The Music Hall Loft: Innovation & Leadership- Nicholson Baker

Description

The award-winning author of ten novels and five works of nonfiction, including The Anthologist, The Mezzanine, and Human Smoke, takes on the topic of education, recounting the 28 days he spent as a substitute teacher in Maine public schools. His observations will astound parents and teachers alike.

“Baker’s book may be the most revealing depiction of the American contemporary classroom that we have to date.” — Garret Keizer, The New York Times Book Review


ABOUT THE BOOK
In 2014, after a brief four week course and a few fingerprints, Nicholson Baker became a teacher. On twenty-eight often nerve-wracking days he awoke to the five-forty A.M. wake-up call and headed into one of several nearby schools as a substitute. When he got there, he attempted to follow lesson plans, and help students learn. What comes out of Baker’s observations is a complex, nuanced perspective of public education in America: students overwhelmed by homogenized government-mandated coursework, by the incessant distraction of social media and technology, and teaching staff under-equipped to do much more than stick to an outmoded or overly ambitious standard curriculum.

One of the most inventive and remarkable writers of our time, Nicholson Baker shares unmatched insight into his topic so critical to our nation today. Substitute expresses outrage, humor, and empathy as it delves deep in to the world of curiosity and learning, in his most impressive work of nonfiction yet.