Making Every English Lesson Count: Six principles to support great reading and writing (Making Every Lesson Count)

by Andy Tharby

Brings the teaching of conceptual knowledge, vocabulary and challenging literature to the foreground and shows teachers how to develop students reading and writing proficiency over time. Making Every English Lesson Six Principles to Support Great Reading and Writing goes in search of answers to the fundamental question that all English teachers must What can I do to help my students to become confident and competent readers and writers? Writing in the practical, engaging style of the award-winning Making Every Lesson Count, Andy Tharby returns with an offering of gimmick-free advice that combines the time-honoured wisdom of excellent English teachers with the most useful evidence from cognitive science. The book is underpinned by six pedagogical principles challenge, explanation, modelling, practice, feedback and questioning and provides simple, realistic classroom strategies to bring the teaching of conceptual knowledge, vocabulary and challenging literature to the foreground. It also points a sceptical finger at the fashions and myths that have pervaded English teaching over the past decade or so such as the idea that English is a skills-based subject and the belief that students can make huge progress in a single lesson. Instead, Andy advocates an approach of artful repetition and consolidation and shows you how to help your students develop their reading and writing proficiency over time. Making Every English Lesson Count is for new and experienced English teachers alike. It does not pretend to be a magic bullet. It does not claim to have all the answers. Rather the aim of the book is to provide effective strategies designed to help you to bring the six principles to life, with each chapter concluding in a series of questions to inspire reflective thought and help you relate the content to your classroom practice. In an age of educational quick fixes, GCSE reform and ever-moving goalposts, this precise and timely addition to the Making Every Lesson Count series provides practical solutions to perennial problems and inspires a rich, challenging and evidence-informed approach to English teaching. Suitable for English teachers of students aged 11 16 years.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching

176 pages, Paperback

Published August 31, 2017

Reviews

[Connor Kavanagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is going to be a fantastic resource for me in the future and - unlike a lot of academic writing - was concise and engaging. Would highly recommend to teachers old and new.

[allie english · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book to help beginner teachers tackle English. This is on the reading list of my new course and I was so happy that the first book I read for this course was one that I really enjoyed. Definitely felt that it could have been longer though.

[Josie Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

english teacher SLAY baby 👩‍🏫

[Hannah Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Succinct and useful. Would recommend as a reflection text or in conjunction with other pedagogical texts, as it is short and does not go in to much detail in certain aspects of pedagogy

[Saraya · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a trainee it has been the absolute godsend

[Jon Margetts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The test for a book such as this is whether or not the advice given is implementable in your every day work. And I can absolutely guarantee that in buying this book, you are undercutting scores of expensive CPD training, and providing yourself with instantly useful, tangible and beneficial strategies for bringing the best out of your pupils. For example, the chapter on giving feedback is one of the most lucid accounts of simply how to mark English books in a speedy, efficient way: only circle five SPaG errors; give feedback as they work; use marking codes which the pupils then copy down to save your time writing extensive prose; have DIRT time to focus on improving the pupil in the future; use whole class feedback sheets; and, finally, focus on the opening paragraph and skim read the rest.

This book is absolutely stuffed with practicable advice for excellent teaching in the English classroom; the only wish I had was that I read it earlier into my training. The above is absolute gold dust for reducing workload in marking -- I am shocked that we weren't explicitly taught this in the seminar room whilst training at university.

[Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I devoured this. Tharby is excellent at synthesising lots of (sometimes quite complex) information and although it’s not pitched towards trainee teachers as such I think it’s something I’ll benefit from revisiting as I gain more experience. For now, I’m inspired by the author’s step-by-step approach.

[Ben Scobie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute gold mine of tips for an English teacher. Should be a copy in every staffroom.

[Toony L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to digest. Concise and simplistic. Extremely helpful and practical.

[Giovanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! Very readable, relatable and applicable to my (every?) classroom. I felt reassured when Tharby recommended techniques and approaches my department and I currently use - and have noted down plenty of takeaways that will help me to improve my practice next year. I'm keen to try and integrate the STAR approach (Substitute, Take things out, Add things in, Rearrange) into writing sessions, to help my students become effective and independent proofreaders/editors.

Also worth noting that Tharby's footnotes and bibliography are practically a dream directory of excellent resources for developing your teaching (or writing PGCE/PGDE essays!). Published in 2017, he dips in and out of recent research and engages in broader debate without ever becoming tedious. Really happy to say I've read some of the texts he used and I'll be using his references as a springboard to read more!

[Lucy Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book to all English teachers!

It’s full to the brim of fantastic tips and tricks that I was eager to implement in my lessons after each little bit I read. Mine is full of post it notes that I imagine I’ll still be referring to years into my career!

The chapters are really short, concise and straight to the point. There are really relatable examples that makes it so easy to follow. There should be a copy of this in every English department!

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy to read, a chapter or a section at a time or, as I have done at least on my first look, from beginning to end. Also if you can hear the author speak as I’ve done before, so much the better. One day I might be ahead of my (English teaching) ‘game!’

[Denise Lombardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book on English teaching I've ever read, and I've been teaching English a long time. Affirming of some of my practices (which is great!) but chock full of well researched approaches to make my teaching of reading and writing even better.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really helpful and practical guidance in here. Read and highlighted - now t use and adapt for purpose.

[Nic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise, to the point and reinforces some of my existing ideas of English pedagogy in the classroom.

[Samuel Mendel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good, especially on AfL

[Jason Anger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of excellent, practical suggestions.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An accessible, practical and compact guidebook for planning and delivering effective English lessons, with particular focus on how to improve the reading and writing techniques of students.

[Alex Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every strategy is straightforward and justified. Such a good book to have on hand ad a reference when lesson planning. Would recommend!

[Laura Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book with plenty of hints and tips for classroom practice.

[Molly Rodden · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most helpful resource I’ve used so far. Will be returning to this regularly!

[Sonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books about teaching English.