texas with her husband, pianist Brady Millican, and their cat, Piper.