Smith Jim - The Lazy Teachers Handbook: How your students learn more when you teach less

Praise forThe Lazy Teachers Handbook

If being lazy could be seen as an accolade, then the author of this book would deserve one. Jim Smith has brought laziness to a new level. The book explains how teachers can enjoy their responsibility by helping the learners to realise that they have to share the workand in doing so they will enjoy it and find it fulfilling.

Of course, lazy is a misnomer; the book oozes professionalism and rigour and it does so with a confidence that will encourage teachers to think again about their classroom practice. It is about the highest quality learning brought about by taking a different slant on how the teacher needs to perform. It is full of the practical explanations of how to make things work and sensible explanations to support classroom organisation. Over the years we have enjoyed seeing cooks, gardeners and DIY experts let us into their trade secrets. This book does it for teachers.

Mick Waters, Professor of Education,
President of the Curriculum Foundation

There are many books on the market which offer a compendium of fun and funky ideas for teachers anxious to engage their students more actively in their classes. However Ive not encountered many to match this one for writing style (lucid, easy and entertaining, much in the manner of his mentor Ian Gilbert), organisation and coherence to a unifying idea the notion that teachers can and should teach less so that learners learn more.

In offering up his Lazy Way antidote to teacher fatigue and student passivity Im reminded of John West-Burnhams suspicion that children go to school in order to watch their teachers work. The author of this book sets about combating these tendencies with a series of chapters addressing such themes as lesson outcomes, marking, IT, classroom language, differentiation, SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning), the use of teaching assistants, etc, and packing each with a pot-pourri of ideas for practical and learner-led classroom activities. Few of these activities are original, although many have been given creative twists. On the contrary, in keeping with the Lazy Way, the author has unashamedly pinched and synthesised ideas from a rich panoply of sources his past and present colleagues, courses hes attended, books hes read (Sue Cowleys oeuvre is an apparent influence) and perhaps most significantly and congruently students hes taught. The overall product is a delight and will be richly welcomed by teachers seeking to claim back their lives in the face of relentless demands imposed by national diktat, institutional expectations, student and parental expectations, and their own inner voices of guilt and self-denial.

Although this book orients itself deliberately towards the hardpressed classroom practitioner and therefore wears its research base lightly, there is very little within it that doesnt have a distinguished academic pedigree as a buttress not least a strong emphasis on reflective, metacognitive and meta-learning tasks which put the learner in control of his or her own learning development. It will therefore avoid the charge justly levelled at some of its antecedents that its not much more than a populist collection of superficially attractive but learning- and evidence-lite tips-for-teachers of the Heres another learning style questionnaire variety.

In summary, this book deserves a place in every staffroom. Place it on the centre table, invite all staff to enjoy it and then, to misquote Auden,

Stop all the bells, disconnect the LCD
Deny the kids a wordsearch with a mental age of three
Dazzle the inspector and with seated bum
Bring on Independence, and let Learning come.

Dr Barry Hymer, Managing Director,
Still Thinking UK Ltd and Visiting Fellow,
Newcastle Universitys Centre for Learning and Teaching

Jim Smith has produced a lively, humorous and invaluable guide to teaching in The Lazy Teachers Handbook. He makes the crucial point that he makes for teachers like me is that you can be a more effective teacher by doing less: less photocopying, less indepth planning, less fussing about discipline. If you imbibe the essential principles he outlines in the book, youll find yourself with a great toolkit of pupil-proof teaching techniques which will make you enjoy your teaching more and help you get better results. I learnt a lot from the book and would whole-heartedly recommend it to other colleagues.

Francis Gilbert, authorIm A Teacher, Get Me Out Of Here
andWorking The System: How To Get The Best State
Education For Your Child, www.francisgilbert.co.uk

This is an ideal book for those students and teachers willing to think creatively outside the box. As an adviser, inspector and a trainee mentor it is always a privilege to observe inspirational teaching the best of which appears effortless not so of course. I recall one lesson in particular, a KS2 geography lesson with a mixed age group. I was a few minutes late and missed the remarkably short introduction. The young, petite, soft spoken teacher was almost invisible in the class but the pupils were working so hard, enthused by the tasks, thinking and learning collaboratively. This was no lazy teacher - the activities had been researched and prepared thoroughly. The role of the teacher should be that of a facilitator and that is the underlying message of this book what if we worked less and they worked more / the combination of independent learners and lazy teachers is the outstanding combination that every school should be striving for.

It is a catalogue of good practice with emphasis on reflection by the practitioner, minimizing the use of the dreaded worksheets, offering a range of strategies promoting collaborative learning in tune with the individualized, personalized and independent learning agenda and effective classroom management, the effective use of classroom assistants and IT. The strategies are not all new and reference is made to several other publications such as Ian Gilberts Little Book of Thunks and Blooms Taxonomy but the catalogue is well set out and is very readable, the most useful being the many strategies offered to improve group work and discussion. It is an effective summary of good practice.

The most progressive sections are the chapters which deal with outcome-led learning and planning. Tips such as - dont just wait for the end of the lesson to reflect on outcomes, revisiting the learning outcomes and constant intervention, indeed ensure effective learning, engaging pupils in dialogue about their learning. We have been through the three/four/five part lessons but the Lazy lesson structure, stating that a lesson is never constrained by a preordained number of parts and tips such as powerful plenaries and the expert deployment of a plenary provide sound guidance.

In the chapter on marking, the author tells how he trains students to be as good at marking as him. Phrases and activities which enhance students self-esteem and their motivation provide teacher ammunition. Other useful lists include the word bank for outcome words and no one could disagree with the claim that outstanding teaching is all about differentiation.

The majority of the examples given are from KS3/4 but could be adapted to any age group or subject area and I would certainly recommend this publication to trainees on the Initial Primary Teacher Training course at our University. There is an undercurrent of criticism of PGCE courses for example with regard to effective use of teaching assistants not so I would hasten to say here at Trinity where we consider ourselves to be progressive, reflecting on current best practice! We certainly would not condone laziness either and the title - although well-meant could easily be misinterpreted by some of the more laid-back trainees. This is a guide book for enthusiastic and creative teachers.