How to Teach Guided Reading Like a BOSS! by Stephen Lockyer (@mrlockyer)

An eBook for £1.99 that can be read in under an hour and addresses every concern and dislike I have for Guided Reading AND offers solutions that have 'worked' for the author... I'd buy it. And I did!

This is a simple guide book, Stephen clearly sets out all the reasons why Guided Reading and its dreary carousel doesn't work. Why it is, as he calls it, broken; and most importantly how he went about trying to rectify this with his class.

What follows is Stephen's step by step guidance on how to minimise planning and preparation, for maximum effort (on behalf of the children) and for revitalising the process into 20-25 minutes that makes a real difference to children's ability to read, comprehend, analyse, compare and contrast texts and text types.

Group the children by ability (but make this VERY flexible), and follow an activity pattern of Identify, Compare, Contrast, Apply, and read aloud in a variety of ways which keep the children on the ball. For more details, obviously you need to read the book!

I will be honest enough to say that Guided Reading as a carousel has been something I have hated for sometime and while I have tried to do something about it I haven't quite found a way that has done it for me, to the point of giving it up in favour of Whole Class Reading last year. This book has given me enough to consider to make me try again, and if not back to a Guided Reading grouped approach, there is a lot that I can endeavour to put into my Whole Class teaching.

For a book that I read in about 45-50 minutes there is much to go back to and re-read, things to highlight and ideas to try out.

Will it influence what I do?
Yes - this book addresses all the things I wanted to address, but some of the thinking process has been done for me, at least in part.. 

As I read a few books over the Summer Holidays, I shall write a short review here.
This is the first one.

Teach Like a PIRATE by Dave Burgess (@burgessdave)

This was a straightforward read, and at 192 pages it packs a lot of content.

Dave shares his philosophy of increasing student/pupil engagement through developing your personal drive and passion for the content of your 'lectures' (as Dave is a US High School Teacher). He does this through sharing his own personal passion through anecdotes and examples of the work he has done with his students and on his journey of providing CPD for teachers. Dave was Keynote speaker at a Conference very close to me a couple of years ago and I was real annoyed not to be able to attend - after reading his book, that feeling has only increased.

An easy to read book, that provides lots of ideas that are clear and practically applicable to the classroom - with the clear point made that there is no such thing as 'off the shelf' wins, you need to try, refine and experiment with them. The whole model is based on a change to your thinking as a teacher - instead of just delivering, as your self questions that will encourage you to become more creative, and find more and more ways that might change the way you deliver your lessons to your class, with the intent not to just to have the children enjoy, but to have them remember and retain.

There is a lot of treasure to be found within, but the best part are the 'Hooks', the ways in which Dave tries to ramp up the engagement - some are obvious and straightforward and it is great when reading to think "...that, that, I do that!" and then to see other options like the Taboo Hook or the Magic Hook, that perhaps you haven't tried or have tried less often.

The biggest take away for me -  aside from the Safari Hook (Outdoor Learning) - is the series of prompt questions Dave provides to get you thinking and tapping into your passions and creativity, no matter whether or not you see yourself as 'creative'. Do what Tony Robbins describes as think and behave 'as if...' you are and you change your physicality and mentality.

Will it influence what I do?
Yes - lots to think about and develop. 

The sketchnote below shows the Learning Hooks - Thanks to Kelly Hollis (@hobson_k) for sharing at Practical Pedagogies (Toulouse Nov. 2016