Exploring Author’s Insightful Books
How many of you have seen the movie “Dangerous Minds” starring Michelle Pfeiffer as an inner-city school teacher? Great movie, wasn’t it? For those of you who want to indulge further, read the books “My Posse Don’t Do Homework” and “The Girls in the Back of the Class,” both by LouAnne Johnson.
“Dangerous Minds” was a true story based on Johnson’s teaching career and the stories in her books. The first one, “My Posse Don’t Do Homework,” is for all the kids who hate school. It’s awesome how Johnson affects every student’s life personally. They all love her, no matter what kind of attitude they have.
Johnson’s goal was to help every student succeed, no matter what situation they were living in. She taught “academy” classes, a program that kept underachieving kids with the same teacher and classmates for three years.
She got her classes to read difficult plays by Shakespeare. They conquered and understood “Julius Caesar,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” “The Merchant of Venice” and even created their own modern-day “Macbeth.”
Johnson worked hard emotionally and physically to reach out to every one of her students when no one else would.
The sequel to “Posse,” “The Girls in the Back of the Class,” emphasizes keeping girls in high school to graduate. Many of them become pregnant, or are abused by their underachiever fathers who don’t want them to get smart because they think a woman’s place is in the kitchen.
Johnson loved and cared for every one of her students. She did almost anything for them.
Every school needs a teacher like LouAnne Johnson. Students need teachers to be more personable and actually understand where they’re coming from. Many schools have wonderful educators already.
These books are an inspiration to all. Johnson writes these books with sincerity and genuine feeling. I recommend reading at least one of them to get a flavor of what teachers go through. It made me want to heal everybody in the world and cure all of their emotional cuts and bruises.
After reading “Posse” or “Girls,” you too will want to give assistance to a person who is struggling with any of the problems facing our lives today.