100 Things Awesome Teachers Do Paperback – July 16, 2012

written by a teacher who cares about teaching by ensuring being effective, the 12 chapters cover all the practical areas teachers do their work, in non jargonesque ways, but interspersed with the 100 ideas, which are really practical ways of getting learning going, activating students, developing formation, etc.This book is essentially a practical...it';s like sitting down with a mate you trust in the canteen who gives you ideas you need to fix what's going wrong. It's more the practicality than the theory that works. The interventions work, presented in a non fuss and very personal manner.It's a nice read, but more than that damned useful and feels like a shoulder to lean on.The book ends with a testimonial to you which I found quite touching.I gave it four so I hope he writes another, that's just me, I always want too much!

I was generous with the 3 stars here.If you are a new teacher and are starting out your first year in a new school - read everything and this book also. It won't hurt and does provide a quick summary of all you should be doing. However, where are the practical tips, where are the "do"s? Majority of those "things" are way too brief to be useful.If you are like me - a teacher with some years of experience (7 in my case), this book is going to be a waste of time. The only useful bit of new advice I picked up from this book is some links to websites I have never used before.

This book is OK in its way I suppose. It provides a few fine epistemological nuggets that will put a smile on the face of any visiting Ofsted Inspector. A couple of key points are really quite well made. I can understand why the book became an iBook bestseller. '100 Things...' is handy for just dipping into. An overworked teacher suffering chronic mid-term blues can dive between the covers and sometimes pluck out a wee 'Tweak of the Week' pedagogic pearl. As a result their tired hastily cobbled-together lessons are slightly spruced up by simply applying a good idea from the book. However that strength is also a weakness in my view. I felt that the book was a bit too shallow for my wants and needs as a harassed teacher. It seemed to just touch on an idea before moving swiftly onto something new. I occasionally felt I was gargling from the fountain of knowledge instead of drinking from it. There are some good ideas in the book, but I am not sure there are 100 'awesome things' in it. I think it lacks the "Wow I've really gotta try that!" charge that I sometimes get when I read books written by Jim Smith, Dave Keeling, Phil Beadle or Sue Cowley. '100 things...' is OK, but I sort of feel that there are better books available out there.

"100 Things Awesome Teachers Do ..." is written with good intentions and many of the ideas, while light in the "wow" factor, are certainly good practice and it is not a bad book to dip into for a little re-fresh of ideas. However, there are other books that do much the same, with many of the same ideas, in a better way. While I liked the author's focus on practice rather than theory, I did get a bit tired of his "if you want to know more about this, look it up on Google" style. Content-wise, it loses a star for me on that basis alone.It drops another star due to some pretty shoddy layout and unacceptably high number of literacy errors - which may be excusable in some books, but not in one were we are supposed to be mirroring good practice. There are a number of basic typographical errors that should have been picked up on even a most basic edit. Secondly the book seems to lack any concept of layout design. Titles hang at the bottom of pages which is really not great and makes the book look far cheaper than it is.It's written with a good heart, but "could do better", I'm afraid. There's not enough genuinely thought provoking ideas here to make it worth the investment when there are better books out there (for example, Ross McGill's "100 ideas for secondary teachers".

This is a great book for those new to teaching & those (like myself) who have been at it for a number of years. Easy to read, full of easy to implement tips & confirmation that much of what you're doing is 'AWESOME'! This comes highly recommended.

This book is thin and small and has very few pages. The words of wisdom contained in it are not rocket science. I was very disappointed and didn't bother to read past the first few pages. Vastly overpriced. Book was returned.

Good book. Few errors I've spotted so far.....but if you want a book that's to the point and from a teachers perspective then it's a good read. I wouldn't doubt however that there are better books out there.