Teacher

By: Gabbie Stroud

Narrated by: Jo Van Es

Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins

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

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

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?

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.

the absolute truth about teaching

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

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.