[Book Annoc]: 55 Essential Lessons

[Smart Book]

The Essential 55
An Award-Winning Educator's Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in
Every Child
By Ron Clark
Published by Hyperion
May 2003; $19.95US/$29.95CAN; 1-4013-0001-4

Today's lesson: The Essential 55

Make eye contact
Respect other; ideas and opinions
Do not save seats
Say thank you within three seconds of receiving something
When you win, do not brag; when you lose, do not show anger
Do your homework each and every night without fail
Do not talk in a movie theater
Be the best person you can be
Always be honest
If you are asked a question in conversation,
ask a question in return
Perform random acts of kindness
Learn the names of all the teachers in the
school and greet them
If someone bumps into you,
even if it was not your fault , say excuse me
Stand up for what you believe in

Many more inside . . .

"Mr. Clark gave me the strength to hold on and be somebody. He is the one
who believed in me . . . He told me not to give up. He told me to try and no
other teacher did that."
--Tamara, sixth-grade student, Harlem, NY

If there were a code you could learn that would lead you to become a great
teacher -- of students, of your children, or of any young person in your
life -- wouldn't you want to learn it? The Essential 55 is a collection of
the amazingly effective rules that Ron Clark used to become an extraordinary
teacher. Through trial and error, this teacher has distilled fifty-five
ideas that have helped him take apathetic students in some of the country's
most challenging areas and transform them into award-winning scholars.

Covering all aspects of life, from the classroom to the world, from human
interactions to the most frightening of all -- cafeteria and bathroom
manners -- Ron Clark shows that with determination, discipline, and regular
rewards, the children you stick by will be the children you eventually
admire.

"As long as you have the ability to learn, he can do anything with you-he
can make you a star."
--Quameisha, sixth-grade student, Harlem, NY

Author
Ron Clark has been a teacher since 1995. Originally from North Carolina, he
has taught in some of the most difficult schools in the country, most
recently in Harlem, NY. Since winning the 2001 Disney Teacher of the Year
Award, he has spoken to teachers, PTAS, and school boards across the
country. He lives in Atlanta.

Excerpt
The following is an excerpt from the book The Essential 55
An Award-Winning Educator's Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in
Every Child
by Ron Clark
Published by Hyperion; May 2003; $19.95US/$29.95CAN; 1-4013-0001-4
Copyright © 2003 Ron Clark

Introduction

Her name was Mudder. She loved Guiding Light, collards, and snuff, and she
was my grandmother. Mudder stood right at five feet, but when she placed her
hands on her hips, she was the tallest person in the room. She was
definitely a lady who didn't put up with any nonsense, and she was respected
by everyone around her; poor be the person who had to learn that the hard
way. As I grew up, she lived with my family and had a strong impact on who I
am today. She's one of the reasons that I feel so strongly about these
fifty-five expectations I have of my students, as well as all people. She,
along with my parents, gave me a true southern upbringing, which included
respect, manners, and an appreciation of others. In addition to those
ideals, I was shown how to enjoy life, take advantage of opportunities, and
live every moment to the fullest. I was very fortunate to be surrounded by
family members who were excellent examples of how life should be lived and
not taken for granted.

Once I became a teacher, it became evident to me that many children aren't
exposed to the type of guidance and opportunities that I had when I was
growing up. I have tried to set an example for my students and be a role
model like my family members were for me. In my attempt to give them an
outline or a guide to how life should be lived and appreciated, I compiled
this list of lessons. Over the years of working with kids and watching this
list grow from five rules to a handbook of life's lessons, I have seen a
remarkable difference in the way my students have held themselves, performed
in school, and had respect for others.

I have used these lessons with much success with my students, but they are
not only for children; most of the fifty-five items listed here can apply to
anyone, young and old, from the housewife to the doctor, the politician to
the waiter, and everyone in between. These lessons are about how we live,
interact with others, and appreciate life, and, therefore, they speak to
everyone.

I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with children
firsthand and develop the list of fifty-five rules into what it is today. It
is an extension of my upbringing mixed with lessons I have learned about
life, along with some rules that I have felt the need to adopt in order to
maintain order with my students and get them to achieve their potential.
However, the rules are more than about getting kids to behave; they're about
preparing kids for what awaits them after they leave my classroom. It is
about preparing them to handle any situation they may encounter and giving
them the confidence to do so. In some ways, it is a fifty-five-step plan.
The steps, however, are not sequential; they are all explained, practiced,
and enforced from day one in the classroom. At the end of the year, I like
to say that my students are "polished." I know I can take them anywhere, put
them in any situation, and present them with any lesson, because they are at
a point where they are receptive to learning and eager to experience life.

The time I have spent with children and teaching them these lessons has been
wonderful, and I can't imagine doing anything other than teaching. That is
ironic, however, because when I was growing up, being a teacher was the last
thing I would have wanted to do. Going through school, I can remember having
aspirations of discovering ancient tombs in Egypt, flying around the world
as a field journalist, or going undercover as a spy in foreign countries.
The thought of entering such a dull, unchallenging, and mind-numbing
profession as education never crossed my mind.

When I was a senior in high school, I sat down with my parents and discussed
my options for college. Both of my parents were very hard workers, but it
was still going to be a strain for them to come up with the funding
necessary to send me to school. I can remember my father saying to me, "Ron,
that's not for you to worry about. That is our responsibility. You just
concentrate on your grades." I loved them for the sacrifices they were
willing to make for me, but I didn't want to put them in a situation where
they would struggle to make ends meet. Around that time, I heard of a
program called the Teaching Fellows Scholarship. Recipients of the award
have all of their college expenses taken care of if they agree to teach in
North Carolina for four years after graduating. I had no desire whatsoever
to become a teacher, but I knew that taking the scholarship would make
things much easier for my family financially. I decided I would use the
funding to pay for my education, but after graduating I would not become a
teacher. I would enter another profession that would allow me to make enough
money to pay back the scholarship. It was not a plan I am proud of, but it
made sense at the time.

Throughout college, I found that my one true love in life is adventure. I
was up for any type of challenge that came my way, and that certainly led me
to my share of wild moments. I once ran across the field of a nationally
televised football game with my friend Bri, wearing only boxers and painted
purple from head to toe, as we were chased by a gaggle of police officers in
hot pursuit. While working at Dunkin' Donuts, and during a game of
hide-and-seek, I hid in a warm, locked oven that was turned on, and because
I had accidentally locked my coworker out of the building, I was almost
cooked to death. Also, even though I am terrified of heights, I have
bungee-jumped, climbed mountains, rappelled off cliffs, and parasailed
behind a boat off the Atlantic coast. When I graduated from college, I
realized I definitely did not want to teach. Actually, I didn't want to work
at all. Therefore, in search of more adventures, I moved to London and
worked as a singing and dancing waiter. After six months of using my
southern accent as a British tourist attraction, I left England and
backpacked across Europe, finally ending up in Romania, where I stayed with
gypsies who fed me rat, which made me so sick that I had to be flown home.
My adventures certainly had their share of highs and lows, but even when I
ended up sick, almost cooked, or in trouble with the law, the experiences
were worth the costs, because I always walked away a stronger, wiser, and
better person.

After I arrived home from Romania, my parents were extremely happy to see
me, but I had no intention of remaining home for long. My friend Bri was
going to live on the beach in California, and I couldn't wait to move out
there next. My mother, however, was willing to do whatever it took to get me
to stay put. She told me of a fifth-grade teacher in our area who had
recently passed away. It was a sudden illness, and her students, the
faculty, and the entire community were affected by her loss. Now let me tell
you, we live in the country, and the population of the town, Aurora, is
about 600. You have to drive twenty minutes to get to a stoplight, and it is
difficult to entice teachers to the school because of the travel it would
require each day. Mom told me that substitute teachers had taken over the
vacant teaching position for a month, and that the class had become very
unruly. The school was about 75 percent minority and most of the kids were
on free or reduced-price lunch. I felt sorry for the students, but I was not
interested in taking over this class of demanding, high-energy fifth
graders, many of whom had behavior problems and learning disabilities.

I told my mother there was no way in this world that I was going to teach at
that school. She told me in return that if I didn't at least talk to the
principal, she and my father would be forced to stop lending me money to
fund my adventures. The next day, I was the first person to arrive at
Snowden Elementary School.

Even though I agreed to meet with the principal, I still had no intention of
taking the job. My Aunt Carolyn worked there as a secretary, so I figured it
would give me the opportunity to see her before flying off to California.
Upon arrival, I visited with my aunt, and then the principal, Andrea
Roberson, gave me a tour of the school and told me about the group of
students I would teach if I accepted the position. She told me about how
demanding the students were, of several with learning disabilities, and how
I had to raise those test scores no matter what. I remember thinking to
myself, "And this lady is actually trying to convince me to work here." I
did act interested, but my heart wasn't in it. She then escorted me to the
room that held the fifth-grade class. We walked in and there was a little
boy, named Rayquan, sitting just a few feet from the door. He looked up at
me with his huge, brown, round eyes and said, "is you gonna be our new
teacher?" I can't explain the feeling that came over me; it was like an
epiphany. The instant trust in his voice, the excitement all over his face,
and his evident longing for stability called out to me. I knew that was
where I was supposed to be. I looked back at Rayquan and said, "I think so."

Before taking over the class myself, the principal wanted me to observe the
substitute teacher. She didn't want to just throw me in the class with no
idea about what to expect from the group. The substitute in question, Mrs.
Waddle, was an eccentric lady who always had a sandwich in one hand and
whose matted wigs always seemed to lean to one side. On the first day I
observed her, she became upset with a student who didn't know the answer to
a question. She proceeded to draw three small circles in a row on the
blackboard. She then instructed the young man to place his nose in the
middle circle and one finger from each hand in the outside circles. She left
him there and turned back to the class and asked the question again. The
next student got the question right, and she threw her hands in the air and
proclaimed that she felt the Holy Spirit. She then sang an entire verse of
"Amazing Grace." Sitting there and watching this teacher for a week
solidified more and more each day my desire to work with those students.
They needed me more than I could have ever imagined. Before turning the
class over to me, the substitute left me with one bit of "wisdom." She
looked at me and said, "You know, Mr. Clark, you'll do fine. As long as you
can affect the life of one child, you've been a success."

To this day I do not like that quote. I feel we have to approach education
with the determination to affect each and every one of our students. The
mentality of achieving "success" after reaching one child isn't enough. I
approach each year with the knowledge that I have only one year to make a
life's worth of difference in each child in that classroom, and I give it
everything I've got. I didn't know much when I first entered the classroom
and took over that class from Mrs. Waddle, but I did know my life was going
to be different, because I was determined to give my students a different
life, a better life. My time as a teacher had begun.

Over the next seven years in the classroom, my experiences were like a
roller-coaster ride, with invitations to the White House, 911 calls, trips
around the country with students, projects that garnered worldwide
attention, and a major move from teaching in rural North Carolina to Harlem
in New York City. Those events highlight my time spent working with children
and my efforts to teach them these fifty-five rules. I have recounted many
of the stories here. They show the highs and lows, successes and
disappointments, and lessons learned along the way.

As you go through the list, there are some rules you may like and decide to
use with students and children in your life, and there may be some that
don't inspire you. We all have different levels of tolerance when it comes
to the behavior of children, and we all have different levels of
expectations for ourselves and others. I offer these rules as suggestions,
as tried-and-true methods that have served my students well. I hope you find
them useful.

Copyright © 2003 Ron Clark