He demonstrated the changes in himself by listing all the people and institutions that made his childhood so difficult leaving burdens of guilt he thought were his alone, and forgave them one by one.
Much of his early teaching involves telling anecdotes about his childhood in Ireland in response to questions from his students, which incidents were mainly covered in his earlier books Angela's Ashes and 'Tis.
McCourt then teaches English as a Second Language, and also a class of predominantly African-American female students, whom he took to a production of Hamlet.
He writes about his teacher certification test when he was asked about George Santayana, of whom he was ignorant, but later gives an excellent lesson to a class on the war poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, whose poems he knew well.
Before his daughter is born in 1971, McCourt goes to Trinity College for a doctorate degree, living in Dublin for two years with a break in between to vacation with his wife.
When his daughter is 8 years old, he and his wife separate and divorce, with Frank moving out on his own as he continues teaching at Stuyvesant High School.
He spent most of his teaching career at Stuyvesant High School, where he taught English and Creative Writing with success for the students and a good experience for him, the teacher.
On another day, students brought foods from home, enough for all in the class, and had their vocabulary lessons in the park near the school.
The theme through all those experiences in his classes is that writers are always observing, seeking what is happening around them so they can both decide their own next actions and describe what they see in straightforward language.
Literary critic Michiko Kakutani writing in The New York Times found text to like in this book, but finds it lacking the charm of the first memoir, and better organized than the second.
Recalling the prior book 'Tis: A Memoir and its style, "The same dark humor, lyric voice and gift for dialogue are apparent here".
The reviewer felt that "McCourt’s self-deprecating tone diminishes in this section, for now this innovative teacher is given free rein, and it is clear that he’s having a grand time.
"[4] Thomas Hansen, a former teacher who moved up to the Illinois State Board of Education, reviewed this book and found it "a wonderful one if people are into teaching".
[6] Hillel Italie in the Los Angeles Times describes Frank McCourt, writing Teacher Man as his third and probably last memoir "proved with Angela’s Ashes that publishing was not just a young person’s game and that you didn’t need to be famous to get millions to care about your story."