Fires in the Bathroom: Advice for Teachers from High School Students by Kathleen Cushman

Fires in the Bathroom: Advice for Teachers from High School Students Reviews

• 
  jacky

  Fires in the Bathroom: Advice for Teachers from High School Students mislead me. The title and premise conjured a picture of a superficial book that gave mostly obvious and angst filled ideas padded by some feel good support from the author. That was not the case at all.
  
  Fires in the Bathroom is actually a level headed, thorough, and well organized text for new teachers. Cushman and her student collaborators spent countless hours working on the material for this book. In fact, there is even a chapter at the end of the book about how they made the book. All of the student insights were organized into ten chapters with focuses such as knowing students, teaching difficult material, classroom behavior, respect, motivation, and ELL. While the chapter formatting doesn't make a riveting read, subheadings, lists, charts, tons of student quotations, and bulleted chapter summaries make it extremely easy to follow. Also included are ready-to-use worksheets; some of them are for student use, but the authors designed most of these to aid teachers in reflecting on their practices. Some of these worksheets are helpful, but others are overkill. For example, anyone who would take the time to fill out "Am I Playing Favorites?" probably is reflective enough to already know the results.
  
  This book is very obviously written for new teachers. Much of the student advice in the first chapters of the books can also be found in Wong's The First Days of Schools. Ideally, this text should be read during course work leading up to student teaching or before starting at one's first position, but as a teacher with five years under my belt, I still found many useful ideas. However, a large portion of the suggestions are painfully obvious. For example, the first chapter on knowing your students provided an opportunity to reflect on my relationships with students, but it also cautioned against drawing conclusions about students based on what I've seen in the media, which to me, is common sense. Obvious suggestions like these are found throughout the text.
  
  I only noticed a couple problems with the text besides it stating many common sense ideas. First, early in the book, the author states that all the suggestions were presented for authenticity sake, but that veteran teachers would know that some of these ideas aren't practical or plausible. Thus, some advice could yield negative results with the best of intentions, such as suggestions to let students teach the class to see from the teacher's point of view or putting too much emphasis on getting to know students and individual progress, which could backfire by affecting fairness. While the student authors' ideas needed to be respected for this project, it seems a little counterproductive for a book for new teachers to not take advantage of what veteran teachers would know. The second problem with the text was much smaller. Some of the information is skewed by the fact that the students involved were from urban, diverse schools. For teachers like myself who work in a rural community, our population is far more homogeneous than those discussed in the text, which made some of the advice not fit my community.
  
  Despite these problems, there were lots of valuable suggestions and ideas. One of the best sections was the behavior management chapter, including tips for subs. I also liked the emphasis on revision and positive feedback. The advice on assessment was very clear: spell out what you're looking for, give examples of product at different levels, use a rubric, and give opportunity to revise. Additionally, I enjoyed the section on motivating students. It included insightful student comments about the conformity of eduction and the right question inspiring them to learn. One of my favorite suggestions was to have a department test day so that students don't become overwhelmed with multiple tests and assignments on one day; however, all the other information on scheduling indicated that it is never a good time for pretty much anything. The homework section contained information that should be common sense: Only assign homework that is meaningful learning, don't over do it, and provide support. The reading and writing section was short, but a very good representation of the information I learned in my master's program.
  
  The most shocking aspect of this book was the teacher behavior described by some of the students. Some behavior defied the common sense of how to deal with people while other behavior showed a complete lack of compassion and fairness that made me question how some of these teachers entered the profession. One of the most common comments in the book was that teachers won't call on a students who aren't the go-to student of the class. How can a teacher not call on the quite kid who finally raises his hand? Also mentioned were teachers who rudely blew off real questions about the subject, not because they were inappropriately timed, but because they weren't seen as valid questions.
  
  For me, I walked away thinking about the following points:
  
  * I need to get to know my students more. While at the beginning of the year I always collect information about my students, I often don't wind up using it because its just too hard to keep track of 100+ students and integrate it into lessons. But, I do need to learn more about them, especially in terms of their struggles and accomplishments. I want to know about more of the complicated issues in students' lives, but I don't see how to without being invasive. What sticks out to me the most are cases when I discovered at the end of the year that smart kids were struggling because of a divorce. I also learned through FB that a student was away for a year, then back because she had a child. This particularly bothers me because I was left to make the assumption that it was other issues in her life that I did know about that kept her from school. If I had taken a greater interest in this student, I could have had a clearer picture of why she was struggling.
  * A trait that I have always admired in other teachers is how they can pull a student into the hall to talk about an incident that just occurred in class. I haven't been able to do that. In fact, I almost never talk to students about their behavior, whether its talking or not turning in work. This is something I need to work on when I return to teaching.
  * I want to continue to give students both silent time and time to collaborate on all types of work. My experience matched the student comments.
  * I need to evaluate how group work progresses. In the past, I wasn't very good at really seeing how groups were working. While there is no real excuse in my mind for cheating and plagiarism, poor group work conditions were the root the most frustrating cases I encountered. This would also includes time when students are informally collaborating, such during writing workshop time.
  * I want to give more attention in my feedback to what and how students did well, so they can be repeated it next time. I've done alright with this at times with writing assignments, but could do better; I need to work on it for all the other areas in the classroom.
  * I was glad to see the comments that grades should be advice for next time. The students involved in this project seemed most interested in learning and the feedback that would allow them to succeed at learning. The grading fiasco I had my last year teaching really had a lot to do with this idea.
  * I need to remember that some kids won't turn in work if they don't think it is done right.
  * I've always asked students to ask questions, but I've had trouble getting kids who really need help to ask. I need to continue to work on ways to get kids to feel safe enough to ask questions which make them feel vulnerable, especially questions dealing with understanding. I wonder what portion of my apathetic students behave that way because they don't understand and can't ask for help?
  * I want to provide opportunities for students to do work they feel proud of. I feel that this happens for only a small fraction of my students and its those who don't feel proud of their work that continue to fail.
  * More than once a comment was made about being the only student who every answered teachers' questions and that the whole class rides on that one student. I can't imagine being that student who is the only one who ever does the work or talks, but I've had that happen many times. I always force other students to participate by refusing to let that those few eager students continue to lead the class once they've contributed once or twice in a row. I'm surprised more teachers don't do this, but at the same time not surprised because sometimes the silence is very uncomfortable and it means halting the lesson and trying a totally new approach, like writing down question or comments for me to collect and share anonymously.
  * The importance of choice and personal relevance were mentioned more than once. I've done a lot of work on choice that I would like to keep up, and I hope that those choices add personal relevance, but I don't think it always does. How do I help students choose meaningful topics when students know themselves the best? Sometimes kids make really bad choices, not so much with choosing books to read, but with writing and research topics.
  * One comment that I found particularly interesting was that students find it hard and frustrating when they are given freedom and responsibility after having information forced on them for years. This goes along with my above comment about students being stumped by free choice.
• 
  sydney

  This was a good introduction to some basic rules of teaching-- don't try to be your students' friend, don't stand at the board and lecture, don't assume the worst just because a kid has his head down, don't show up on your student's doorstep wanting to chat (you hear that, Michelle Pfeiffer?), etc.
  
  The wisdom in the book comes from interviews with a bunch of high schoolers from California, Rhode Island, and New York, and about half of them taught at or attended Summerbridge/Breakthrough Collaborative programs, so they're familiar with progressive educational strategies. (Also, weirdly, I know one of the girls in the book, but I didn't know that until I started reading it.)
  
  There's an introduction by Lisa Delpit, and Ted Sizer and Deb Meier give back-cover blurbs, so you know it can pretty much be trusted. That said, I had already heard most of the things in the book, save for some stuff about English language learners. This book would be more valuable to someone with no classroom experience, although there are some useful worksheets, surveys, and other resources that could help a variety of beginning teachers.
  
  A quick read. Recommended.
• 
  Jazmyne

  I love, love, love this book. I would say it's more of a 4.5 instead of a 5 though.
  
  The best quality of this book is the fact that it uses actual students and the advice they give. The students come from a variety of backgrounds: gender, race, age, etc. It isn't just a bunch of high-performing kids that find school easy. Instead, it's a mix of high and low performers, and a whole bunch of other demographics.
  
  The advice these kids give is real. It gave me so much insight and understanding, and I feel much better about student teaching in just a few semesters. I took the advice to heart, as well as understanding that not all the tips they give will help 100% of the time.
  
  I also loved the sheets and handouts they had throughout the book. The reflective sheets throughout the book were so accessible and will (I'm sure) be very useful when I start teaching.
  
  I hope many future and current educators get the chance to read this book and listen to their students! Cushman had a logical process to the questions she asked these students, and used a good method for weeding out the answers that weren't as helpful. Again, such a great book ☺
• 
  Jennifer Mangler

  Of course it's important for teachers to know and listen to their students. But this book just didn't work for me. The main ideas were redundant, and I think that has a lot to do with how the book was organized. Also, I didn't find the book incredibly useful, mainly because the main ideas often contradicted each other and because it suffers from the "teachers need to be perfect" syndrome. I get that the teenagers involved were offering advice on how the adults in the school could make things work better, but the authors missed a real chance to provide self-reflection in with these discussions. It ends up being a list of impossible things that teachers need to do (and not do). If I had been a new teacher reading this, I would have felt overwhelmed and inadequate.
• 
  Robert Long

  You would hope that much of this book would be common sense for teachers, but I can understand how a lot of these things may go overlooked when you have so much to think about. At first, I was thinking "come on, i know all this stuff. Treat kids fairly, try and get them to do their best." Yet, I know it isn't that easy. I really enjoyed this book! It has great modules to give to the students regarding how to ask them questions and so forth. After reading this book, I have a greater understanding in how to create a culture of success and desire for intrinsic learning in the classroom. Great stuff.
• 
  James

  I received this book as a Christmas gift from a trusted and wise colleague. In addition to being a valuable addition to my professional library, it was particularly timely as well. As an educator with 16 years teaching, advising, and mentoring students at the senior executive, graduate, and undergraduate levels, I am currently transitioning to a new role as a substitute teacher in my local public school district. Fires in the Bathroom not only presents educators with new ideas and relevant approaches to teaching and connecting with students in today's diverse secondary education community, but even more importantly, it is a brilliantly conceived and presented reminder of some of the most important aspects of the teaching profession - aspects that are fundamental to our understanding of who we are as educators in our relationship not only to our profession, but also to our students who look to us depend upon us in ways both realized and unrealized.
  
  Kathleen Cushman and the students of What Kids Can Do, Inc. have presented four important reminders for us to consider as educators. First, they remind us that by its very nature, the relationship between teachers and their students is a collaborative one. This is important, because patterns of authority and credibility in such environments are a product of the mutual trust and respect that is built, nurtured and grown amongst the participants - indeed, the collaborators - within such a learning community. In collaborative environments, very little can be hidden from view. Insincerity, disinterest, or dismissiveness can be readily spotted by our students.
  
  The second important reminder presented by the author and her collaborators is that for any learning focused collaboration to yield positive and uplifting results there has to be communication - open, forthright, and two-way communication. Inherent in this type of communication are listening, empathy, and understanding. If we are going to be good communicators as educators, the authors remind us that we must be willing to listen to and accept what our students have to say as active participants in their own education. In fact, the authors take this a step further and remind us that we must not only be willing to listen to our students, but we must actively engage them to draw out their perspectives on what they are seeing, experiencing, feeling, learning, and needing in their education. In this way, the authors remind us that if we are going to make a positive difference in lifting our students forward through learning and growth then we must be intentional - conscious and self-aware - in speaking with, listening to, and treating our students more as adults as less as children.
  
  The third reminder presented by the authors is that teaching and learning are so closely related to one another that they are virtually inseparable. They are in essence, two different sides of the same coin. This is tremendously important, because if we as educators arrive at a place in our journey with our students at which we believe that we cannot learn - or have nothing to learn - from our students and their perspectives (those for whom we accept responsibility to facilitate their own journeys of learning and growth), then a multitude of missed opportunities will result. The cumulative cost of these missed opportunities is measured most profoundly by their negative impacts on the futures of our students.
  
  Finally, Kathleen Cushman and her collaborators remind us that our students are always watching us as they depend on us. The questions for us are, "What do they see? What do they find?" If we as educators want to be successful in lifting our students forward through learning and growth, then we have to be seen by them as being credible. In the context of this insightful book, credibility is about being prepared; knowing our subject area and being excited about communicating it to our students in ways that makes it interesting and relevant to them - to their level of experiences, interests, and goals; it is about being passionate and excited about teaching and learning; it is about seeing our students and listening to them; it is about empathy and understanding; it is about not giving up on or "writing off" a student; it is about taking a sincere interest in and being committed to challenging our students to be prepared to do tomorrow what they may not think they can do today.
  
  This book should be required reading for anyone in a Teacher Education Program, whether at the undergraduate or graduate level. It should be on the "top shelf" of the professional library of anyone who is a member of the Education Profession. This is the kind of book that if properly utilized as a valuable tool in an educator's took kit, will help us to not only inspire our students, but in so doing enable us to impart them with the confidence and energy to act positively on behalf of their own learning and growth. And through all of this, we will be inspired and energized by their future success. I know this to be true, because the trusted and wise colleague who gave me this book - one which I would not otherwise have likely chosen to read - was once my student.
• 
  Lindsay Merrill

  1.5 stars.
  
  The idea that teachers should listen to students and their needs is important but not new. Realistically, this book could/should have been condensed into a 20 page pamphlet.
  
  Pros:
  -Some interesting quotes/experiences shared through the voice of students.
  
  Cons:
  -Redundant
  -Poor/questionable organization (In particular, the quotes that were often used to "back up" or illustrate a particular point the author made didn't always really seem to have a whole lot to do with the point the author was making.)
  -When quotes are taken out of context you can use them to demonstrate almost anything, which the author seems to try to do.
  -Not particularly useful for teachers-- despite the authors' best efforts to give teachers tools to pick up and take into a classroom, their applicability is limited. For example, there's a whole (fairly long) chapter that supposedly gives advice for teachers of English Learners. Unfortunately, as a secondary math teacher there wasn't a single bit of advice that helped me know how to teach MATH to students. Instead, it just seems to be full of "feel good" advice that teachers need to be aware of these kids' feelings and struggles, etc. While this is legitimate, it's not particularly useful.
  
  It should be particularly telling that it took me nearly 2 years to get through a short, 200 page book about something that should seem 100% applicable to my profession.
• 
  Claudia

  I'm so impressed with the premise for this book: ask high school students to give new teachers advice on how to be successful. I was taken by the fact that the students identified many of the Five Core Propositions that National Board says all accomplished teachers reflect: commitment to students, knowing their subject and how to teach, motivating and managing learning, and reaching outside the classroom...the only one of the Propositions students didn't mention was reflection, and there were plenty of 'worksheets' that helped teachers do just that.
  
  The collective wisdom of bright kids, many of whom are second-language learners, is amazing. The kids are brutally honest about their own behavior too: why they cause problems, why they stop coming to school...how important it is to be noticed at the same time they want to blend in.
  
  I'm eager to share this with every teacher friend I have.
  
  My favorite quotes: "A kid can tell when a teacher knows what he's doing and believes in what he's doing...treat reading and writing as windows into our lives...she snatches history from the past and puts it in my back yard...It matters to students that eachers like being in their company...don't read notes out loud in class, they might be about you."
• 
  Doug Crook

  This book is almost entirely driven by student quotes and observations. It doesn't seem like it should be such a novel concept but it really gives a perspective that is often overlooked when teachers are talking about the best interests of the students versus finding out what the students perception of those ideals really is. It confronts a lot of stereotypes and makes abstract discussions more relevant.
  
  My only gripe with the book is the contradictory nature of so many of the passages. I understand that people, and especially teens, are full of contradictions but if you're trying to make a point in a chapter and you constantly have statements that negate each other every few pages it grows increasingly frustrating by the end of the book.
  
  But overall I really liked the approach and would certainly recommend this book for any pre-service teachers and maybe even for teachers who are growing frustrated in their current classrooms.
• 
  Kayla Glass

  This book was assigned as required reading for a graduate level class on classroom management (Spring 2017).
  
  As a future teacher, this book had some valid points and thought provoking themes and ideas to consider before I step into my first classroom. I loved that it asked teachers to be reflective and responsive to students, especially pertaining to underrepresented populations in a school (minorities, ELLs, IEP students, truancy, etc.). How can WE change in order to reach those students?
  
  The only issue I had was that it kept telling the reader to not be afraid of high school students. Because of that repeated warning, by the end of the book, I asked myself...should I be?
  
  Other than that uneasy feeling, I did enjoy the overall book. It was quick to read and had some great insights and feedback from student co-authors.
• 
  Mary

  I guess mostly I wished Cushman would have backed off her own agenda for a little bit and allowed these kids time and space to craft their own ideas about good teaching. It sounds like she just sat in a room with them and goaded them to say certain things (including some awful things about former teachers of theirs who were presumably still in the classroom) and then had somebody write it all down word for word. There are some little nuggets of wisdom, and the kids are lovely and candid (but when aren't kids lovely and candid?), but mostly there's nothing in here that most teachers worth their salt don't already know.
  
  I guess I would have found this more useful if I'd read it back before I was worth anything near my salt, in my first two years?
  
• 
  Susan Bazzett-Griffith

  Eh. Barely two stars. I can see how this book could be interesting/valuable to a brand new teacher, but really, it is a lot of common sense. The student quotes were somewhat painful to read because the grammar was so poor (seriously? If their teachers haven't even taught them how to write grammatically correct sentences, they SHOULD be bitching and offering them advice, I suppose...). I just don't see how tidbits of advice like, "Get to know your students, know their neighborhood, have high expectations, yadda yadda" are innovative or helpful. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone other than newly hired teachers with zero experience (and little common sense).
• 
  Liz

  I read this while I was student teaching suburban/rural HS in UT. I was planning to land a job as an inner city teacher in DC. I was baffled by the title.
  
  Then, I got my dream urban job, and totally understood it. The bathroom (or boys locker room) was lit on fire regularly.
  
  Anyway, I'd highly recommend this book to any new teacher, or to any teacher working with inner city kids.
  
  The bottom line: students want to be challenged. Structure and challenges, they thrive on it, even amongst the chaos of bathroom fires.
• 
  Lori

  Students came together and gave their thoughts, insight and help in regards to what teachers can do better to teach them. Coming from the perspective of students who are labeled as ELL, ESL and SES, these students help teachers to see another perspective. While the book discusses similar topics repeatedly and the student's answers do become monotonous, it only reinforces what students are thinking.
  
  This book is a great resource to remind someone what the students are thinking and how to more effectively teach based on what they have to say.
• 
  Luke S

  There are some really great insights and student perspectives offered in here. After a 150 pages or so it starts to get a bit redundant, and you wonder if the book might've benefited from more interview subjects. The author herself admits to including some quotes/suggestions from kids that veteran teachers would recognize as "impractical," so I kept that in mind as I was reading. Please forgive me for thinking the kids were a tad whiny at times. Anyway, I would recommend this to every HS or MS teacher.
• 
  Elizabeth

  This book is the collection of the opinions of a diverse group of high school students from around the country...their opinions on everything related to school, from pop quizzes to classroom behavior expectations. Their voices are real, honest and down-to-earth without being overly whiny and demanding in their tones. There are tons of interesting anecdotes. Overall it's an important perspective to be exposed to for anyone who works with this age group.
• 
  Sarah

  This book has a lot of good ideas. I can see it being especially useful for new teachers. Reading this as an experienced teacher, I found I was already doing much of what was being discussed, but there are a couple of ideas that I want to implement into my plans.
  
  I would like to see this same book written for a middle class, suburban high school. The issues are both the same and totally different.
• 
  Jessica

  This book was good. It's full of stuff that high school kids actually said. My biggest complaint, perhaps, is that it's at times contradictory... But actually, that makes sense. I mean, there is no one formula that makes teaching easy. If there were, I'm sure we'd have already figured it out by now. Anyway, it only took a couple hours to read this, so it's definitely a good return for your time investment.
• 
  Ellen

  Some interesting and good suggestions from students and points made by authors. Somewhat repetitive in the quotes and concepts. Not sure who would find it interesting other than high-school teachers. Doesn't do enough to point out that students are ultimately responsible for their own learning and that parents and communities have the obligation to educate children, along with teachers.
• 
  Ryan

  Okay, fine, only read 90% of this. About 20% too much, really. If I could give 2.5, I would. If you get this, and you're new to teaching stuff, consider this as something like 1/2 of the story. There certainly is NOT enough student accountability in here. The pendulum swings too far to one side.
  
• 
  Jennifer

  I hate non-fiction books, but every once in a while I'll suck it up because I think I might learn something. I did. Kids are so honest & you just can't hide anything from them because they see through all the b*#!^*@%!. As a teacher, I get way more from kid advice than teacher advice. Afterall, the kids are the ones who have to sit there and learn from me. :)
• 
  Adrienne

  I'll admit I skimmed this book, because it was written in a way that enabled me to do so. Some interesting ideas. It's hard to put into practice some of the things these students ask for though. I'll have to work hard on a few things, but some of them I understand very well and will use in my classroom.
• 
  Tanya

  This book contains insight that may seem to be "common sense," however it is a good reminder that students are people. I plan to come back to this as a reality check when the testing and administrative responsibilities threaten to interfere with my true duty--helping students to be more than they were at the beginning of the year.
• 
  Daniel

  This book is packed with clear, meaningful feedback from students to teachers on how to deal with many of the concerns we have stepping into the classroom. The author has also included worksheets to help teachers reflect on different situations and concerns as they arise. It's a book I'll turn to again and again throughout my career.
• 
  Jen

  I had to return this to the library so I did not get to finish. What I read was hit and miss but it did have some great teaching advice from kids in high school and from the author. I would definitely give this a closer read if I were teaching in high school.
• 
  Laurie

  I liked this book and agree with most of what it had to say, but as with most lessons, it is hard to learn them without actually doing them. It was nice to read the students' ideas, and I was reminded of some things I would like to do in my classroom next year.