Immerse In Reluctant Disciplinarian: Advice On Classroom Management From A Softy Who Became (Eventually) A Successful Teacher Expressed By Gary Rubinstein Provided As PDF

this book is not a helpful guide but rather a collection of a teacher's reminiscing and advice, A bit dated, although humorous, it didn't really add anything to my practice, One of the more realistic books about classroom management and teacher experience, His method, which is the only one I've found to work for me, is to get to know your students and get into a positive relationship with them.
Students know who cares about them and who is just going through the motions, They have very finely tuned bullcrap detectors,

I didn't completely finish Mr, Rubenstein's fine book, but far enough to know I liked it and would recommend it to all teachers, Very informative on discipline and a bit of the mental processes behind itfor both students and teacher, His simple, yet deep ideas on what does and doesn't work are really practical, Thend part of the book deals with forming a "teacher persona" and exploring teacher personalities and stylesa subject I wish I had a bit more of in college.
Awesome stuff! Maybe he could have spoken a bit more on how to do all of this while differentiating instruction, . . but that wasn't the topic of his text, I would recommend this book to all first year teachers and undergrads, Right along with The First Days of School Wong, Teach Like a Champion Lemov, and Pedagogy of the Oppressed Freire, A second edition to a decadeold work, this book is a dichotomy presenting Gary Rubinsteins transformation from a teaching tyro into an effective educator,

The earlier material drips of his handwringing accounts of experimentation in the bifurcated business of good teacher or real teacher, Although he attempts to cloak his examples in humor, the tenor of the incidents boarder on the criminal, If yelling and desk slamming were actual incidences, it is a wonder that Rubenstein wasnt discharged by the school or sued by the parents,

More personal memoir than policy manual, the presentation offers insights into his trialanderror teaching maneuvers, Despite numerous lists for does and donts, this early effort probably died beneath a pathetic mantra: “Dont try to apply my advice about advice to my advice.
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Rubensteins additional material reflects the sage experience burnished through an intervening career in another field, He found his mojo after years in a dull, unfulfilling occupation in the computer field, Returning to the education field, he has been tempered in his skills to realize effective teaching is not accomplished through lists, rules, and books but rather in solid preparation, consistent individual respect, and openness in flexibility for a teaching moment.


My own classroom experience is on a collegiate level but I admire those with the talent, patience, and willingness to discipline, excite, and challenge young minds before I face them.
I can appreciate Rubensteins early struggles toward identity, although I cant condone his actions, Nevertheless, Im heartened he was able to discover synergy between real teacher and human educator,

I wouldnt recommend this book to be on any teacher colleges required reading list, but it does serve for those initiates who might find themselves floundering in their new classrooms.
They wont need to cry on another shoulder Rubenstein has penned their miseries, yet offers survival hope, Experientia docet. There is some simple, important advice in this book that can be a big help for any teacher newbie or veteran, This is a book I would recommend to a teacher who is really struggling with their classroom management, There were some great laugh out loud moments too, One area I think this book was lacking was presenting a strong description of what a well managed classroom looks like, Gary is certainly clear about his success with teaching, but it wasn't entirely obvious to me what that meant about his classroom environment, Having this picture in mind can be a really good starting point for a teacher who is still shaping his/her image of their classroom, I thoguht it would be more handson in terms of classroom management, but it's a very general set of guidelines for new teachers that's not halfbad.
I wish this book had more practical advice, but as a new teacher, I can appreciate his horror stories, I keep thinking of how his first year is definitely way worse than my first year, When things are looking down, that is at least some comfort, Maybe I can win teacher of the year in four years now, too! i won this book through the giveaway section on goodreads!

i have been teaching foryears now and i could relate so much to this book.
i loved the different persona descriptions, many i've seen first hand over the years, but my favorite part was when he was comparing teaching in the movies vs, teaching in real life.

there were many parts to the book where i actually laughed out loud, this guy's first year made me feel so badly for him! and i thought his advice for new teachers was good advice and i would offer much of the same.


not only would i recommend this book, i already did, . i loaned it out to one of my fellow colleagues and i hope to pass it around my school! I read this book primarily for a professional development session I am helping create for this upcoming summer.
The ideas included were pretty good, and some of the anecdotes were entertaining, but I feel as though it was so heavy on the personal stories that often times it was difficult to find the actual advice.
One of the books they gave us in New York City Teaching Fellows preservice training, Depressing to think this was the only "classroommanagement" text they provided us with before sending us into the classroom, I am a struggling new teacher, and I related to SO MUCH of what this book talked about, Only problem This book was written by a teacher working with secondary students and I'm working with preschoolers, We are in astonishingly similar situations and I loved the humor in the writing, but much of the advice just wasn't applicable, Some of it certainly was, The ideas of being consistent and firm are ones I will be doing a much better job trying to implement, So I highly recommend this book to middle/high school teachers who are struggling, but if anyone has recs for more relevant preschool discipline and classroom management, those would be highly appreciated.
Im nearing the end of myth year teaching, I often feel that my classroom discipline is an issue Im too nice / let too many things slide until things are crazy, As a result I lose not only instructional time, but lose some students that showed real promise, In an effort to do better in the future, I have started my own personal goal to master or to at least greatly improve my classroom management.
This book is my first step in that direction, What I found most helpful:
, This book helped me realize that I wasnt the only one who had made major mistakes, It helped seeing too that someone else was able to learn from similar mistakes,
. The reflection afteryears put some of the “original” content into perspective, Again, it reminded me that we are all life long learners and I hope to keep this momentum going as I continue on my mission to master or at least greatly improve classroom management! It's hard to trust an author when he starts off by saying he never even wanted to be a teacher in the first place.
This author went through a two month training to be a teacher which does not qualify him to be a teacher,

I didn't like the first half or the last half of the book, The middle parts had good advice, but it was advice that even I, being a third year teacher, know to follow,

He even mentioned college courses about teaching are not practical which he would know nothing about since he never went to college to be a teacher.


I just couldn't hardly get past the fact that he HIT and YELLED in the ear of students, It blows

my mind. No matter how bad a student is, why would any person, much less a teacher, do such a thing

Some of his advice is also contradictory from what he's said earlier.
This book is basically just him telling a story about his terrible teaching experiences, Please, please tell me something I don't know, The books gives his experiences as a teacher, but not a lot of insight into what will actually work in the classroom, I feel like acting like an automotron and mastering the teacher stare really doesn't cut it in todays classroom, It was alright, there were some good ideas in it, I was kind of disappointed though, he says at the end that he quit teaching after histh year, so clearly the things in the book didn't work out the greatest for him, so why is he giving advice A lot of the tips were a nobrainer for anyone that has worked with teenagers at all.
This book was a quick and easy read, There wasn't much to it, It had some good insights and good points, This book gets to the point without dragging it on for chapters, which was a definite benefit of reading it, I'm giving this book five because I lived through Gary's first year of teaching with him, and the fact that he came out of it with a robust sense of humor is remarkable.


The author and I were firstyear teachers together in a middle school of,students on the ship channel in the Houston Independent School District in.
We were wellmeaning, but hopelessly underprepared by a then flybytheseatofyourpants, fledgling organization called Teach for America, While many of the kids were incredible, I still found that first year to be the most excruciating experience of my life, Many was the day when I would have welcomed acute illness over darkening the door of my classroom,

Both of us survived and then later thrived as teachers, Gary started fresh at a high school serving the same student population, I moved to a topnotch academic magnet across town and mostly loved it, Today, I'm working as a youth director of a large church, What doesn't kill you makes you stronger as they say, That's the bottom line of this book, I don't see The Reluctant Disciplinarian so much as a howto book, but more as something to read after your first year when you want to feel a sense of hope or solidarity.
If you are a lateralentry teacher in your first year, hang in there, It usually does get better,
The author is a TFA teacher who wants us to learn from his mistakes, It is both useful and entertaining, A small drawback is that he it totally dismissive of graduate education programs, which doesn't seem entirely deserved, A cute book about a person who never expected to be a teacher, It had a ton of good ideas about fitting the mold and what it means to be different to the kids, Lots of things that I didn't expect but really enjoyed thinking about, I will make lots of changes about how I handle things in the classroom next year, .