Guy Claxton - Powering Up Children: The Learning Power Approach to Primary Teaching (The Learning Power series)

For those wanting to take their primary classroom practice beyond the nuts and bolts of teaching, Powering Up Children provides a great starting point offering a wealth of ideas on how to build character in young children and develop them as learners who are motivated, confident, and curious.

It is a book full of exciting possibilities for those teachers and leaders looking to move beyond the recent focus on passing statutory tests and towards a way of teaching that gives children so much more.

Aidan Severs, Deputy Head Teacher, Dixons Allerton Academy Primary

Rich in both practical and theoretical value, Powering Up Children is a captivating contribution to the field of pedagogical literature. The book can function as both an educators rubric and a perfect guide for professional introspection, as Guy Claxton and Becky Carlzon present a generous array of classroom strategies and scientific references that invite teachers to carefully craft a paradigm shift in their own practice.

All of the tools and techniques have been designed to excite the very core of the modern learner, and teachers will easily imagine their use throughout their pupils educational journey.

A must-read for anyone with the true calling of a teacher and a curious mind.

Ana Mara Fernndez, educator and creator of the VESS Educational Model

How to equip children for a complicated and fast-changing world is now a global question, and this book offers a giant stride in the right direction. It provides educators with both a clear philosophy and a valuable theoretical framework, combined with vivid, exciting, and highly practical methods for powering up their learners.

Powering Up Children should transform the thinking of all primary school teachers and policy makers, both in my native Japan and indeed across the whole world.

Asato Yoshinaga, Associate Professor, Kokugakuin University

In this refreshing book, Guy Claxton and Becky Carlzon demonstrate that knowledge-rich learning works best when children are given the opportunity to interrogate their understanding and harness their learning power. Guy and Becky then go on to offer a clear analysis of how this opportunity can be brought to life in the primary school classroom through the Learning Power Approach. You are left with the feeling that if all schools could adopt this approach, young people really could change the world for the better.

Debra Kidd, teacher and author

Who doesnt want children to have active, imaginative, and discerning minds? In Powering Up Children, Guy Claxton and Becky Carlzon share strategies and approaches to help achieve just that. It demonstrates the importance of the Learning Power Approach in preparing children for the tests they need to pass and for the world they will inhabit both now and in the future.

Informed by cutting-edge research and real-world practice, Powering Up Children is a brilliantly thought-out book of ideas to power up the hard-working teacher.

Hywel Roberts, teacher, writer and humourist

If youre looking for a book packed with ideas on how to become an even better teacher, this is it. In Powering Up Children Guy and Becky demystify the culture of a great learning environment and offer educators a complete mindset shift for creating more agile teaching and learning.

Just like your savings account, the Learning Power Approach requires investment but the pay-off is enormous. Get stuck in! The worst thing that can happen is that you get it right the first time and miss out on an opportunity to build your own learning muscles!

Jaz Ampaw-Farr, Resilience Ninja at Why First Ltd

Powering Up Children could not have come at a better time, as the current educational landscape is buzzing with a renewed interest in developing learner agency. And while there is an abundance of resources written on the subjects of building independence, amplifying student voice, and helping them own their own learning, few provide the kind of clear and practical advice so readily shared in this wonderful book.

My hope is that all teachers of primary school aged children will take the opportunity to read this book and put into practice its many valuable suggestions. Whether linked to reconsidering the choreography of one lesson, rethinking the way you use language, or redesigning the learning environment, there is a starting point to build on for everyone.

I am excited by the prospect of sharing Powering Up Children with teachers around the world and am so grateful for its contribution to the field it is just the guidebook to accompany any teacher as they venture out on a journey of change.

Kath Murdoch, education consultant

Powering Up Children is a must for all primary school educators, and is certain to be peppered with sticky notes and highlighter in no time as you read, reread, and share it with every teacher you know.

As a passionate educator of little learners my aim is always for our pupils to be amazingly capable little people who grow up to be amazingly capable bigger people, so I cannot recommend this book highly enough as it paves the way to achieve that goal.

Kellie Morgan, Director of Early Learning and Junior Years, Melbourne Girls Grammar

Powering Up Children is impressive, practical, and wise and its not often you can put those three things together. It picks up Guy Claxtons latest thinking about learning power and, with the help of expert practitioner Becky Carlzon, embeds it firmly in the primary school classroom (and it applies just as well to early childhood too). Guy and Becky include a host of practical methods to help children develop their learning muscles, and I especially valued their ideas on how to encourage children to think of themselves as learners by speaking learnish.

Margaret Carr, Professor of Education, University of Waikato, and co-author of Learning Stories: Constructing Learner Identities in Early Education

In Powering Up Children Claxton and Carlzon have produced that most unusual of publications: a book that will appeal to anyone interested in childrens learning at all levels of expertise and experience. It is especially remarkable in that it simultaneously provides page upon page of practical, easy-to-implement advice for teachers while also reflecting a deep understanding of the nature of education and the forces that are shaping the future of the profession.

All teachers, as well as school leaders and educational innovators, will find enormous value in this book. Its provocations will spark new ideas, challenge some existing thinking, and provide clarity about new ways forward.

Martin Westwell, Chief Executive, South Australian Certificate of Education Board

Powering Up Children is so enjoyable I love the way Guy and Becky bring the Learning Power Approach to life so vividly in the primary school classroom. Containing lots and lots of strategies you can put straight into action, this book is a one-way journey to transforming the way you look at teaching for ever. Enjoy the trip!

Melina Furman, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Education, Universidad de San Andrs

With all the talk of 21st century skills and the need to prepare children for the challenges and opportunities ahead, Powering Up Children not only sets out the design principles of the Learning Power Approach but also shows teachers how through subtle adjustments in their practice skills such as collaboration and craftsmanship can be developed in learners.

A perfect and timely read for classroom teachers and school leaders alike.

Rae Snape, Head Teacher, The Spinney Primary School, National Leader of Education, The Kite Teaching School Alliance

Powering Up Children provides a perfect marriage of Guy Claxtons very accessible refreshing of the research behind the Learning Power Approach and Becky Carlzons practical, detailed, and imaginative lesson descriptions, which bring the design principles to life beautifully.