The Guerilla Guide to Teaching

by Sue Cowley

Gives an insider's perspective into the work of being a teacher in its various aspects - planning, teaching, assessment, technology, management, and career progression, and includes checklists, real-life documents, and sound bites from teachers.

Genres: Education

320 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2002

About the author

Sue Cowley is an experienced teacher, writer and presenter, whose specialism is in the area of behaviour management. After qualifying as a primary school teacher, she taught in a number of different secondary schools in London and Bristol. Sue has also taught overseas, at an international school in Portugal. She still works on a voluntary basis with children in local schools, to ensure that she keeps up to date with life 'at the chalkface'. Sue was recently called as an Expert Witness on behaviour, to appear in front of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education.

Sue is the best selling author of twenty books for teachers and parents, including Getting the Buggers to Behave, Teaching Skills for Dummies and How to Survive your First Year in Teaching. Her books have been translated into many different languages, including Slovene, Spanish and Polish. Sue has been a regular contributor to the TES and for Scholastic Magazines. She has written articles for a range of other teacher publications, and also for parenting magazines. She has also produced materials about behaviour management for the Open University / BBC. Sue has recently created a series of Positive Behaviour Management DVDs, in conjunction with educational company Creative Education.

A key part of Sue’s work is in providing training in positive behaviour management for schools and colleges around the UK and in Europe. She has given presentations for the National Union of Teachers and the General Teaching Council, for FastTrack and Advanced Skills’ teachers, to students at Cambridge, Bedford and Southampton Universities, to staff at the renowned Wellington College, and also to a number of deputy and head teacher conferences. Sue has also travelled to Europe to give training for teachers working for Service Children's Education, to teachers at international schools in Switzerland, and to teachers and trainee teachers in Slovenia. She combines her writing, training and presenting work with the wonderful job of being a parent.

Sue’s primary aim through her work is to give practical, realistic and honest advice to teachers and parents. Her books offer a combination of tips, ideas and strategies, written in an easily accessible and amusing way. Through the training courses that she runs, Sue puts across her ideas about teaching and behaviour management in a fun and engaging format.

Reviews

[Rose]

I found this book practical, down-to-earth and useful. It covered information that people often forget newcomers to teaching don't automatically know about e.g. school management structures or hiring procedures. The interviews were interesting and diverse; the suggested reading and resources look useful. I thought the section on ICT was the least helpful - I don't think it's that appropriate for this kind of book to devote a substantial section to walking me through the absolute basics of Word and Excel. I would like a similar book focused on primary teaching that included e.g. what you can expect in terms of children's development at each age group and suggested checklists of e.g. behaviour management strategies, reasonable expectations for different age groups.