Reddit Reddit reviews The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher (Book & DVD)

We found 24 Reddit comments about The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher (Book & DVD). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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24 Reddit comments about The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher (Book & DVD):

u/Teacher_of_History · 23 pointsr/Teachers

You've probably read it, but Harry Wong's The First Days of School is a great resource as well.

Keep up the good work. I personally am not a big fan of TFA, but good teachers can come from anywhere and we need people who care like you more than anything!

u/emenenop · 9 pointsr/teaching

My first suggestion is that she get a copy of Harry Wong's First Days of School. Not everyone swears by this book, but it has uplifting messages and very sensible, practical advice for organizing a classroom (it is fine for middle school) and it's relatively inexpensive.

Is she teaching English? If so, I have some websites for her.

u/MooseMusic · 8 pointsr/Teachers

You'll hear 100 recomendations for Harry Wong's books, and I think they are worth it.

His most well-known is The First Days of School which is all about procedures and having routines.

This year he released another book called THE Classroom Management Book which is an elaboration on his section of classroom management.

He focuses on classroom management rather than discipline, as he believes that most discipline issues are caused by lack of routines and procedures.

They are not too long of a read, and set up like a textbook. My main issue is that every other page has a large blurb by someone talking about how awesome the book is and how well it worked. A few times, I get, but seriously over and over there is that stuff. It's like, I get it, I know it works. That's why I bought the damn book.

u/kaeorin · 7 pointsr/Teachers

The year I graduated and got my teaching certificate, my boyfriend's sister (who was already a teacher) loaded up a big tote bag (Google "thirty one tote bag" and look at the images that pop up: you could buy something like that to load it up) with a ton of teacher-type stuff: a few packs of different types of bulletin board letters, some bulletin board borders, several packs of Sharpies, boxes of pens and pencils, cutesy push pins, etc.

If you really know your girl well enough to know her "type" when it comes to desk organizer types of things, you could also get her a pencil cup, drawer organizers, a good stapler and tape dispenser, etc. Since she's in college, she probably already has a travel mug or two, but you can never have too many of those. There are some cute designs out there! Or get her a teachery kind of mug? If she doesn't use it for coffee, she can put it on her desk and use it to hold pens.

Then again, depending on where you are, it can be a long and frustrating journey from "I graduated! I can be a teacher now!!" to "I finally got hired somewhere!!" so you might want to save that tote bag for "YOU GOT HIRED YOU'RE A REAL TEACHER I'M SO PROUD OF YOU" rather than just...Christmas. The bag o' stuff that I got from my boyfriend's sister ended up sitting around for a long time while I went on interview after interview and didn't get hired.

In terms of books, I really really recommend What Teachers Make: In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World by Taylor Mali. It's not a book of methods or professional development or anything: it's a collection of stories and essays, but it's amazing. Since she's going to be an elementary school teacher, she might appreciate The First Days of School by Harry Wong, if she doesn't have it already. My professors in college freaking revered that book, so I bought it after I graduated.

u/horace_the_mouse · 5 pointsr/specialed

The first two books I typically recommend for teachers are The First Days of School and Teach Like a Champion. Harry Wong, especially, is a leader in teacher development.

There's often a myth that kids with mild-moderate special needs should be taught differently than non-disabled kids, but the literature doesn't really bear that out. They just are less resilient than their peers to poor teaching techniques, so evidence-based techniques become more important for their success.

If your kids have moderate-severe impairments, I would suggest some different reading materials.

u/teach8907 · 4 pointsr/Teachers

I recommend getting this book
https://www.amazon.com/First-Days-School-Effective-Teacher/dp/0976423316

And I also got this one
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0976423332/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1/186-4435791-4861608?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_r=EZF6K6K7KE7SWRFX5Q9Z&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=1944687542&pf_rd_i=0976423316

Teachers pay teacher will have some cute and fun back to school activities for you. You will always start the year with rules and procedures. As a class my kids and I make our classroom rules and then each student signs it the best they can (it looked interesting in kinder) and then you refer to them often. Practice things like how we line up, what we do when we need to use the restroom, how do we come in the room in the morning? Stuff like that. I always over plan for the first week or so - that way you have lots of backups. Think about what your classroom management system is and how that is going to look - then think about how you will teach that to your class. Don't assume they know what you want or how to do what you would like them to do.

u/eletzi · 4 pointsr/teaching

If she doesn't already have it, The First Days of School by Harry and Rosemary Wong is pretty essential.

u/Lacunaes · 3 pointsr/Teachers

For classroom management, this is a great read especially for Elementary age children The First Days of School

u/smylemaster · 3 pointsr/Teachers

I truly, TRULY, highly, HIGHLY suggest Harry Wong's book The First Days of School its all about setting routines the first day few days of school and sticking to them throughout the year. Remember you are their teacher NOT their friend. Be fair but firm and have high expectations. Good Luck

u/opie2 · 3 pointsr/teaching

The First Days Of School was a book I found helpful. In my very first teaching job I got invaluable advice from a 40-year veteran after she watched me get utterly train-wrecked by a group of 1st and 2nd graders: "Remember, they are basically a pack of small animals. You have to be the alpha animal. If you lead, they will follow you."

u/_notanything_ · 3 pointsr/teachinginjapan

The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher

This book plus a few others on classroom management gave me everything I needed to be a motivated and effective teacher.


The fact that you are reaching out and making an effort to become a good teacher means you are already on your way there. Good luck.

u/melkw · 3 pointsr/teaching
u/[deleted] · 2 pointsr/Teachers

For the management side of it, I would look into reading Harry Wong's First Days of School if you haven't yet.

u/cbilyeu · 2 pointsr/teaching

Great books to help you out, written in an easy to read way: tools for teaching http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0965026329/ref=mp_s_a_1?pi=75x60&qid=1344739213&sr=8-1
And the first days of school
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0976423316/ref=mp_s_a_1?pi=75x61&qid=1344739284&sr=8-1

Essentially, imagine what you want to look like to your students. What teacher do you remember standing out to you? Can you model them? Managing your demeanor and classroom like them will help you a lot.

Write a parent letter home for the different grade levels.

Sketch out what you plan on teaching for big ideas each month. September is identifying and correctly saying the computer parts (monitor, keyboard, etc) and.... If you do that for each level, you'll have expectations of where you want to go.

u/afarfarbetterrest · 2 pointsr/Teachers

Congratulations! I teach Grade 6, too (although I'm much further North--in Canada).

I think you're looking for Wong & Wong! Their ideas are a great starting point for all that classroom management stuff. Their book "The First Days of School" is full of ideas. I saw a post here a few days ago outlining their tips...some of them are pretty hardcore, but when I was a new teacher I erred on the side of more structure.

Here's a link to the book:

https://www.amazon.com/First-Days-School-Effective-Teacher/dp/0976423316/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=57HWSG26QM0C1ZYMCE9P

u/The_Gatemaster · 2 pointsr/teaching

Daily 5 is interesting, but it's a lot to take on as a 1st year elementary school teacher. My suggestion would be to start with two of those (Read to Self and Word work) and then add the others in if they're being successful. Read to self is easy to get going and word work is going to just happen.

As a male teacher, you're possibly the first male teacher some of these kids have had. There will be a "cool" factor. Be sure to be yourself but also be firm. That said, at 3rd grade, there's a lot of "babyish emotions" that he may see and he may have to get in touch with his emotional side.

I think that male teachers have it a bit easier to make connections with kids in elementary school because there just aren't very many of them. I play out at recess and at times sit with them at lunch and it's "cool". When the female teachers do it, it doesn't seem to have the same effect. Though, I'm a tad younger than most of them.

I wouldn't worry too much about handwriting. Just slow down (he'll ahve to do that anyway since he's teaching 3rd grade).

My best advice, Go Slow to Go Fast. I used this book religiously my first few years (http://www.amazon.com/First-Weeks-School-Strategies-Teachers/dp/1892989042). Other books to check out would be http://www.amazon.com/First-Days-School-Effective-Teacher/dp/0976423316/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377217374&sr=1-1&keywords=first+weeks+of+school+harry+wong and http://www.amazon.com/First-Day-Jitters-Julie-Danneberg/dp/158089061X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377217409&sr=1-1&keywords=first+day+jitters

u/Parti_zanu · 2 pointsr/HelloInternet

> You've been bamboozled.

You would think so, wouldn't you?

u/lizzyshoe · 2 pointsr/teaching

I have a couple of books to recommend--you should be able to find used copies on paperbackswap or amazon for very cheap:

Tools for Teaching by Fred Jones. Look for an older edition or ask your adviser if he/she has a copy you can borrow until yours arrives. I love this book because it's simple, direct, and very practical. You can't know what you need to know until you already needed to know it, but this is a good start.

The First Days of School by Harry Wong. This one is a little bit wordier but it really can help get you psyched up for what you need to do to prepare for the first days of school.

u/ashraf2403 · 1 pointr/teaching

First Days of School

I took over for a teacher in January and being a first year teacher+taking over a challenging situation I buckled under the pressure and am having a difficult time. BUT my awesome mentor (seriously without her I would be lost) got me this book a few weeks ago. I wish I had years ago because it really does teach first year teachers a lot of the little stuff that goes into making it a spectacular year.

u/Matrinka · 1 pointr/teaching

Harry Wong's book was my bible my first few years of teaching. I highly recommend it to anyone about to step in the classroom for the first time.

http://www.amazon.com/First-Days-School-Effective-Teacher/dp/0976423316/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450627609&sr=8-1&keywords=harry+wong

u/ajpos · 1 pointr/jobsecrets

Teaching is definitely fun, because you can see real results. A lot of my students last year could not correctly answer the "gotcha" style questions on the state standardized test, but every one, and I guarantee this, every one of them can tell you, given the choice of four poets, the correct writer of any poem by Dickinson, Frost, Whitman, or Shakespeare - based on the style alone. For final projects, we did things like "rewrite a Frost poem in the style of Whitman." Is it on the state test? No. But the unit covered a lot of things that were, and most importantly, it got them excited about learning and literature. In the middle grades, I think drilling the test questions just fosters a sense of apathy. ("Staying low on Bloom's" as you might call it in your classes!)

I think the most jarring aspect of education is realizing that you cannot ever be the teacher you envisioned when you were in high-school or college. Everything I had planned to do as a "pre-teacher" would eventually (1) hurt my classroom management, (2) cater towards only one or two learning styles, or (3) end up being more "fun" than educational. It sucks, but in order to be a truly effective teacher, you have to look at what have been empirically proven to be good teaching techniques, even if they're something you hated doing as a student. You have to make new role models for yourself, like this guy, or this guy, and practice what they teach - even if it means working as many hours as they do (over 60).

If you are interested in educational policy, you should definitely give this book a gander. It basically takes every educational debate in the country, explains both sides, and gives examples of laws/precedents/statistics to support each side. Great stuff. In order to get my master's degree, I had to write an actual district/state/federal law and try to get it on the ballot. I used that book to make sure my case was air-tight!

Keep up the good work, the enthusiasm you're showing now is what makes great teachers. Many teachers get into the job because their parents did it, or because they thought education would be an easier major than math. Idealism leads to innovation.

u/ScienceWasLove · 1 pointr/ScienceTeachers

I would suggest, following to a letter, the work of Harry Wong found in the book First Days of school. The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher (Book & DVD) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0976423316/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_38dIxbD8TYH71