Diary Of A School Teacher | F. Vigdorova

Later I wrote a feature story about a young school-teacher for Komsomolskaya Pravda. When I met her again a year later, she told me she had received a great many letters from people who had read the story. One of these was a sailor named Anatoli Negora. A lively correspondence had sprung up between the sailor and the young school-teacher’s class, and at the end of May, just before the examinations, he had come to Moscow and paid a visit to the children.

I have made use of this friendship between the sailor and
the schoolboys in the present book. The sailor's name has been
changed, but the letters arc genuine. As for the children I describe, they include both my own pupils and other children I have known. Marina Nikolayevna is neither a self-portrait nor a portrait of anyone I have known; she is a composite character in whom I have sought to depict the traits of many young Soviet teachers whose work I have had occasion to observe. In a word, my purpose has been to tell you about the first steps of a young Soviet school teacher, her successes and mistakes, her quests and reflections, her joys and disappointments; how she teaches the children and herself learns in the process, and how great is a gratification she derives from her calling.

The book was translated from Russian by Rose Prokofieva, illustrated by H. Vinokurov and designed by V. Smirnov. The book was published in 1954 by Foreign Languages Publishing House.