Product reviews for Inspirational Teachers Inspirational Learners

The book arrived at lunchtime and I took a sneaky peek as I ate my lunch it looked interesting. However, I had to wait until later that evening to properly sit down and have a read. I then couldn't put it down. It even took precedence over the next few episodes of 24 I was currently watching on DVD. If you are a 24 fan you will know just what a great commendation that is! Four hours later I had finished the book now I need to read it more slowly, with more thought towards application.

But what of the content? Well that is summed up in a phrase Will himself quotes on page 163. Alan Bennett talks about the best moments in reading being when you read something that you yourself, have already been thinking. This is just what this book is like a summary of my thoughts on thinking from the past year or so. I run a consultancy and training company which runs workshops for teachers and school management across India. Our latest developments have been courses on 'Thinking Skills' for Primary and Secondary teachers. So far these have proved very popular with schools, as teachers realize the need for children to be thinking. We cannot continue to teach the same things now and into the future as we have been for the last 50 or even 20 years. Students now need skills more than content a change which is going to take India (a very exam and content based education system) a long time to adapt to. It was eye opening for me to see the tables on pages 73 and 74 showing the survey results which I assume were from England? It seems India is not so different after all.

Although the book is very UK based, it is concept based enough that it is applicable to other countries around the world. It also refers to many popular books / videos out there The Outliers / We are the people we have been waiting for / Shift Happens all offerings I have discovered and enjoyed over the past few months.

I shall be incorporating some of Will's thoughts and concepts as I re-evaluate my training sessions on 'The Role of a Teacher' for schools' orientation weeks. As we fashion inspirational teachers so we will create inspired learners.