After the Bell: Contemporary American Prose about School

by Maggie Anderson (Editor), Maggie Anderson (Editor)

The sixty-two short essays in After the Bell describe in many voices the emotional complexity and historical record of one experience most of us have in elementary and secondary school, from our first day all the way to graduation. Whether public or private, rural or urban, school is the first place we navigate on our own, learning how we stand apart, how we stand out, and where we do or don't fit in.
    The essays are by emerging as well as established fiction writers, poets, social commentators, and educational theorists. Told from the point of view of students, teachers, parents, and administrators through the multiple perspectives or race, class, physical and intellectual abilities, and sexually, the stories reveal how memories of our school days haunt and sustain us.

200 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

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Reviews

[bjneary · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the Bell is a collection of short personal essays on the American school experience by authors from the point of view of students, teachers, parents and administrators. They tell a story of how we learn and how we teach, presenting one moment of one day with one teacher that changed someone’s life- for good or ill. Valuable and enjoyable for teachers and administrators and could be used to support the English and creative writing curriculum.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good stuff in here. The book consists of pieces on school from well known writers. Some of the stories come from novels but still work as short stories. Quite a few of these stories could easily be used in a highschool classroom as supplimental material.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven collection has some gems.