About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherMicrocosm Publishing

ISBN-101621067483

ISBN-139781621067481

eBay Product ID (ePID)201567972

Product Key Features

Number of Pages192 Pages

Publication NameKatrina's Sandcastles : Teaching, Believing, and Rebuilding New Orleans

LanguageEnglish

SubjectUrban, Educational Policy & Reform / Charter Schools, Elementary, Educators, Emergency Management

Publication Year2014

TypeTextbook

AuthorKaycee Eckhardt

Subject AreaTechnology & Engineering, Education, Biography & Autobiography

SeriesReal World Ser.

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.5 in

Item Weight8 Oz

Item Length8 in

Item Width5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

Dewey Edition23

Reviews"Lovely! I am honored and excited to be reminded of [Eckhardt's] inner life and constant growth." -Ben Marcovitz, founder, Sci Academy and Collegiate Academies, "Beautiful, brave, and honest. Kaycee shows us the complexity of good teaching--the commitment, the skills, the heart, the humility. A testament to the possibility, difficulty, and challenge of improving education that should be read by anyone considering teaching in urban school systems." --Lisa Wilde, author, Yo Miss, "It's a book that reminds us that it's kids that are important, it's a story of why teachers do what they do. . . . It's a gem. . . . an important book, and I'm so glad it has been written." --Davis Guggenheim, director, Waiting for Superman , An Inconvenient Truth , The Shield, "A riveting and nuanced look at one of the most important education stories of our time. As an educator who worked in New Orleans schools for several years after Hurricane Katrina, Kaycee Eckhardt adds a desperately needed front-line perspective to our understanding of this complex and important story. Passionate and dedicated, Eckhardt writes from the heart." --Sarah Carr, author, Hope Against Hope, "Incredibly moving . . . a powerful story that captures emotion but remains simple in its main points. . . . Really incredible stuff." -Morgan Ripski, Collegiate Academies, "Gorgeous, tragic, inspiring, and heart-wrenching from the first page to the last. Just like the schools (this author) taught in, this book is not for the faint of heart, but it is an honest and inspiring account of the quest to make the world a better place, one child at a time." -Caitlin Corrigan, Rutgers professor, "Eckhardt takes us behind contentious school reform debates to the life of a young teacher in a New Orleans charter school. With uncompromising candor, she vividly describes the hard-won successes and gut-wrenching failures of a teacher's work. You won't forget the young people in her classroom and what she learned from them." --Mike Rose, author, Possible Lives: The Promise of Public Education in America, "Gorgeous, tragic, inspiring, and heart-wrenching from the first page to the last. Just like the schools (this author) taught in, this book is not for the faint of heart, but it is an honest and inspiring account of the quest to make the world a better place, one child at a time." -Caitlin Corrigan, professor, Rutgers University, "Absolutely stunning . . . beautiful and bittersweet . . . made me miss working directly with kids." -Director, teachNOLA

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal372.976335

Synopsis"The first thing I need you to know is that becoming a teacher was the most important thing that ever happened to me." With these words, Kaycee Eckhardt begins a journey both harrowing and hopeful: The story of becoming an effective teacher, of building a new school, and of changing the face of education in Post-Katrina New Orleans. Beginning as a first year teacher, barely out of six weeks of training, the book follows her path from the New Orleans neighborhoods of Holly Grove, Algiers, Treme, and the 9th Ward. She takes us through four different schools, a destroyed bicycle, a half dead pit bull, a burlesque-dancer, spit and a concussion, broken light bulbs, a phonics lesson, and how to plant the seeds of literacy in the most dire of circumstances. With affection and brutal honesty, she relates the hilarity and tragedy of her students' lives, the belief in all things possible, and finally, her most difficult decision of all. Filled with heartbreaking stories, teacher survival strategies, and an excess of heart, Katrina's Sandcastles is a story of sacrifice and struggle, belief and failure, despair and ultimate redemption in the heart of the Crescent City.Read an interview with the author on our blog, Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans, destroying houses and lives. The re-building of the city took years and with schools across the city destroyed, many children were left with nowhere to learn. Kaycee Eckhardt was inspired to return home from years of teaching in Japan when she heard about the tragedy, determined to play her part in rebuilding her home city and build a new school. Beginning as a first year teacher, Eckhardt recounts her path through four different schools in the New Orleans, planting the seeds of literacy in dire circumstances., "The first thing I need you to know is that becoming a teacher was the most important thing that ever happened to me." With these words, Kaycee Eckhardt begins a journey both harrowing and hopeful: the story of becoming an effective teacher, and building a new school, in post-Katrina New Orleans. Beginning as a first year teacher, barely out of six weeks of training, the book follows her path from the New Orleans neighborhoods of Holly Grove, Algiers, Treme, and the 9th Ward. She takes us through four different schools, a destroyed bicycle, a half dead pit bull, a burlesque-dancer, spit and a concussion, broken light bulbs, a phonics lesson, and planting the seeds of literacy in the most dire of circumstances. With affection and brutal honesty, she relates the hilarity and tragedy of several children, the belief in all things possible, and finally, the most difficult decision of all. Filled with heartbreaking stories, teacher survival strategies, and an excess of heart, Katrina's Sandcastles is a story of sacrifice and struggle, belief and failure, despair and ultimate redemption in the heart of the Crescent City.

LC Classification NumberLB1556.6