“Karen Hankins is real, honest, and even heroic. I think this book ought to be made widely available to methods classes to offset the teacher-hero stories we all depend on too heavily, to teachers who plainly detest such books for failing to show how difficult it really is to teach, and to parents and policymakers who only look at test scores and assume teaching is simple transmission of subject matter.”
—David Schaafsma, University of Michigan

“This is a book full of love for children and for teaching. Through her thoughtful presentation of how writing enables her to reflect upon and study her practice, Hankins demonstrates the potential that narrative inquiry offers to teachers and their students.”
—Karen Gallas, author of Sometimes I Can Be Anything

In this beautifully written narrative, a first-grade teacher takes us into her classroom during an emotionally stormy year. Read this book and ride the storm with Karen Hankins as she struggles to address the pressing emotional needs of her disparate students while also meeting their need for literacy development.

Based on the author’s reflective teaching journal, this work represents a threefold focus on narrative as theory, data, and method. In the process of writing and rewriting the narratives, Hankins discovered that they became powerful methods for understanding students and for shaping curriculum. Woven into the portraits of students are the readings this teacher found most helpful as she attempted to understand and cope with her ongoing inquiry, both about the special needs of these children and the role of narrative to guide her understanding.