The First Days Of School: How To Be An Effective Teacher by Harry K. WongMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
There are a few good ideas in this book worth noting, especially in regards to classroom management and being prepared for the classroom and teaching. On the whole, I am skeptical of some of the advice given and the last section (Section E) could be completely eliminated. I found Section E to be a little patronizing, especially the part where our culture is blamed as the reason why people are not successful. Wong spent much of the book criticizing inefficient teachers and makes a great case. So good, in fact, I wonder that inefficient teachers should be part of the problem as well. I also took offense to the idea that teachers are to preserve and restore the values of the nation (page 320). I did not go into teaching to brainwash students into falling into the nationalism trap. Teachers should focus on teaching students to think for themselves (which is repeated often throughout the book) and nationalism contradicts this notion.
The book comes with a disc that contains a video and a mp3 of a pep talk by Wong. I felt like I was listening to a used car salesman. There were times while reading the book that I felt as if it was more self-promoting than actually giving important information.
Although the book has its problems, I will refer back to it on occasion (classroom management is very helpful) and would most likely recommend the book to others with warnings about the ineffectiveness in some areas.
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