CHEBOYGAN — Once Eric Hall retired from teaching, his students provided him with a unique idea.
They made Hall, a former Cheboygan Area Schools teacher of the year, realize he should write a book about his experiences in the classroom throughout the years.
His wife, Laura, co-signed on the idea as well. So after he retired in 2025, he got to work.
While the journey of writing a first book wasn’t a smooth one, Hall can now say he’s made it in the authoring business.
Hosting a signing at Melody’s Lane and the Book Store in Cheboygan on Friday, July 17, Hall’s book “Controlled Chaos: Lessons They Didn’t Teach You in Teacher School,” received huge interest from customers fascinated by Hall’s story.
“I love Cheboygan — Cheboygan’s been my community for 25 years,” he said. “It’s nice to see the turnout and meet all these people I never got the chance to meet but I knew online.”
Right alongside his wife Laura, Hall — a Wilmington, North Carolina native who taught anywhere from second to fifth grade to K5 to Title I during his career — signed numerous copies of his book throughout the afternoon. Before moving to Cheboygan, Hall taught fifth grade in North Carolina for two years.
In “Controlled Chaos,” Hall details many experiences from teaching, including some hilarious and unexpected moments along the way. Hall began working on the book last summer and admitted there were some challenges.
“The easiest part was the writing,” Hall said. “After you send it to the publisher, and then they edit it, then you get to the point where you start arguing with the editor because they want to cut so much of your good stuff, and then you go back and forth, and of course they design the cover, and you have to accept the design. It’s just a whole thing that I wasn’t prepared for.”
Though the process of getting the book published wasn’t easy, he enjoyed it.
Being a teacher for over a quarter of a century, Hall said his message is clear.
“I want people who are interested in children and passionate about education to go into education. That’s the first thing, and I want them to realize that connection always comes before content,” Hall said.
Hall also received plenty of inspiration from his mother, Beth, who was a major advocate for independent bookstores. After she passed away, Hall wanted to pay tribute to her by making his book available throughout independent booksellers across the country. With a goal of having the book available in 50 states, Hall is currently at 46.
“Overall, it’s been a wild ride, to say the least,” Hall said. “Another thing that blew me away were all the teacher influencers out there that were supportive. I had millions of followers.”
Witnessing the excitement, thrill and frustration of Hall’s book writing process, Laura could not be prouder of her husband.
“He’s been great,” Laura said. “His mother (Beth) recently passed away, and he now has something going, trying to get one copy in an (independent) bookstore in her name in her honor, and I can’t even describe it.”
Now that he’s written his first book, Hall highly recommends the idea of writing to others.
“If people like to write and they enjoy it, and they find something they think needs to be out there, then I think they should give it a try,” Hall said.
Contact Jared Greenleaf at jgreenleaf@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Retired Cheboygan teacher shares secrets from the classroom in book
Reporting by Jared Greenleaf, Cheboygan Daily Tribune / Cheboygan Daily Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jared Greenleaf, Cheboygan Daily Tribune | USA TODAY Network
