As a young book lover with dyslexia, Barbara found the solution to her reading struggles in Miss Gluding, her first grade teacher, who showed compassion for her student's plight—and knew how to help her. From that time on, Barbara knew what she wanted to be: a teacher, just like Miss Gluding.
Unfortunately, Barbara also had some bad teachers in the years that ensued—including her sixth grade teacher, an exacting woman who called attention to Barbara's learning disabilities in front of classmates. Still wanting to follow in Miss Gluding's footsteps in 1964, Barbara vowed she would be a better one than her sixth grade teacher; instead, however, she became very much like her, with unattainable expectations for her students and herself. After seventeen years in the teaching profession, she realized she had to either change her teaching style or change careers. By providence, right as she stood at this crossroads, she was offered the opportunity to teach overseas at The Dragon School in Oxford, England, for a year—an opportunity she jumped at.
In the year that followed, Barbara would rely on her faith in God to give up a lot of what she knew about teaching and learn to do it differently—ways that wouldn't have room for her perfectionism. In short, she would have to begin again.
Industry Reviews
"A well-crafted account about the search for greater flexibility when confronting life's inevitable challenges."
-Kirkus Reviews
“ . . . engaging . . . This book is an endearing testament to the power of personal growth and reflection in one teacher’s incredibly rich professional life.”
—StoryCircle Book Reviews
“In this memoir, Barbara Kennard so expertly captures the array of experiences that teachers encounter—the high and the low, the heartwarming and the hilarious. During her year teaching in Oxford, she comes to learn a new way of approaching both her classroom and her life that makes for an incredibly engaging read. Teachers everywhere will love this book.”
—Nadine Kenney Johnstone, writing coach and award-winning author of Of This Much I'm Sure: A Memoir
“For any who struggle to distinguish between perfectionism and a yearning to grow into the fullest version of who God has created us to be, this book is a balm. Barbara Kennard writes candidly and compassionately about the people and places that taught her about self-acceptance and mercy. Her love of great writers and her appreciation for those she teaches and those who teach her shine through in vivid prose and engaging stories. Kennard is a lifelong educator. With humor, honesty, and self-awareness, this book invites readers to learn lessons alongside her about forgiveness, surrender, grace, and love.”
—Dr. Jennifer Howe Peace, coeditor of My Neighbor’s Faith: Stories of Interreligious Encounter, Growth, and Transformation and Interreligious/Interfaith Studies: Defining a New Field
“The story of Barbara Kennard’s quest should inspire anyone who feels a calling to seek patiently for the best way to answer it and put it into play. This wise memoir should also remind us that although perfection can never be attained, we stand to have a lot of fun in the pursuit.”
—David Smith, author of Be a Teacher: A Memoir in Ten Ideas
“In this delightful memoir of her career as a middle school English teacher, Barbara Kennard tells the story of how an exchange year in an Oxford preparatory school changed her life forever. Witty, incisive, and wise by turns, Kennard’s accessible style draws the reader in to experience the many challenges, joys, and surprises that confront her, not the least her fresh discovery of Anglican spiritual life.”
—The Rev’d Sarah Coakley, Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity, emerita, University of Cambridge, and author of God, Sexuality and The Self
