Quotes From "Teacher Man" By Frank McCourt

To enter a room is to move from one environment to another and that, for the teenager, can be traumatic. There be dragons, daily horrors from acne to zit. Frank McCourt

I am teaching. Storytelling is teaching. Frank McCourt

You can't teach in a vacuum. A good teacher relates the material to real life. You understand that, don't you? Frank McCourt

Teaching is bringing the news. Frank McCourt

Nobody ever told them they had a right to an opinion. Frank McCourt

Everything in my head was secondhand, too: Catholicism; Ireland's sad history, a litany of suffering and martyrdom drummed into me by priests, schoolmasters and parents who knew no better. Frank McCourt

There's something hostile about the way they enter and leave the room that tells you what they think of you. It could be your imagination and you try to figure out what will bring them over to your side. You try lessons that worked with other classes but even that doesn't help and it's because of that chemistry. They know when they have you on the run. They have instincts that detect your frustrations. Frank McCourt

First day of your teaching you are to stand at your classroom door and let your students know how happy you are to see them. Stand, I say. Any playwright will tell you that when the actor sits down the play sits down. The best move of all is to establish yourself as a presence and to do it outside in the hallway. Outside, I say. That’s your territory and when you’re out there you’ll be seen as a strong teacher, fearless, ready to face the swarm. That’s what a class is, a swarm. And you’re a warrior teacher. It’s something people don’t think about. Your territory is like your aura, it goes with you everywhere, in the hallways, on the stairs and, assuredly, in the classroom. . Frank McCourt

When I act tough they listen politely till the spasm passes. They know. Frank McCourt

There's nothing sillier in the world than a teacher telling you don't do it after you already did it. Frank McCourt

They said her duck recipe and the Chinese music were so dramatic everything else sounded anemic. Frank McCourt

Just let them sit in the goddam sun. But the world won't let them because there's nothing more dangerous than letting old farts sit in the sun. They might be thinking. Same thing with kids. Keep 'em busy or they might start thinking. Frank McCourt