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Teaching: the best job in the world. Yet, increasingly, it is considered one of the toughest professions. In recent years, practices have arisen and become widespread which overcomplicate teaching and increase teacher workload, while only having a marginal impact on pupil learning. Simplicity Rules explores how children learn and the most effective ways to teach them, focusing on achieving results using strategies that are low effort and high impact, along with a comprehensive framework underpinning the ideas.
Covering what to teach, talk, practice, starting a lesson, ending a lesson, and feedback alongside practical methods to reduce workload as well as simpler and clearer systems to support teachers in the long term, this book asks:
Is this the very best use of my time as a teacher?
What is the learning impact for the child?
What is the impact on my own workload?
Are the results worth this effort?
Promoting a simplification of teaching practices, Simplicity Rules is an essential guide for school teachers of all levels of experience, and school leaders.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. How Children Learn; 2. Good Behaviour; 3. What to Teach; 4. Resources; 5. Starting a Lesson; 6. Reading in a Lesson; 7. Writing; 8. Talk in a Lesson; 9. Practice in a Lesson; 10. Ending a Lesson; 11. Feedback; Conclusion; Bibliography; Acknowledgements
About the author
Jo Facer is Vice Principal at The Ebbsfleet Academy, UK. She tweets @jo_facer and blogs at readingallthebooks.com.
Summary
Teaching: the best job in the world. But it is also, increasingly, considered one of the toughest professions. Practices have arisen and become widespread which overcomplicate and increase teacher workload, while having only a marginal impact on pupil learning. Put simply, we need to simplify what we do.
Additional text
"Teaching is not simple – but it doesn’t either need to be complex. This book is a great reminder for (mainly) secondary teaching colleagues, leaders and managers to remember that – in most cases – simplicity rules, and anything more complex only confuses, adds to the workload, and can be unnecessary." - Colin Hill, UKEdChat
"Simplicity Rules is packed with theory and ideas for use across schools. There are sections on raising literacy through reading in every lesson – this could be a ground-breaking step for some schools. There are extended comments from experienced teachers, offering practical advice and guidance on impactful change... It’s fantastic, and written with love." - Sarah Barker, TES
