Talk-Less Teaching: Practice, Participation and Progress
£16.10
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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by Katharine
I don’t often buy teaching books as they are expensive and who needs them with the internet? However this one is probably the best I’ve read in over twenty years of teaching. Lovely writing style, you could be chatting at your kitchen table, everything explained in terms of how this is going to positively effect the children’s learning and the expected changes from using the methods, and really great, practical, useful, usable, interesting ideas. Fabulous!
by Hannah-Clare
Been teaching ten years and I am always looking for fresh ideas to stop myself getting stuck in a rut! This book is full of brilliant ideas which can be used in the classroom straight away without much preparation. Loved Pimp Your Lesson and this is as good! Raring to go for the new term!
by Fidel
I do talk too much, and thought this might reframe or offer some alternative structure or alternative way to think about how a lesson works. The beginning of it is banging on about why talking a lot is a problem. I already know this, hence the reason I bought the book.
It has a lot of strategies but I find it bewildering to access them. The sections in the book are vague when you’re looking for a strategy to help in a situation. When you start reading the strategy, it’s just lots of fluff and filler before you get to the actual point, and sometimes refers to other strategies by name, as if you know the names of them all, and as if you’ve read them all in order.
I find the tone a little patronising and waffly really. I feel there’s probably a good book in there and some good information, but I just feel like it’s very hard work accessing it.
Moreover, I don’t feel like I know some good strategies which will actually help me talk less at the end of it all.
by Karen
Fantastic book – we’re using it at my work place all the time. Can highly recommend – possibly nothing new in it – but it males its point and gets you to question your teaching. Also has some direct suggestions as to what you can do to engage your learners more and simply talk less yourself!
by Ripple
This book contains some really good, practical ideas that you can try. Unlike some books, these are all achievable; which ones work for you will depend on your own style and approach and some of the ideas are a bit more Primary than Secondary, but don’t let this put you off. There are some really interesting ideas here. The market is awash with similar books, but often they seem to be written by some idealist who has never set foot in a classroom. Isabella Wallace’s books are always reliable and this is, in my view, her best yet.
by Emma Lawlor
This book has been inspirational for me this year in my teaching. I have been a teacher for 15 years and it is always good to explore new ideas. It’s a great book to dip in and out of and I have used most of the ideas within it. I would recommend.
by Mrs. C. J. Gray
Easy to read book. Thought provoking but also thought clarifying ideas to try.
by Glynn
Great book with many useful tips and hints. Book is written in a humours way which adds to its content. Would recommend to any new aspiring teacher.