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

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.

This book turned me into a big Harry Wong fan. Last year was my first year of teaching high school. I was scared to death when I got the job, because my teaching experience has only been with PreK-8. By the end of the school year, I was given the highest possible evaluation rating a teacher could ever receive...on my first year in high school! I owe part of my success to this book. It prepared me to start the school year right. By following his advice, I stopped discipline problems before they even started and was able to concentrate on giving my students a good education. Looking back, my not-so-good first year of teaching right out of college was caused by not taking enough time to create procedures and drill my classes on them. Rather than teaching, I spent most of my time fighting classroom management issues. Reading this book completely turned my teaching around. The book is not perfect, but it offers valuable and very practical advice. While most of the things he writes about in this book are really just common sense advice (like one reviewer commented, "We already know that!"), you will be surprised how many teachers with years of experience under their belt fail to incorporate the basic no-brainers (such as the "dress for success" bit) into their teaching, then wonder why their classroom is a zoo or why their students don't respect them.

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.

This book was recommended to me as a `must read' by two teacher friends of mine. I am currently getting an MAT degree in elementary ed. and was looking for a book that would give me a thorough schooling on the basics of setting up a classroom at the beginning of the year and navigating school politics. This book delivered exactly that and more. I learned about how and why the first day of school is so critical. I learned how to set up student expectations and how to create an inviting and welcoming classroom environment. I also learned how to get students to do their assignments and why assessment is so important. However, I would agree with some of the other people who posted comments here. The book doesn't give you any advice about how to handle extremely defiant children. I used to be an ESL teacher in South Korea. I figured out a lot of things on my own and ended up, through trial and error, doing some of the things this book suggested doing, like having students who enter a classroom improperly go back and do it again. However I still recall two students that this technical didn't work on, and was hoping this book would have had a longer list of tactics to help with these types of behavioral management problems. If you want more specific feedback on how to effectively teach these problem students, you need to buy another book. If you are a first year teacher who needs a book chalk full of practical advice to prepare you for your first year of teaching; this book is a must have. I know I'm going to be taking it off my shelf and rereading it ALL next year.

As someone starting Initial Teacher training the book may be published a few decades ago, but the advice was timeless. Some elements are slightly USA-centric but much of the guidance is still applicable to the UK and Europe. The layout of the text is punctuated with some diagrams and illustrations. Letters of thanks are provided and Wong&Wong offer both helpful and practical insight into elements that can guide new teachers.Would highly recommend this book.

This book is amazing! Very helpful tips to be a good teacher. Every new teacher (and even those who have been teaching for eons) should read this book.

Awesome for first year teachers to learn classroom management skills.

If you are a trainee teacher then this is a good buy, especially if you can get a second-hand version. Much of it is repetitive and its all based on schools in the US but the advice is sound, and explains the routines to set up with children to ensure you can teach. As an experience teacher and school leader I can recommend the book.

Great book for a new teacher. Fantastic for personal collection or to give as a gift.