Review
------
Books in education tend to be dry academic tomes or
full of anecdotes usually premised on `do what I did`.
Outstanding Teaching is neither it is based on a rich analysis of
thousands of videos of successful teachers, is imbued with a
sense of fun, but has some very serious messages. What a treat
Outstanding Teaching an engaging book emphasising the core
qualities of teaching while making it sound fun. Griffith and
Burns emphasise the Big Four; Challenge, Autonomy (but they mean
students having the space in classrooms to learn), feedback (to
teachers), and engagement (full absorption in learning). To link
these, they use the notion of flow, which requires that the tasks
are appropriately challenging, teacher input is minimal, the
class have the necessary learning skills, success criteria or
goals are clear and worthwhile, feedback is immediate, and tasks
are intrinsically motivating. These are among the top influences
that I also found in my synthesis of meta-analyses. Many have
become upset with my own comments about the power of teacher
quality, so if only they read this book to see what quality looks
and feels like. They spare no punches about what is in the power
of teachers: not only the choice of curricula but the management
of classrooms, the skill of listening not speaking, the placing
of student learning at the centre, receiving feedback about their
impact, and taking responsibility for triggering engagement by
students in learning whilst enjoying it all. They emphasise
rapport, imagination, competence, choice, curiosity, relevance,
challenge, and fun. [With two exceptions I agree (I see little
evidence supporting student choice teachers need to lead in
progressing students upwards in their learning and not leave it
to students otherwise the rich can get richer and the poor stay
poor) and would argue that some of these triggers come from being
successful engaged (not as precursors to successful engagement).]
I understand Outstanding Teaching is the first book in the
planned Outstanding Teaching series bring `em on. --John Hattie,
Director, Melbourne Education Research Institute
There are many outstanding teachers ... and some of them are
recognised. Most teachers would seek to be the best they can in
order to help the pupils that they teach become the learners we
would want them to be. This book will help teachers to bring
together the art, the science and the craft of teaching. Andy and
Mark have managed to distil the work they do alongside teachers
on their course programmes into print in a way that is readable
and practical: no mean achievement! It is a book full of
suggestions, ideas and techniques which are grounded in a
coherent outlook on what makes outstanding teaching. It will help
with inspection ... and it is much more. Reading this book will
shed light on the work we do in classrooms and the way we engage
with youngsters and will also make us think about the very
purpose of teaching. --Mick Waters, Professor of Education at
Wolverhampton University
Outstanding Teaching reflects Andy and Mark`s views that all
teachers can be enabled to improve with the right support and
guidance that is tied to clear criteria that allows them to see
how to move forward. The strength of the book comes from the
number of strategies that are included, alongside real-life
examples that can support classroom teachers in engaging
students. To learn, students have to be engaged this book gives a
route of what engagement is, what it looks like and the
strategies needed to achieve it. Teachers need to do this before
anything else, such as learning and progress, can happen in
classrooms this is what makes this book a valuable tool to
classroom teachers. --Ian Young, Principal, Rainford High
Technology College
There are many outstanding teachers ... and some of them are
recognised. Most teachers would seek to be the best they can in
order to help the pupils that they teach become the learners we
would want them to be. This book will help teachers to bring
together the art, the science and the craft of teaching. Andy and
Mark have managed to distil the work they do alongside teachers
on their course programmes into print in a way that is readable
and practical: no mean achievement! It is a book full of
suggestions, ideas and techniques which are grounded in a
coherent outlook on what makes outstanding teaching. It will help
with inspection ... and it is much more. Reading this book will
shed light on the work we do in classrooms and the way we engage
with youngsters and will also make us think about the very
purpose of teaching. --Mick Waters, Professor of Education at
Wolverhampton University
Outstanding Teaching reflects Andy and Mark`s views that all
teachers can be enabled to improve with the right support and
guidance that is tied to clear criteria that allows them to see
how to move forward. The strength of the book comes from the
number of strategies that are included, alongside real-life
examples that can support classroom teachers in engaging
students. To learn, students have to be engaged this book gives a
route of what engagement is, what it looks like and the
strategies needed to achieve it. Teachers need to do this before
anything else, such as learning and progress, can happen in
classrooms this is what makes this book a valuable tool to
classroom teachers. --Ian Young, Principal, Rainford High
Technology College
About the Author
----------------
Andy Griffith is the co-creator of the Outstanding
Teaching Training Intervention (OTTI) and director of MALIT a
Merseyside based training company. He has helped teachers and
whole schools move up to Ofsted s Outstanding grade by offering
practical advice and getting teachers to try new ways of working
with their students. His one day courses, which all run through
Osiris Educational, include Outstanding Teaching, Embedding
Outstanding Teaching, Games for Learning, How to be an
Outstanding Trainer and Project Based Learning. He was Osiris
Trainer of the Year in 2011 and has previously had education
packs and resources published by Folens, Framework Press and
Comic . Mark Burns, Director of MALIT Limited brings a
wealth of experience from his twelve years of teaching as well as
working in the field of gifted and talented education. His keen
appreciation about what motivates people to learn and engage lies
at the core of his training. He has worked extensively delivering
and coaching on the TES Training Award shortlisted Outstanding
Teaching Training Intervention (OTTI) in schools nationwide.
Through this work, observing literally hundreds of lessons in
both primary and secondary schools, he has gained a keen
understanding of the key ingredients required to transform
learning in the classroom so that it is active, high in
challenge, collaborative and student-led. This work has been
commended in Ofsted reports. Mark was shortlisted for the TES
Training Award 2010 for his work with a school confronting major
organisational change. He works extensively with school leaders
developing the quality of teaching.