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About Effective Teaching

The most important factor in improved student learning is with an effective teacher.  Written ten times a year, Harry and Rosemary Wong feature effective teachers and administrators and what they do to enhance student learning.  The columns provide specific strategies and activities that you can download and use.  An archive of past articles can be found at the end of every column.

These strategies and activities are all based on the teachings and works of Harry and Rosemary Wong and they are happy to share with the profession the work of effective teachers.  If you have an effective strategy or technique that works, please share this by sending it to hwong@harrywong.com. The Wongs will consider it for sharing in future Effective Teaching columns.

About Harry and Rosemary Wong...

Harry and Rosemary Wong are teachers.  Harry is a native of San Francisco and taught middle school and high school science.  Rosemary is a native of New Orleans and taught K-8, including working as the school media coordinator and student activity director.

Harry Wong has been awarded the Outstanding Secondary Teacher Award, the Science Teacher Achievement Recognition Award, the Outstanding Biology Teacher Award, and the Valley Forge Teacher's Medal.  He was recently selected as one of the most admired people in the world of education by readers of Instructor magazine.  Rosemary was chosen as one of California's first mentor teachers and has been awarded the Silicon Valley Distinguished Woman of the Year Award.

Harry Wong is the most sought after speaker in education today.  He has been called "Mr. Practicality" for his common sense, user-friendly, no-cost approach to managing a classroom for high-level student success.

Nearly a million teachers worldwide have heard his message.  Because he is fully booked for two years, he has agreed to and has invited his wife to join him in doing a monthly column for teachers.net so that more people can hear their message.

About Their Work...

Harry and Rosemary Wong are committed to bringing quality and dignity to the materials they produce. For this, they have formed their own publishing company, of which Rosemary is the CEO.  They have dedicated their lives to leaving a legacy in education and making a difference in the lives of teachers and students.

Their latest contribution to helping teachers succeed is an eLearning course, Classroom Management with Harry and Rosemary Wong.  The course can be taken in private at the learner's convenience.  The outcome of the course is a 2 inch binder with a personalized Classroom Management Action Plan.

This Action Plan is similar to the organized and structured plan used by all successful teachers.  Details for the classroom management course can be seen at www.ClassroomManagement.com.

The Wongs have written The First Days of School, the best-selling book ever in education.  Over 3 million copies have been sold.

The third edition of The First Days of School includes an added bonus, an Enhanced CD featuring Harry Wong. The Enhanced CD, Never Cease to Learn, is dedicated to those teachers who know that the more they learn, the more effective they become.

The Wongs have also produced the DVD series, The Effective Teacher, winner of the Telly Award for the best educational video of the past twenty years and awarded the 1st place Gold Award in the International Film and Video Festival.

They have released a new set of CDs with Harry Wong LIVE, called How to Improve Student Achievement, recorded at one of his many presentations.  He is the most sought after speaker in education and his presentations are legendary.

When the book, video series, CD, and eLearning course are used together, they form the most effective staff training tool for developing effective teachers. Staff developers and administrators who would like to know how to implement the aforementioned book, video series, and CD are encouraged to consult the book, New Teacher Induction: How to Train, Support, and Retain New Teachers. Information about these products can be found by visiting the publisher's website at www.EffectiveTeaching.com or www.HarryWong.com.

Best Sellers

The First Days of School with Enhanced CD, Never Cease to Learn
by Harry & Rosemary Wong
$23.96 from Amazon.com
More information

 


The Effective Teacher (Video Set)
Presented by Harry Wong

8 DVDs, with Facilitator's Handbook in PDF, book The First Days of School, and storage case, $695.00 from EffectiveTeaching.com (volume discounts available)
More information

 

Classroom Management with Harry and Rosemary Wong
eLearning course for individual use, CEUs available Preview the course and order at www.ClassroomManagement.com $124.95 (Group discounts available.)

 


How to Improve Student Achievement
Hear Harry Wong Live! in this 2 CD set
$31.95
More information

 


New Teacher Induction:  How to Train, Support, and Retain New Teachers
by Annette L. Breaux, Harry K. Wong

$24.05 from Amazon.com
More information

 



Pathways: A Guide for Energizing & Enriching Band, Orchestra, & Choral Programs
by Joseph Alsobrook

$12.57 from Amazon.com
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Results : The Key to Continuous School Improvement
by Mike Schmoker

$20.95 from Amazon.com
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Improving Schools from Within : Teachers, Parents, and Principals Can Make the Difference
by Roland Sawyer Barth

$13.30 from Amazon.com
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A First-Year Teacher's Guidebook, 2nd Ed.
by Bonnie Williamson, Marilyn Pribus (Editor), Kathy Hoff, Sandy Thornton (Illustrator)

$17.95 from Amazon.com
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Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares About Education
by Peter M. Senge (Editor), Nelda H. Cambron McCabe, Timothy Lucas, Art Kleiner, Janis Dutton, Bryan Smith

$24.50 from Amazon.com
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The Courage to Teach : Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life
by Parker J. Palmer

$16.76 from Amazon.com
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If You Don't Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students : Guide to Success for Administrators and Teachers
by Neila A. Connors

$13.96 from Amazon.com
More information

 

Effective Teaching...
by Harry and Rosemary Wong

November 2000

The First Five Minutes Are Critical


Justin was one of those students all teachers dream of having. He was a superior student and a student body officer; but he was always late for third period class. Homeroom period was between second and third periods and he would use this time in the office to take care of his student body duties.

One day I said, "Justin, why are you always late to class?" And he said, "Because, Mr. Wong, nothing happens during the first five to ten minutes in this class!"

Justin teaches us all an important lesson. Many teachers believe that their first responsibility in the classroom is to take the roll, return papers to students absent from class, answer questions, and do any and all other tasks that are essential at the beginning of a class period.

Justin knew that class did not really start until ten minutes after the tardy bell, so why bother coming on time. In this case it is not the student who is late for class, it is the teacher who is late starting the class!

The most essential thing for a teacher to do is to structure an assignment the second the students walk into the room.

For many teachers much of the management of a classroom is by default. Students will wander around the room and chat because the teacher has not structured anything for the students to do.

When a teacher abdicates structuring a classroom,
structure is left to the student.

The Fastest Growing School District

Clark County Schools in Las Vegas, Nevada, is the fastest growing school district in America, hiring some 1500 to 1800 new teachers each year. Yet, their annual attrition rate (turnover of teachers) is about 6 to 8 percent. To help their new teachers succeed, they publish a monthly newsletter for their elementary and secondary teachers. The secondary newsletter is the New Teacher Times, published by the Systems Design and Staff Development Department. Karyn Wright is the Director of Teacher Training and Staff Development Department.

The following items appeared in the September 1999 issue of New Teacher Times. Note the consistency of the teachers' comments and their recommendations for learning to take place as soon as the students enter the classroom.

Be prepared and be yourself!

"It has been said, 'A well-planned lesson eliminates 90% of discipline problems.' As a successful teacher for the past 20 years, I am inclined to agree with this statement. There should be no free time planned in your daily lesson. It is better to have too much planned for the class period instead of too little. Ask your department chairperson about daily openers for your subject area(s). Daily openers such as Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) in reading, or Daily Oral Language (DOL) in English will help your students begin their daily task as soon as they enter your classroom. If a reading strategist is available in your building, he or she can provide overhead transparencies of Terra Nova Test samples to be used as daily openers.

"Be yourself. Although most teachers have excellent role models, we can only be ourselves! Acting like someone else, no matter how wonderful that person is, will be perceived as fake by your students. Your love for students will be enough to overcome any honest mistakes (we never stop making mistakes) that you may make as a teacher."

          Mattie White, Sawyer Middle School

Set the mood the first five minutes
"The first few minutes are crucial. Students must know what they are expected to do as soon as the tardy bell rings. Do not allow 'FREE Time' while you take roll. My students have learned during the first week to be in their seats ready to work when the bell rings. I assign a monitor to turn on the overhead where the D.O.L.D. (Daily Oral Language Drill) is for students to do while I take roll. A monitor goes to the basket for each class to distribute work to be done or that has been graded. Students returning from an absence use this time to write down work missed (from the Agenda Mate). All students must write down the date, objective, and homework assignment in their daily agenda books. Once a week I check agendas for completion."

          Patricia Revzin, Woodbury Middle School

The minute the bell rings
"As students file in, I remind them of the materials they will need that day, to have pencils sharpened, and to have paper out. The minute the bell rings, I turn on the overhead projector to reveal a warm-up problem. The problem is either a review of a recent lesson or of important information I don't want them to forget, such as basic math skills. As students are working the problem, I take roll and walk around the room to check students' progress and answer quick questions. When students have finished the warm-up, we either go through it as a class or it is treated as a quiz and is collected to be graded."

          Eric Johnson, Math Teacher

A jumping off point
"The first five minutes of class are devoted to either a preview or review activity. The format of the activity varies. Students might be asked to write a reaction to a quote or newspaper article, copy a timeline, brainstorm emotions felt in response to a piece of music, or take a quiz on the previous night's reading assignment. Whatever the opening activity, its primary purpose is to engage students the minute they walk through the door and to provide me an opportunity to handle attendance and other housekeeping duties. The opening activity also provides a jumping off point for the day's lesson."

          Heidi Olive, Desert Pines High School

It's obvious from the excerpts above that structuring the opening of class is critical for student involvement the rest of the school day. It's like the opening of a movie-it needs to capture your attention and keep you in your seat. If there is no opening of class activity, the students will be out of their seats waiting for the class to begin.

For Secondary Teachers Too

Structuring a class to start on time is an activity for all students, including secondary students.

Most all of the procedures mentioned in our book, The First Days of School, are needed by secondary students, too. Heading a paper, sharpening a pencil, asking for permission to speak or leave a seat, and responding to a fire drill are all procedures that are universal from kindergarten to grade 12. Yet, some of the reviews of our book on Amazon.com contend that the book is for elementary teachers only. Effective teachers will take a concept from our book, this column, or any other source and adapt it to any grade level to create an effective classroom.

LaMoine L. Motz wrote the following as a review in Amazon.com:

"As a secondary science teacher, science coordinator, director of a professional development center for teachers, and college instructor for secondary science teacher interns, this book is for ALL teachers, including secondary teachers. For the past six years I have used this book with over 100 secondary science students/teacher interns, along with hundreds of teachers of science.

"Classroom management applies to all teachers, and this inspirational and motivational resource provides both the beginning and seasoned teacher with numerous, practical ideas, strategies and techniques that will make teaching fun, satisfying and successful."

Administrators Want Structure, Too

When there is structure in the classrooms of a school, the administrator becomes an effective instructional leader.

Keith Kramer the principal of Cross High School in South Carolina wrote of problems where sheriffs roamed the school's hallways in an attempt to keep students in the classroom.

The sheriffs are long gone now according to Keith and a culture has been well established. Learning is taking place every minute of each instructional period. The students, staff, teachers, parents, and community have become proud of their school once again.

How did he do it? Each year on the first two days of school, the staff establishes school-wide procedures. These procedures, in turn, create a school culture for the students. Many of the techniques he uses are from The First Days of School and The Effective Teacher video series.

Jack Raines the principal from Rappahannock High School in Virginia establishes the same type of school-wide procedures with his students. He proudly says that by fourth period on the very first day of school the students knew the assignments were on the board and got to work. It only took the staff a half day to establish the structure for their school.

More impressive though is the fact that referrals have dramatically decreased. In the same time period the previous year his office handled 130 referrals. The year that school-wide procedures were implemented saw that number reduced to only 2 referrals!

As the assistant principal, Mike Tupper, says, "Because of the drastic decrease in referrals, I can now focus on the instructional process rather than on discipline chores. I am able to get out into the classroom more and become an instructional leader. I can focus on teachers, helping them become better teachers."

And Vicky Eastham, teacher at Rappahannock High School says, "I am able to help my students because they all know what to do."

(Please refer to our September column to read about how two schools met together as a staff to structure a culture with school-wide procedures. To access any of our past columns, click on "Gazette Back Issues" in the left margin of this column.)

YOU Can Make a Difference

People who achieve mastery in whatever they do are constant, lifelong learners. If you dare to choose teaching as your profession, then you must never cease to learn. We have shared with you some techniques that individual teachers use in their classrooms to structure the learning environment. And, we have shared with you stories of administrators who structure the entire school.

Begin a class or period with specific directions or structure. Do this by providing an activity for the students to do each day while you take care of your administrative duties. If you already have your class structured so that students immediately come in, sit down, and get to work, try getting your grade level, department, or entire school to do it, too.

Imagine the lessons to be taught if the first five minutes of every school day were put to learning. You would gain about 2 ˝ days of instructional time over the course of the school year. Most all of us just savored one hour in our personal lives with the switching to daylight savings time. Just think of the possibilities with the new-found days in your teaching year.

Make every second count with your students!


For a printable version of this article click here.

Harry & Rosemary Wong products: http://www.harrywong.com/product/
Email Harry Wong: harrywong@teachers.net


Gazette Articles by Harry & Rosemary Wong:


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