Learning From the Wongs

I went to the UEA Convention this morning to hear the presentation by Harry and Rosemary Wong, authors of The First Days of School. 

Their excellent presentation was focused on the three characteristics that make an effective teacher:

These are the three most important characteristics of effective teachers:

1. They are extremely good CLASSROOM MANAGERS.

DISCIPLINE concerns how students BEHAVE.
PROCEDURES concern how things ARE DONE.

DISCIPLINE has penalties and rewards.
PROCEDURES have no penalties or rewards. 

It is the teacher's responsibility to have procedures clearly stated.  Students need to keep practicing them until they become routine:  Teach, Rehearse, Reinforce 

2. They know how to teach a lesson for student LEARNING and MASTERY.

Learning has to do with what the student accomplishes.  Tell them upfront what they are going to learn so both teacher and learner are moving toward the same goal. 

Assessment purpose:  Gather info to improve instruction.  Give students a scoring guide (rubric) so they can learn to self-assess.  [Sounds like Dr. William Glasser!]

3. They have POSITIVE EXPECTATIONS for student success.

Not only do I highly recommend that all potential Esperanza educators read their book, I also recommend go to their website http://teachers.net   I also have the videos "I Care" by them if anyone wants to borrow them. 

My good friend and mentor, Fern Wilkerson, gives a copy of the book to all her first year teachers.  That sounds like a great idea.