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Teacher Man chronicles McCourt's three decades of teaching in the city's public schools
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To launch his most recent book, Frank McCourt returned last month to the school where he spent 18 years as a teacher: Lower Manhattan's Stuyvesant High School. The new book, Teacher Man, chronicles McCourt's three decades of teaching in the city's public schools. The launch drew a crowd of more than 500 people, including McCourt's fans and former students, and also raised money for the school's English department.
Before the publication of his first book, Angela's Ashes (1996), launched him into literary stardom, McCourt spent his days, nights, and summers teaching. In March 1958, he began teaching English at McKee Vocational and Technical High School in Staten Island. He went on to teach at Seward Park High School in downtown's Lower East Side, settling eventually at Stuyvesant, where he spent the bulk of his career before retiring in 1997.
In Teacher Man, published by Scribner, McCourt, 75, describes how finding his way in the classroom helped him develop the confidence and practice to eventually tell his story in Angela's Ashes, which was followed by his second memoir, 'Tis (1999). After hors d'oeuvres and wine, McCourt entertained the crowd gathered in Stuyvesant's auditorium on November 14 with anecdotes from his teaching experiences and excerpts from the book.
"Instead of teaching, I told stories," McCourt read. "Anything to keep them quiet and in their seats. They thought I was teaching. I was learning."
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| Teacher Man follows the success of McCourt's first book, Angela's Ashes, published in 1996 |
He recounted how the material for his books began with sharing stories of growing up in Ireland with his students. "On my second day at McKee, a boy asks a question that sends me into the past and colors the way I teach for the next 30 years. I am nudged into the past, the materials of my life," he read.
He spoke about his unconventional teaching methods and imaginative assignments. For example, he instructed his students, who were skilled at writing personal notes during class time, to write an excuse note from Adam or Eve to God. He organized sing-a-longs and field trips to the park or a movie in Times Square. At Stuyvesant, he encouraged his students to study cookbooks and restaurant reviews, as well as poems and novels.
One of the organizers of the fundraiser, Stuyvesant's Parent Coordinator Harvey Blumm, said that he received many calls from alumni. "They say [McCourt] was such a fantastic influence and he instilled a love of literature," he said. "It's been very heartwarming to hear that."
Tickets for the event cost $60, of which less than half went to pay for a signed copy of Teacher Man, leaving the remaining amount to be donated to the school's English department. Assistant Principal for English Eric Grossman said the money has not yet been allocated, but some of it will be used to pay for books that are not state-approved texts. Because Stuyvesant is such a specialized high school, it can buy books that are not on the New York State Text Book Law (NYSTL) list, he said. The money may also go toward a much-needed Risograph, a machine that can handle high-volume photocopying.
Angela's Ashes, for which McCourt received the Pulitzer Prize, is part of the school's freshman composition curriculum. McCourt often returns to Stuyvesant to speak to individual classes, but this was the first time he came to launch a book while raising money for the department.
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