The Unteachables

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2019

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-5

Chapters 6-8

Chapters 9-11

Chapters 12-14

Chapters 15-17

Chapters 18-20

Chapters 21-22

Chapters 23-26

Chapters 27-29

Chapters 30-32

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 21-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 21 Summary: “Kiana Roubini”

In class, Mr. Kermit divides the kids into reading groups. Kiana works with Parker on anagrams some days. On other days, when Parker works with a reading specialist, Kiana joins Barnstorm, Mateo, and Rahim. At times Rahim isn’t with them—Mr. Kermit gets him into part-time art classes at the community college.

Mr. Kermit starts using the puffy-tails to teach economics by allowing the kids to sell or trade them. After Kiana lends a bunch to Aldo, Barnstorm calls the loan stupid because Aldo will never pay her back. In response, Kiana accuses Barnstorm of hoarding the tails, something equally pointless since “all those puffy-tails will be worthless” in high school next year (186).

In the wake of the argument, Kiana realizes she’s talking like she isn’t going to be leaving. She decides she’s “got to get back to LA—and fast” (187).

Chapter 22 Summary: “Mrs. Vargas”

Principal Vargas is on her way to show the first semester progress reports to Dr. Thaddeus. On the way, she thinks about how dedicated and driven Mr. Kermit was when he first started teaching, his decline after the scandal, and his recent return to the teacher he once was. As she hands the reports to Dr. Thaddeus, she tells him to “prepare to be amazed” (189). Dr. Thaddeus barely glances at them before stating that Mr. Kermit must have falsified the reports to keep his job.

Mrs. Vargas argues Mr. Kermit would never falsify reports, but Dr. Thaddeus won’t have it. He still aims to fire Mr. Kermit. After some research, Dr. Thaddeus has figured out that over the past two years Mr. Kermit’s students’ science scores declined. If his current students also show a drop, Dr. Thaddeus can fire Mr. Kermit for being an ineffective educator. Principal Vargas is appalled, but she realizes that the kids in room 117 only have to do better than they did the last two years, which shouldn’t be difficult. She decides to give Mr. Kermit a few warning hints—he doesn’t deserve to lose his job because a “cranky superintendent can’t forgive him for something that was never his fault in the first place” (192).

Chapters 21-22 Analysis

Chapter 22 offers Principal Vargas’s perspective on Mr. Kermit. This is the only chapter from the principal’s perspective, included to show an outsider to room 117 noticing Mr. Kermit’s progress. Mrs. Vargas knew Mr. Kermit at the beginning of his career, so she is the only character in a position to state that Mr. Kermit is like his old self again. Her chapter also reminds the reader that Dr. Thaddeus is closer than ever to firing Mr. Kermit, building tension for the book’s final chapters.

Chapter 21 continues the earlier theme of the importance of differentiation in education and the need to account for different kids’ learning styles and deficits. Mr. Kermit creates reading groups, has students of different abilities like Kiana and Parker work together, invites a learning specialist to provide extra support, and does his best to discover his students strengths even when those strengths lie outside his classroom—as happens with Rahim, whose artistic talent flourishes in a college-level program. Moreover, Rahim’s situation exemplifies the importance of non-core subjects. While math, science, English, and social studies are rightly the main priority in school, not every student will thrive in those subjects. Classes in art, music, and other non-core disciplines are just as important, and students should be encouraged, rather than discouraged, from pursuing strengths that lie outside of traditional subjects.