20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful, easy reading, indispensable, November 12, 2004
This review is from: Teacher Under Construction: Things I Wish I'd Known!: A Survival Handbook for New Middle School Teachers (Paperback)
Teacher Under Construction is an absolutely indispensable book for anyone wanting to teach in the middle school. Mr. Parks has clearly and accurately captured the necessary elements for setting up and running a successful classroom, and has done it with wonderful insights and stories that help illuminate his points.
The book is broken into easy to read chapters that take one essential element of middle school, and breaks it into workable pieces. Tips, ideas, and easy to follow instructions help the reader apply these truths to their own classrooms. This book deals with the practical elements as well as the theoretical and hierarchical elements of teaching. It is refreshing to see that common sense is still alive! Mr. Parks' helpful teachings are as useful as they are practical.
Mr. Parks has written and included a poem at the beginning of the book titled, "What is a Middle Schooler." What a wonderful poem! He has captured the essence of the middle school child, and portrayed him/her with wonderful word pictures, contradictions and just enough feeling that those of us who know and love the middle school child will recognize and embrace him/her within that poem.
This book has enough within its covers that I would recommend it for even seasoned teachers. It's a great refresher course for those of us who have taught in the middle school setting, and need to revive our own classrooms a bit. Practical, easy to read, and even entertaining, I recommend this book to anyone teaching at the middle school level.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book you must have, August 2, 2006
This review is from: Teacher Under Construction: Things I Wish I'd Known!: A Survival Handbook for New Middle School Teachers (Paperback)
*Update* I am now entering my third year of teaching and still suggest this book as a top read for any new middle school teacher. It by far is really the only book out there that covers everything you will face in the classroom. After now having two years of experience I can tell you most classroom management books do not deal with the pitfalls of teaching seventh and eighth graders. This is a must have book for all middle school teachers!
*Review* I got this book after being disappointed by Harry Wong's "First Days of School," feeling that it did not relate to middle school teachers and was very outdated. I abolutely loved "Teacher Under Construction." It wasn't overdone but was a concise resource for a new teacher. I found it also extremly relevant and timely. My book is already dogeared and highlighted and I have made a lot of notations of things I want to do in my classroom. I could not suggest this book enough for new middle school teachers.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Truly, written by an author with a Middle Schooler's heart! 'What is a Middle Schooler?' alone is worth the price!", October 8, 2006
This review is from: Teacher Under Construction: Things I Wish I'd Known!: A Survival Handbook for New Middle School Teachers (Paperback)
After reading the reviews on here, but having a hard time locating this book in bookstores, I ordered it at my local bookstore in order to give it to my education-major daughter graduating this year. Since she will be teaching middle school (as did I), I recognized she would need all the help she could get!
Well, after perusing the book when it arrived, I can say this. While I could have told her most of the advice given in the book, I couldn't have said it as well, and I certainly couldn't have packaged it so nicely. (Neither would she ever consider her mother an 'expert'!)
This little gem is just wonderful.
Before I evaluate a book, I always evaluate the author. The fact that Mr. Parks was a multi "Teacher of the Year" honoree did not impress me. But from the moment I read the introductory poem: "What is a Middle Schooler?" (NOT the Eldridge Park version!), I was sold on the fact that THIS author truly knows middle schoolers, and that I could trust his advice to their (future) teachers. That little poem now hangs copied and framed on my daughter's classroom wall, and it never fails to bring a smile and a tear to everyone who reads it.
As for the book, yes, it should be required reading in every middle school methods class. By the time a new teacher gets that first position, he/she is too busy. I especially liked the 5-10-15-20 rule of classroom time management, as I did the chapter: 'In Loco Parentis'--information not stressed nearly enough today. Also, the appendices furnish innumerable helps on: the first day of school reminders, what to have in the room, sample parent letters, etc.
In short, the book is short on philosophy and long on practicality.
But I enjoyed "What is a Middle Schooler?" more than anything else. That was truly written from the heart of a middle school teacher, and any book written by such cannot help but be invaluable to any teacher who is dedicating his/her life to working with them.
Also good for veteran teachers (by the same author): "So, You Want to be a NBPTS Candidate?" and "Mentoring the NBPTS Candidate: a Facilitator's Guide", and for Christians: "God, Help Me Pray!".
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