Reviews for Collaborating for effectiveness

The average rating for Collaborating for effectiveness based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-02-15 00:00:00 Amber Richards I wasn't overly impressed by this book. It's more or less a long, repetitive, unfocused rant, and I thought it dwelt excessively on what the author sees as the personal failings of various people such as Estelle Morris. Despite billing itself as "the book every parent should read", I don't think it would be all that accessible or useful to them - too political and not clearly focused on what parents need and want to know. It certainly doesn't give much enlightenment on "the state of British education"; nor does it answer the key questions it claims to. I thought the author spent too much time quoting what people said or wrote, then just going "Well, what does this word mean? It's all gobbledygook, isn't it?" without any actual attempt to appreciate what was meant. OK, sometimes it was gobbledygook or badly presented, but not always. And he certainly didn't apply the same treatment to quotes supporting his views, even if they were just as full of buzzwords and jargon. Similarly, his discussions of e.g. a greatly increased involvement of the private sector in providing state-funded schooling were very one-sided; he gave a very rosy view of ideas he liked without really discussing their possible negative aspects. I didn't agree with his blanket assertion that curricula that focused on skills were bad and that "transferable skills" do not exist, because playing the violin doesn't help you to change a car tyre. I was pleased to see SCITT described as "the best and most commonsensical approach to teacher training", although given my low opinion of the author, I'm not sure if this is actually a bad thing. Overall, I was disappointed by this book.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-10-18 00:00:00 Billy Fry This is the reader for the EWRT200 classes I'm teaching. So far, it seems pretty well received. We read "Superman and Me" by Sherman Alexie first, which prompted some great discussions of how the students first got interested in reading and learned to read. Now we're taking a look at Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue" which I always love to teach because it's funny and eye-opening at the same time.