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Reluctant Disciplinarian: Advice on Classroom Management From a Softy who Became (Eventually) a Successful Teacher | 
 enlarge | Author: Gary Rubinstein
Creator: Larry Nolte
Publisher: Cottonwood Press, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy New: $7.95
You Save: $5.00 (39%)
New (20) Used (17) Collectible (1) from $7.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  57 reviews
Sales Rank: 9633
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: 371.5
EAN: 9781877673368
ASIN: 1877673366
Publication Date: July 12, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product 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 52 more reviews...
 Fun to read but no real help. December 13, 2008
I was looking for some help in managing some serious behavior issues in my classroom. This book didn't offer anything new or helpful.
 Entertaining, but not for experienced teachers September 10, 2008
This book was an entertaining read, I will admit, but I was disappointed by it. When I was a first-year teacher, I probably would have found this a useful book (though there were other books that I found much *more* useful), but as an experienced teacher, I found nothing in it that I didn't already know. If you've made it past your first few years of teaching, it's a waste of money.
 Fun read, but not a "disciplinarian ideas" book. July 30, 2008
This book was a good read, but didn't really tell me anything new. The author is very funny and talked about things I definitely related to as a teacher. It just wasn't what I wanted as far as strong ideas for being a good disciplinarian.
 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
3 out of 3 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."
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