Calling all baby boomers! Teachers! Parents! Anyone who has ever been a teenager or taught teenagers. Roll back the years to the late 1950s into the middle 1970s when the baby boomers were in junior high school. To a time before there were computers, cell phones, texting, iPads, and all the latest high tech gadgets that now distract students' attention. To a time when testing did not dominate the curriculum, when teachers had time to plan creative activities. The author entered this world, confident and determined that she could connect academically and personally with all the students. Then reality hit. This book is filled with humorous anecdotes proving that no matter how much you prepare or how long you teach, you can never anticipate what kids are going to do or say. What could 4 stair heat be? Why would youth in Asia be a controversial topic? How did teachers cope with rebellious students during the Vietnam War years? How did teachers handle the increasing ethnic diversity during the 1970s? In a fresh and knowing voice, the author paints a delightful picture of experiences shared by baby boomers, teachers, and administrators from 1958 to 1977.
About the Author: Martina Lewis was an educator in the field of English for forty-five years. Following a twenty-three year career teaching English at the secondary level, she was offered a position at California State University Northridge, where for the next twenty-two years she supervised student teachers and taught classes in the credentials program. Ms. Lewis has a BA degree from the University of Iowa and a masters degree in Education from California State University Northridge. She is the author of thirty-five bar-coded study guides of films formatted on laserdiscs. With this technology, any frame on the disc could be accessed in seconds, allowing movies to be taught like books or plays. "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Grapes of Wrath," "Romeo & Juliet," "Julius Caesar," and countless others came alive in the classroom. Unfortunately, the life of laserdiscs, which didn't become a viable and valuable teaching tool until around 1989, was short lived because DVDs took over....a great loss to education. Ms. Lewis is also the author of "Easy English: A Quick, Easy Guide to Standard English Usage." Ms. Lewis lives in northern California.