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Summary (also available through PDF flier): When a young Mennonite girl is uprooted from her cloistered community, she pines to go back to Yoder School where learning was full of wonder and where she decided to be a teacher. Here is a story of leaving childhood innocence to go out into the world—and to learn in new ways from different people in places that don't feel like home. Reviewer This coming of age memoir shows how a young Mennonite, uprooted from her community in the mountains of western Maryland, forges her identity. Pulled from the cloistered three-room Yoder School, full of Mennonite and Amish kids, she pursues her goal to become a teacher in a variety of classrooms, all unfamiliar to her and then graduates from Antioch University, the hippie college of Yellow Springs, Ohio. In each classroom, she searches for Yoder School, where learning was full of wonder and people seemed safe. What she finds is people whose stories differ from hers. Will she hear and try to understand and learn from these stories? Reviewer Raylene Hinz-Penner (in Mennonite World Review) starts out “a bit leery of taking up a country school hardship story, given that I have both lived that reality and read about it often." She concludes, however, that Swartz's writing “is beautiful, detailed and lyrical, with poignant passages of deep longing to be fully alive in this world.” "When you follow Phyllis into each new setting and each new challenge, think of the hungry caterpillar, eating its way into its true self, beauty and freedom, voluntarily casting off old skins before transforming into new ones. As you pause to reflect on the pedagogical and theological truth in that image, you too are a student in the Yoder School." —Shirley Hershey Showalter, author of the memoir Blush and President Emeritus, Goshen College, in the Foreword "Yoder School is an extraordinarily insightful memoir of an inter-culturally-seasoned Anabaptist educator journeying from an Amish Mennonite mountain school in Maryland through urban mazes of Michigan and beyond. Her razor-keen excellence in educational pedagogy, fusing love for students with inspiring them to learn, forms a page-turning narrative My affirmation and congratulations for the publication of a great memoir, grounded in the best of Anabaptist and other radical Christian impulses." —Richard Showalter, Columnist, Mennonite World Review; and Overseer, CMC (formerly Conservative Mennonite Conference) "This warm and engaging memoir reached out and drew me in, stirring my own reflections about belonging, identity and faith." -—Titus Peachey, Peace Advocate "In
vivid prose, Swartz offers readers an intimate window into the life of
a passionate learner. Her hunger for a deeper understanding of the
world around her—be it the culture of her Amish Mennonite upbringing,
the lives of her students, or the complexities of modern science and
politics—is truly inspiring. I highly recommend this memoir.” —John D. Roth, Professor of
History, Goshen College; Director; Mennonite Historical Library; and
Editor, Mennonite Quarterly Review Quote:
“Yoder School has been shut down for some years now,
but I’ve spent my life trying to go back to the school where I started
first grade. I climbed into the bus that day clutching my new tin lunch
box and thinking about a college diploma. I knew diplomas were
important, having just watched my dad’s college graduation. I could
tell by the way Grandpa snapped pictures of my dad holding his diploma
surrounded by my two little brothers in their best white shirts and
suspenders and my mom, almost ready to have another baby, and me in my
new patent leather shoes. I looked at the diploma in Dad’s hands and
decided right then and there that I too would earn a college diploma
one day.” —Phyllis
Miller Swartz, in Chapter 1 Market: Swartz’s memoir should appeal to anyone drawn to a story of forging identity within and across multiple Mennonite and larger worlds. Shelving: Memoir, autobiography—Mennonite/Anabaptist, coming of age, growing up; Education. BISAC: Autobiography; History, Religion. RTM: 170 Autobiography; 690 Religion/Ethics. The Author: Enchanted by first grade at Yoder School, Phyllis Miller Swartz, London, Ohio, decided to become a teacher. But after she and family moved, she wondered how to learn to be a good teacher when she often didn't have one. Still she pursued her goal. After graduating from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, she taught school for over 30 years, from HeadStart to middle school, high school, college, and more, trying to bring the wonder of Yoder School to her students. Swartz's MA is from Ohio State University. She leads tours at the Columbus Museum of Art, teaches part-time at Rosedale Bible College, conducts seminars in churches, and writes the blog “Apple to Apple” on teaching and learning. She is a member of London Christian Fellowship, which belongs to CMC (formerly known as Conservative Mennonite Conference).
Publisher: Cascadia
Publishing House LLC |
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