New Book Recounts Stories of Struggle and Success
Inside a South Carolina High School

Notes from a Classroom: Reflections on Teaching by Charlotte Observer columnist Kay McSpadden offers a fascinating inside view of public education.

Charlotte, NC — “We all went to school,” Kay McSpadden says, “but only a few people know what goes on in schools today.” McSpadden is one of those few, and in her new book she takes her readers inside the rural, high-poverty South Carolina school where she has spent nearly 30 years teaching.

Notes from a Classroom: Reflections on Teaching (Stampley, November 2007) chronicles McSpadden’s experiences and growth as an English teacher and her hard-won knowledge of teens — their struggles and achievements, blind spots and sudden insights, stubbornness and surprising sensitivity.

The best qualities of her students come forth as McSpadden challenges them with demanding reading and writing assignments — and with Socratic exchanges that her students carry into the hallways and lunchroom after class.

Students introduced in Notes from a Classroom include Myra, the future valedictorian who shines in AP English; Daniel, a seventeen-year-old artist headed off to war; Jerry, a burly, taciturn senior who lost his parents to prison when he was eight years old; and Tracy, a withdrawn special-ed student who conquers her shyness with the encouragement of her classmates.

The book is a collection of 72 short essays, published originally in the Charlotte Observer or broadcast on the Charlotte affiliate of National Public Radio.

Essays are grouped thematically in six sections: “The Art of Teaching,” “Lessons from Home,” “Youth,” “Diversity,” “Literature,” and “The Examined Life.”

The book’s epilogue, “Socrates Eats School Lunch,” reflects on the many perils and joys of challenging students to think. Also included is an annotated reading list, “Books for the Examined Life” — the syllabus for McSpadden’s AP English class.

Book information: Notes From A Classroom: Reflections on Teaching by Kay McSpadden. Publication date November 11th, 2007. Hardback with dust jacket; 336 pages; list price $22.95. ISBN 978-1-58087-131-0.

About the Author: Kay McSpadden has taught high school English in rural South Carolina since 1977. Since 1999 she has written op-ed columns for the Viewpoint page of the Charlotte Observer. Her columns currently appear on alternating Saturdays. McSpadden has also written several award-winning stories and poems, and she has recorded radio commentaries for WFAE, the Charlotte affiliate of National Public Radio. Her first novel, Feeding the Ghosts, was a finalist in the 2004 Novello Contest. Kay and her husband Randy, a Presbyterian minister, have two sons: Jamie, a senior at Yale, and Will, who is a sophomore at Emory.

About the Publisher: Stampley, established in 1940, publishes religious, reference, and educational titles in English and Spanish. Stampley educational titles include the Launch Pad Library, a 12-volume encyclopedia for readers ages 6-12, and several science series published in Spanish in association with National Geographic.