Abby Goodnough
Ms. Moffett’s First Year: Becoming a Teacher in America (2004)
Author: Abby Goodnough
Genre (and subgenre): Nonfiction (Contemporary Issue/Deep Telling)
Book Summary:
This book chronicles Donna Moffett’s first year of teaching. Moffett, who was a legal secretary, applied for and was accepted into the New York City Teaching Fellows program in the summer of 2000. The program was designed to reinvigorate the teaching force by recruiting professionals from other fields who would bring new ideas and fresh energy into their schools. The fellows were given four weeks of training and then put to work. Donna was assigned a first grade class in P.S. 92, a failing school in Brooklyn. Several of her students were major discipline problems and she often struggled to maintain control in the classroom. She could not rely on support from students’ parents. She was unable to communicate with some who did not speak English and many others never responded to notes she sent home. She also found it difficult to adhere to the rigid reading program that all failing schools were forced to use, and she felt under-prepared to teach students math. She was assigned mentors who gave her conflicting advice and many of her colleagues that had taken a traditional route to the teaching profession resented fellows like her because the school district was picking up the cost of their graduate degrees. Despite all of this, Donna found joy in teaching and still works at P.S. 92. Many of the other fellows have, however, left the profession.
Geographical Setting: P.S. 92 in Brooklyn, New York
Time Period: The events chronicled take place during 2000-2001 school-year.
Series: This title is not part of a series, but the book grew out of a series of articles that the author wrote about Moffett for the New York Times.
Appeal Characteristics:
Journalistic style; fast-paced (Goodnough alternates between explaining school policy and sharing anecdotes of how it affects Moffett’s classroom); the reader can identify with Ms. Moffett (the author presents her as a caring person with some flaws); the reader is transported to room 218 through vivid descriptions of the setting and students; unbiased account of alternative certification; for readers who want an accurate portrayal of teaching in an urban elementary school and/or who are interested in alternative certification
Red Flags: There are no red flags.
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