By any measure, Rafe Esquith's fifth grade students have been wildly successful. Attending school in a Los Angeles neighborhood plagued by guns, gangs, and drugs, these kids, many of whom are first generation immigrants living in poverty and learning English as a second language, voluntarily come to school at 6:30 in the morning and study with him until 5:00 in the afternoon.

In the exceptional classroom known as Room 56, these students learn Shakespeare, play Vivaldi, score in the top 1 percent on standardized tests, and go on to attend Ivy League universities. Rafe has taken them to perform in front of Congress and at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Globe Theatre in London. Sir Peter Hall even hired them to perform an unforgettable Midsummer Night's Dream at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles.

For his tireless efforts, Rafe has gained many admirers: Sir Ian McKellan says, "Rafe Esquith is my only hero," and The New York Times calls him "a genius and a saint." He is the only teacher to be awarded the president's National Medal of the Arts, and he was named, by Queen Elizabeth, as a Member of the British Empire. He has also received the Walt Disney American Teacher Award for National Teacher of the Year, Oprah's Use Your Life Award, and the Dalai Lama' Compassion in Action Award.

Rafe and his students are also the subject of a highly-acclaimed PBS documentary, The Hobart Shakespeareans. In his new book, Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56, due in January 2007, Rafe, drawing from a lifetime of experience, has written nothing less than an inspiring and thought-provoking road map for parents, teachers, and anyone who cares about the future success of our nation's children.

Newsday recently called Rafe Esquith a "modern-day Thoreau, who teaches the value of hard work, honest self-reflection, and the courage to go one's own way." In his energetic and unforgettable talks, Rafe celebrates the joy of learning, the power of love and kindness, and the ability of children to adapt, survive and prosper in even the toughest circumstances. Always accompanied on stage by some of his students, Rafe touches on key issues in education, including classroom management, Shakepeare in the classroom, problem solving, history, and rebelling against a system that loves to crush creative people.