Author Description

"After graduating from Yale with a degree in literature, Sarah Sentilles, a Spanish-speaking twenty-two-year-old with almost no teaching experience, joined Teach for America and was assigned to a rundown elementary school in Compton, California - one of the toughest cities in America. In charge of thirty-six first graders in a classroom without books, Sentilles experienced her own kind of education. Taught by America is the story of the children Sentilles taught - but more than that, it's the story of one woman's change of heart and life." "Through portraits of the children in her classroom, Sentilles relates a heartbreaking journey, as she learns about a failing school system, the true meaning of poverty in America, and the strength children exhibit when they're just struggling to survive." "Sentilles originally went into Teach for America as a break between undergraduate and graduate school. She fully expected to go back to school for her doctorate in comparative literature after a two-year teaching stint. But teaching the children in Compton changed her utterly, and she decided during her tenure to study for the ministry instead."--Jacket.