The Secret of Literacy: Making the Implicit, Explicit Paperback – Illustrated, May 15, 2014

David Didau practices what he preaches: his book is written in a manner that makes clear effective and interesting ways to teach the necessary literacy skills in the classroom.

Amazing help for teachers. I will be using many of the literacy strategies in my practice this coming year. Thanks.

Attention all educators! This text a MUST have for your educational collection. Great practical strategies, sound pedagogical research and clear layout - all contained within the text. As we are all teachers of literacy, why reinvent the wheel? Excellent references to NZ gurus also - Nuthall and Hattie. @learningspy, @eMPOWERedNZ

This should not be seen as a book solely for the ‘Literacy Co-ordinator’ in your school or college. It makes the case that improving the literacy of students is the responsibility of every teacher no matter what their subject specialism. It is full of practical tips based on “those high impact, low effort strategies” which will help all teachers develop the literacy of their students. It is, however, much more than a shallow ‘100 ideas’ type book and really makes you think and question some taken for granted assumptions about teaching and learning. The section on ‘The teaching sequence for developing independence’ confirms what most teacher intuitively know is true, but should be required reading for school and college leaders who try to impose on staff what the ‘Ofsted Whisperers’ have told them makes an outstanding lesson. It is refreshing, for example, to have a book on teaching that doesn’t denigrate the idea of ‘teacher talk’ but instead asks how this part of the teaching sequence can be improved.

Very occasionally, a book comes along that has me reaching for a highlighter. This one went further, and had me emailing my department and SLT, On almost every page there is a pithy observation, a hook, a memorable phrase, helping bring the ideas into the realm of the real world of a teacher. It's not just the ideas contained but the way each idea is embedded in the practicalities of introducing it to your day-to-day teaching.Finally, and by no means the least admirable aspect of the book, the quality of writing is superb. It reads as easily and naturally as a good novel. If you are a teacher looking to find those tiny tweaks that offer big rewards for minimal input, this is essential reading.

A book that is jam packed with useful tips and handy advice. I reallyenjoyed reading it. I've been an English teacher for 19 years, but found plenty to highlight for use in my own teaching. This book would be extremely useful for NQTs or student teachers - in any subject! In fact, I especially like the fact that the book is aimed at teachers of all subjects, literacy is everywhere, after all.

Enjoyable to read and a good balance between discussion of the 'whats whys and hows' of teaching literacy, and ready-to-go resources and teaching ideas.Although there are easy-to-borrow strategies, this is not a book to flick through and steal the odd quick fix; it needs to be read as a whole to appreciate the arguments being made about how and why to teach high-quality, academic literacy. This isn't a chore though - the easy style and clarity of the writing makes it a great read, easily demolished in a few hours.Oh, a final bit of advice, buy it in paperback, as you will probably want to share it.

While this book is not a magic bullet for teaching, it gave me lots of ammunition for the battle against the army of Year3 children I have the pleasure of being stuck with for 6 - 7 hours a day. Though written from a teacher working with older KS, I found that most of the information in this book was transferable.I think this book should be recommended as a must read when teachers are training because it's not the usual one size fits all junk you hear from lectures (until differentiation day)I can't wait to read the next book...