This book is set in a classroom in the 1980s, and the author discusses some of the history of education globally and in America. What are some of the differences and similarities of the 1980s classroom and classrooms of today?

Tracy Kidder writes this book like a novel, giving a non-fiction account of one year in a 5th grade elementary school the feel of a fiction novel. Discuss some of the aspects of his rhetoric that make the book feel like a fiction novel. Does this style change the way you view the information presented compared to a more traditional non-fiction, fact list style?

Mrs. Zajac, the main character in the book, claims at the very end that she “belongs among schoolchildren.” Discuss the ways in which this statement is and is not accurate.