Mary Kempen

11/9/14
Reflection on The First Days of School
Harry and Rosemary Wongs advice for new teachers in The First Days of School regarding
classroom management appears to be useful despite what seems to be an overbearing urge to control
student activity. My observations of the classrooms in my field experience lead me to believe that
establishing procedures and routines during the first days of school is important if 25-30 young students
are to settle and work in a period of less than an hour. One of my host teachers might feel less stressed
if she could teach her students a routine procedure for transitioning from one activity to another as
Wong and Wong suggest. I greatly appreciate the authors list of procedures to rehearse with students
(2009, p. 193). I would not have imagined the list myself, and without guidance, I probably would not
have planned ahead for the situations mentioned. Thanking students for doing tasks the teacher
requests sounds like a good way to establish an environment of respect, and planning classes around
objectives is advice repeated in other sources but worth review. I especially like the recommendations
to post information about the class next to the door so all students know immediately if they are in the
correct classroom and to greet the students each day. I also agree with the advice to use the interactive
whiteboard to store the work done in class (2009, 103). Posting work done in class along with electronic
copies of homework assignments and due dates will enable me to save time on e-mailing absent
students or their parents and will allow the students to come to class the day after an absence prepared
for the next lesson rather than waiting to catch-up on what they missed. Using the course management
software or website might even eliminate the need for the absent folder into which students place
papers handed out in class for their classmates who are absent (2009, p. 20).

I question Wong and Wongs recommendation that homework be for practice and review of
what has been taught in class and not be for new learning (2009, p. 292). The new model of the flipped
classroom proposes that students attempt new learning at home via recorded teacher mini-lectures
and then come to class prepared to ask questions and engage in guided practice of the lesson. This
model attempts to solve the problem of student boredom in the traditional classroom. Perhaps the
flipped classroom is less successful for young students than for older ones, and perhaps students will
be unwilling to watch an explanation at home, but I believe that some homework should be designed to
spur inquiry rather than review. If all of my students have access to computers and the internet, I think
a homework assignment in which they must find new information that they will bring to the next days
class and use for the next days lesson might aid learning in ways that a uniform set of practice problems
might not. Assigning research-style homework leads students to become independent learners and sets
them up for life-long learning after their teachers no longer tell them what to do. This type of
homework may teach students to develop curiosity. They may also learn accountability if they will be
unable to depend on classmates for a set of answers the next day should they choose to not complete
the assignment.
While I appreciate Wong and Wongs concern for minimizing lost learning time, their emphasis
on maintaining silence in the classroom may not be appropriate for my area of study. I will teach
Spanish language classes, and my goal will be to foster communication among my students. They must
learn to speak to each other, so speaking will be a key component of class activities. A silent classroom
is not conducive to achieving some language class objectives. That said, an alternative method of
making routine requests such as going to the bathroom may help class run more smoothly. The finger
signal technique mentioned on page 188 seems effective if everyone can remember the signals. The
more elaborate methods of asking for help involving the Styrofoam cups, toilet paper tubes, and index
card tents on the students desks are less effective than the traditional raised hand, however. All of

these alternative means involve signals that are below the teachers normal line of sight and so are likely
to be ignored by the teacher for a while. This wait period might result in the student wasting time
instead of continuing to work on the lesson.
Additional time may be spent on learning rather than waiting if roll taking ceases to demand
student attention. Wong and Wong propose several options for taking roll without asking each student
if he or she is present, but the simplest is the best. Once the teacher drafts the seating chart, he or she
needs only to look at the chart each day and mark off the empty seats to know who is and who is not
present. If students move to different seats, they incur the consequences of having their names
recorded as absent. No time will be lost by the students, and the teacher will not interrupt their
learning with speech not related to the lesson. Wong and Wong can improve their advice on this topic
by eliminating the additional options that require actions by the students or constructions by the
teacher like the clothespin or musical notes boards on pages 131 and 135. There are more inspiring
items to post on a classroom wall than an attendance record.

Reference:
Wong, H and Wong, R.T. (2009). The first days of school. Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong
Publications.