What's the best way of constructing an email, especially if you want the recipient to do something? If you’re a teacher or presenter, how should you approach the writing of a slide- based presentation?
Read MoreBook review: Terry Freedman's Dispatches from the Chalkface, reviewed by Connie Chelsea
Dispatches from the Chalkface is an important book because it provides a rare, inside look at the day-to-day reality of teaching in a classroom. Terry Freedman, the author, is a veteran teacher with over 30 years of experience, and in this book he shares his insights and wisdom gained from years of working with students.
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Book review: Climate Change for Dummies
This book is as a timely addition to the debate around climate change.
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Please click the cover to see this book on the publisher’s website.
Book review: Engineering in Plain Sight
This book sets out to give assorted planners, architects, engineers and technicians their due, with its examinations of electricity distribution, communication platforms, roads, bridges and more besides.
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Book review: Story Machines
While the book is both detailed and enjoyable, it is not entirely convincing.
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Book review: No Excuses Turning around one of Britain’s toughest schools
Written mainly in the form of a diary, this is an account of how Colwell’s headship changed the culture of a community’s school.
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Please click on the cover to see the book on the publisher’s website
Book review: Futureproof: A comprehensive framework for teaching digital citizenship in schools
The growing importance of digital citizenship isn’t just evident from what we hear in the news, but also recent findings from Ofsted that students often aren’t as digitally literate as teachers tend to assume.
Read MoreBook review: Brave New World -- the graphic novel version
in some respects, Brave New World seems closer to our lived reality than does Orwell’s 1984.
Read MoreSummer reading #2: What's the problem? Won't Google Translate sort it?
Why bother asking someone to translate anything, given that Google Translate will probably do a reasonable-ish job in a fraction of a second?
Read MoreReview: The Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
This book differs from many of the books and articles I’ve read about memory because it delves into the physical changes that occur in different situations.
Read MoreReview: Support Not Surveillance: How to solve the teacher retention crisis
Dr Bousted makes a strong case for major reform of the parts of the education system in England that has a direct impact on teachers – and therefore on students.
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books to be reviewed by Terry Freedman
Navigating nonfiction books
One of the first things I look for when reviewing a non-fiction book is whether or not it contains an index. If it does, the next thing I check is whether the index is actually useful.
Read More#Flashback Friday: Review of The Long Tail
The “Long Tail" has been lauded and quoted at length. But what does the book actually say, and how does it stand up to scrutiny. In this lengthy review I give it a cautious "thumbs up".
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Books to be reviewed #3: Climate Change for Dummies
This is another book to be reviewed for Teach Secondary magazine.
Read MoreReview of Tools for Teachers
My review of this book has just been published in Teach Secondary magazine. The review there is slightly different from the one I submitted, so I’ve included my original one here as text, and the Teach Secondary one as a scan.
Read MoreQuick looks: Support Not Surveillance, by Dr Mary Bousted
As far as I’m aware no Education Secretary has had the ability or the courage to deal with the teacher recruitment and retention crisis.
Read MoreQuick looks: Tools for Teachers, by Oliver Lovell
Overall the book is a good investment, although I did have some quibbles with it.
Read MoreQuick looks: About Our Schools, by Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters
If you want to see the humble brag elevated to an art form, this is the book for you.
Read MoreReview: The Self-Taught Computer Scientist: The beginner’s guide to data structures & algorithms
As its name suggests, this book is aimed at those who want to teach themselves computer science.
Read MoreReview: Book Wars
The digital revolution was not just about books, but social factors, personal desires, institutional goals and more.
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