I suspect that this book won’t be on the education secretary’s recommended reading list for schools.
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Book 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: 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.
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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Review: Breaking the News Exhibition
As the British Library’s event, ‘Breaking the News’ exhibition demonstrates, fake news has been a feature of news reporting for at least 500 years.
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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Review: A student’s guide to Python for physical modelling
The book’s primary concern is enabling Python to be used for manipulating and plotting large datasets, dealing with image “noise” and other advanced topics.
Read MoreQuick look: Book Wars
As its subtitle indicates, Book Wars covers the analogue and digital battlefield in the world of books.
Read MoreA Teen's View of "Their Space" and Internet Safety (Updated)
“I won’t say that [this paper] was an interesting read for me though: it is like asking a religious person to read a book about why they should believe in God.”
This report is the result of nine months of work that focused specifically on understanding how children and young people use new technologies.
The review below was written soon after its publication, by Sarah Hillier, who was at that time a teenager. I’ve just re-read her article, and I think its observations and incisiveness – not to mention the beauty of her writing – have stood the test of time. The article which follows has only been modified slightly from the original. I hope you enjoy it.
Read MoreReview: The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education
One of the things that I have found very puzzling is why victimhood has such a high status these days.
Read MoreMy Top Ten EdTech books of 2021
While narrowing down the list to ten titles is somewhat artificial, a device, I also wanted to be pretty strict about what I included. I didn’t want this to be just a collation of the beginnings of all the reviews I wrote over the course of the year.
Read MoreTwenty things to do with a computer (Forward 50) -- My review for SchoolsWeek
This is hands-down the most interesting edtech book I received for review in 2021, and easily the most inspiring.
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