Rating: 
Summary: Don't listen to the trashers of this book. Read it yourself!
Review: This book is excellent, not just for first year teachers, but even for seasoned vets--especially those who are experiencing burnout, and don't know where to start making changes. Yes, the Wongs don't think that learning should be a party--they think it's enjoyable, but not FUN! We do students a disservice if we either bore them, or make them think that education is always going to be like Sesame Street/Disneyland! Real education is entails enjoyment, as well as effort, discipline and times of sheer monotomy. To tell our students anything else is a lie and a diservice. There is a happy medium between boredom and frivolity, and the Wongs have found it. Some may think an entire chapter on professional dress is stating the obvious, but remember, the present generation of teachers grew up with few, if any dress codes, unless they attended Catholic schools. Reality check: stand next to a group of students in your school. If there is no real difference between the way you dress and the way they dress, you need to upgrade! (Obviously, if you teach auto mechanics...) As teachers, we model good behavior, not let ourselves get dragged along with the sloppiness of the moment. If we lived in a perfect world, clothes wouldn't matter; we don't, and it does! If you don't believe it, wear casual clothes to your next job interview, and see if you get the job! Or better yet: dress like a pro for 4 days, then on Friday, return to your sloppy ways. Check out your students' reactions--you'll never go back to sloppy clothes again! Speaking of judging a book by its cover--this book is for K-12, not just elementary teachers! I really don't think some of these reviewers READ the book; they just skimmed it! There are practical tips that I used even during my substitute teaching days; if it works in that battlefield, it can work for regular teachers also.
No it's not a perfect book, and no I didn't agree with every single thing. But the last time I checked, most teachers were adults, capable of judging what works for them and what doesn't. For instance, the suggestion of writing a letter to the parents of each of your students at the start of the year wouldn't work in my district, where there are more than 60 languages spoken! But I like the idea behind it--making parental contact early in the year, rather than waiting for a crisis to arise before you call them.
A lot more things in this book work than don't. And the suggestions beat what most new teachers have ready for the first day of school--NOTHING! Yes, it does have a lot of "postive thinking" elements to it. Obviously, the reviewers who hate "happy" people have never arrived at the end of a work week with hostile students, complaining colleagues, etc., and thus don't need a positive boost in thinking. I'm glad you're so strong--I need all the help I can get!
This book helped me remember I why put up with this aggravation in the first place. Thanks, Wongs!
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Reference/Teaching Tool for Instructing New Teachers
Review: I was recommended to get this book in an introduction to teaching course that I took. The book has a lot of great ideas in it and well laid out plans for things such as classroom management, discipline and motivation. Every page is "packed full" though (sometimes information overload, so you don't read everything becuase there si so much). It is almost like a text book in that the story line continues and there are boxes of text elsewhere on the page. The book is laid out in chapters so it is easy to reference items from looking at the table of contents. You do not have to sit down and read it from beginning to end and you can jump around to find the information or ideas that you need.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the most over-rated pieces of fluff
Review: First, don't buy this book. Chances are your district has already bought x amount of copies to distribute. (I've worked in MO and GA and districts in both states gave me a copy). Second, he actually likes in-services (don't know about you, but I'm too busy helping students, grading papers, revising my lesson plans, calling parents, or, in otherwords, doing my job, to actually want to take a day off to hear the same theoretical cliches I've heard before). Now to the heart of the book. Wong's methods are dated, a bit too "happy", and really don't work that well. Aside from the common sense aspects of the book (i.e. make a good first impression, have a routine), he offers methods that I have yet to see put into real practice. For example, he suggests that all a teacher must do is provide a set of questions for the students, the page numbers in the text book where the answers come from and then let the students go to work. The teacher's job is only to remind the students to "stay focused." In every classroom that I have observed (including my own) where this approach was tried, about 50% of the students work, while others continually sneak magazines, food, discussions about Sat. night, homework for other classes, or a nap. Wong states that a loud classroom is OK, but just listen--your content matter is probably not what students are getting loud about. This approach also demeans the teaching profession, and makes us look more like baby sitters than anything else--almost anyone can photo-copy questions and run around the room saying "stay focused." Wong continues his "happy" approach to education by suggesting that teachers give a test for every assignment--he claims to have 70 tests a year. Of course Wong only has multiple-choice tests as model examples--this might have been fine 20 years ago, but most professionals wouldn't advocate the overkill on testing or the lack of higher order thinking Wong seems to praise. As an English teacher, 70 essay tests, or 35 a semester, would simply be impossible to grade without exceeding a 90 hour week. In regards to testing, Wong also seems to forget that this approach really encourages the learn it and forget it approach to knowledge. Yes, you might have more success on paper (i.e. fewer failures), but in reality you haven't helped the student retain anything for the long term. Most importantly, Wong seems happy with tests that merely prove that students can spit back answers without showing that they have learned anything. Wong on Alternative assessment--some lesson on making a paper helicopter--I have students who would finish his "worksheet" helicopter assignment in 5 minutes. Just tell them to stay focused for the next 45 minutes of class, and it will be OK though. The rules and consequences section has no practical purpose for any teacher dealing with average high school kids. At a lot of schools, talking and late work are minor problems--skipping class, drug selling, occaisonal fights, intimate acts, etc. . . are more important concerns. Wong's whole system seems to pertain to schools in 1950's fantasy land.
Finally, Wong's tone is annoying--his over inflated ego and constant pyscho-babble affirmations really don't do much for my seasoned high school sense of reality. Also people who are always sooooooo! happy, make a vast majority of us sooooooooo! unhappy (if I've just called home because John cheated on his test and will now fail the class, the last thing that I want to see is the smiling picture of Wong that appears in the center of the book--I feel bad for John, his parents, and my idealism about learning). Wong has been out of the class room for the last 15 years, and I'm not sure how much he really understands about how much current students demand entertainment, or how much of a role pop-culture (i.e. mass marketing, video games, rap music, movies that have an explosion every 3 seconds, etc. . .) really have affected the minds of young people. Wong has no clue--spend your time reading real academic journals or those old classics that actually are timeless.
Rating: 
Summary: Effective organization, but organization isn't EVERYTHING!
Review: While this book offered a number of organization tips, I felt the overall tone of the book geared toward minimalizing interactions with your students. The biggest "brags" were on how a teacher could leave the students entirely on their own and, miracle of miracles, the students will continue to follow the mandatory routine, and nothing out of the ordinary would happen! I am particularly disturbed by the notion that every time you congratulate a child for doing something well, you should follow that with a reminder that you would like to see them do it that way EVERY time. No one performs at their best all of the time, and it seems almost negative to imply that, without this reminder, the student would NOT perform well. Overall, the organizational tips are worth reading, but please read with a critical mind. Organization is not the only key to great teaching.
Rating:
Summary: Practical and Usable
Review: Apparently some folks don't like Mr. Wong's style, but I loved it. There are different learning styles and tastes out there, so some folks may not "get" this book, just like different students respond to different teaching styles. Read through ALL the reviews before you make up your mind, or at least a large sample. The prose is a little over the top, slightly exaggerated which I thought made if fun and humorous to read. I didn't get the serious impression that Mr. Wong doesn't want kids to have fun, rather he wants them to feel that education is is vitally important and worth sustained effort and concentration. He writes in a behavior modification mode, which I found helpful because I was trying to change and modify my own behavior in the classroom. Non verbal communication, spatial organization, words and tone all have a profound impact but many don't realize this, which is why there is so much detail about seemingly minor points. Wong makes the intangibles tangible. One of the greatest tips I got from the book was the power of using someone's name when I was speaking to them, and if you think that is a trivial thing, try it--address people by their names and look them in the eye more often, do it consistently with sincere warmth and you'll be amazed. And Wong breaks this little behavioral gem down into a step by step technique. Funny and amazing at the same time! Wong's techniques are designed to take the focus off the teacher and his/her procedures and put it on the students and the content. The chapter on cooperative learning is one of the best and most practical I have seen. A lot of books talk about these topics in a theoretical manner, Wong breaks them down into doable tasks.
Rating:
Summary: One Wong Makes it Right!
Review: Anything by Harry Wong is worth the read! His down-to-earth, knowledgeable, comical style is a dream come true to those of us hanging (or were hung) by our fingernails to get through the dry, condescending world of university teaching instruction. Read Wong...he's terrific.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for any teacher
Review: If you are a new teacher like i am this book will help you get into the swing of things. I found it very helpful while i was doing my student teaching. It is a must for anyone who is just starting out.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Teaching Tool!
Review: Insightful, clear and, most of all, inspiring!
Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading for all teachers
Review: I have been teaching special education students for more than 14 years. This book puts in a nutshell what every teacher needs to do to set the tone to have a successful school year. I think so much of the Wongs' advice that I make sure that all of the student teachers I work with have read this book -- or I give them a copy as a gift!
Rating:
Summary: Same old, same old
Review: Yet another "authoritative" tome on behavior modification. The title of the book made it sound interesting, but upon closer scrutiny its tired, teacher-in-control theme reared its ugly head. It's amazing that years after more effective models of classroom management have been devised, implemented, tested and their effectiveness confirmed (both by teacher/administrator evaluations...AND independent research studies), the Skinnerian behavior modification model still reigns supreme. If you must buy this book, do yourself a favor and also check out Beyond Discipline by Alfie Kohn and/or Teacher Effectiveness Training by Dr. Thomas Gordon -- then make up your own mind.
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