I love reading about personal experiences of people. Lives that are different than mine give me an insight into what it would be like to have been in their shoes or taken a different route in my own life. With my sister just starting out teaching little ones this school year, I was ready to go on the journey that Lloyd Lofthouse was about to take me on. One year of his teaching experience in an inner city school in California was documented by him in a journal. He has now made that journal into this tell all book, and I am thankful and commend him for it.
During this memoir we learn all of his teaching methods and what his class was like. I loved that he shared with the reader his students on both sides of the classroom, the ones that did well and the ones that needed a little bit more of his help and time. As a teacher he really felt that each and every child had the ability to succeed and make something great of themselves. The neighborhood that they came from should not affect this outcome. With all the bad that was going on in the area, Lofthouse made it his mission to better the kids that he taught and give them a bright future. He was dedicated to his cause and there need to be more teachers like him around. I appreciate his willingness to share and to let is in. The author has other books out there that I will now be looking into. Loved it! FIVE stars.
Multi award winning author, Lloyd Lofthouse kept a daily journal for one-full school year and that journal became the primary source of this teacher’s memoir.
“Readers who envision eager students lapping up learning led by a Tiger Teacher will be disappointed. Lofthouse presents us with grungy classrooms, kids who don’t want to be in school, and the consequences of growing up in a hardscrabble world. While some parents support his efforts, many sabotage them—and isolated administrators make the work of Lofthouse and his peers even more difficult.
Throughout this memoir, though, Lofthouse seems able to keep the hope alive that there’s a future for each student that doesn’t include jail—thanks in large part to his sixth period journalism class and its incredible editor, Amanda.” – Bruce Reeves
Praise for ‘Crazy is Normal’:
“Lloyd has written an honest and fascinating story of a year in the working life of a…
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Crazy Normal - the Classroom Exposé 