Here is a very strange paradox. On the one hand, everyone agrees that a key ingredient for success in life is having great teachers. On the other, there’s a relentless narrative that education is somehow broken and that fixing it entails replacing teachers or transforming some or all of what they do.
Read MoreReview: The Complete Learner's Toolkit (Full review)
I was underwhelmed by a book with lofty ambitions that delivers little more than a compendium of interesting lesson ideas.
Read MoreReview: YEAR ONE: Lighting the path on your first year in teaching
I reviewed this book for Teach Secondary magazine. I’ve included both the review I sent in, and the lightly edited version that was published in the magazine.
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Review: The Fundraising Handbook by Lindsey Marsh
One of the chief banes of my life as a head of computing in a comprehensive school was acquiring enough money to develop the subject and to improve the experience of using education technology for everyone across the school.
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Terry Freedman and bookcase, by Terry Freedman
Fake news?
I’ve compiled a number of reviews of non-fiction books that either deal with helping people detect untruths (such as in so-called scientific research) or presenting something as true when, in fact, it isn’t.
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Review: The Power of Learning Networks
I suspect that this book won’t be on the education secretary’s recommended reading list for schools.
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Quick look: Strange Code
Strange Code looks at esoteric languages and also atypical languages, which are those that are not mainstream.
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Review: Writing on the Job: Best Practices for Communicating in the Digital Age
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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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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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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