Teacher Man

Categories: Award Winners , Digital Audiobooks , Nonfiction

“On the first day of my teaching career, I was almost fired for eating the sandwich of a high school boy.  On the second day I was almost fired for mentioning the possibility of friendship with a sheep.  Otherwise, there was nothing remarkable about my thirty years in the high school classrooms of New York City.  I often doubted if I should be there at all.  At the end I wondered how I lasted that long.”

So begins Teacher Man, Frank McCourt’s final memoir in his trilogy that starts with Pulitzer Prize-winning Angela’s Ashes and continues in ‘Tis.

In the classroom, McCourt tells stories of his childhood spent in poverty in Limerick, Ireland.  He instructs one class to compose homework excuse notes (“A man died in the bathtub upstairs and it overflowed and messed up all of my homework").  He makes another read cooking recipes to music. 

His lessons may be unconventional, but his students discover the beauty of the English language and learn to always think for themselves. 

McCourt's personal life is not without its troubles, though.  His refusal to play by the rules costs him one teaching job after another.  His marriage fails, and he continually doubts his ability to teach. 

Eventually, he lands a job at the prestigious Stuyvesant High School where he teaches creative writing.  After his retirement, he retells those Irish childhood stories in Angela’s Ashes, which brings literary acclaim and international fame. 

Frank McCourt is a gifted storyteller, so listen to him read Angela's Ashes, 'Tis, and Teacher Man on audio CD.