Inside Mrs. B.'s Classroom : Courage, Hope, and Learning on Chicago's South Side

by Leslie Baldacci

A respected journalist turned-teacher reveals what's really happening in America's schools In 1999, Chicago Sun-Times veteran Leslie Baldacci left her prestigious, twenty-five year career to teach at a public school in one of Chicago's roughest South Side neighborhoods. As she later commented, "I thought I knew rough. I thought I had answers. I didn't know jack." But Baldacci never looked back, and the result is Inside Mrs. B's Classroom , a compelling, first-hand narrative from the trenches of the inner-city school system that addresses one of society's most critical issues from gritty, daily personal experience. An expert on Chicago's massive education reform efforts even before she turned in her press credentials, Baldacci adds an informed, intellectual layer to this insightful, engaging work. In an era in which many people talk about wanting to make a difference, Baldacci has done so. Here she shares the whole picture, from the unrealistic expectations to the surprises--good and bad--that make up education today. Above all, she shows how an individual can, did--and continues to--make a difference in the lives of American children.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction, Memoir

237 pages, Hardcover

First published January 10, 2003

Reviews

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leslie Baldacci had been an award winning journalist for the Chicago Sun Times for over fifteen years, and a newspaper reporter for her entire professional career. As the 20th century drew to a close and Chicago public schools lagged as some of the worst in the nation, Baldacci decided to quit her job and enter into the teaching profession as part of the Teach for Chicago program. In her two years as an intern at a decrepit south side school, Baldacci learned as much about how the school system ran and from her students as they did from her. This memoir Inside Mrs B's Classroom offers her readers a glimpse into the challenges she faced on a daily basis.

In her two years as a teaching intern, Baldacci taught seventh grade then second grade while completing graduate school coursework to receive her license. From the moment she stepped into the classroom, Baldacci discovered stark differences from her daughters' school in a middle class neighborhood. Baldacci received little to no support from the principal, assistant principal, and mentor. Often threatened with being fired and doling out personal money to improve her classroom, Baldacci was one of few interns who endured the two long years. Few veteran teachers were willing to teach in this school, leaving few opportunities for mentorship and the students with little stability in an environment that is supposed to mold them into model citizens.

Yet, Baldacci persevered despite all of the obstacles thrown in front of her. As a first year teacher she was assigned thirty six seventh graders, all receiving free lunch, most coming from broken homes, including parents in jail, on drugs, or missing in action. She met students being raised by great grandparents, rape victims, and those who had to flee the state in fear for their lives. Her classroom offered these students a safe space and she did her best to foster a nurturing environment for them. She encountered students well below reading levels and lead most to pass a benchmark test at the end of the year. She played to their strengths by giving students books as presents, presenting many units on African American culture as well as cross curriculum units that made her students excited to get to class. Before teach to the test and common core seeped into our vernacular, Baldacci did her best to think outside of the box and motivate her adolescent students.

Second grade presented a new set of challenges as the students were at an age where they needed a positive role model. Baldacci rose to the challenge once again and made learning fun through reading round robins, ballet, field trips, and a bulletin board about weather. She dealt with gun shots outside of her building, students with parents in jail, and donations so each child could receive a holiday present. By the end of the year, she was one of two interns remaining, still without the support of the school administration. Yet, her former and current students talked of her fondly, and Baldacci never questioned her decision to change careers midstream.

Today, Leslie Baldacci still teaches in Chicago Public Schools and writes occasionally for the Sun Times. Through her memoir she has brought to light the challenges of working in a large school system, as well as the teach to the test mentality so prevalent in schools today. She also offers her success stories, the student reading well above grade level who gained entrance to a magnet high school and the second grader who learned to read while under her tutelage. America needs more people like Leslie Baldacci who are willing to leave the comfort of their high powered jobs and return to the trenches to teach under privileged children. Inside Mrs B's Classroom should be a must read for anyone thinking of choosing teaching as a career; it was an eye opening account, which I rate 4.5 shining stars.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked Ms. Baldacci's memoir of her two years of "trial by fire" as a grad student in an alternative licensing program for teachers...which she spent in a typical urban school with little support and a lot of administrative ridiculousness. She writes well, worked hard for her students, and is still teaching today (unlike the majority of her cohort, who didn't make it through the first year of the program).

[Kim Nowak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this years ago when I was considering leaving my job to teach in Chicago Public Schools. It didn't completely scare me away - though maybe just enough! Seriously, a really good, real account of the challenges of an inner city teacher. The writer used to be a reporter for the Tribune and I found it to be very well done. \

[Janey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be required reading for everyone with the understanding that so many of the issues Mrs. B faced in the poverty stricken inner city Chicago school also occur in suburban middle to upper class schools in the country.

[Sheena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great and inspirational book. I love that Mrs Baldacci quit her higher paying Journalist job to work with low income inner city kids at a school in the south side of Chicago. She encountered many struggles during her teaching internship and I feel alot of it had to do with the crappy administration in the school. This goes to show how some schools and students are left behind just because of where they live. The school was in shambles with no stalls or doors on the majority of bathrooms, and any other issue imaginable because the building was only supposed to be temporary. Mrs Baldacci went above and beyond to try and make her classroom a great and safe place for her students to be and they needed that stability! I think she did an amazing job with what she had to work with and I hope these kids remember her forever! I totally got a kick of how the kids called her light skinned and not white :)

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I have read several "teacher" books of the same ilk, I never fail to find enjoyment and inspiration among the pages. Written by a former Journalist for the Chicago Sun-Times, Leslie Baldacci recounts her first two years of struggle in a tough Chicago neighborhood wracked with poverty and crime.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading about Mrs. B's first 2 years of intern teaching with kids who come from poverty and violence around them every day. It also tells how the higher ups in her school system don't care about creative teaching or the teachers as much as they care about the standardized testing which does "not" work for all children.

Very good book.

[Jane Loper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always love an honest view from the inside of a classroom, especially when it speaks raw truth about the recruitment programs that aren’t *quite* as successful as they say they are.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the best parts about super-tiny libraries is that they invite browsing. I found Inside Mrs. B's Classroom: Courage, Hope, and Learning on Chicago's South Side on a shelf in the "new nonfiction" section, and it seemed particularly relevant given that I was, at the time, hoping to teach in Chicago someday. From the back of the book I picked up the general idea that Mrs. Baldacci was a reporter for the Sun-Times when she decided to make a career change and become a teacher. Interested in picking up tidbits about teaching in the Chicago Public Schools system, I checked out the book.

It's surprising how a book by a purportedly successful journalist could be so poorly written. The most glaring error is that one of her fellow teacher-interns has two different first names during the course of the book, as if the author had started by using one false name (or maybe the real name), and tried to find-and-replace them all manually, possibly with both of her eyes closed. At one point both names pop up in the same paragraph. At another point they're both used on the same page. I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry.

She has interesting stories to tell, but the book is so impacted by the poor writing and editing that I couldn't get very wrapped up in it. She's chronicling her two years in a program called Teachers for Chicago, an alternative-certification program (no longer in existence) that gives interns a crash-course in teaching over the summer before putting them in a classroom for two years while they work toward their graduate degrees and certification. Mrs. B ends up at an underperforming school in a particularly bad part of town, and finds that neither her principal nor her mentor has any interest in helping her learn or succeed. The anecdotes about her children and the school system were great and somewhat valuable, and gave me plenty of food for thought, but the book on the whole was a disappointment. While of possible interest to someone wanting to teach in the worst-performing schools in Chicago or a similar city, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mrs. B’s book about her two years as an intern under the Teachers For Chicago program (alternative teacher certification to resolve a teacher shortage) was an interesting if unfinished chronicle. She addresses her trials and tribulations and triumphs in helping educate seventh and second graders during her two-year internship. That part of the book was heart-rending, thought-provoking, and written with an eye to both the humor and sadness found in inner-city, under-served schoolroom situations. As a journalist for 25 years with the Chicago Sun-Times, Mrs. B certainly knows how to write a report and that is what this book really is: a report on her internship, a serial accounting of her experience as portrayed through a number of vignettes. As far as that goes it was a nice read, but I wish she had gone the next step and proffered some ideas or possible solutions to a few of the problems she experienced firsthand in educating the youth of the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago’s south side. The handicap of her inexperience would have been counterbalanced by the freshness of her opinions.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Inside Mrs. B's Classroom is a book that everyone should read, not necessarily because of the author's first two years of heroic teaching on Chicago's south side, but because it exemplifies the problems, pressures and sacrifices that many teachers make every day in a variety of school settings. Having spent most of my career in teacher education, I can see how this book would be an asset to prospective teachers. I am surprised the author's book is not available in paperback, which is a requirement of my book club. I would love to read an update describing the author's successive years of teaching and learning. For the benefit of the teaching profession, I would also encourage the author to teach a course in which experienced teachers could learn how to document and publish their successful initiatives and classroom achievements.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book based on one teacher's experience teaching in the inner-city. It is very accurate portrayal of what a teacher goes through when teaching in this environment. I read this after my first year of teaching and related to her experience almost exactly. The struggles that she went through as well as all of the isolation that occurs are very common among inner city teachers. I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to be a teacher or anyone that wants to know what teaching is REALLY like.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a must-read book for anyone interested in education -- and really, everyone should care about the future of our kids. I was drawn into Mrs. B.'s world, felt her pain, winced at her frustrations, and reveled in her joy when teaching the under-served children of Chicago's south side (my home town). Also, I was so impressed with the author's honesty, dedication and selflessness as she navigated the challenges of this sad environment. She changed careers to serve, and I am grateful to her for that.

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Believe it or not, but in 2001 there was a huge teacher shortage. People were leaving their professions to become teachers. It is amazing how much our world changes. I hope that it will go full circle and that we have another teacher shortage. This book was a great perspective on Mrs. B's first year as a struggling teacher at a school in Chicago.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Writer for 25 years for the Sun-Times, Leslie Baldacci decides to become a teacher to help the children of Chicago & teach in their inner city schools. Taking a 2/3's pay cut and giving up a lot of sleep, she bravely does what it takes to change the world one student at a time. Very moving and inspiring!

[F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had used a variety of books in the past to have my students read as part of their course with me on Foundations of Education.

Inside Mrs. B's Classroom, readers can actually imagine themselves in Mrs. B's class as she describes the typical day of school in Chicago's South Side. To continue reading, go http://tinyurl.com/2v8yj98

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Mrs. B. She tells good stories and gives specific suggestions. Although I would never suggest that a teacher follow the practices of a teacher they've read about, I would say that reading these kinds of teacher narratives, especially during the summer, can recharge teachers to get them ready for the new year.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

The foreshadowing in this book was annoying. She would bring up something interesting that wouldn't happen until much later in the book. This succeeded in making me angry at the author as I was reading for bringing something up and then not talking about it for another hundred pages. Overall the story was mostly worthwhile.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this memoir! As a teacher's aide who assists in educating students with emotional needs, I really identified with this lady, and consider myself very blessed to be part of my student's lives! This hardworking teacher taught in very undesirable conditions, had little support, but loved her students as her own! " The job of teaching, performed with an open heart, carries a burden of grief."

[Sarah G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the beginning, I kept hoping she would fail because her classroom seemed too idealistic. But she kept it real and it reminded me of why I'm still teaching (not just for summer holiday). I definitely related to her experience, and maybe someday there'll be one about Miz G's classroom.

[Myriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author signed up for this experience and yet complained about mostly everything. Troubled students are found everywhere, not just in the inner city and not just minorities. My opinion of the book went downhill when she said she was in 'poverty', now really?

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baldacci leaves life as a journalist to become a Chicago public school teacher. She exposed what goes on in urban schools today. Her tales may seem shocking. People may not believe them. As a former urban school educator I guarantee they are true.

[Dadon]

this gave an interesting insight of how a meaningful start towards real profession in the field of teaching and though it shows that it is going to take long time for everything to fall into their place, i think it is going to be worth a try someday.

[Aod · Rating 5 out of 5]

re-reading

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read, especially for those who are considering entering the teaching field, and will be working with inner-city kids.
Very realistic. Very touching.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great teacher book!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Try to imagine a job so stressful it gives you hives. But [they don't:] quit over hives." (pg. 87)

[Colleen Conley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really opened my eyes on how different schools and children can be. I don't think I could last a day on the south side as a teacher!

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book. It has given me so much mortovation to get back in the classroom and make a difference.

[Magersdorf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reinforced my opinion that working conditions for teachers makes a huge difference in the quality of teaching. Also, schools cannot replace stable, functional families.