Secondary Teaching

This book contains four essays written over 28 years ago while I was teaching writing and literature in the secondary school classroom. I do not wish to make apologies for the unpolished prose style of the essays or for arguments I once would have avidly defended, but today no longer stir a whole lot of zeal in me. Hopefully, a new generation of English teachers will find a few of the ideas contained in the essays of some value today.

Reaching Boys, Teaching Boys challenges the widely-held cultural impression that boys are stubbornly resistant to schooling while providing concrete examples of pedagogy and instructional style that have been proven effective in a variety of school settings. This book offers more than 100 detailed examples of lessons that succeed with male students, grouped thematically. Such themes include: Gaming, Motor Activities, Open Inquiry, Competition, Interactive Technology, and Performance/Role Play.

Does what it says on the tin. Top 10 tips for hitting the ground running for trainee teachers, newly qualified teachers, and teachers everywhere.

What would it take to transform industrial-era schools into modern organizations capable of supporting deep learning for all? Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine's quest to answer this question took them inside some of America's most innovative schools and classrooms - places where educators are rethinking both what and how students should learn. The story they tell is alternately discouraging and hopeful. Drawing on hundreds of hours of observations and interviews at 30 different schools, Mehta and Fine reveal that deeper learning is more often the exception than the rule.

This book is about my experiences in schools (and now academies which were formerly schools but run differently), as well as different teachers I have worked with, and how this all impacts the pupils we teach. It is an honest account revealing what it is like to be an aspirational teacher, and the difficulties we really find in this profession, with unprofessionalism often rife, senior leaders not in control and pupil behaviour varying from excellent to dangerous and often a challenge to manage. All of this in schools that parents hold in high esteem.

This book helps you be the biggest, boldest, and most powerful version of your teacher self. It reminds you why you became a teacher and coaches you to bring your unique gifts and talents into the classroom. The difference between a so-so lesson and one that leaves a lasting impact on students has everything to do with how confident and connected you feel to yourself and your students.

We often talk about the challenges of teacher recruitment and retention, about new initiatives and political landscapes, but day in, day out, teachers and schools are delivering exceptional teaching, and most of it is invisible. Ross uncovers, celebrates, and disseminates best practice in teaching. This is supported by case studies and research undertaken by Ross in 10 primary and secondary schools across Great Britain, including a pupil referral unit and private, state and grammar schools, as well as explanations from influential educationalists as to why and how these ideas work.

This book is about addressing the college-choosing problem. The rankings, metrics, analytics, college visits, and advice that we use today to help us make these decisions are out of step with the progress individual students are trying to make. They don't give students and families the information and context they need to make such a high-stakes decision about whether and where to get an education.

Gerade eben war alles perfekt. Die Schüler sind konzentriert und aufmerksam, der gut vorbereitete Unterricht fließt fast wie von selbst und so könnte es immer weitergehen. Tut es aber nicht, denn im Klassenzimmer nebenan wird bekannt, dass der Englisch-Test ausfällt, der Kollege ist krank. Drüben bricht die Hölle los. Vor Freude wird geschrien, Stühle krachen auf den Boden. Dahin ist der perfekte Flow in Ihrer Klasse, die Schüler sind abgelenkt, machen Bemerkungen, werden unruhig. Was jetzt?

This book chronicles the second, third and fourth years of these adventures, including the day-to-day life of a teacher at The American School of Kinshasa from 2007-2009 who deals with a marginal infrastructure while facing the everyday challenges of living in a war-torn third-world country, and has some great adventures in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Zanzibar.

I type "International Teaching Jobs" on the Google search line and find several sites, but I decide on one particularly useful site for which I pay a slight fee, and I find myself looking at a long list of teaching jobs all over the world. "Anything in Latin America," my wife asks, coming in to the room. "No, but here's one in the Congo." "Africa!?" "Yea, really. They want a calculus teacher! I can do that!" "Okay," Chantal says tentatively. "If you want." I hit the submit button and my resume is off across the world.