I liked this book and the teacher and students but really didn’t feel close to anyone in the book. I would contemplate not finishing reading, then decide to continue- over and over…

The verdict - glad I read it, but I wouldn’t really recommend it except to, perhaps, a very talented student.

I’m a teacher and was excited to read this book. Unfortunately I found I could not relate to it - working at a privileged school with lots of parental resources must be nice but it doesn’t help me at all. Oh well.

Good, but not great story of an amazing and inspirational teacher. I have read a number of books about teachers, and this one was somewhere in the middle of the pack.

I'm a teacher. I love books about inspirational teachers who make a difference, but I just couldn't get over the freedom Bramante had and, most importantly, his salary.

A well written insight to what goes on in highly demanding academics class where the students push themselves to greatness at a young age.

The Class was an intriguing picture of project-based learning in action. I liked the way that Heather Won Tesoriero worked to paint a vivid and complete picture of the students, administrators and teachers described in The Class. Although I did find the town of Greenwich to be a little bit of a rarefied and "hothouse" atmosphere, there were definitely ideas and inspiration that could be taken from the halls of Greenwich High School. You can not read this book and not be blown away by the intelligence, curiosity, perseverance and creativity of these high school students. As an educator, I would highly recommend this title to all readers (not just other educators). I have a totally new perspective on the power and potential of project-based-learning.

Okay. Inspirational. Awe.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC of this book. Best of luck to the teacher (the book seems like a resume' for a higher job). His method is cool.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book wasn't at all what I expected. Math and Science were not my strongest subjects in high school, but they were my favorites because of the Teachers had. The Class reiterated the notion that the teachers are the foundation of growth. This story about what some may deem as an ordinary HS classroom in Greenwich, CT turns into a tale of hope and inspiration. These are truly the formative years for young adults. Peer pressure, college, friend and relationships. Knowing what these students accomplished and how it may have shaped their futures indefinitely was great to read.

I am recommending this to my Daughter who aspires for a career in education. Very well written.

This book initially intrigued me because I am a high school math teacher. My expectations were pretty high and I'll be honest, I was a little let down. For me, I was looking to see what Andy did in his classroom that helped motivate these students to do amazing things and do well in science fairs around the country. What I was met with what a teacher in a privileged school, who although was not given much money from the school, he receives generous amounts from parents or others who are willing to give to the program, as well as expensive used materials from his previous job. Another thing was the increase in parent involvement. With that amount of money, resources, and parent buy in, OF COURSE he is going to have an amazing classroom and students. I teach in a low income area, where I meet maybe 2 or 3 parents of the 150 I teach a year. There is no buy in, there is no funding, so it was difficult to enjoy and relate to this book. I got pretty bored just hearing random snippets about what was going on in the classroom.

A solid book for those inspired to teach or at least reach the youth in innovative ways. The writing was a bit disorganized and stale. I thought it would focus more on the great teacher and how he used his educating prowess to break through to these exceptional students. Instead the reader should prepare for mini stories on individual students and their brilliant work. Bramante's independent study method and a lack of curricula was refreshing to read about as the typical school classroom structure continues to feel outdated. With a lack of formal tests and assignments I believe his method is the way to go in order to have students explore and critically think. Still, my main gripe is with the organization of the book. I still recommend it to those who are curious about a scientist leaving the corporate world to teach unconventional high school science.

If you liked Drama High, the story of legendary theater teacher Lou Volpe, written by Michael Sokolove, you will also enjoy this story of a year in the life of a charismatic science research teacher mentoring some remarkable young people through the world of the high powered science fair.
In fact I liked this even better. The multi-dimensional kids were a real revelation. Not science nerds at all, but gifted musicians, athletes, and entrepreneurs. These students included the very wealthy from privileged families as well as the children of struggling immigrants. The school is Greenwich High in one of the wealthiest communities in Connecticut, but abandon your preconceptions -- the school is certainly high achieving but the science program has no extraordinary resources and teacher Andy Bramante uses all his wiles and contacts to get his students an edge.
Mr. B is really the star of this book. His drive and compassion provide a wonderful support for these very special students. The reader without much of a science background may not understand precisely all the details of the projects these young people develop, but you can't help be impressed and amazed at the depth and breadth of their thinking and the lengths they will go to achieve results. Many of these winning proposals have ultimately been supported by corporations and medical programs that recognize their value to the world.
I loved getting to know Mr. B. and his students. The list of their accomplishments is included at the end of the book so you can see for yourself what a remarkable program this is. What the future holds is another question, as Mr. B. seems to have burned out and is contemplating new challenges. It will be a real loss for the Greenwich science program but I am optimistic that this fine teacher will continue to inspire eager students wherever he lands.

I liked the content in this book; however, I think if they used the first person, it would have flowed better.

Where are more schools with teachers like Andy Bramante?! It's so amazing what can be accomplished with the right teachers. His students were incredibly talented and very lucky to have a teacher to encourage and inspire the, Maybe schools should look into getting more of corporate America involved in their classrooms? It might just be to students advantage to work with people who are actually in the fields they teach! Great story and well told. Good luck to all those amazing kids! Thank you Heather Won Tesoriero!

Heather Won Tesoriero followed the students of teacher extraordinaire, Andy Bramante, for an entire year. Bramante is not an ordinary teacher and there is nothing commonplace about his class. Greenwich High School is diverse despite the notion that it is populated by the children of the rich and mighty. The students in Bramante’s science research class are representative of the school’s makeup. Bramante’s class has kids with obscene wealth and those who can barely pay a $150 project fee, kids with parents who are Momzillas and kids with parents who barely speak English. The commonality is that all the kids’ parents have chosen Greenwich High School because education rules supreme.

The goal of the class is to expose the kids to the science fair circuit and to take home as many prizes as possible. Can anyone say “Intel Scholar”?! Can anyone say Brainiac in the body of a teenager? Can anyone say super competitive? I couldn’t begin to even articulate some of their projects. These kids are the uber science intelligentsia.

Told in chapters relating to each student you get to know their personalities, their project, their progress, their interactions with Bramante, and some of their family’s backstory. William, at the top of the heap, is an “academic bruiser” but he moves at the pace of a turtle and has problems not only with time but with organization. Danny embodies the word entitled, he lives in a castle, is the pizza provider for his class, has food allergies that could prove fatal, is selectively lazy, a persistent procrastinator with a brilliance that allows him to master most any scientific concept. Sofia is gorgeous, quiet, watchful, self-contained and has a mind organized like a card catalog; she is a perfectionist suffering with an illness that goes unnamed for too long. Bramante’s class provides her with the opportunity to tackle her disease scientifically. Romano is “handsome, popular and a walking study in cool” and he plays football for a coach who is a bully. He is slightly embarrassed about his activity in the science club and the math team until he realizes the science research kids in Bramante’s class dominate the awards are successful and also very nice. And he wants in

There are other kids in Bramante’s class and they are all brilliant, interesting, and winning prizes at many science fairs with their amazing projects. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It is well written and while it may be a little diplomatic it doesn’t shy away from many issues worth pondering.

The Class is a testament to those extraordinary young people who pick a project, stick with it, fall down, get up, keep experimenting, sometimes winning, but never losing sight of the prize. Their teacher is their mentor, advocate, cheerleader and even a prom date broker. He is a scientist turned teacher with laser focus who doesn’t kid himself about the potential and failings of each of his kids. He is underappreciated by the administration and often by the parents. Go figure.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for a copy.

I was given an ARC, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I work as support staff in the education industry, as well as volunteer coaching for several years. This book not only taught me new things, but gave me some new ideas, to use in my own realm and recommend to the teachers that I work with.

I am always excited when I learn things from reading a book, but also very excited when new information shows me that I need to check my rarely stereotypical thoughts. Greenwich, Connecticut has always brought to mind privileged youth. I LOVED that this book pointed out in the first few pages that the Greenwich education system is not filled with privileged youth, but kids who’s parents have sacrificed so much in their own lives to make sure that their children have the best opportunities,

The above facts are further proven when the author tells us that in such a high end school district, the budget for the discussed advanced learning department is a small amount of $1200 per year, yet these students are still given huge opportunities in large part due to the dedication of this teacher.

I also think it’s a great thing for people to understand the amazing life changing and life saving ideas that are coming from our youth and not just from baby boomers in high end labs. The youth of today truly are the future for all of us. If we don’t like where there attitudes, morals and work ethics are headed, it is up to all of us to encourage greatness. Many of our youth don’t get that encouragement at home, so it will only be changed by dedication of the other adults that touch their lives.

Thanks so much for the author’s insights and dedication!

Thank you Random House & Netgalley for the eARC of this book! I’m a science teacher at a small, private high school, and I found this book really interesting. It was completely different from my own experience, so it was a little challenging for me to relate to, but I plan to get a copy for my classroom library— I think it would be really inspiring for some of my students to see what high schoolers are able to achieve.

Thank you for the opportunity to preview a copy of this book.

What a class of intelligent, impressive, high schoolers. They are mentored by an amazing teacher, Andy Bramante. The author takes us through the school year and the many science fairs this high achieving research class competes in. They not only compete, but they win many top regional and national prizes. The depth of the students’ scientific knowledge and ability to identify and pursue research projects is well above the level of most 16-18 year olds. The book focuses more in depth on a handful of the students. It talks about their families and the importance education plays. The students are not stereotypical ‘nerdy’ science kids. They remain high school students involved in high school romances, social media, and age appropriate activities. The students are multi talented, achieving in music, theater, and athletics, as well as science. It is exciting to see that students of this caliber are the cutting edge in fields such as medicine, engineering, environment, and energy production.

THE CLASS by Heather Won Tesoriero describes the events of a year spent observing a high school science research class taught by Andy Bramante in Greenwich, Connecticut. Tesoriero has chosen the rather long subtitle: "A Life-Changing Teacher, His World-Changing Kids, and the Most Inventive Classroom in America" and after reading parts of this book, that honestly does not feel like hyperbole. Bramante, like many teachers, is having a huge (and often under-appreciated) impact on the students in his class. Likewise, their impressive experiments and thought processes will indeed change the world. Aside from individual anecdotes and stories shared in chapters labeled Sophie, William, Ethan, and so forth, the multi-page list of the awards they won in 2016-2017 and the list of colleges they are attending all support Tesoriero's contentions about their intelligence and likelihood of future contributions.

Tesoriero's credentials as an Emmy-winning former producer at CBS and reporter at Newsweek, Time, and the Wall Street Journal are impressive and THE CLASS is very well-written and engaging. However, the part which gives me pause with regards to purchasing it for a school library is the emphasis on "the Most Inventive Classroom in America." Tesoriero herself notes that Bramante's students "dominated the science fair circuit in unprecedented numbers" and makes reference to working in the lab until midnight. Clearly, they are not a representative bunch and where is the balance in their lives? I would hesitate to hand this book to one of my students (even though they, too, are very accomplished and privileged), especially at a time when parents and educators are all trying to help teenagers cope appropriately with anxiety (see recent New York Times opinion piece, for example) and high expectations. In this book, even Andy Bramante shows signs of burnout despite his many connections and resources. My other concern is that Tesoriero writes about both male and female students here, but in one section I read she chose to emphasize a story about prom-proposals and what a girl was wearing to the prom. What message is that sending about women's roles, especially with respect to science where they tend to be underrepresented?

Do look for THE CLASS if you are interested in stories about innovative science experiments like those that could develop a low-cost Ebola test or create an antibiotic-laced liquid bandage or gauge arterial plaque buildup or study how to help cure Lyme disease. You will be encouraged and impressed – just like all of those high school science fair judges!

Link in live post: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/opinion/sunday/teenager-anxiety-phones-social-media.html

NEW INFO: LOCAL Author Talk: Monday, September 24, 2018 -- 2 events
12:00 PM - Loyola University Chicago School of Law; 25 E. Pearson St., Chicago, IL 60611 RSVP Required for noon event. Open to the public: 7:00 PM - New Trier High School, Northfield Campus, Cornog Auditorium, 7 Happ Rd., Northfield, IL 60093
More info on both at: https://www.familyactionnetwork.net/

This book really wasn’t what I expected, but I found it interesting. It follows a science teacher from Greenwich Ct., Andy Bramante, who mentors a science research class. His students have had amazing success in Science Fairs and Science competitions at very high levels. Van Tesoriero, a former newsperson and award winner in her own field, spent a large amount of time following Andy and the kids in his class. As a former science teacher, I found it engaging, but I am not sure the average person would be quite so intrigued. Van Tesoriero interspersed the students stories with background and stories about Andy himself. I found it a bit confusing to keep up with the students due to bouncing back and forth between them, but they were extremely interesting, intelligent, DRIVEN kids. They ranged widely in personality, from those very organized and on top of things to those who thrived on the pressure of last minute stress. Included were their concerns about college admission, hobbies, and prom. The commonality between them was their creativity, science acumen, and support from their parents and of course, Andy. He has a dream situation in his lab, with great connections to researchers, both industrial and academic, and an incredible amount of equipment. Now he has scrounged, begged, and borrowed for much of it, but that is nothing new to educators. He isn’t happy with the support from his school, given how much positive attention it has received from his students’ wins, and again, that is nothing new. However, I am sure anyone outside the educational system is amazed that he doesn’t get more support. Kudos to Andy, kudos to the students, and kudos to Heather Van Tesoriero for sharing this story.
Thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for an advance copy of The Class in exchange for an honest review.

The Class: A Life-Changing Teacher, His World-Changing Kids, and the Most Inventive Classroom in America

by Heather Won Tesoriero

Heather Won Tesoriero spent a year in Andy Bramante’s science research classroom. Andy, a former analytic chemist, left the corporate world to become a teacher, to make a difference. He and his students are award-winning, and The Class gives an in-depth look, not at what he does in his classroom as a model for cookie cutter programs across the nation, but at the teacher Andy and how he cares about his students and helps them be independent, creative thinkers in science and in their personal lives.

Andy’s students have to apply to be in his class which is centered around independent research and participation in multiple science fairs. Success in the science fairs can result in prize monies and affect college admissions. Along the way, the students learn advanced science (often in multiple fields), self-discipline, how to use professional scientific instrumentation, research methodology, and presentation skills.

The students in The Class live in tony and highly competitive Greenwich, Connecticut. Most would be considered nerds and most, but certainly not all, are from upper-class families. Many are children of immigrants and those parents are highly motivated to see their children succeed. Many of these very intelligent teenagers are also talented in other areas such as athletics and music. They will all go to good colleges.

The Class is formatted according to the school year with chapters about various students and Andy as they move through the seasons. We read of the students’ personal struggles as teenagers as well as their attempts to find a topic for research and bring their project to fruition. It doesn’t take long to become engaged in their struggles and begin to root for a good outcome.

This book has widespread appeal partly because the author seems to be invested in the subjects of her writing and makes them come to life. I learned a lot about the current world of college admissions. I must admit that the science involved in many of the projects was beyond the scope of my science background, but was explained well. I recommend The Class and wish Andy and his students well in their future endeavors.

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Random House (Ballantine) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Nonfiction (Adult), Science

Notes: 1. Some casual swearing throughout the book by both teacher and students.
2. The author made several snide slurs about the current presidency. Those remarks seem unnecessary and politically motivated. They are supposed to reflect conversations she heard, but they certainly seemed couched in her language, especially a disparaging comment about the First Lady. A writer selects what to share from the many words and events that pass before her. I think in this case she should have asked herself two questions as she put pen to paper: Is it necessary to tell my story? Is it kind?

Publication: September 4, 2018—Random House (Ballantine)

Memorable Lines:

Andy would have it no other way. To him, the whole reason he got into the teaching business was to work side by side with kids, to develop the relationships and let the science unfurl in all of its glorious unpredictability.

“All day, we’re telling the kids, do this, read this, use this—and if you don’t, you fail. They need a space where it’s okay to fail.” —Nancy Shwartz, Cos Cob school librarian and creator of Maker Space, a place at her school where creativity is prized

“We’ve moved from education, teaching people how to think, to training, teaching people how to bark on time. And highly structured curriculum and even scripted curriculum in some places—the teacher reads the lesson. Those are not places where someone is being educated. It can’t be… Which is more valuable to the person and to the society? I can memorize something and give it back to you in an orderly fashion, even in a comprehensively well-expressed fashion. Or I can think. To me, it’s not even a call.” —Thomas Forget, Ph.D., professor and Andy’s mentor