Summary of Michelle Kuo's Reading with Patrick

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The city of Helena, Arkansas, was once the commercial center of a prosperous region. But when the middle class began to leave in the 1970s, the city began to decline.

#2 In Phillips County, Arkansas, which is home to Helena, the white population mostly works at the casino or at Walmart. Their children, usually black, rarely interact with each other.

#3 I was shocked by how much I changed as a teacher. I was constantly making rules that I then constantly modified. I would raise your hand, but if you cursed, you got a warning. If you put down your classmates, you got a zero.

#4 I began to distrust my own system. I distrusted punishment. I was an English teacher, but I seemed to be unable to connect with my students. I gave them a video of a young state senator named Barack Obama, who had just made a splash at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822513822

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Insights on Michelle Kuo's Reading with Patrick

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The city of Helena, Arkansas, was once the commercial center of a prosperous region. But when the middle class began to leave in the 1970s, the city began to decline.

#2

In Phillips County, Arkansas, which is home to Helena, the white population mostly works at the casino or at Walmart. Their children, usually black, rarely interact with each other.

#3

I was shocked by how much I changed as a teacher. I was constantly making rules that I then constantly modified. I would raise your hand, but if you cursed, you got a warning. If you put down your classmates, you got a zero.

#4

I began to distrust my own system. I distrusted punishment. I was an English teacher, but I seemed to be unable to connect with my students. I gave them a video of a young state senator named Barack Obama, who had just made a splash at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

#5

I had intended to be daring and transgressive by bringing up the history of violence against black people, but maybe the students wanted school to be a refuge from that memory.

#6

I began to like the Delta. I began to enjoy the banter with my students, and assert my authority with ease. I stopped going to Memphis every weekend, and added ice to my tea.

#7

I had begun to regard my students in a utilitarian way: Who would respond with enormous success to