The Art of Teaching Children: All I Learned from a Lifetime in the Classroom

Done, a veteran elementary teacher with 33 years in the classroom, shares his journey through the decades and explores the realities of what it means to teach from the heart. Each chapter focuses on a different teaching perspective: children, classroom, curriculum, craft, people, and challenges. Part memoir and part handbook, Done’s work seamlessly blends tips and strategies with stories that will tug at readers’ heartstrings. Though the title might remind readers of numerous introductory education books, this one is a treasure. Done is honest and raw and shares his successes and failures. He doesn’t sugarcoat teaching. But somehow, he manages to highlight the most important part of the job: connecting with students. In his chapter about children, Done states, “And yet teachers know that love is a vital part of education. Good teaching is infused with it. The most successful classrooms are brimming with it. Love is the reason people go into teaching—love for a subject and love for children.”