Hello All,
So I’ve been on a Caribbean hiatus for a week and I need to
get back into the blog-swing of things! On Instagram, I saw a couple of teachers
post about Ron Clark’s new book, The
End of Molasses Classes, and I knew I HAD to read it! I read his 55 Essentials a few years ago and LOVED it, so I set out to Barnes
& Noble the day before my flight and snagged my own copy! I started reading it on the flight to St.
Thomas, and am happy to say I was done by the flight home to Boston (I had
to catch some rays here and there, ya know)! This book is PHENOMENAL to say the least!
It had me laughing and crying, scratching my head and wondering, and most of
all, it had me determined to go back to my classroom and make it an even more
magical place for my small portion of the class of 2024 to thrive in!
Ron Clark touches upon so many moments that
have occurred during his journey, both high and low. He tells it like it is and is so right in
every aspect of his words and offers up solutions that have and have not worked for him. I am in awe of this man, his staff, and his
students. He has found a way to
transform his students to become the epitome of excellence! All members of the Ron Clark Academy have
raised the bar high for their students and will not except anything less! I know his academy goes from 5th-8th
grade, but I have pulled so many useful ideas and lessons that I cannot wait to
implement in my 2nd grade classroom!
After reading this book from cover to cover, and some chapters multiple times, I knew I needed to tell everyone and anyone about this book that would listen! While reading, I have a bad habit of folding the corners down of
something that I want to go back to or when something struck me. In this book, I really could have folded over
each and every page, but I controlled the urge and only folded down nine. Out of 101 chapters/solutions, I went back to
“Not Every Child Deserves a Cookie,” “Be Excellent,” “Live With No Fear,” “Remind
Children of Their Blessings and Stress the Value of a Strong Work Ethic,” “Set
an Electric Tone on Day One,” “Realize That Kids Need to Move,” “Never Allow
Students to Begin a Statement with Um, Well, or Me And,” “Fake it to Make it,”
and “Let the Students Shine.” Each
solution or chapter is full of wonderful ideas, lessons learned, and failed
attempts, but the ones above are the ones that really made me think! I am not going to talk too much about the
book, because I want YOU to go and get it, borrow it, or download it, and read
it for yourself!
You will not want to put this book down! It will give you a
feeling of empowerment and wonder. The
End of Molasses Classes will make you feel on fire and make you feel that
you can conquer the world (or maybe just your classroom)! This has given me the
end-of-summer drive to get back into the classroom and make it a place that Ron
Clark would be proud of (we don’t want to disappoint Mr. Clark)! I hope my students are ready, because I
AM!!!! I am going to make it happen!
