In Teach Like Nobody's Watching: The essential guide to effective and efficient teaching, Mark Enser sets out a time-efficient approach to teaching that will reduce teachers' workload and enhance their pupils' levels of engagement and attainment.
At a time when schools are crying out for more autonomy and trust, teacher and bestselling author Mark Enser asks educators the critical question How would you teach if nobody were watching? and empowers them with the tools and confidence to do just that.
Mark argues that a quality education is rooted in simplicity. In this book he convincingly strips away the layers of contradictory pedagogical advice that teachers have received over the years and lends weight to the three key pillars that underpin effective, efficient teaching: the lesson, the curriculum and the school's support structure.
Teach Like Nobody's Watching explores these three core elements in detail, and presents teachers with a range of practical, time-efficient approaches to help them reclaim their professional agency and ensure that their pupils get the excellent education they deserve.
Part I considers the individual lesson and explores how lessons can be built around four simple elements: recap, input, application and feedback. Each chapter considers one aspect of the lesson in turn and discusses its importance with a particular focus on how educational research can be applied to it in the classroom, how it might look in different subjects, and the potential pitfalls to avoid.
Part II recognises that lessons don't happen in isolation but as part of a wider curriculum. This section tackles: the creation of a programme of study that takes pupils on a journey through your subject; the super-curriculum of what happens outside the classroom; the principles of assessment design; and how time in departments can be used to reduce workload and support a culture of excellence.
Finally, Part III looks at the role of the wider school in supporting teachers to teach like nobody's watching and how leaders can help to set them free from some of the more burdensome pressures. In this section, Mark draws on the experience of school leaders in a range of different contexts to illustrate what they have done to support effective and efficient teaching in their schools. Suitable for all teachers in both primary and secondary schools.
Tom Sherrington, education consultant and author of The Learning Rainforest and Rosenshine's Principles in Action 6th August 2019 Teach Like Nobody's Watching is a fabulous book. Practical, principled and inspiring, it exudes an authenticity that is all too rare. It's the voice of someone who actually walks the talk in the classroom every day a popular and successful teacher with plenty of front-line wisdom to share. As ever, Mark's message is grounded and practical as well as principled, and it's great to see the effusive enthusiasm and no-nonsense pragmatism of his conference presentations shine through in his writing. Mark covers everything from delivering lessons to planning a curriculum and designing assessments, all from the perspective of making it efficient for the teacher and effective for the students. His recap-input-application-feedback model is so brilliantly simple and clear, as are the excellent key points and reflections for each chapter. I love the chapter on the department meeting this is territory so often neglected and, here, Mark sets out a manifesto for change that I'm sure will inspire many teachers and leaders.Finally, Mark's use of case studies from the likes of Stephen Adcock and Sam Gorse adds some interesting insights to the section on leadership. It is important to know that there are schools out there in which teaching like nobody's watching is already a reality and after reading this book I'm certain that, as the word spreads, Mark will rally more teachers and leaders to follow this path.
