The Wong Way to be an Effective Teacher

I met Harry and Rosemary Wong last Saturday! My alma mater hosted a fantastic Early Childhood conference and the Wong's were the keynote speakers. 

Before I get to the teaching part, let me just say that these two were adorable! They both talked about how in love they were and how they met and it was just so mushy gushy and cute! 

Back to business. The Wong's have a really refreshing message because it's all about what teachers can do in their classroom to make a difference. It doesn't cost money. It wasn't the next new program. They weren't suggesting everything I was doing was wrong or needed a makeover. It was just some nice reminders of things that someone who's been at this a while can forget. 

The Wong's presented on things effective teachers do. They say all effective teachers have/do these things: 

Agenda

Bell Work 

Objectives

Rubrics for Assessment 

Positive Expectations

My Take Aways 

Their agenda consists of a daily schedule, bell work, and daily objectives. I don't post daily objectives, but after hearing the Wong's talk about this I think this is something I'll start incorporating into our day. 

Simply tell students what they will be learning before the lesson begins
and you can raise student achievement as much as 27 percent.

-Researcher John Hattie

That fact alone makes a very compelling case for posting objectives. We aren't required to, so it just isn't something I've ever taken the time to do. 

Rubrics are huge for assessment, I know, just not something I've used a lot since I've moved to first grade. They had some great examples of more visual rubrics that would be perfect for first graders. I also really liked the suggestion of having students help create the wording for the rubrics with you. I think I'll start out by making a handwriting rubric with my students.

They also had a great tip for transitions. It's an acronym called CPR: 

Close up work 

Prepare for the next activity

Refocus 

He also suggests to explain what students need to do then let them do it without talking. Oops! I am so guilty of this one - I give directions and then keep adding in things while the students are preparing to move to the next activity. I need to work on this one for sure. 

Last thing. The Wong's have helped write another classroom management book called The Classroom Management Book. I had no idea this book existed. Maybe I am the only person who doesn't know this. Maybe not. Have you read it?