Educator Joe Riener talk at Tenley Library

Join author Joe Riener for his author talk on his informative pair of nonfiction titles concerning his high school teaching career.

Large Conference Room
Tenley-Friendship Neighborhood Library
4450 Wisconsin Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20016
(202) 727-1225 | dclibrary.org/tenley

Volume One, Teach Me How to Work and Keep Me Kind, focuses on the American literature course I offered to juniors. Volume Two, Puzzle Me the Right Answer to That One, considers the European literature course for seniors. (Both volumes are available now at Politics and Prose and online at politics-prose.com.)

Joe says: “In discussing the work students and I did in class, I’m trying to offer a defense of a liberal education. Reading about literature becomes a way to ponder Big Ideas. We reflect on the relationship of art to history. Ultimately, we talk about ourselves. The book seeks to inspire young teachers by showing what an individual teacher with freedom, trust, and terrific students can achieve in the classroom.

“The book might serve as an introduction to literature and its analysis for people who felt they missed out the first time around.

“Both volumes assert that high school students are quite capable of considering powerful intellectual and emotional matters from the literature they read. This book seeks to honor the noble humanity of young people, despite the many assaults on their dignity in our culture.”