For some reason I decided it was a good idea to pick up all my education books from their various shelves and put them on the floor. I think it was in the name of organisation (failed)... or finding a book I wanted for my essay? I'm not totally sure if I'm honest, but either way they're still right there on the floor where I put them a few days ago.
Looking at them has made me think about how the books I have bought have changed since the start of my PGCE, through my NQT until now the start of my MA. The books I have could probably be grouped into four or five categories, and that is how I am going to talk about them.
Books from my PGCE reading list
1) Learning and Teaching in Secondary Schools - Viv Ellis
2) Issues in Modern Foreign Languages Teaching - Ed. Kit Field
3) Teaching Modern Foreign Languages at Advanced Level- Ed. Norbert Pachler
4) Learning to Teach in the Secondary School - Capel, Leask and Turner
5) Learning to Teach Modern Foreign Languages in the Secondary School
Did I read all of these? Not a chance! As far as I remember I read number 1, glanced at 2 and 3 once or twice and used 4 and 5 for my assignments. Worth buying? Nope, I'm not adding up what I paid for them...
Books I was given
2) The Dyslexia Friendly Teachers' Toolkit - Pavey, Meehan and Davis
3)Reflective Practice for Teachers - Sellars.
I was sent these three by Sage before I started my NQT year and asked to review number 1. I did that and I had the intention of reading the other two but I never did. I think at the end of my PGCE I was fed up of the word reflection anyway!
Books I bought during my PGCE and early in my NQT
1) Getting the Buggers into Languages - Amanda Barton
2) 100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers, Outstanding Lessons - Ross Morrison McGill
3) 100+ Ideas for Teaching Languages - Nia Griffith
4) Getting the Buggers to Behave - Sue Cowley
5) 100 Things Awesome Teachers Do - William Emeny
6) How to Survive your First Year in Teaching - Sue Cowley
7) How to Teach - Phil Beadle
These books were good references for ideas, suggestions and that boost from time to time when I felt like I didn't know what I was doing or why I was doing it! One or two of them I'd consider useful to refer to again but they're not the sort of thing I see filling my shelves in the future. I get most of this sort of support from twitter these days.
Books I am buying now
2) Don't Change the Lightbulbs - Rachel Jones
3) Teacher Proof - Tom Bennett
4) Why Don't Students Like School - Daniel Willingham
5) What if everything you knew about education was wrong - David Didau
I will admit that I haven't got round to finishing all of these yet, 4 I have had a glance at and then things got in the way and 5 I bought just as I needed to start my MA reading so all I have managed is the foreword! These are much more like the sort of thing I am reading now, especially the latter three. More critical, really thinking about teaching and education as opposed to just my classroom practice. That said I needed a refresher and so have really enjoyed the first two books on the list.
Books recommended for MA lectures or for my assignment:
2) The Expert Learner - Gordon Stobart
3) Knowledge and the Future School - Michael Young and David Lambert
Number one on the list could easily be in the previous category, I've been wanting it for a while and the fact that it was required reading for a lecture was just a great excuse! The other two are by lecturers at IoE and being used towards my essay - which I don't intend to talk about until it's done. All I will say is the module is called 'What is Education?' broad enough for a title?!
Then until now....
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