Spartacus Review

Volume 3: 15th October, 2007

Education

Title: Could Do Better!

Author: Phil Beadle

Editor:

Publisher: Doubleday

Price: £12.99

Bookshop: Amazon

Spartacus Website: British Education

Category:

Phil Beadle is a former rock musician, the winner of the Secondary Teacher of the Year Award 2005, and the inspirational teacher who wowed the nation with his unorthodox teaching methods in Channel 4 series "The Unteachables". There, his bizarre but effective approach to teaching English included Punctuation Kung-Fu, and reciting Macbeth to a field of cows. Through techniques such as these Beadle seemingly achieved the impossible by successfully drawing out the desire to learn from a group of failing pupils. Now his focus is on spreading the word to parents: every child has the ability to learn, and to do better at school. In this book he tells parents that there is no such thing as a stupid child, only boring lessons. Intelligent, unconventional, humorous and inspirational, this hands-on guide blends personal anecdotes with the nitty gritty of how to best unlock your children's unique intelligence, and how to ensure they have the best possible chance to succeed at school.

Title: The Great City Academy Fraud

Author: Francis Beckett

Editor:

Publisher: Continuum

Price: £16.99

Bookshop: Amazon

Spartacus Website: British Education

Category:

This highly controversial and compelling book exposes the government's city academies project: the ways in which companies and rich individuals have been persuaded to sponsor academies, their real reasons for sponsoring them, the lies that have been told in support of the academies project, and the disastrous effect it will have on Britain's schools. It brings together existing research, by the author and others, and adds new research, to build up a picture of a deeply flawed idea, which is educationally disastrous and inherently corrupt. In his provocative yet fascinating tour de force, Francis Beckett pulls the plug on the most high-profile educational scam for decades.

Title: Secondary Teacher's Handbook

Author: Lyn Overall & Margaret Sangster

Editor:

Publisher: Continuum

Price: £14.99

Bookshop: Amazon

Spartacus Website: British Education

Category:

This is a fully up-dated new edition of the practical resource book for secondary teachers everywhere. Presented in an easy-to-use, A-Z format, it covers all the issues that really matter to teachers on a day-to-day basis. Including over eighty key words, ranging from assessment to behaviour, and planning to SEN, this handbook brims with invaluable advice and is linked to all the latest standards. If you are keen to become a more effective teacher, then this is the book for you.

Title: The Creative Teaching and Learning Toolkit

Author: Brin Best and Will Thomas

Editor:

Publisher: Continuum

Price: £16.99

Bookshop: Amazon

Spartacus Website: British Education

Category:

This book aims to help you become a more effective teacher through a new teaching and learning framework which centres on the key role of creativity. Inside you will learn how to use creativity to reinvigorate teaching across all subject areas, thereby inspiring learners to reach their potential. Through a highly practical and inclusive approach, the book equips you with a range of common-sense strategies and tools designed to build on your existing knowledge and skills. They include: an easy to follow five-stage framework for effective teaching and learning that presents clear and fresh thinking about what helps learners succeed; over 200 strategies, tools and tips to enhance your creative thinking and that of your students; diverse case studies showing how other teachers have used creativity to enhance their teaching and get the desired results; and a CD containing electronic versions of a range of key documents from the book which can form the basis of your own tailored development programme. Award-winning authors Brin Best and Will Thomas draw on a wealth of teaching experience from a range of schools in the UK. With the aid of interactive self-evaluation exercises, they guide you through a step by step model that will pinpoint what you need to do to take your teaching to the next level. The book will help you make the transition from a talented teacher to a truly creative teacher, and will help you to rediscover the joy of teaching within the contemporary classroom.