Chicken Soup for the Teacher's Soul

Michelle Schwab
20% time

At first I started to read and summarize a different book, but after picking up Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul I changed my project to these heart wrenching stories.
After reading various stories I pick out 3 that were my favorite.
#1.This kid was dirty and gross and had been picked on all 5 years of elementary school. At first he got moved from class room to class room because he was always disruptive. Then after this sped teacher got him into her class she started thinking his parents didn’t care about him. She researched where he live and found out that the father had eight kids and was raising them on a third grade education. So once she realized the dad did care and was doing the best he could with what he had she took the boy under her wing and taught him life lessons that his father couldn’t have.
#2. This one was about a college professor on their first day. Everyone in the class room seamed bored and didn’t seem to be listening, until the teacher spotted one student in particular who seemed to have it all together. Later in the semester the teacher noticed she wasn’t attending class for two weeks. As an attempt to get to know this girl better the teacher went to the dean of students and asked where she had been. The teacher found out the girl had committed suicide. Shocked the teacher created a class on love. It filled the class room and student brought other students who weren’t even taking the class. The most touching part of this read was the fact that for the first time a college student went up to his dad and told him he loved him for the first time. It brought tears to my eyes.
#3. This story was about a long time teacher who had prided their self on being a great teacher; putting their self through grad school even and after twenty years of teaching burnt out. And just at the divine moment, a message from God sparked their interest in teaching again. A student who had probably been about ten years back was at the hospital with his wife and child and pointed to the teacher who was picking up pills saying “HEY THAT’S THE LADY THAT KEPT ME IN SCHOOL AND THE REASON WHY I READ TODAY”. It created that fire for teaching again in the teacher that they actually canceled their new job of being a car salesman to still teach after 20 years. Wow, that’s a story; they found what they were called to do.

I’ve really enjoyed this book. I will be reading tid bits in BANDOLOGY. It’s a warm fuzzy book. J