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The NQT year is notoriously difficult and hard work. Challenges include meeting your new colleagues and making the right first impression, preparing and planning your lessons, managing the mountain of marking and most scary of all . . . being in charge of a whole class by yourself for the first time!

But don’t panic – help is at hand from expert teacher and education writer Sue Cowley. In this new edition of her bestselling book, she supports new teachers through the stresses and strains, and the highs and lows of their first year in teaching.

She’s there to guide you right from the start of day one, lesson one, with the acknowledgement that ‘your stomach feels like lead and your mouth feels as dry as the Sahara desert’. She’s there through each term advising on time-saving lesson plans, easy to implement behavior management tips and how to help children who have special educational needs. She’s there right until the end of the year when she ensures that you feel triumphantly on top of report writing and your first parents’ evening. All of her methods are tried-and-tested and real life case studies exemplify how (and how not) to put them in to practice.

This new edition has been fully updated with new diagrams and checklists to boost your organisational and time management skills. It also includes refreshed and up-to-date case studies and extra examples for primary school teachers.

Written in Sue Cowley’s honest, accessible and down to earth style, How to Survive your First Year in Teaching is a must have for all new teachers embarking on their NQT year.

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“A great little book for teachers based on robust evidence.” Carl Hendrick, Head of Learning and Research at Wellington College

This book is for any teacher who’s interested in improving their lesson planning and practice. It has been carefully constructed to be a highly efficient reading experience. It is short, sparse and you should be able to read it in about an hour.

However, it is not about quick fixes. If you’re looking for ways to short-cut the amount of time you spend planning lessons, then this book is not for you. Lean Lesson Planning draws on the best available evidence from educational research and cognitive science to provide a coherent set of mindsets and ‘habits of planning’ that will help you power up the learning experiences and outcomes in your classroom, in ways that make your life easier and more enjoyable. In short, it’s about doing less, but better.

Lean Lesson Planning is the first instalment in the High Impact Teaching series.

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Contents

Act I: Lean foundations

• 1. Defining lean
• 2. Lean mindsets
• 3. Lean habits

Act II: Habits for planning

• 4. Backwards design
• 5. Knowing knowledge
• 6. Checking understanding
• 7. Efficient strategies
• 8. Lasting learning
• 9. Inter-lesson planning

Act III Habits for growing

• 10. Building excellence
• 11. Growth teaching
• 12. Collective improvement

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Praise for Lean Lesson Planning

“Things that make teachers’ lives simpler like this are few and far between.” Doug Lemov, Author of Teach Like a Champion

“Breezy recap of best practices in lesson planning.” Dan Meyer, Chief Academic Officer at Desmos

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Praise for other books in the High Impact Teaching series

“I doubt you’ll find an education book with more useful insights per minute of reading time.” Dylan Wiliam, Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment at UCL

“I can’t remember when I have ever read a book that takes such complex ideas and communicates them with sophistication and simplicity.” Oliver Caviglioli, Education author & information designer

“A truly excellent book which sets out the science behind learning with remarkable clarity.” Mark Enser, Head of Geography at Heathfield Community College

“All I can say is that it was everything I’d hoped for and more.” Jon Hutchinson, Assistant Head at Reach & Visiting Fellow at Ambition

“Another absolute gem from Peps Mccrea.” Helene Galdin-O’Shea, English teacher & researchED organiser

“Peps packs the punches from the first page.” Kathryn Morgan, Advisor at TDT & ubergeek

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Teacher-talk is a powerful tool. But whilst we must embrace teacher-talk as vital, we must also bear in mind that not all teacher-talk is created equally…

Long periods of talk will not always keep a class spellbound. We need other techniques on which we can draw to help pupils embed learning and make progress. After all, how can we be effectively checking progress and understanding when it is we who are doing all the talking? How can we be certain that the sea of ‘attentive’ faces before us is not simply contemplating lunch?

The solution is here: a vast bank of exciting, engaging, practical ways to allow learners to access and understand complex topics and skills without relentlessly bending their ears. Strategies which not only prevent pupils from being passengers in lessons, but which also make progress visible to both teacher and learner.

In an entertaining and practical way, Talk-Less Teaching shows you how to encourage learners responsibility for their own progress without compromising test results or overall achievement. Discover hundreds of tried and tested practical tips for helping pupils understand difficult concepts and learn new skills without you developing lecture-laryngitis.

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The genesis for this book, and the strategy within it, is a longstanding commitment from Essex County Council to improve the life chances and life choices of disadvantaged pupils being educated in Essex.

The purpose of the book is to set out a strategic, evidence-informed approach with pupils, families, teachers, leaders, system leaders and wider agencies which puts learners first.

This approach is rooted in best practice. It centres on improving the day to day learning experiences of disadvantaged pupils, leading to better long term choice and opportunity.

Unity Schools Partnership and Essex County Council hope it will support efforts to address the impact of socio-economic disadvantage on learning in schools and colleges nationally.

‘Few national challenges deserve greater priority than closing the disadvantage gap in education. This book provides carefully considered, practical and impactful advice for schools’ – David Laws, Schools Minister 2012-2015

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