Reluctant Disciplinarian

Book excerpt: In this funny and insightful book, Gary Rubinstein relives his own truly disastrous first year of teaching. He begins his teaching career armed only with idealism and romantic visions of teaching—and absolutely no classroom management skills. By his fourth year, he is named “Teacher of the Year.” As Rubinstein details his transformation from incompetent to successful teacher, he shows what works and what doesn't work when managing a classroom such as: Develop a teacher look. The teacher look says, “There's nothing you can do that I haven't already seen, so don't even bother trying.” Show students that you are a “real” teacher by doing things they expect of real teachers, at least for a while. Be prepared to utter a decisive answer to anything within 2 seconds. Decisive answers inspire confidence. Any teacher—experienced or not—will enjoy this honest and humorous look at the real world of teaching!