Fear Is The Mind Killer: Why Learning to Learn deserves lesson time - and how to make it work

by James Mannion, Kate McAllister

Genres: Education, Teaching

Kindle Edition

Published November 23, 2020

Reviews

[Erik Ex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overtuigend verhaal waarom we leervaardigheden los op het rooster zouden moeten zetten. Lijkt erg op veel hoogbegaafdenprogramma’s in NL, maar dan schoolbreed en veel meer evidence informed.

[Zeba Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely helpful

As a deputy head in a through-school that is actively exploring ways to improve student resilience, relationships in school between parents, pupils and staff, and to develop an integrated programme for social, emotional and academic learning, this is probably the most practical book I have come across in some time. Mannion and McAllister come from active engagement over years of classroom practice. Their research is thoughtful, they engage with potential criticism fairly and openly and the strategies for implementation are particularly helpful.

[Aiwendil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The goal and message of this book is incredibly important, it makes a very strong case for giving Learning to Learn a second look. However, I was disappointed by the lack of concreteness on how to implement this in a good way. Only 1 out of the 8 chapters covers this and it does so quite broadly and loosely. Then there is 1 chapter on how to get the implementation off the ground, 2 chapters are origins stories for the case study and 4 out of the 8 chapters have pretty much the same goal of convincing the reader that Learning to Learn is important. It uses a lot of the same arguments throughout the book, which got a bit tiring, because the message was crystal clear within 2 chapters, I definitely didn't need 4.

I also can't shake the feeling that the most important factor in this case study being successful, was the massive amount of dedication from the team. That doesn't mean it can't succeed in less optimal settings, but it does dampen my mood a bit.

So I wouldn't necessarily recommend reading the whole book, unless you have plenty of time to spare. Otherwise I think just Chapter 2 would suffice and Chapter 5 to give pointers as to how to set this thing up. I think Learning to Learn is a very worthwhile goal and I appreciate how the authors have made a strong case for it, despite a lot of skepticism from traditionalist circles. But I have say I expected a bit more from this book, for the reasons I mentioned above. Nevertheless, it is a very important book, in that it makes a case for a very important aspect of teaching that is often overlooked. It has stuck with me for days after reading and I don't think I can ever look at teaching the same way again.

[Dr Tech · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just brilliant. An incredibly well researched book that shows that teaching 'learning to learn' actually works - maybe my own confirmation bias but the three strands of metacognition, self regulation and oracy and their importance - ring true. Lots of practical advice, and really detailed explanation of what they actually did in their research. Read it - you will not regret it!