If there were a code that you could learn to become a great teacher - for any young person in your life - wouldn't you want to learn it? Essential 55 compiles the remarkably effective rules that Ron Clark used to become an exceptional - and award-winning - teacher. Through trial and error, he has distilled fifty-five ideas that helped him transform student apathy, in some of the poorest and most challenging conditions, into winning students. Covering all aspects of life - from the classroom to the world, from human interactions to good manners in the cafeteria - Ron Clark shows that with determination, discipline, and regular rewards, the children you support will be the children you ultimately admire. 'As long as you have the ability to learn, it can make you a star' - sixth-grade student in Harlem, NY.