Never Work Harder Than Your Students & Other Principles of Great Teaching

I'll be honest here--I am not a good teacher. The longer I teach, the more that I think this is true. It's not that I don't try or don't care. Instead, I think that I am not effective. Entertaining, perhaps, but not effective. Every once in a while, I'll read a book on how to be a better English teacher, and these books make me feel worse about my chosen career. Teaching books work opposite as teaching movies do. After I watch Dead Poets Society or Freedom Writers, I feel invigorated to go back into the classroom to kick some pedagogical booty. Reading teaching books by those who are master teachers makes me feel like I am pedagogical booty. See the difference? Knowing that most of you reading this are not teachers, I won't bore you with Robyn Jackson's methods in detail. Her main thrust is that becoming a master teacher is something that can be attained with seven principals ("Use Effective Feedback" and "Start Where Your Students Are" are two of the seven). Jackson takes teachers through the changing of a teaching mindset, rather than merely adding activities or procedures to our already overflowing toolbox. Her focus is pairing down our classrooms and activities to only essential ones and do those well. I liked this idea, and it can help me. I have noticed that at times, I'm seeking ways to fill a class with interesting activities, but they may not go where I want them to in meeting core objectives in reading and writing. I have already started to think more about why I do the things I do in class, and I have contemplated places to trim the fat. Jackson also encourages ways to support students, and I need improvement in this area. I liked her idea of not letting kids off the hook by simply giving them a zero for a missing assignment. Instead, make them come in to do it, either after school or at lunch. If I planned a valuable activity or lesson, then it should be completed. After I trim down to the essentials, why let a student off easy by not having him complete it? As I read, I found my brain quickly jumping to objections, "How can that work?" "What if they don't come?" I need to put those aside, and figure out what I can do, rather than what will not work. My criticisms are few, and I'll only share one here. Jackson does the one thing that annoys me most about listening to teachers tell stories about their classrooms and interactions in children. When relating a story of a lesson, teachers will often tell how the class objects to something the teacher says by using the teacher's name in unison. It would be like me telling you about class today, and the students said, "But Mr. Coia, how does the conflict/resolution work in movies?" It rings so false when I hear teachers recounting the events like that; students do not object in one voice! Next time you are listening to a teacher talk about his day, please listen and tell me how correct I am. I say all this because Robyn Jackson loves this storytelling feature, except with the added bon

Excellent philosophical book on the principles of great teaching. Not really a 'grab it and go' idea book for teachers though. This is something you need to read and digest, rather than something you can use immediately in the classroom. This would be a great 'literature circle' book club book for teachers.

With its beguiling title, NEVER WORK HARDER THAN YOUR STUDENTS & OTHER PRINCIPLES OF GREAT TEACHING will certainly attract the eye. The good news? The book is a lot more than just a catchy title. It's a well-grounded argument for seven principles teachers should all adopt to help their students learn. It also draws pieces from a lot of the disparate research we've seen in other tomes: Marzano's and Wiggins', to name two of the more well known. Yet much of it remains her own, and her voice is both confident and distinct. Robyn Jackson breaks her book down into seven principles that -- with time, patience, and practice -- can make any teacher a master teacher (she contends they are made, not born, thank God). They are: 1. Start Where Your Students Are 2. Know Where Your Students Are Going 3. Expect to Get Your Students There 4. Support Your Students 5. Use Effective Feedback 6. Focus on Quality, Not Quantity 7. Never Work Harder Than Your Students As you can see, Jackson saves the best for last. Still, among these seemingly obvious principles, there's more than just a little controversy. What I liked best was how Jackson relates her experiences presenting this very material at professional development sessions. Better yet, she shares anecdotes of some of her toughest audiences (e.g. veteran high school teachers) who met her presentation with rolling eyes, crossed arms, and at times open derision. Jackson turned off her overhead and politely went toe-to-toe with them by opening the floor to their objections and concerns. The transcript is eye-opening, and there's more than one instance of such Doubting Thomas Moments included in the text. Yes, this book is of equal value to both rank rookie and seasoned veteran, and yes, it will make even seasoned veterans reconsider some of their most cherished habits. If you're not up for that, then why are you reading this review? To my mind, any teacher willing to read books on teaching is a teacher on a mission. This book will help that mission, I promise. Theory, pragmatic ideas, and even naysayers' doubts. It's all here. Recommendation: buy, share, and discuss with a fellow teacher (or, better yet, a fellow teaching staff).

I'm a 7th grade Social Studies teacher (with 16 years of HS and MS experience) and curriculum geek who was intrigued by the title. However, that is only one of seven principles of "master teaching" delineated in the book. Several times I found myself facing ideas that I've been resistant to in the past, but Jackson makes a compelling case for each of the principles and the steps to incorporate them into classroom practice. Her focus is consistently on student achievement in humanizing, empowering ways for students, teachers, and (to a much lesser extent) parents. The book is not touchy-feely (one segment describes dealing with the "brutal facts" of some of the constraints we face), but quite practically inspirational. In truth, "Never Work Harder..." verbalized a lot of what I've been looking for to guide my teaching in the future. I've differentiated, used multiple intelligences, incorporated RTI, along with many other strategies and protocols - this book helps me see the big picture that brings these together in a much more effective way.