On The Edge of Red

What 's it really like to be in the trenches a real working classroom teacher ? That's what Kurt Kromholtz tries to show as he spills his guts in this short autobiographic portrayal of his struggle to make it as a successful mentor of high school chemistry.in modern times Kurt's eventual satisfaction was not handed to him on a silver platter but came only after a series of failures and tribulations each of which taught him a vital lesson in the art of teaching and finally resulted in a number of awards including Outstanding Secondary Educator of America ( 1975) Teacher of the Year 1978 ( a school award) and the prestigious Saint Aloysius Gonzaga Award (1992 ) the highest recognition conferred by the school . Kurt overcame some daunting adversities over the course of his career including a paralyzing stroke in 1995 all of which he strives to demonstrate actually served to improve his performance in virtually every aspect of high school teaching. You will relate to this tale if you either are or have been a secondary instructor and if you are now considering a career in this field it could be a vital how to handbook for your future success. In addition many of the roughly three thousand students Kurt taught in his 37 years at this school will likely remember some of the incidents mentioned in this poignant yet humorous story and might even recognize themselves in the telling. Kurt has always felt that High School is where it's at..the most exciting place to be on the planet once you figure out how it works!