Alistair Smith's book describes where the science of learning and the art of teaching meet. It offers to teachers something rich and powerful. Not a simple blueprint, but a set of well researched guiding principles on which to build more effective learning. The theory is there to keep the practice visionary and the practice is there to keep the theory honest. It recognises that teaching is not a mechanistic process but a performing art - one that is rooted in an understanding of how learning works and the potential of the human brain to be the architect of its own intelligence. Professor John MacBeath, Director, Quality in Education Centre, University of Strathclyde
These methods produce incredible results for all studentsThis book was written to provide ready methods for accelerating learning. It attempts to link the most recent published brain research with tools from motivational psychology, Transactional Analysis and NLP, in a structured cycle for learning. I've used the methods successfully with over five thousand teachers and trainers world wide. Schools and Local Education Boards in the UK are using the methods. Some of the techniques are being deployed by the Prison Education Service in Northern Ireland. I have consistently been impressed by the way the basic principles are used in the most challenging of circumstances to provide real gains for students. Whether the student is a four-year old learning to read or an adult preparing for a career change, the methods seem to work.
In the book I learning; methods for building positive self-belief; a 7 stage cycle for accelerating learning; how to teach for intelligence; music, movement and memory and ways to make it all work!
I hope it's as much fun to read as it was to research and write.