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Themes for English B: A Professor's Education in And Out of Class
In Themes for English B a teacher ponders the nature of meaningful learning, both in and beyond the classroom. J. D. Scrimgeour contrasts his Ivy League education to the experiences of his students at a small public college in a faded, gritty New England city. What little Scrimgeour knows of the burdens his students bring to class--family crises, dead-end jobs, overdue bills--leaves him humbled. Fighting disenchantment with the ideals of higher education, Scrimgeour writes, "How much I owe these students, how much I have learned. They know the score; they know they are losing by a lot before the game even begins, and they shrug, as if to say, 'What am I supposed to do, cry?'"Scrimgeour's obligations to his students and his hopes for them glance off each other and sometimes collide with the realities of the classroom: the unread assignments and the empty desks. Is there too great a student-teacher divide? Can Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, or any other writer Scrimgeour teaches have something to say to a single mother with a full course load, two jobs, a sick kid, and a broken car? Yes, it turns out, and it is magic when it happens.
The pupil inside the teacher emerges when Scrimgeour finds unexpected occasions for his own ongoing education. Pickup basketball games at a local park become exercises in improvisation, in finding new strengths to compensate for age and injury. His collaboration on a word-and-movement performance piece with a colleague, a dancer mourning the death of a beloved niece, leads him into unfamiliar creative terrain.
A routine catch on a baseball field long ago, a challenged student in a grade school writing workshop, a yellowed statue of education pioneer Horace Mann: each memory, each encounter, forces revisions to a life's lesson plan. Scrimgeour's achingly honest, intimate essays offer clear-eyed yet compassionate accounts of the trials of learning.
The pupil inside the teacher emerges when Scrimgeour finds unexpected occasions for his own ongoing education. Pickup basketball games at a local park become exercises in improvisation, in finding new strengths to compensate for age and injury. His collaboration on a word-and-movement performance piece with a colleague, a dancer mourning the death of a beloved niece, leads him into unfamiliar creative terrain.
A routine catch on a baseball field long ago, a challenged student in a grade school writing workshop, a yellowed statue of education pioneer Horace Mann: each memory, each encounter, forces revisions to a life's lesson plan. Scrimgeour's achingly honest, intimate essays offer clear-eyed yet compassionate accounts of the trials of learning.
- GenresEssaysNonfiction
144 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 30, 2007
This year, for the first time in my life, I've started paying attention to the books that win awards, so when I saw this book - Themes for English B: A Professor's Education in and Out of Class - saw that it won the AWP Award for Creative Nonfiction in 2005 and saw that it was written by a guy who teaches at Salem State, a public school probably much like the one I teach in, I thought I should give it a try.
I'm glad I did. The writing is lovely but not flowery or overblown. The stories are real and tragic and glorious and painful - all the things I see in the stories my own students have to tell. The message - if such a book has a message - is true - be real yourself, realize what your students have to give you, and keep working and learning. It's a book I needed to read at this time in the semester.
Scrimgeour tells tales about the teachers who inspired him, about how he hopes to inspire, and about the times he doesn't. He talks about the things he says that hope lodge in his students brains and those moments when he just wants to cancel class because he know that no one, himself included, wants to be there on a Friday afternoon. I recognize all these moments, and if nothing else, this book comforts me and reminds me that I'm not alone.
But it's more than that - it's a model itself - of a great a teacher, a good writer, and a human who tries to make the best of all things.
While the last section of the book strays away from teaching a bit - into subjects like basketball and a collaborative dance/poetry project - the honesty and straight-forwardness of the writing carry the reader through.
For anyone who has taught or done anything that brings equal parts glory and frustration, this book is a great read.
I'm glad I did. The writing is lovely but not flowery or overblown. The stories are real and tragic and glorious and painful - all the things I see in the stories my own students have to tell. The message - if such a book has a message - is true - be real yourself, realize what your students have to give you, and keep working and learning. It's a book I needed to read at this time in the semester.
Scrimgeour tells tales about the teachers who inspired him, about how he hopes to inspire, and about the times he doesn't. He talks about the things he says that hope lodge in his students brains and those moments when he just wants to cancel class because he know that no one, himself included, wants to be there on a Friday afternoon. I recognize all these moments, and if nothing else, this book comforts me and reminds me that I'm not alone.
But it's more than that - it's a model itself - of a great a teacher, a good writer, and a human who tries to make the best of all things.
While the last section of the book strays away from teaching a bit - into subjects like basketball and a collaborative dance/poetry project - the honesty and straight-forwardness of the writing carry the reader through.
For anyone who has taught or done anything that brings equal parts glory and frustration, this book is a great read.
December 28, 2007
If ever a book should be required reading for middle-aged, basketball-playing, poetry-writing, underprepared-student-teaching folks, then that book is Themes for English B by J.D. Scrimgeour. As a reader, I happen to fall into that limited demographic, but this book far transcends such a small pool of potential readers.
Scrimgeour's unadorned but note-perfect prose dances through a range of subjects beyond poetry, teaching, and basketball to weave a collection of memoir essays united by the tread of thoughtful reflection on human experience--both his own and the people around him, his students, teachers, family members, friends, and teammates.
This book is highly recommended for readers with an interest in education, poetry, basketball, and life in general.
Scrimgeour's unadorned but note-perfect prose dances through a range of subjects beyond poetry, teaching, and basketball to weave a collection of memoir essays united by the tread of thoughtful reflection on human experience--both his own and the people around him, his students, teachers, family members, friends, and teammates.
This book is highly recommended for readers with an interest in education, poetry, basketball, and life in general.
December 8, 2018
Memoir essays which I bought for it's signature essay about basketball, but remaining essays are just as good.
June 28, 2014
A collection of thoughtful and beautifully written essays. I love the mediations on working class students finding their way in college classes. I wish I had such a professor when I was struggling to find a voice that honored my working class roots and my aspirations years ago when I was in college.
October 1, 2008
This was one of the best short nonfiction books I've read in a long time. A collection of longish essays by a teacher at Salem State in Massachusetts. Some are about teaching, others sports, others just life and love. I was blown away.
March 1, 2010
Great, insightful essays on teaching and learning at an American State College in Salem, Massachusetts.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews