Reluctant Disciplinarian: Advice on Classroom Management From a Softy who Became (Eventually) a Successful Teacher | 
| Author: Gary Rubinstein
Publisher: Cottonwood Press, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 3422
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 143
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7.1 x 0.4
ISBN: 1877673366
Dewey Decimal Number: 371
EAN: 9781877673368
ASIN: 1877673366
Publication Date: July 12, 1999
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Book Description
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, however, he is named his school's "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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 49 more reviews...
 A must have for new ( and more seasoned) teachers! July 14, 2008
A hilarious and easy read, this book rings true and has really helped me grow as a teacher. I gave it as a gift to beginner teachers who loved it!
 Good, broad advice July 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book chronicles the first three years of Gary Rubinstein's teaching career. In the first year he is a self proclaimed "softy," - he wants to believe that if you care about students and have interesting lessons, there is no need for being authoritative and having rules, the (high school) kids will recognize these things and toe the line. This is a myth brought on by watching inspirational movies about teaching too often - you want interesting lessons, and you want to care about the kids, but they also need structure and rules. After being walked all over the first year, he decides to be a complete hard nose his second year - no smiling, no laughing, you care about the kids, but you don't necessarily show it. This also backfires, when he realizes he has become so unapproachable that none of the kids even tell him when one of their classmates dies suddenly. This leads Gary to a comfortable median between being too soft and being too hard, and by combining the two he ends up being a successful teacher.
Quote: "Teachers should be prepared to utter a decisive answer to any question within two seconds."
I liked this book both as a memoir and a book of broad, general advice on classroom management. If you already have things under control and just want a few little new ideas, this book is probably not for you. If you want to get lots of good, general advice for managing a high school classroom, this would be a better fit. I liked this book because it was entertaining, short, and helpful. It acknowledges weaknesses both in learning classroom management at education colleges (where this is often a weakness because theories often don't pan out when confronted with actual children who don't *know* that if you have non book work and you care for them, they are supposed to be good. Rubinstein's book contains bits of wisdom such as, "many students perceive working in groups as not really working at all," calling parents without warning is far more effective than warning students that you will call," and "actions are more powerful than threats."
Good Book June 28, 2008
This book is a fast read for beginning teachers who might want a glimpse into one teachers journey.
Just Laugh... May 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of the best qualities a person can possess is the ability to see folly and laughter in the things we do. Mr. Gary Rubinsetein is that kind of person. He looks back at his first year and laughs, and with that act of laughing, he learns that there is a better way to do things. And as a result, he blossoms into a great educator - the school's "Teacher of the Year."
So much of being an effective teacher comes from practice, that reading more extensively into the varies learning modalities or the newest trend in classroom management will only improve your reading skills, not your teaching skills. Just because I read books about Mixed Martial Arts, for example, doesn't mean that I can walk into the octagon and be ready to fight. Any professional fighter will tell you that stepping into the octagon is one of the ways to become a better fighter; any teacher will tell you that teaching is a way of becoming a better teacher. The process of stepping in "there" is a necessary ingredient in the process of becoming better.
Becoming an effective teacher takes time, reflection, and the ability to handle disappointment. These are all lessons that are expounded in the book "Reluctant Disciplinarian." This is a must read for all new teachers.
 Only if you're desperate April 17, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you have any intuition for teaching, this book offers little. So who has the time, really? While I did appreciate the suggestion that real teachers dress the part, I was rather unimpressed with the rest. If you're looking for guidance, though, and are a new teacher who doesn't trust her instincts, this might be worth the read.
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