Esquith to speak on inspired teaching Nov. 16

National Teacher of the Year Award winner Rafe Esquith will present “Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire” on Monday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. in Braden Auditorium. The event, part of Illinois State University’s Fall 2009 Speaker Series, is free and open to the public.

Esquith has been called “a modern day Thoreau” by Newsday, “a genius and a saint” by the New York Times, and “the most interesting and influential classroom teacher in the country” by The Washington Post. For the past two decades he has taught fifth grade at a public school in a Los Angeles neighborhood plagued by guns, gangs and violence.

Esquith's students are mostly immigrants or children of immigrants, living in poverty and learning English as a second language. Yet, under his tutelage, they voluntarily come to class at 6:30 a.m. and often stay until five in the evening. They play Vivaldi, perform Shakespeare, often score in the top 1 percent on standardized tests and go on to attend the best universities.

Esquith has received the National Teacher of the Year Award and the National Medal of the Arts. He is the author of the best-selling book, "Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire", and has been featured, along with his students, in the PBS documentary "The Hobart Shakespeareans."

Esquith’s presentation is sponsored by Illinois State’s College of Education.

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