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The Greatest Catch: A Life in Teaching
Read Kittle's stories of teaching and learning. Then write your own. I plan to.
Tom Romano, author of Crafting Authentic Voice For twenty years Penny Kittle has woven together artful teaching and a love of language, celebrating the written word with classes from elementary school through graduate school. Now, she shares the stories of students with whom she's celebrated, struggled, and learned. More than a teaching memoir, The Greatest Catch is a close-up look at how to teach powerful lessons and how to learn powerful lessons from teachingespecially from teaching writing. Kittle teaches her students that writing is a tool for developing their intellectual, academic, and emotional selves, and in these essays, she shows how both she and her students' lives have been profoundly influenced by writing. You'll look over her shoulder as she tries to win over a mischievous third grader, works with a fifth-grade alcoholic, and attempts to make sense of her profession as she watches secondary students drop out of school. And in each instance, you'll see how writing can provide an outlet for difficult feelings, build connections and community, or foster resiliency in writers of any age. Best of all, The Greatest Catch is a model for your own professional development. In addition to her inspirational and pragmatic stories, Kittle includes Craft Notes that demonstrate how she composed her essays so that you can use the same strategies for your classroom life. You'll find these tools immediately useful for structuring reflective writing that helps you uncover the many layers of meaning in your work, just as Kittle, herself, has. Join Penny Kittle in the journey of a teaching lifetime and learn from her experience. Begin with any essay in The Greatest Catch or read it cover to cover. You'll find that no matter where you start you'll end up at the same place: inspired to teach, write, and learn.
Tom Romano, author of Crafting Authentic Voice For twenty years Penny Kittle has woven together artful teaching and a love of language, celebrating the written word with classes from elementary school through graduate school. Now, she shares the stories of students with whom she's celebrated, struggled, and learned. More than a teaching memoir, The Greatest Catch is a close-up look at how to teach powerful lessons and how to learn powerful lessons from teachingespecially from teaching writing. Kittle teaches her students that writing is a tool for developing their intellectual, academic, and emotional selves, and in these essays, she shows how both she and her students' lives have been profoundly influenced by writing. You'll look over her shoulder as she tries to win over a mischievous third grader, works with a fifth-grade alcoholic, and attempts to make sense of her profession as she watches secondary students drop out of school. And in each instance, you'll see how writing can provide an outlet for difficult feelings, build connections and community, or foster resiliency in writers of any age. Best of all, The Greatest Catch is a model for your own professional development. In addition to her inspirational and pragmatic stories, Kittle includes Craft Notes that demonstrate how she composed her essays so that you can use the same strategies for your classroom life. You'll find these tools immediately useful for structuring reflective writing that helps you uncover the many layers of meaning in your work, just as Kittle, herself, has. Join Penny Kittle in the journey of a teaching lifetime and learn from her experience. Begin with any essay in The Greatest Catch or read it cover to cover. You'll find that no matter where you start you'll end up at the same place: inspired to teach, write, and learn.
160 pages, Paperback
First published August 16, 2005
112 people want to read
About the author
Penny Kittle
17 books486 followersPenny Kittle teaches writers at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She is the author of Micro Mentor Texts (2022), 4 Essential Studies &180 Days (with Kelly Gallagher), Book Love (2013), Write Beside Them (2008), The Greatest Catch: a life in teaching (2005), and Public Teaching: one kid at a time (2003); she co-authored Inside Writing (2005) with Donald Graves and edited a collection of Graves' work with Tom Newkirk, Children Want to Write. She presents at writing conferences throughout the United States and Canada and sometimes much farther.
But if you want the real story… she dances and sings along to really loud music in her car; she just ate all of the M&M’s out of her trail mix; and she is the first one to keel over when they do those balancing moves in Pilates.
But if you want the real story… she dances and sings along to really loud music in her car; she just ate all of the M&M’s out of her trail mix; and she is the first one to keel over when they do those balancing moves in Pilates.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 25, 2020
Relatable. Real. Helps me feel less alone in this teaching world where teachers hide their materials, and pretend like their classes are perfect and their struggles nonexistent because they’re being compared daily by a system of standardization and high-stakes testing.
February 22, 2015
Penny Kittle’s The Greatest Catch: A Life in Teaching, is a necessary treasure for teachers in all stages of their teaching career. Kittle’s words made me laugh, cry, feel empowered, and reinstate my desire to be the best teacher I can be. Her book is a collection of narratives describing different teaching scenarios she had with different students. Each chapter focuses on a different student and their story line – for better or worse. Kittle’s reflections on students who she helped succeed and those that slipped through are a reminder to all teachers of the importance of our roles as teachers and no matter the outcome to always be willing to try and try again.
What I enjoy about Penny Kittle’s writing is she a teacher who writes about the raw experiences of being a teacher. Teaching is no easy task. A teacher must give a 120% every day, which, at times, can leave the teacher feeling drained both mentally and physically. Kittle speaks to the resilience of inspiring teachers when she says:
“When you’re teaching you’re going to see people who cut corners, don’t work as hard as they should, or just complain all the time about everything. I believe you’re got to do what’s right every single day of your life, even if the rest of the crowd isn’t. Teaching is about honor and goodness and mercy. It really is. And no one will be watching you most of the time. You either live up to the calling of this profession or you don’t, and most likely no one will be even know but you” (3).
Teachers who possess a good heart desire to build resilience and confidence within every student. With a 100+ students assigned to a teacher, sometimes the individuals who desperately need our attention get away. The fact that, as a teacher, we were unable to help them can haunt an instructor for years to come.
The Greatest Catch: A Life in Teaching is a book about hope. Kittle describes instances where she felt she personally failed particular students. She describes the defeat that many teachers feel. She describes the feeling of confusion and uncertainty when she was a first year teacher. Even after twenty years of teaching, Kittle admits she does not feel that she has all the answers, but she does affirm that it gets better. She has grown from her mistakes and when particular tragedies arises in future students, she knows how to address and maintain the problem.
Kittle’s faith in the strength of teachers and their ability to advance in their teaching profession is guided by using writing as an outlet. For Kittle, writing is a form of salvation for both teachers and students, “[w]riting is bigger than the details. It can be used for summarizing and persuading, sure, but it can also help you claw your way through a tragedy. Writing releases pain and often brings hope. Meaning is found. Not answers, but strength to continue” (67). Kittle encourages both teachers and students to transcend their writing beyond academic analysis and using writing a reflection on one’s life. Writing allows us to reflect on the person we were and the person we want to be. Writing gives an individual the chance to express their thoughts and voice in a space that may be their only outlet to be heard. Writing allows for strength and confidence to be built and should be a focal point in the lives of both students and teachers.
Kittle’s teaching moments are a great source of inspiration for both novice and veteran teachers. I highly recommend this book to at least affirm to other teachers that you are going to make mistakes and it will be OK. I feel connected to Kittle’s book because she was not afraid to include her personal stories that did not end in a happy ending. Kittle shares her process of writing stories her attempt to learn from both her mistakes and errors. Finally, Kittle leaves teachers and her readers with the challenge of taking pen to paper and crafting their own reflections and stories in an attempt to grow in our own character. A challenge worth taking!
What I enjoy about Penny Kittle’s writing is she a teacher who writes about the raw experiences of being a teacher. Teaching is no easy task. A teacher must give a 120% every day, which, at times, can leave the teacher feeling drained both mentally and physically. Kittle speaks to the resilience of inspiring teachers when she says:
“When you’re teaching you’re going to see people who cut corners, don’t work as hard as they should, or just complain all the time about everything. I believe you’re got to do what’s right every single day of your life, even if the rest of the crowd isn’t. Teaching is about honor and goodness and mercy. It really is. And no one will be watching you most of the time. You either live up to the calling of this profession or you don’t, and most likely no one will be even know but you” (3).
Teachers who possess a good heart desire to build resilience and confidence within every student. With a 100+ students assigned to a teacher, sometimes the individuals who desperately need our attention get away. The fact that, as a teacher, we were unable to help them can haunt an instructor for years to come.
The Greatest Catch: A Life in Teaching is a book about hope. Kittle describes instances where she felt she personally failed particular students. She describes the defeat that many teachers feel. She describes the feeling of confusion and uncertainty when she was a first year teacher. Even after twenty years of teaching, Kittle admits she does not feel that she has all the answers, but she does affirm that it gets better. She has grown from her mistakes and when particular tragedies arises in future students, she knows how to address and maintain the problem.
Kittle’s faith in the strength of teachers and their ability to advance in their teaching profession is guided by using writing as an outlet. For Kittle, writing is a form of salvation for both teachers and students, “[w]riting is bigger than the details. It can be used for summarizing and persuading, sure, but it can also help you claw your way through a tragedy. Writing releases pain and often brings hope. Meaning is found. Not answers, but strength to continue” (67). Kittle encourages both teachers and students to transcend their writing beyond academic analysis and using writing a reflection on one’s life. Writing allows us to reflect on the person we were and the person we want to be. Writing gives an individual the chance to express their thoughts and voice in a space that may be their only outlet to be heard. Writing allows for strength and confidence to be built and should be a focal point in the lives of both students and teachers.
Kittle’s teaching moments are a great source of inspiration for both novice and veteran teachers. I highly recommend this book to at least affirm to other teachers that you are going to make mistakes and it will be OK. I feel connected to Kittle’s book because she was not afraid to include her personal stories that did not end in a happy ending. Kittle shares her process of writing stories her attempt to learn from both her mistakes and errors. Finally, Kittle leaves teachers and her readers with the challenge of taking pen to paper and crafting their own reflections and stories in an attempt to grow in our own character. A challenge worth taking!
May 21, 2017
A little cheesy, but an interesting series of vignettes into the teaching world.
August 16, 2017
A really helpful and insightful guide into teaching. I really liked her anecdotes and how not all of them ended perfectly. I appreciated the way she was able to admit her mistakes and talk about the ways in which we can't give our students everything that they may need. A nice glimpse (and hopefully realistic) into the world of teaching.
September 3, 2017
So glad I read this right before the school year started. It is a great reminder to pay attention to the small things, focus on each student as much as possible and remember that we do good and important work.
June 17, 2020
I am recommending this book to my school’s English department as we speak (or rather, as I write this).
June 20, 2020
Refreshingly honest, filled with humility, and a book that will remind you that you’re not alone in the complex world of teaching.
August 19, 2011
I read this a little at a time - I prefer to read books of essays like that - so each essay can sink in and settle before you read the next one. Each one of these pieces about a moment in teaching by Penny Kittle is a gem. What I appreciated most is that they weren't all wrapped up in a tidy, pretty ribbon. A lot of times books about teaching seem to me completely unrealistic because of how perfect they sound - the kids are perfect, the teacher is perfect, the school is perfect, blah, blah, blah, and that's just not how a real life classroom is. Penny told honest stories - her own flaws included, and didn't make them all end happily. However, each one ended poignantly - her love of teaching and students shone throughout the essays, and the importance of relationship building is brought home. Thank you, Penny, for reminding us what teaching is all about - even when it's not all wrapped up in a pretty package!
January 6, 2011
Oh how I wish I had known that Penny Kittle was in North Conway when I was living in Wolfeboro. ( I also wish I had known Ralph Fletcher was in the Dover area when I was teaching in Barrington!) This book was so encouraging and inspiring. I love the parallels Penny draws between fishing and teaching. They are spot on. It's not just a feel good about your calling book, either. Penny has included Craft Notes that demonstrate how she composed her essays so that the reader can use the same strategies for their classroom life. This book is challenging my thinking about how I teach writing, my own writing, and how I view my students. Penny is a great model for how to reach kids and how to reflect on your own teaching. Reading this book pushes me to be a better teacher.
July 22, 2016
This is one of those books I closed and then held tightly. The emotion that Penny Kittle feels for her craft and for her students is easily absorbed by the reader! I'm so thankful she wrote these essays! I am rejuvenated and energized to begin another year of the greatest profession; The Greatest Catch awaits!
August 16, 2008
I enjoyed this book- it was a quick read but easy to relate. I wanted to read it after the quote about professionalism came from this book.
June 22, 2009
Fantastic inspiration, in the spirit of Chicken Soup, but really well written.
March 26, 2011
Re-reading this. It is like visiting with a friend who knows just how to ask questions about classrooms and teaching - always leads me to a place of "re-seeing."
December 9, 2013
Absolutely a brilliant book that I think I will read time and time again for inspiration.
November 24, 2015
Motivational.
April 17, 2017
Kittle explores the craft of teaching and the power of teaching writing well. I needed her words at this time of year.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews