Summary Of Holler If You Hear Me

Holler If You Hear Me: The Education of a Teacher and His Students is written by Gregory Michie in 1999. Michie is a teacher in public elementary schools on South Side of Chicago, a poor area that is almost exclusively populated by minorities. Holler If You Hear Me is a book for teacher that provides insight into education and fundamental challenges of teaching, some major themes includes classroom discipline, relationships with students and other teachers, racial and ethnic differences, and teacher frustration. This book review will first provides a summary, and then gives an analysis of Michie’s teaching focuses in building relationship with students and satisfying individual differences, and offered evaluations of the book’s

Build positive relationships with students will help establish a more comfortable classroom environment. Michie have put a great amount of effort at trying to get to know his students on a more personal level, such as through individual home visiting and personal questionnaires about each student’s likes and dislikes about school. In order for students to feel that the information is relevant to them, teachers should make connections and relate to real life examples. Michie uses his past classroom experiences to connect to his students and further sparks class discussion. Michie would try to relate to what the students were going through in their lives to get to know them better. Michie “forever emphasizing the importance of listening to students and bringing their lives into the classroom” (p. 56). Teachers should demonstrate to students that teachers care about them and want them to succeed, both in school and in life. Michie is extremely caring for his students. He took the time to understand his students and help deal with the issues associated with students’ lives. Reggie, an African-Americans student in Michie’s class, was assaulted by a racist police officer “Bull” for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. After the incident, Reggie’s call for justice was not heard; the review boards gave very slow response to the case. Michie steps in and spearheaded the effort to bring the police office to justice. Before this incident, Michie had already established a trust relationship with Reggie by connecting through music interests. Without this trust relationship between them, Reggie would not have trusted Michie to help him after the attack. Therefore, understanding and constructing relationships with students plays a huge part so that teachers could better help their