What Every Teacher Needs to Know about Psychology

So I like Didau's writing. It's full of research and current understandings on education, however written by someone who is more of a writer so it's not as dry as some of the straight research, not to mention it is coming from a teacher's perspective so there is the reality that research/theory and applying this in reality are two very different things.I took off one star since a lot of the information here is kind of a repeat from the first book I read by him " What if everything you know about Education..." and I found that one a little bit of a better start. Luckily I got this one free with my prime account so it's just reinforcing information, but either way you shake it they are both useful books.

Every teacher should read this. It's incredible that so few of us are taught anything about cognitive psychology and how it relates to how we teach during our training - or after for that matter. This book fills that gap and does so in a way that is accessible and memorable. it has been deliberately written in stand alone chapter-long chunks which you can dip into in any order, so there's none of that bracing yourself to read a worthy but heavy tome; no long, hard slog through hundreds of pages. The chapter's are quite short too, so you could easily cover one in half an hour and it wouldn't matter at all if you didn't did into it again for another month. Key concepts are revisited and reexplained throughout so you really can read it in any order at all. I've read certain chapters I'm really interested in several times while others I haven't touched at all yet. I've learnt so much from it about working memory, the difficulties of transferring knowledge from one context or even location to another, cognitive load, the role of forgetting in learning and so on. I've shared various chapters with colleagues in staff meetings and we are incorporating key messages into our teaching and learning policy. For example, revisiting learning soon after learning it, to strengthen memories of recently learnt (but forgotten) information, and then returning to that information again an again for short periods over ever increasing periods - spaced repetition in other words.

This is a really good book for teachers (and teacher trainers)at any stage of their career. In particular the first part of the book is about learning, supported by scientific and experimental theories in a very readable presentation. The book is also courageous in that it challenges widely held misconceptions and practices in teaching, leaving a further challenge for institutions to reconsider their own policies on house style. I wholly recommend this book.

Useful book for all teachers regardless of experience. Each chapter is a different topic which end with a summary and a further reading reference list which is helpful. It’s a great book to pick up and dip into depending on the topic of interest. Summaries make it great for when you’re short on time

As a psychology graduate gone into teaching, I find this book fantastic. It has short chapters so you can take a concept at a time and reflect on it before moving on. It brings together so much of what I have learned and I know it is a book that I will continue to refer back to for some time to come.

Not as good as "What if Everything you knew about Education was Wrong?"but i got some good insights. Didau is a good author who does lots of research, which he combines with effective classroom experience. Lovely read.