All about teaching - a key book review for new teachers

A book review for student teachers and new teachers

"The Naked Teacher - How To Survive Your First Five Years in Teaching"  a review of the book authored by Louisa Leaman published 2006 - reviewed by Chris Garrah on March 24, 2013

The Naked Teacher - How to Survive your First Five Years In Teaching - authored by Leaman, Louisa

 

Why Student Teachers and New Teachers Need this book

When I attempted to be a teacher in the early 1980's I was sent on a practicum to teach high school students.   My teaching adviser merely said I needed to have more energy after watching me give a demonstration in a lesson.  But what the adviser did not see are several common fears - how to keep going when the lesson plan dies, or the fear that the student teacher has not received training on how to  maintain control of a class in any situation,  This book allays all of those types of fears by explaining that the teacher is a performer and their are techniques to manage the classroom that the teacher should become aware and intimate with in order to give one's confidence a giant boost in the classroom.
This manual will surely give you a secret weapon to boost your confidence and allay your fears of interacting with a group of students where you are the performer and where as the teacher you are the center of attention..   This really is a manual of how empower a new teacher or student teacher.  Sometimes training programs do not give you this type of training - it is better to be trained with a manual of how to do basic things like survive and thrive - especially if you, the teacher-to-be has unadressed fears of how to teach or control students.  This book delivers on its promise to show you the ropes of how to things and how to prepare.  Louisa Leaman really talks to you as a trusted friend in the book.  Its a comforting book to have for new teachers - even if you are a veteran teacher that is getting stressed - this book should help you get on the top of your game. 

Behavior management in the Classroom

If you spend going time reading  this book over and over your resourcefulness will be many times those who have never received training in depth classroom behavior management .  There are many things a teacher can do to put a firm hand on classroom development through reporting, contacting teachers.  But very importantly, there is an incredible listing of  a large variety of "easy" type lessons such as having students lead the course, exams, taking questions that could be created while the student teacher gets the feel of teaching.

The Politics of Teaching

The book covers every aspect of interacting with principals, fellow teachers, school staff, parents and students.  An emphasis is placed on developing  personality traits and teaching skills to allow you to survive and excel as a teacher.

Use It as A Reference

The book is available on www.amazon.com as well as other books by Louisa Leaman such as "Managing Very Challenging Behaviour " and "Classroom Confidential (Practical Teaching Guides)"   Check these books out and improve your odds of being a successful teacher. 

Learned Optimism - Why aren't people talking about this?

A review of a book that will help you achieve much, much more in life-  "Learned Optimism" by Martin Seligman Phd published in 1990  - A Book Review by Chris "Crispy" Garrah   March 24, 2013 

 

How the book changes you into an optimist

I really thought I was an optimist and a realist until I took the quiz in the book "Learned Optimism" by Martin E.P. Seligman.  But the book showed me that my "realistic" view was actually "pessimistic" in some ways. The quiz literally changed my life.  After reading the book people started to ask why I was smiling - apparently for no reason.. It was all about the author explaining how to re-wire your thinking to achieve incredibly more by being optimistic.  Because the author explains why and how to change your thinking this explains the title.  "Learned Optimism"  ....... the book is all about optimism you can learn. 

Why change into an optimist instead of a realist?

The author and his team pursued original research on dogs and humans - investigating why dogs and humans learned "helplessness" - where they gave up or in human's cases achieved far less than they were capable of. Optimists don't give up - on the other hand how many people have given up on achieving more because they have had a number of failures.

The golden nugget exposed in the book on how to become an optimist

It may sound crazy or irresponsible but the key is to attribute good qualities to YOURSELF when good thing happen to yourself and BLAME others or circumstances when BAD things have happened to you.  If you take the quiz in the book first it  will allow you to bounce around in the book and explore chapters in the book.   In this way if the quiz indicates pessimistic tendencies in some area you can rewire your self talk to more optimistic self-talk. It's all about promoting good self-talk so you don;t give up for example if you have had a string of failures. 

Isn't it irresponsible to blame others for your misfortunes?

The book explains that this is about SELF-talk.   Obviously, if you shared this outlook with an interviewer it wouldn't come across very well.. Ha. Ha.  It is also explained in the book where safety of people is involved a different approach would be warranted .   Are you thinking like me - " I think I can jump between those two buildings - well I guess that didn't work.  I  am feeling a lot of pain now" 

Avoiding depression and being Bummed Out

To sum up, people talk to themselves all day - "self- talk"  and the book is stressing the importance of attributing good qualities to yourself.  If you are having success at your company you should not be saying it's because of a good economy - it's really because you are a great manager or salesperson.  Remember, this is what you tell yourself.  You don't need to share your self-talk with other people. 

As I interpret the book it is better to blame other people or events for those things that you consider your major life screw ups as long as you don't share your self talk with others.  In this way you avoid learned helplessness - where you give up on life or achieving because you are remembering past failures that are not etched in life to repeat..  Instead you have followed the book and have learned to be an optimist.    

Read the book.  

 Personally,  I enjoyed taking  the quiz in the book -  48 questions long but if you review your answers and then take a look at how a very optimistic person would answer you will gain a lot of insight into how to become more optimistic and achieve more in life.  Why is it necessary to become an optimist?     Because optimists know they have many talents and skills and want to put them to work. You can and should become an optimist.  Remember - you don't need to be an optimist before you read the book You will have "learned optimism" after you read Dr. Seligman's book "Learned Optimism?