Andy Cope - The Art of Being a Brilliant Teacher: (The Art of Being Brilliant series)

To teach is to touch a life forever. This is the motto that greets me every morning when I sit at my desk, and has done for the last twenty years. It is a motto that is etched onto the bottom of a plastic photo frame, given to me in July 1992 by a child in my first ever class. Its funny, but you never forget your first class, and those children remain frozen in time, dont they? Those children will now be in their thirties, possibly with children of their own. Now I feel old!

I would look at the motto on that photo frame whenever I needed a lift maybe after a difficult meeting with a parent, a challenging conversation with my head or a tough time with an inspector. It would always bring me back to the reason why I was doing my job, the reason for getting out of bed on a cold, wet winters morning: the children.

I left my life as a teacher four years ago, and I still miss it every day. In that time, I have come to realise that the motto was not just about the kids; teaching has touched my life forever too. Sometimes it may not feel like it, but it is the greatest job on earth. It is a privilege, an honour, a joy!

During my career, I have worked with and met thousands of teachers. Most are driven, dynamic, dedicated professionals with a passion for their jobs and the children they teach. Sometimes, though, you meet jaded individuals, people whose flames seem to have dampened. Usually, they are the ones sitting in the beige chair in the corner of the staffroom, under the union poster that advertises an area meeting on 3 February 1987! They seek solace in their mug, the one with the chipped handle that was given to them as a freebie by that firm that sells ring binders, a proud trophy from the one time they made it to the Education Show. It would be easy to condemn these colleagues, these undead, zombie teachers, but the truth is they didnt choose teaching because they wanted to screw up kids lives, and they dont get out of bed in the mornings excited about doing a bad job. Somewhere, at some time, these sorry souls did want to teach, to enlighten, to see a smile on a students face as they helped them to overcome a challenge or realise a new goal.

Like it or not, teaching is about human interaction; it is about the transference of energy, enthusiasm, passion and learning. To be brilliant teachers, we must be brilliant people in the childrens eyes, at least. Our job is often a selfless one, where we set our own well-being below that of others, so we must also learn to nurture these affirmative characteristics in ourselves, to value and fiercely protect them.

This is why I love this book. I love the fact that the Doctor of Happiness, Andy Cope, has come together with two amazing educators, Gary Toward and Chris Henley, to cook up this mix of positive self-indulgence just for teachers.

My advice? Stick on a brew (but for Gods sake dont use the ring binder mug with the chipped handle from the back of the cupboard), find a comfy chair and let yourself escape into The Art of Being a Brilliant Teacher. Dont feel guilty about it the marking can wait!

The truth is, if to teach is to touch a life forever, youd better start with your own and now!

Be brilliant!

Richard Gerver

(Richard Gerver is an award-winning former head teacher, best-selling author and world-renowned speaker, who devotes his life to sharing his passion for the human aspects of leadership, education, change and innovation. His personal motto is: live, learnand laugh. In reality, to his wife and kids, he is just the embarrassing bloke with the big mouth!)

Hello and welcome to The Art of Being a Brilliant Teacher. Were delighted youve got this far. But bad news first! Our publisher tells us that there are about 400 million books bought in the UK every year. The self-help percentage is tiny. And the teacher self-help section doesnt actually exist!

But there is a glimmer of hope. One in three people admit to having bought a book to look clever. So, heres our aspiration: that you might be the one person in three, and that as you leaf through this book something will capture your attention. It might cause you to chuckle or think, or you might identify with one of the stories. You might realise that its a bit different to what you expected. And so you keep on reading. And enjoy it! And leave it lying around in the staffroom!

Our aim is simply to provide teachers with a comprehensive and entertaining resource that is essential reading for those who are interested in improving their classroom craft. We start with the context of teaching the busyness and hurly-burly of the profession. We make the point that, yes, its exhausting, but the long holidays are there to compensate!

We explore the new science of positive psychology and introduce some very simple concepts that will make a difference to you in and out of work. Our thinking is, lets get you sorted first, then we can help you to sort out the kids.

Then we look at the art of teaching itself: lesson planning, the learning environment and the starter, main course and pudding of a lesson. We also delve into possibly the most important element of teaching the terms of engagement.

We move on to grapple with discipline a subject of massive significance and the most difficult part of the job. It is the main cause of burnout and stress, as well as being the biggest single reason for teachers to leave the profession. Yet discipline is generally swept under the carpet. We dont pretend to have all the answers, but we do have some simple strategies that will help.

We conclude with a short chapter that brings it all together in one cohesive mass of interconnectedness. Put the pieces together and you have an antidote to teacher training; a crash course in everything you wish teacher training had covered but didnt.

Before we start in earnest, we offer two questions for your consideration. First, what do you think parents reply when asked what they want for their own children? Unsurprisingly, their answers are, in priority order, happiness, confidence, a great life, satisfaction, contentment, health and security. And second, what do they think schools teach? The same parents answer thinking skills, maths, subjects, literacy and test-taking.

This book goes beyond subjects. We want you to help pave the boulevard for flourishing children and, as such, we ask you to consider the concept of positive education.

However, 67.94 per cent of statistics are made up on the spot.

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

Albert Einstein