• Teacher

  • By: Gabbie Stroud
  • Narrated by: Jo Van Es
  • Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (14 ratings)

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Teacher  By  cover art

Teacher

By: Gabbie Stroud
Narrated by: Jo Van Es
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Publisher's summary

Watching children learn is a beautiful and extraordinary experience....

It is a kind of magic, a kind of loving, a kind of art. It is teaching. Just teaching. Just what I do. What I did. Past tense.

In 2014, Gabrielle Stroud was a very dedicated teacher with over a decade of experience. Months later, she resigned in frustration and despair when she realised that the Naplan-test education model was stopping her from doing the very thing she was best at: teaching individual children according to their needs and talents. 

Her groundbreaking essay 'Teaching Australia' in the February 2016 Griffith Review outlined her experiences and provoked a huge response from former and current teachers around the world. That essay lifted the lid on a scandal that is yet to properly break - that our education system is unfair to our children and destroying their teachers. 

In a powerful memoir inspired by her original groundbreaking essay, Gabrielle tells the full story: how she came to teaching, what makes a great teacher, what our kids need from their teachers, and what it was that finally broke her. A brilliant and heartbreaking memoir that cuts to the heart of a vital matter of national importance.

©2018 Gabbie Stroud (P)2018 W. F. Howes Ltd

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Amazing!!!

Even though the educational themes in this book are set in Australia, it transcends and is very relatable across all national education systems. I have been in her classroom before, I have experienced the trials and tribulations she describes both personally and professionally. Together you reminisce about what brought you to education, the hopes and dreams you had as a college student, new teacher, and the love you feel for each of your students. Teacher closes with connections to frustrations felt and concerns with the "wrongs" in our current education system and leaves you with a lot to think about. I was inspired by Gabbie Stroud from a Q & A in October of 2018. I posted a clip to a Facebook group I follow and found she recently wrote a book, which I felt I must read. Listening to this text makes it so much more meaningful. I don't feel like I would have had the same experience reading it to myself. I highly recommend this book to teachers; new and veteran, parents, and administration. Truly anyone who makes a difference in a child's life. #itisnotjustme

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Exactly right about the highs and lows of teaching

A must read for everyone. We are all part of a broken system that must change. Education is not a big business with a test as the biggest product. As a teacher myself, I can relate to every sentence in this book. Now, what are we doing about the destruction of great teachers?

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Felt pretty negative

I’ve been a teacher for almost 10 years... and although I feel burned out and exhausted with some of the things that are involved in being a teacher.... I left like this was a super negative book. Not what I needed.

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  • Katherine
  • 06-13-19

the absolute truth about teaching

As a first year teacher, this book made me laugh, cry and feel very validated.

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  • JoJo
  • 01-20-19

Utterly relatable.

Hilariously accurate memoirs of what teaching is really like. The writers of Waterloo road would be dumbfounded if they knew half of what real teachers actually deal with on a daily basis.

The job is life consuming and this book truly depicts that in all of its horrible, bare-faced ugliness!

I loved the complete honesty and bravery that Gabbie Stroud showed in retelling some of the ugly aspects of the job.

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  • esp_is_me
  • 07-16-19

Brilliant but so sad!

I've been teaching for over 30yrs and so much of this is my story...I have laughed but mostly cried my way through this book. Australian education and teachers specifically are in crisis. The system is broken and I am so close to being 'teacher'. I haven't left education...education has left me.... Thank you Gabbie for putting the day to day, year to year struggle into such eloquent words. I send love, hope, smiles, laughter and life beyond the school gates... your way...and I will head back next week to my classroom feeling a little less alone....thank you ooxoo

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  • Clare
  • 03-12-19

Proceed into classroom with caution!


A very engaging book, it gave me an appreciation and unique insight into what primary teachers do all day,and the stresses and pressures they experience.
This book was all about Gabbie Stroud's experience, from her days as an idealistic enthusiastic young teacher in the East End,through various Australian primary schools to an experienced and accomplished, but burnt out teacher.She is overwhelmed by ridiculous levels of reporting ,unnecessary testing and micromanagement.The joy of teaching becomes lost in the avalanche of paperwork and bureaucracy,
Although it's clear that she spoke up in meetings and was unsupported,her experience is obviously not unique .
I couldn't help wondering where the union was and whether she was in it.
My advice to disillusioned teachers and perhaps parents who might read this book- before they burn out is, that they should take to heart a quote from Joe Hill and - "Go on to organise !"

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  • jaslyn
  • 09-25-20

Teacher truths

Nothing has resonated with me as much as this book. Full of hopes and desires and then burdened with truths and realism.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 07-19-20

Brings Back Memories of Teaching Days

Loved the pen pictures of the different children and some of them seemed very familiar! Breaks my heart to see another wonderful, instinctive teacher worn down by testing, paper work and change for the sake of change. Politicians and bureucrats push for change to boost their own careers but in the process they cause untold harm to the children and teachers they are meant to serve.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 12-21-18

Teacher

narrator was outstanding. loved the teaching stories, but glad she left teaching if she felt so strongly about it.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 05-15-21

This book will make you laugh and cry, great story

this story was too familiar, it could have been my story, burn out teacher

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  • Anonymous User
  • 04-30-20

Such a beautifully written piece

Loved every minute of this audiobook. The Warren chapter had actually brought me to tears, it was so relevant it was as if I had written it myself!
This was so beautifully written (and spoken) I cannot wait to listen to this again.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 01-31-20

a must read for any parent for a child at school

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was insightful, moving and beautifully written and narrated. I feel like I'll have a much deeper understanding of my daughter's teacher's workload when she starts kindy this year.

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  • Belle Don
  • 11-14-19

Wow. Loved it.

Brilliant insight. Funny, heartbreaking, eye opening and engaging.
Our education system is broken, it’s breaking our teachers and students and is far too political - Australia has lost sight of what education should be.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 04-26-19

Brought me to tears

I loved the full story from this amazing educator. As a teacher and parent myself I feel such a strong connection to the story and to the inevitable cycles of burnout that I too have experienced.

I have such mixed feelings. I resent the politicians that govern our education system and make our noble vocation so difficult at times. I feel the joy of authentic teaching and the comments on accountability sit so heavy on my shoulders. When Gabbie wrote, it would be easier for a CCTV system to be put into our classrooms so that anyone could log in at any time and see what we do. To see that we are teaching, authentically, making adjustments to our plans where authentic learning opportunities arise like the “lost, lost tooth” because that is what good, effective teaching is. That is real engagement and that is linked to the real-world the children live in, here and now. That is the kind of teaching that I and the children love. The teaching and learning that ignites their curiosity and motivates them to go home and ask more questions and research further. That is building a love of learning and that is what I want to do. To prepare students for a world in which the world is changing so rapidly, that learning is such an important skill.

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