Planning, Teaching and Class Management in Primary Schools
I am not sure if this is the right journal for reviewing this book, as it is not as such, a mathematics text or a book about mathematics education. It is what the title explains, a textbook about classroom management in the primary classroom. The text is clearly aimed at student teachers and those Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) who feel they need guidance and support in their first years of teaching. As one would expect of a second edition it has been up-dated in line with the demands for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).
Issues relating to planning, expectations and targets, monitoring and assessment, teaching and class management are all dealt with in a very effective way throughout the book. There are diagrams, checklists, keynotes, examples of ‘good practice’ and case studies to illustrate how the different standards may be met by the student or as a check for the NQT who wants reassurance in the early days of their teaching career.
The sad thing about a lot of books that keep rigidly to the ‘flavour of the month’ as defined by government policy, is that they lose their relevance once a new ‘flavour’ is introduced, and it will happen. However I think this book escapes that particular trap as the case studies seem to draw on the real world experiences, concerns and issues faced by many on teaching practice (I prefer the old terms) or in the first few years as a teacher. The case studies and the associated comments are in my mind the strength of the book along with the practical way in which the problems identified are dealt with.
This book might not be a maths text but will be very useful to those working in teacher education and their students who intend to teach in primary schools.
Derek Kassem
Senior Lecturer, Liverpool: John Moores University
Planning, Teaching and Class Management in Primary Schools (Second Edition)
Denis Hayes
David Fulton Publishers
The Chiswick Centre
414 Chiswick High Road, London W4 5TF
192 pp
Paperback
ISBN 1853465488
£17.00
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