A brilliant springboard for the evaluation of any setting’s practice.
The book takes the current top ten issues in UK schools and interrogates the issue, provides suggestions to tackle it, alongside case studies from diverse schools across the country giving practical solutions. The consistent structure of each section presents the information with clarity allowing practitioners to dip into sections as they choose. Highly recommended for all those involved in teaching, learning and leading who want to reflect on the issues within the current educational landscape and consider how to best tackle them in their own setting and context. Just Great Teaching highlights the value and importance of practitioners having time and space to unpick practice, investigate a variety of approaches, expose themselves to research and make effective changes. A brilliant springboard for the evaluation of any setting’s practice.
This should be a must-read for every trainee and Newly Qualified Teacher. I wish I had read it when I first joined the profession.
I had expected to skim this book but was completely unable to do so. The writing style is incredibly engaging. While I read this book, I wanted to shout from the rooftop,‘Yes, yes, yes!’ If every classroom teacher used these strategies and techniques in their classroom, they would definitely be able to take control of their classrooms. I wish I had read this when I had first started teacher training.
The book is incredibly positive, and after reading it, I feel excited about the future of education! There is an astounding number of top tips which can be taken into the classroom or school as a whole.
As an avid Twitter user for professional reasons (it's where I do my CPD) I have seen firsthand that @TeacherToolkit is always producing interesting items or comments about various topics in education, and this continues into this book. This book is an easy read and, like all the best non-fiction books, can easily be dipped into and out of at your own leisure. Each section is clearly labelled and concisely explained, with areas to read about 'planning', 'behaviour', 'teacher well-being' and 'student mental health' to name just a few, all of which Ross McGill believes are some of his ten key issues facing teachers and school leaders at the moment. All of the ideas are thoroughly based on the authors own research in schools, and each chapter is clearly split into: 'why is this an issue', 'how can we tackle it?', 'school case study' and 'why does this work?'. I personally really enjoyed and learnt from the second section (how can we tackle this) as this section was always full of ideas that can be practically used either in the classroom or in a school. The book is generally incredibly positive and after reading it I felt excited for the future of education if there are more people who think like Ross Morrison McGill or at least use some ideas from his book!
10 chapters, each focusing on one of the key areas of teaching practice, regularly discussed in our SLT meetings! Supported by research, I found this an interesting read and was able to make some instant changes in my classroom!
Having followed @teachertoolkit on twitter for a while, I instantly knew this would be a worthwhile read! I have been able to dip into relevant sections of the book as required and have appreciated the clear and accessible style. Practical ideas which are easy to implement are accompanied by interesting case studies and I would highly recommend this to all colleagues, from NQTs to SLT!
Does what it aims to-gives practical ideas and inspiration for 'Just great teaching'.
This book really does do what it says on the tin! It gives practical ideas for good practice relating to current issue in education, which have helped reduce my own workload as well as given ideas which I have shared with others. I found this especially useful as a reference point when completing my NPQML assignment and as a new NQT mentor too. The case study approach really helped to give context and relevance to the themes in the book.