 Hello, everybody. I hope you're well. This is going to be my last live video of the academic year. I've got nine teaching books for you. Some of you will recognize, some might be new to you. And these are the books that I've been referring to throughout the pandemic, I suppose. There's lots more. There's loads of audiobooks also, but the ones that I've got on my desk. I want to present nine of my favorite books and it might be something for you for the year ahead or maybe through the summer. Not everyone likes to have anything to do with teaching throughout the summer, ladies. I understand that. We also have to consider social media, and I'm putting this video out through social media, that there are other teachers in other parts of the world in the thick of the academic year. So I hope this video will inspire you whenever you're watching it. And as ever, you can put comments in the chat box, Facebook, YouTube, or here on Twitter. As I go through, so feel free to post some questions, but let me go through one. I've got no slides. I'm just going to hold the book up. So the first one is this one. This is one of my favorites. This is Stop Talking, Start Influencing by, let me get his name correctly, Jared Cuny Horvath. I just cut two or three years ago. I've mentioned the book before in other places, but given the recent interest of how we learn, work in memory, cognitive load, he provides lots of examples in this book. And the dual coding, the DT teacher and me, I just love all the visual representations, the practical examples. And actually, I think it's a really easy book to read and get through quite quickly and make a difference to your practice and thinking. So if you've not seen that one before, take a look. Stop Talking, Start Influencing. For me, I bought this, I guess, in my role as a teacher trainer, how I present information better to teachers, knowing that teachers want quick, pragmatic ideas, being inspired, et cetera, et cetera. So that's why I first went to this book. So you might find this a good read. My second book, and these are not in any order or my top books ever, they're just books that I've been reading throughout the pandemic. So I've just been published, some are a bit more established. They're all relatively new, though. The second book is self-published by former head teacher Andy Buck. And this is his basic, the basic coaching method, which draws upon his own wisdom and expertise in his coaching work and what he's developed in his leadership life, working with teachers and schools all across the world. And the book takes readers through the coaching background towards developing a strategy. It offers lots of implementation ideas, strategy, developing coaching techniques, habits and feedback scripts, et cetera. And I would say I'm probably 10 years into coaching and, you know, with all the pros and, or at least the stigmas associated with it, I think once you discover it and learn how as a school leader watching how to logistically make it work within your school alongside the busy nature of school life, something that I always battle to do with the schools I work with, it can be quite transformational alongside very carefully designed observation models. I'll say that very carefully. But this is a good book. This is one I have on desk inspiring me also. And if you're watching, thank you for that. That's my second book. The third book is a new book, the feature of teaching by Guy Claxton. Now have a slight smile on my face. From observations on social media, I can already see how this book critical of other teachers who are guests like me have been on their own unqualified cognitive science journey. I'm not, I'm not qualified cognitive neuroscientists, nor are many teachers, but many of us have started to get really excited by the explosion of cognitive science as ever nuance. I think what Claxton tries to address here is some nuance. However, he does tackle some big themes, some big voices from big topics. Quite rightly, he is a qualified cognitive, cognitive scientist. And I'm not yet finished it. And my evaluation so far I suppose is that there's, I think Claxton's issue, and I haven't got to the end. So tell me if I'm wrong, but is that he has an issue with how the policy is, how policy has been evolved. So you can see this in the Department for Education and Off-Stead Documentation. You know, if we think about working memory, it's complicated. It's not the theory of everything. And how does it work in an early year setting compared to a pupil referral unit or a year nine bottom set class on a Friday afternoon? Already that needs translations. My fourth book. Thanks for the comment on Teach Lucky Champions. A good book. I definitely recommend it. How learning happens, my friend Carl Hendrick. I've not yet spoken or met Paul Kirschner, but I know he's heavily influenced in the field of cognitive science and research. What I love about this book is that they tackle 26, I think, from memory, seminal pieces of research. And I have to say I found this book fantastic. And what I love about it is you can read them in isolation. They've got the usual signposts, why you should read it, what's the abstract, a bit like what I'm picking for my own doctoral research, learning how to get into the details of papers and find the information you need before you go any further. And I guess it's got what teachers can take away, all the recommended reading QR codes at the end of each chapter, which I love. I think that's really good for teachers. So I think the book's cleverly laid out. And I think it's a good book for teachers, so it gets a thumbs up from me this one. So if you're really interested in education research, you want them all in one place. This is a good book to start. It's fact one of the books that clacks in critiques actually. So you can see I'm trying to also find my understanding of everything out there. There's lots and you'll never get to the bottom of it, but I think it's at least good for your professional learning. And I guess I'll put all this out in a blog post over the summer. But reading educational books provides teachers with additional professional learning outside of their own diet that's provided within their skill. And I think that's something that all teachers should consider. We don't always have the time or the energy, and we often want to read fiction books, et cetera. But I love reading books on teaching. That's just me. I know there's one or two others out there, which is why I'm sharing this video. The next book I've got is a second edition here by Dr. Matt O'Leary, a university of Birmingham. It was Wolverhampton. I know Matt's moved on. Obviously he's moved on. I didn't know. But this book for me as a school leader, having conducted thousands of observations, done some great things, some horrific things, and only recently being exposed to a really useful research method for reliable observations, which really trumps traditional observations and learning walks. If you're really... If you, one, if you ever observe other teachers, two, if you're interested in developing teachers rather than just checking what they're doing, then this book is for you. And I know Matt's book here, just check my notes. You know, my research also, 30% of English schools still grade despite it being cost as a poor metric, almost 2014. So seven, eight years later, it's still happening. So if it takes me this long to get to the bottom of good research methods and the profession's still to move on, then we need academic research books on specialized topics such as this to move everybody forward. So if you observe other teachers, folks, and you haven't had any qualifications or formal training observations, and let's face it, not many of us do, then this book would definitely support you. Now, next book, put me in a corner. What's your favorite, Ross? It's probably this one. Trisha Taylor, Connect the Dark. So this was published in 2019. I've written about this a lot. It's probably the book that's influenced my thinking the most, has rekindled my love of memory and has changed my practice. And if that's not a good endorsement, then what is? Tons of stuff. What I love about it is Trisha connects the memory to mindsets and relationships and how it all intertwines. And there's more to it than that, but she explains her own journey from the States working over here in the UK. And there's some brilliant illustrations here as you'll see throughout the whole book. And you can see, I don't know if you're a writer or not, but I certainly am. I'll just show you some evidence or I scribble all over the book. That's just my style. But it's a brilliant book. So if you're new to memory and you want a practical guide, this is the one. And I'm sure there's others, but this is the one that I've gone to and the one that I regularly use. So that's Connect the Dots. And I do think it'll make a difference. Now, the next one, you'll know this as soon as I show it to you. This is by a history teacher who came to one of my teach meets in London in 2015-2016. And I think the author, who I'll name shortly, was a relatively new teacher maybe in our first, second, third year of teaching. And it's amazing to see what a journey she's been on, who the people she's now working with and the number of book publications she is now producing. Pretty much my own journey. I think it really highlights how hungry we are to learn and be better as educators. Now, you'll know this book straight away, Retrieval Practices by Kate Jones. She's published others. This is probably her most popular. What I love about this one is it's got all her own research of other academics and her own practical resources. In some respects, she's been the kind of go-to voice here in Britain for loads of ideas. And, you know, Kate will kind of put some of those thoughts to bed, I suppose. You know, Retrieval Practices is one of the things that underpins lots of things we do. And she is more than just a Retrieval Practice expert, which I've heard her say before. But there's a great image on page 25. I'm just going to show it to you here. And that best sums up what everything is about Retrieval Practice. I can just check my comments. I think Kate's commented here. Just give me a second. Yes, she has. Okay, thanks for watching, Kate. This is the page for me. The entire book. Some people elsewhere are watching that underpins, I guess, anything and everything in education, not just Retrieval Practice, you can't have good behavior management without good subject knowledge. You can't have good subject knowledge without good training, good people around you, etc. There's no one way. There's no one way to mecca, as I often say. There are many ways. And I think, you know, record this at a time when the Education Foundation have just published a new paper on cognitive science in the classroom, and I've got a blog coming out on Sunday with my thoughts on that. I think it's great, great piece of research as is all these books the challenge for all of us, and one thing we all need to keep in mind is how does that work in a primary classroom? How does it work in a Pru? How does it work in a virtual environment with Year 9s, with student learning needs? And that will always make teaching complicated, fascinating, and highly complex. And I think what we all have to do as teachers and schools, which we can see happening, is that we look at a piece of research, we take the bits that we think are going to best suit and then we get on with the pragmatic aspects of the research recommendations. That's what it's always going to have to do, what we're always going to have to do and what we should always do. And I think if we always keep that in mind then we'll do very well. Now my next book, book number 8 My Good Friends Again So I do have a wide lens and I know there might be one or two people watching, Ross you're not reading very widely. Well I am, but I'm just coming to some books that I keep turning to as the point of the video and the blog that I'll put out in about a week's time which I'll automate because I am logging off and this is my last, I say cautiously because I know sometimes I change my mind but my last live video stream of this academic year, what a weird one it's been is this one. Teaching Walkthroughs. Now if you ever need evidence that published in the book during the start of the pandemic, I'm being noticed that Ollie and Tom when they published this and how successful it'd be so this is the one. I think over a thousand reviews on Amazon which is phenomenal. Obviously the dual coded cartoons the five stage instructions the great thought and articulation from both of them in the writing and the ridiculous number of resources online, something that I aspire to and always trying to do on my lonesome. But I know this book has been instrumental for many schools and teachers, not just across the UK but much wider field and to do this during a pandemic is phenomenal. So well done to Tom and Ollie and I know just like Kate and myself and a few others there's a version 2 and a version 3 and as we know that second record is always harder to sell so good luck with all that but it's a really really good book. Last one, I know other people recognize this and again I apologize for the kind of small smart silo I suppose but the the recommendation for this video is books that I've regularly dipped in and out of throughout the last 18 months of the pandemic. That's the brief and that's why I'm sharing these books. So the last one is powerful teaching and when I received the copy of this this one's the only hardback let me just double check yes the only hardback which is a nice thing probably last a bit longer and when you get well thumbed and dipping in and out of it it's probably a good thing because some of these books are getting a little bit better which is good because it means it's been well read and well used but hard copy thankful enough to have a chat with Patrice and Pooja who wrote the book I'm picking all the research and wisdom before the pandemic we were actually planning a physical event together so I'm gutted that that hasn't happened but maybe when things start opening up we'll see in future retrieval practice I guess the book also there's lots of stuff in here there's lots of references I guess in lots of these to Dunlosske et al's research from 2013 and as I get deeper into academic education research and getting distracted with teaching and learning not doing the research I need to from a doctorate you start to see that seminal pieces of research inspire others and I'm not saying there's a bit of a bandwagon of agurgitation obviously you know I now know this myself publishing an academic piece of research at a doctoral PhD level has to bring concrete new knowledge to the world even if it's just a millimetre so it's phenomenal pieces of research here but I say cautiously education research is quite small it tends to say the same things the challenges obviously things evolve but as to ever teachers constantly need to take what the research says the recommendations translate it back into their own classroom and more importantly what the EEF research suggests is here's all these recommendations but there's very little to tell teachers how to do it so a lot of these books try to address and give people practical applications and there's lots of things in here anyway that's a great read loads of great research what I love about it is it's just one topic on retrieval practice with loads of recommendations and a book that really inspired a lot of my practical thoughts and strategies so that's it powerful teaching walkthroughs retrieval practice connect the dots classroom observation if you're observing other teachers this is essential if you're interested in getting deeper into academic research this is a really good go to a bit of a controversial one if you really want to change the life of teachers then get into coaching and then if you start to do public speaking and I know a lot of teachers get a bit fearful speaking in front of other teachers but one day you know Kate I know you're watching you're already doing lots of presentations to other teachers when you have to start doing it physically time and time again in lots of different settings you need to think about you know how you influence and change people's lives so stuff like this and there's loads of other things outside of education presentation skills etc then that's it so I know teachers watching in Brazil are in the middle of the academic year and teachers elsewhere Australian things like that are doing lots of other things but teachers here in the UK are logging off for the summer some already have but if you still like me like to read when you've got a bit of time to do so then these books I'll have a blog come out in about a weeks time from this video on my site called 9 teaching books you can dig the links or just take a picture of this and look them up online and I hope to make a difference anyway general things from me I hope to have a new book out at the start of next year I'm now in the proof reading stage my doctoral studies up and down all the time I'm going to spend the summer revisiting a paper that I need to tweak refine and then I have to work hard on my theoretical and philosophical frameworks which is hard work in its own right but that's where I am with that as ever the blogs the resources the websites a full time job physically I'm back in the schools from the end of August at least here in the UK I'm not doing any overseas work for the medium term I should say I think at least the website keeps me busy lots of things going on behind the scenes I'm also adjusting to a new way of working and living in another part of the country and what else that's pretty much it from me I miss being in schools deeply with teachers I had my second physical job last week back in London but sadly I was too ill and the risk of not COVID but just the flu but the risk of transmitting stuff and things like that was just too much to take into account gutted not to be able to visit that school in London but anyway I'm having lots of fun I've got my head down I'm constantly speculating on how to make the classroom an easier space digging in and out of different bits of research thank you for watching thank you for following, thank you for connecting do say hello but I'm going to try my hardest to log off for the summer break I hope you do too when that time comes and bye for now I'm just going to take a quick moment to look at some comments okay I know my brother's watching so I better say hello to him otherwise I'll get it in the ear from him not that he ever calls me but there you go he seems to watch my videos anyway I'm waffling bye for now everyone have a good weekend good summer, good week whenever you're watching this and stay safe, bye for now