Rosenshine's Principles in Action

In Action

by Tom Sherrington

About the Author
Tom Sherrington is an experienced former Headteacher and teacher, now running the wildly popular teacherhead consultancy to explore and implement contemporary educational ideas that help deliver an excellent all-round education. He is the author of the best-selling book The Learning Rainforest, named by BookAuthority as 'one of the best teaching books of all time'.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction, School, Self Help

116 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 4, 2019

Reviews

[Georgina · Rating 3 out of 5]

In some 50 odd pages, Tom Sherrington presents his view of the efficacy of Rosenshine's principles with practical examples across a range of subjects. If you have yet to read Rosenshine's principles, they are helpfully reproduced in full on the back and Sherrington's ideas will strengthen your understanding.

The book is therefore a mini handbook for great teaching. It is as accessible as you can get and even the most time pressed of educators will find time to absorb this. Every teacher can get better by reading this and use it to plan, reflect and evaluate.

Importantly though, Sherrington is direct in his instruction (perhaps to over zealous school leadership teams) not to make this a 'lesson by lesson checklist.'

[Jack Greenwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tradtitional teaching is the Holy Grail.

For these principles, simplicity reigns. They cut through all the sesquipedalian terms you find in much of pedagogical literature. Concise, clear and undisputable.

I think the reason Rosenshine is so popular right now is because the methods are so intuitive & relatable to teachers. Either you are a teacher who recognises the traits in your own teaching, or you recognise that they would be a useful addition to your pratice. I can't think of any other category a teacher would fall into.

Does what it says on the tin/blurb - a powerful handbook for teachers at all levels.

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! Informative, very clear and less new than a reminder and a rubber stamp to call out less successful strategies for being in the lesson and to up the ante in terms of student performance and motivation. It’s all about the intrinsic love of learning not making it fun.

[Hard Fluff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am doing my PGCE this year and I found this really useful. I feel it is a tool that's going to help to reflect on my lessons and it can help when I'm going to plan lessons! I am sure this reading is going to improve my teaching!

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really appreciate how accessible, straightforward and well-explained this is. There’s loads of great advice in this for all teachers. This makes research really accessible and I’ve got loads of stuff highlighted! Definitely a few things in this that I’ll be sharing with colleagues.

[Richard Spear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful summary of Rosenshine. Concise, clear and effective with good examples from across a range of subjects. Worth the read!

[JFH · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I think this book was so helpful. It has caused me to change some of the way that I’m teaching my new content!

Worth a read if you’re a teacher!

[Maruthi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rosenshine's principles article is freely available on the internet. The principles themselves are gold dust.

Sherrington only wrote 30 pages of new material mostly like a blog. Lots of empty pages between each chapter, large font, bigger line spacing.

It's not worth £8.99, I feel robbed.

Two stars is a bit much to be honest.

[Philippa Wraithmell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Allowed me to reflect upon my teaching and remember what I need to focus on and enhance
100% worth a read for any educator

[Rory Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear, simple and concise. It will probably only take a couple of hours to read this booklet, especially as only half the booklet is by the author, and the other half is a reprint of Rosenshine’s original article on Instructional Principles. However, the booklet is particularly useful and informative for busy teachers, precisely because it is so short and easily digestible.

The author groups Rosenshine’s 10 principles into 4 strands: Sequencing concepts and modelling, Questioning, Reviewing and Practising. That simplification makes sense, and it also makes the model even simpler to understand. It essentially amounts to telling teachers to break down what you are trying to teach, use questioning to check understanding and use review to check recall. And then its practise, practise...

To illustrate its content the book helpfully works through each strand, giving examples of what it means in the context of varying subjects, such as Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Science and English.

One of the areas where I think the book could have gone into more detail concerns planning. The first strand focuses upon the need to break material into small digestible conceptual elements, as that aids understanding and its avoids problems with cognitive load. But what does that mean in practice for schemes of Work and lesson plans? If teachers are also mindful of other educational theories which focus upon ‘teaching for mastery’ or ‘spaced learning,’ then its useful to know that teaching an aspect of Fractions can be broken down into 8 steps, but should a teacher be aiming to cover all 8 steps in a single lesson, or should it be spaced in some other way?

Of course, that kind of detail is notoriously difficult for a book to specify, as planning for specific groups of pupils depends on their age, their previous learning and other school specific factors. Nevertheless, having a sense of what the ‘more effective’ teachers aim to cover in specific amounts of time, with specific contexts of pupils, is surely a relevant factor in knowing how to apply Rosenshine's principles (?).

Overall this is a very clear and straightforward presentation of some fundamentally important educational principles. It also includes a bibliography and references so that readers can follow up ideas in other books and sources.

[Seán Mchugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good to see a book written for teachers that’s realistic about how much they’re prepared or even able to read in the precious time they have available. This is one of those books that should be read by anyone who thinks they should be working in the teaching profession, my only gripe is typical of authors of this ilk, in terms of their lack of criticism of the assumption that the best way to determine an effective teacher is by their ability to get their students high scores on tests.

The principles are based on the assumption that we should pay attention to cognitive science research, research into the practices of teachers who are able to get students high schools on tests, and studies about effective learning strategies, which I’m again assuming ‘effective’ is determined by again performance based test scores. You would think they would at least be a note of caution about making this assumption, after all there are other ways to gauge teacher efficacy... it’s just that very few researchers in the human sciences can be bothered to think out of the box. They like their nice neat stats that they can number crunch based on the reliability of a comforting test.

If that’s not a problem for you, then you’ll probably love this book and give it the five stars I probably should’ve given it, but I’m not prepared to resile my stance on assumptions around the supremacy of standardised testing just yet.

[Two Seven · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the broad principles outlined by Barak Rosenshine, the focus of this book, make complete sense at skimming distance, the methods, and intuition associated with these methods for optimally providing students with each of these tools so essential to the mastery of any topic are a different story. Then comes this book, a beautifully organised, straight to the point analysis of the background information and each individual point provided by Rosenshine's fantastic Principles of Instruction. The book's length may be its only downside, leaving more of Tom Sherrington's passionate explanations to be desired. However, how the book manages to make the most of a quick read is also why this book is 5 stars for me and not 4, since the shortness and hence the convenience of this book indeed aids in bridging the gap between academic cognitive science research and classroom practice, which seems to be a major intention of the book.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

These hybrid style books attempting to bring Educational research and classroom practice together in a single volume should be far more common and certainly in such a concise and clear format.

You can read this 'pamphlet' and obtain some excellent and actionable behaviours and strategies for your own classroom which are supported by solid research base in an hour or two. This is likely going to be more effective time spent than that 2 day conference you will attend.

Importantly though, because of the length and brevity, it leaves you excited to seek further material and resources. It isn't bland research with no connection to practise and you will come away with a renewed enthusiasm for professional reading.

[Isobel Ramsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barack Rosenshine was a history teacher and academic whose research focused on learning instruction, teacher performance and student achievement. In 2010 he published a pamphlet entitled 'Principles of Instruction', which summarised his research into effective teaching and learning. Sherrington synthesises Rosenshine's ten principles into four strands: sequencing concepts and modelling, questioning, reviewing material and stages of practice. He explains Rosenshine's principles clearly with lots of examples and diagrams. Some of these principles are staples of teacher training but are well worth revisiting and it is interesting to read the evidence behind the principles. Sherrington's book also includes Rosenshine's pamphlet at the back.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Principles of Instruction

1. Daily review
2. Present new material using small steps
3. Ask questions
4. Provide models
5. Guide student practice
6. Check for student understanding
7. Obtain a high success rate
8. Provide scaffolds for difficult tasks
9. Independent practice
10. Weekly and monthly review

Four strands
Sequencing concepts and modelling [2, 4, 8]
Questioning [3, 6]
Reviewing material [1, 10]
Stages of practice [5, 7, 9]

Simple, structured, effective approach to pedagogy - building on learning sequentially.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for all teachers - 5*

I have a staff meeting on this next week so I just wanted to read this in advance. This is a research-informed guide that is actually accessible to all teachers. As Sherrington says, we may do all of these but how effective do we enact the 10 principles.

The 10 principles may seem obvious but in this guide, you are provided with strategies and different ways of thinking. I'll probably return to this book in the future.

[Peter Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 28 of 70 of 2019: yet another accessible book about Barak Rosenshine’s principles of instruction. Sherrington takes the 16 principles and distills them into four categories or strands. Mired in mind-brain practices, these strands will surely help any educator elevate their practices and promote high levels of student achievement. A quick, yet meaningful read for any educational leader!

[Anton Rixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book that I wish I had read in my training or NQT year. Full of ideas about teaching, questioning, engaging students etc. Again it makes you think how you can improve your own teaching in your classroom, gives examples of how the Rosenhine principles are put into action in various subjects and at various age groups.

[Niall Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy read which is very clear and simple in its message. A lot of stuff is already what most teachers are doing within teaching but this book gives you a variety of examples that you could use in practice to become a “better” practitioner. I like the use of pictures and diagrams too, as it helps me to remember specific ideas and theories. Would recommend to all teachers out there

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice and short and sensible. But Rosenshine's principles already exist tho. On the internet. Half of this book is just that reprinted. I mean its good but did it have to be a book? Well I suppose it didn't hurt that I got this for free from my SCITT 😂

This one is just me tho but damn this is drier than a stale cracker. I almost didn't read this cos of it

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short easy to read book that gives clear, actionable, guidelines to good teaching. I have made notes and am considering how to apply what I have learnt to my teaching practice. Very little was devastatingly new, which is a relief, but a good explanation of how different ideas fit together and is largely evidence based. I wish I had seen this when I was doing my PGCE.

[Jonathan K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to delve deeper into how a child’s mind works, combined with a dedicated teacher using simple strategies can have an impact on learning and achievement. I do feel the British curriculum is more focused on objectives rather than effective learning so perhaps the principles are less easily implemented in this kind of education system, unlike the American system.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plenty to ponder as a result and plenty to incorporate into my teaching. Great worked examples too.
I just wish there’d been a greater focus on application to essay-based subjects as opposed to Mathematics the majority of the time.

[Aidan McDonagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic concise and succinct summary of the already fabulous principles from Barak Rosenshine's work. These aren't new and flashy ideas, but rather tried and tested methods that, used effectively and consistently, lead to great teaching and learning.

[Nikki Baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recommend Roshenshines article "Principles of Instruction" often so I appreciated Sherrington's little book. However, it feels more like a blog post and most of the golden nuggets can be gleaned by reading the original article free online.

[Alastair Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short book describing excellent pedagogy that all teachers should read. Rather than a prescriptive list of must does, Sherrington presents a concise guide to practices that will support learning from which individual teachers can reflect on their own level of competence.

[Kate Jenner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. I can see why this is popular. It spells out good principles in teaching. Easily digestible. If you have done a PGCE none of this is really new but it's a good reminder and has the evidence to back it up.

[Abbie Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am currently studying a BA honours degree in primary education and this has been my bible! Clear and concise with effective practice examples. It allowed me to reflect upon my own teaching and is a book you can refer to over and over again.

[Alison Rini · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book crystallizes everything we know about highly effective teaching practices into 50 pages. No matter how strong your teaching, this book gives you super bite-sized actionable steps for continued improvement. I loved it so much!

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

A helpful, insightful, short and simple guide to Rosenshine's study and his proposed outcomes, with reference to what that looks like in the classroom.

Digested really quickly, lots of notes and it encouraged me to conduct some wider reading too.