Not In My Classroom!: A Teacher's Guide to Effective Classroom Management [Paperback]

Frederick C. Wootan (Author), Catherine H. Mulligan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 2007

It's been a whole week made up of "one of those days." Your students are not listening. They are not doing their homework. And you can't even get them to sit still. Time to throw in the towel? No--it's time to batten down the hatches.

Author Frederick C. Wootan is a teacher who brings business management into the classroom. His solutions to your problems help you get your class back under control. From seating strategies to disciplinary tactics, this user-friendly teaching guide covers it all, including tips on:

• Building a support network
• Communicating and enforcing rules
• Issuing a mission statement
• Identifying and dealing with problem students
• Managing the paperwork
• Modernizing your class

By following the guidance provided in Not in My Classroom, you can train your students to treat your classroom less like a playground and more like a workplace. A fresh take on classroom management, this practical book helps you put students in their seats, pencils in their hands, and a smile on your face.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Frederick C. Wootan, an award-winning poet, entered teaching three years ago after thirty successful years in the insurance business. He has written two mystery novels, a textbook on insurance, and several articles for nationally published trade magazines. His inspirational book for teens is mandatory outside reading for the juniors at Bishop Fenwick High School, where he teaches. Wootan's experience as a manager brings a different perspective to the teaching field. He lives in Waynesville, OH.

Catherine H. Mulligan, M.A., is a teacher, department chairman, dean of academics, and now principal at Bishop Fenwick High School. She has taught not only at the high-school level but also at the college level for more than thirty years. She has received many awards for her teaching and community service, as well as a study grant from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Institute, Princeton University, during the summer of 1989. She served as master teacher in the Torch outreach program of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and published articles in mathematics magazines for teachers. She lives in Middletown, OH.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Polka Dot Press (April 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598693425
• ISBN-13: 978-1598693423
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #640,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born 1944, in Middletown, Ohio, Fred received his bachelors' degree from the University of Dayton in 1976. He dropped out of full-time college work when he fell in love with Barbara, now his wife of forty-two years. He later finished his degree by attending classes at night. Fred received the prestigious insurance designation of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter from the Insurance Institute of America in 1974 after completing an extensive study of the property casualty insurance industry.

Early in his insurance business career Fred began teaching insurance classes and published his first book The Successful Insurance Agency, to provide a teaching tool to individuals who wanted to enter that business. He followed this with writing his first mystery novels based on an insurance agent and his partner and Carmen Press published the first two of these, Death, Then Murder, and Murder Under Fire.

After spending nearly thirty-five years as a successful professional, executive, and business owner in corporate America Fred felt a call to teaching and left the world of insurance to begin a new career teaching American Literature and creative writing at the high school level. During summer break after his first year as a teacher, Fred penned an inspirational book for teens, "Incoming", based on his life experiences following God's messages.

It wasn't too long after entering the field of academia that Fred became concerned about the high turnover in that field. At the same time he discovered that his teaching style based on the management principles he had learned in college and practiced as a businessman could be a way to help reduce that problem. He felt it could increase the overall morale and teaching experience for teachers, and result in a better learning experience for students. He returned to the nonfiction field and used his writing skills to write Not In My Classroom, focusing on classroom management, and it was published by Adams Media. This was followed up with his book about all the fears that enter the classroom and inhibit the learning process titled No Fear In My Classroom.

He began to write while in college. He wrote what he calls the master dust collector. It was his first attempt at a full length novel and he has never submitted it to a publisher because, in his words, "It stinks!" He has enjoyed writing poetry and has had his poems published in anthologies. He also has written many articles for nationally published trade magazines further expanding his writing skills. Fred has never considered himself a novelist, but a writer who enjoys writing in many genres as well as in teaching them. Fred says, "Losing yourself in reading a good novel is second only to the writing of one."

His primary vocation of husband, father, and grandfather has meant that times have passed when writing took a back seat, but never has a part of his mind completely left the formation of the ideas that later became words on paper, for a writer must write. Fred tells his students that poetry involves putting your thoughts in written form using the fewest words possible, and you do it best when you fill the reader's mind with a lyrical mist of thought.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Horrible, unorganized mess, April 30, 2009

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W. Scott Whitlock "Thinker and Reader" (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Not In My Classroom!: A Teacher's Guide to Effective Classroom Management (Paperback)

Transitioning from college teaching to middle school teaching next year, I eagerly anticipated reading this book for some hands-on advice about discipline in the classroom. What I got was an unorganized mess that read more like a corporate handbook that offered very little in the way of actual advice (unless you consider gossiping with other teachers about students, gossiping with secretaries about other teachers, and wearing business formal dress, advice). If you really want practical advice about controlling a classroom, I would highly recommend Setting Limits in the Classroom by Robert J. MacKenzie. Not only is it a great book that shows you how to establish limits in your classroom by treating your students with respect and demanding the same in turn, it is chock full of examples. With it, I feel much more confident about entering a 5th grade classroom, and I noticed that it was also applicable to my college classroom as well (students only change a bit between 10 and 18, it seems). I'm not sure what Not in My Classroom would be useful for.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Also Not in My Classroom, February 23, 2010

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V. Olson (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Not In My Classroom!: A Teacher's Guide to Effective Classroom Management (Paperback)

I read the first chapter and was so put off by the tone I put it down. Later, I decided to give it another chance because I feel there is always something to learn from anyone. I did not take anything away from this book besides that I would never want to be in the author's classroom. There were very few specific ideas to use, but rather very smug anecdotes about what he has done with his students and no evidence for how and why they work. Another, better, book to read would be "Teaching with Love and Logic" by Jim Fay and David Funk. This book was so unhelpful that it was the one I weeded out when I needed extra shelf space for a more helpful book on teaching and classroom management.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not in My Classroom!, September 1, 2007

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J. Ideus (Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Not In My Classroom!: A Teacher's Guide to Effective Classroom Management (Paperback)

When school was out in May 2006 I really felt burned out and wondered if I was being an effective teacher. I kept asking myself if I really wanted to go back for an 18th year of teaching. However, after I read Mr. Wootan's book I felt optimistic and rejuvenated. I found ideas that had been used once upon a time, but had forgotten somewhere down the line. There are many useful ideas for new teachers as well as those of us who have been around a decade or more. I found myself anxious to get back to school. I really looked forward to meeting the new students, nearly 120 of them. I don't know if I would have had the courage to start a new year without Not in My Classroom, but it certainly gave me the jumpstart that I needed.