Throwing the Hammer (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781038344113)

Paranoid administrators, interdepartmental feuds, quirky staff members, and an eccentric headmaster: welcome to Winston Grant High School.
Mark Patterson has a master's degree in physics, wants to do nothing more than surf and ski, and believes that high school teaching will be the cushy job of his dreams. He receives a rude awakening when he becomes a physics teacher at Winston Grant, a begrudging little brother amidst rival private school heavyweights.
From the outset, Mark must tiptoe through a virtual minefield of Procrustean rules, coddling parents, scheming colleagues, and, of course, teen-aged students.
Things don't go well, inside or outside the classroom. His students call him Mr. Goofegg. His football team is pathetic. His lunch-table kids behave like Neanderthals. His teaching supervisor, aka the "education implementation strategist," criticizes him for using equations. His colleagues have even organized a betting pool for when he will get fired.
And when Mark discovers that a weak student in his class is a physics genius, he finds himself caught in the middle of a conflict between father and son, a conflict which could destroy the young man's potential. Or help Mark find his.

Author: Gary J. Kirchner
ISBN-10: 1038344115
ISBN-13: 9781038344113
Publisher: FriesenPress
Language: English
Published: 01/13/2026
Pages: 294
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.66d

Review Citation(s):
Foreword 10/03/2025