310 was our school number-I never use its name, because to me being In The Building was actually a state of mind, an elevated heart rate, a place where everything was more intense, faster and trickier than the rest of my world. This book offers glimpses of a teacher's year as I lived it-fragments of sight, sound, smell, memory and belief; sketches of the funny, stressful, tragic and sometimes beautiful moments that made up my day-to-day experience. I'm no longer a teacher, but there's a part of me that will always be there- maybe the best part of all I could become-formed in the crucible,...