Mount Pleasant: My Journey from Creating a Billion-dollar Company to Teaching at a Struggling Public High School

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Synopsis
A Silicon Valley entrepreneur takes on the challenge of a lifetime: teaching in one of California's toughest high schools. Entrepreneur Steve Poizner has run a billion dollar company, but the greatest challenge of his life was the year he spent teaching twelfth graders at San Jose's Mt. Pleasant High School. On many days, like the one when a student's boyfriend was arrested for bank robbery, his managerial and entrepreneurial skills seemed irrelevant. But on others, they helped him demonstrate how exciting it is to learn. Playing Jeopardy with the class and inviting speakers into the classroom, Poizner motivated his students by expanding their horizons far beyond their high school's walls. Steve Poizner is currently a candidate for governor of California and on the verge of becoming a household name. But this is a memoir of a riveting personal journey, not a point-by-point account of his vision for his state. Poizner writes, "Often I came to ask myself one question: What exactly are you doing here? As it turns out, I was receiving one hell of an education. " Mt Pleasant is ultimately a success story, as Poizner wins Rookie Teacher of the Year honors and, more important, ensures that all his students graduate.
Copyright:
2010

Book Details

Book Quality:
Excellent
Book Size:
241 Pages
ISBN-13:
9781591843450
Publisher:
Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Steve Poizner
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs, Business and Finance, Education, Politics and Government, Sociology
Submitted By:
Liz Halperin
Proofread By:
Liz Halperin
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

Reviews

2 out of 5

By on

Steve Poizner is a Republican now running for CA governor. The advertising that he spent a year teaching is not quite accurate. Before his year teaching in a disadvantaged high school (briefly, with heavy supervision, one class only) he proudly states he was an entrepreneur (not of the social variety). And the "Rookie of the Year" award he received was from the staff at that school, nothing larger. In the past, he ran for legislative office, focusing on educational reform. Won a primary for Republicans, then lost to the Democrats. Then in 2006 he ran for state insurance commissioner and won. (I wonder what his qualifications were to run and be elected for that office?) I think this book is more self-advertising for political office than to tell story of teaching underprivileged kids. He included many experiences not germane to his teaching just to get them publicized. It's just another way of political marketing. To be fair, profits don't go to his campaign coffers. That would be a little too obvious. Instead, profits go to the Mount Pleasant school in San Jose. A very easy fast read.