Customer Reviews

The First Days Of School: How To Be An Effective Teacher

5 star:		(140)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Why are teacher's always treated like the children they teach? Teachers are smart, college educated, professionals. Yet no body would ever think this based on the books written about teaching for teachers. This book like so many is no different. It looks like a book for a child and it is written in much the same manner filled with no brainer facts and pictures. The only good advice offered in the book is about keeping the list of classroom rules short and making everything else a procdure. That is useful and helpful but the format of the book and dumbed down method in which Mr. Wong writes is awful. Read the $100,000 Teacher by Brian Crosby instead and learn what can be done to change this problem and to give teachers the respect they so very much deserve.

A child's first day at school brings knots to the stomach. The average 12 year old is saying to him/herself "oh my god, what will happen on the fist day?" All kids fear the unknown, and if you think it'll be hard for you as a teacher, you should see what it's like as a kid. Showing up at school and not knowing where you're supposed to be can be a traumatic experience for a child. But what if the child walks into the room, says her name, and the teacher barks "wrong room!" That can really intimidate a kid.

The teacher has to make as many decisions as possible before the kids show up, so that the kids don't have to make any. Even their names should be marked on the desks before they come in. Otherwise it'll be "find yourself a space" and there'll be pandemonium.

But First Day of School has more faults then strengths. For instance...
1. Wong assumes that students will blindly follow rules if they are repeated constantly. This won't happen with defiant children who come to school with anger.
2. He assumes that a teacher will have his/her own classroom. At the elementary level this is true, but I've had to teach in 3 different classrooms per day.
3. He says he does all his work in his prep period, not afterschool. In my first year I had 4 preps and I had no choice but to work after school.
4. How are you supposed to teach rules, policies, and procedures when students are being dropped from or added to your roster in the first 3 weeks of school?

If you are new to this profession, this book could help. But don't ever assume that things will fall into place the way Harry Wong says they will. There's only one assumption that a teacher should have, and that is is anyithing can go wrong, it will.

Mr Wong is making a good living selling his book and working the lecture circut. Some good ideas but a lot of impractical stuff included. The reality of the classroom and the ineffectiveness of school administration make working under such ideal circumstances unrealistic. Work in 5 classes of 40-50 kids each day who can't read (many are moved up so they can be with their friends) and such touchy feely programs quickly fall aside.

One of the top reviews here on Amazon about Harry Wong's The First Days of School was written in 2000, which means it refers to **an earlier printing of the book.** Some of the criticisms are quite valid - the layout of the OLD version made the book very difficult to read!

The NEWEST version of The First Days of School was published in 2004. If you didn't get a CD with your book, then you don't have the newest version! The layout is much cleaner, and it looks like all of the old page numbers still correspond, which is great.

Yes, Wong spends a whole 10 pages discussing how to dress for success in teaching, and I think it's well spent. I have to visit plenty of schools in my town as a part of my teacher training, and I'm surprised at what I'm seeing from so-called "professionals."

As a student teacher, I've found The First Days of School to be quite valuable. It covers all the big ideas that my university sometimes fails to address, while also covering some very basic, practical solutions to problems I didn't know I might encounter.

I would say that less than half the content in this book is purely actionable and useful. There is a great deal of rah-rah speak, dull to plow through and redundant. The Wongs would do a great service trimming the text and pulling forward their specific recommendations on procedures and other classroom management activities.

For more useful, actionable specifics on classroom management I have found reading Fred Jones' articles (available free on an education website) and his book to be a worthwhile read. He gets to the point succinctly, a pleasure after suffering through the cheerleading Wong book.

I find it very interesting that the ones who diss this book are the ones who haven't entered the classroom yet. Anyone who has been in the classroom knows that there are MANY things that you are not taught in your college courses, and this book addresses many of them.

I found that if nothing else, this book led me to think about my classroom management style and has inspired me to develop new ideas. I have been teaching for 8 years now from grades 1-8 and have been complimented by 3 different administrators for my classroom management. I have also been asked by fellow teachers for help in this area because my students always seem to be so well-behaved.

Yes, most of this book is common sense, but DOING the right thing is sometimes harder than just KNOWING what is right. Wong lays out how to become the teacher you want to be.

I have heard Harry Wong speak at a conference and was blown away. He spoke for three hours in front of thousands of teachers and kept us all engaged and laughing for the entire three hours. He is definitely a gifted speaker with a wealth of knowledge about teaching. But I must say his book was far less interesting. I was reluctant about this book at first as I was already an experienced teacher but it came so highly recommended that I thought I'd give it a chance. There are some good tips about teaching but there are too many redundant sidebars and footnotes. There are topics that could've been covered with a paragraph which Harry Wong goes on for an entire chapter. The lay out of the book looks colorful and busy but for reading and learning about effecting teaching - not so effective. I would not recommend this to beginning teachers or experienced teachers.

The First Days of School: How to Be An Effective Teacher, was not only a great book for advice on how to start off the school year, but provided me with so much more. I had read the first edition some years back and remembered how greatly it affected me and decided to purchase this 3rd edition. It had more information then the first and after reading it I felt more confident as a teacher. The book does give great pointers on how to start the school year off right, but it also makes you aware of how important your role is as a teacher and how your behavior, dress,classroom management, and positive attitude toward your students are such important factors in determining your success as a teacher! I will recommmend it to all of my fellow teachers!

If I were going to rate Harry Wong's book based on his title's implied audience of all teachers, I would be forced to give it 1 star. This book is specifically geared towards elementary teachers only and more specifically to ones who can't possibly have earned a teaching degree yet. Giving this book to someone with teaching credentials would be equivalent to giving a certified mechanic a three-hundred page manual on how to rotate tires.

However, it did occurr to me that Mr. Wong's well-intentioned book would be an excellent primer for any untrained person or student-teacher who found themselves subbing/interning in an elementary school. In that case, I would actually rate this a 5-star book. No kidding.

For a slightly misleading title: 1 Star
For untrained elementary school employees: 5 Stars
Average: (1+5)/2 = 3 Stars

If you are starting your career as a teacher, are a seasoned teacher wanting to revisit the basics, or know a teacher about to enter the field - this book is a must have for their personal library.

The book discusses the importance of procedures, how to establish logical procedures, and how to logically reinforce those procedures when not followed.

Very reader friendly. You can flip to any page and simply begin reading. The format is very inviting. If you have discipline problems, Harry Wong would suggest it is largely due to lack of established procedures and routines that must be taught and then rehearsed. While it is most effective to establish routines during "the first days of school", if you haven't - better to establish routines in the middle of the year as opposed to not at all.

I have seen and read many books on discipline and classroom management. I do not know what I have done with those books... I probably left them at the schools at which I formerly worked. My wife holds our copy of The First Days of School in her classroom. I must go to her to read it.

Admittedly, classroom management and discipline is as much an art as science, Harry Wong provides the science portion, experience through sucesses and failures is the only way to master the art portion. With this book, you can begin that journey with steps in a logical direction.