A Teacher Story For the Ages - “Elaine’s Circle”

Author Bob Katz shares the extraordinary story of a gifted 4th-grade teacher named Elaine Moore, the central character of his book Elaine’s Circle: A Teacher, a Student, a Classroom, and One Unforgettable Year. One reviewer writes, “There are books that you read that stay with you all your life—Elaine’s Circle will be one of them.” If you’d like a chance to receive a free, signed copy of Elaine’s Circle, go to www.teacherstories.org. In this episode, Katz explains how Moore managed to rally her class, her school, and the whole community around Seamus Farrell, one of her students who developed a terminal illness. We also get a glimpse of Elaine’s unique perspectives on teaching and education. “Elaine's abiding theory of education,” Katz says, “is that the classroom is a community…Caring about classmates and belonging to the group was precisely the behavior Elaine had been cultivating beyond the math, the reading, the science, the grammar. Elaine wanted her students to experience the sharing, and the intimacy, and the trust that can develop in a group. She wanted them to understand that the learning they struggled so hard to achieve had a purpose, and the purpose was to help not just themselves but also others.” In his book, Katz writes, “Elaine had no burning maestro's desire to launch a prodigy or cultivate a superstar who, years hence, in accepting the Nobel or Pulitzer or Oscar, would remember to thank her for all she had done. Her objective was more modest and more real. ‘We teach,’ explained [fellow teacher] Joan Johnson, speaking of Elaine and herself and others, ‘to create these kids who can go on and do life better.’” We also learn from Katz a bit of the book’s back story—how he came to learn about Elaine Moore, why she was initially reluctant to share her story, and what became of Elaine and the student after his book was published. Bob Katz’s story is one for the ages—a poignant reminder of what quality education looks like and the debt of gratitude we owe to teachers like Elaine Moore, who prepare students for life.