The Big Book of Independent Thinking : Do Things No One Does or Do Things Everyone Does in a Way No One Does

This book has been designed to be dipped into and to get teachers thinking ? thinking about what they do, why they do what they do and whether doing it that way is the best thing at all. Ian is well known and respected for doing things a little different from the norm. His aim is to enrich young people's lives by changing the way they think?. Independent Thinking Ltd, set up in 1992, employs great speakers, associates and trainers to help deliver this message. This book is a collection of the best work from his associates.Ian Gilbert has contributed to The Big Book of Independent Thinking: Do Things No One Does or Do Things Everyone Does in a Way No One Does as an editor. Ian Gilbert is the founder and managing director of Independent Thinking Ltd. He regularly presents keynote speeches at international education shows. He is the author of ?Essential Motivation in the Classroom? and is well known and respected for doing things a little different from the norm. His aim is to ?enrich young people's lives by changing the way they think?. In 1992 Ian Gilbert, author of the highly acclaimed Essential Motivation in the Classroom founded Independent Thinking Ltd (ITL). His aim was to 'enrich young people's lives by changing the way they think and so to change the world'. He has done this by gathering together a disparate group of associates specialists in the workings of the brain, discipline, emotional intelligence, ICT, motivation, using music in learning, creativity and dealing with the disaffected. ITL achieve their objective by 'doing what no one else does or doing what everyone else does in a way no one else does'. With a chapter from each of the associates plus an introduction and commentary by Ian Gilbert, this is the definitive guide for anyone wishing to understand and use some of the thinking that makes ITL such a unique and successful organisation. If you're looking for a quick 'How to'guide and a series of photocopiable worksheets you can knock out for a last minute PSHE lesson or because the INSET provider you had booked has let you down at the last minute and you're the only member of the middle management team who didn't attend the last planning meeting so you've ended up with the job of stepping in to fill in the gap, then this is the book for you. As befitting a disparate group of people brought together under the banner of Independent Thinking, these chapters are to get you thinking for yourself thinking about what you do, why you do what you do and whether doing it that way is the best thing at all. This book is meant to be dipped into, with not every chapter being relevant for everybody all of the time. Some chapters are written with the classroom practitioner very much in mind, others with the students in mind, other still with an eye on school leaders. That said, there is something here for everyone so we encourage you to dip into it with a highlighter pen in one hand and a notebook in the other to capture the main messages and ideas that resonate with you. So, does the assembly you're about to give, or that lesson on 'forcesyou're about to deliver or that staff meeting you're about to lead or that new intake parents evening you're planning look like everyone else's anywhere else? If so, then what about sitting down with your independent thinking hat on and identifying how you can make it so that we couldn't drop you into a totally different school on the other side of the country without anyone noticing the difference. Have the confidence to be memorable the world of education needs you to be great. Set up ten years ago, Independent Thinking's manifesto was to 'enrich people's lives by changing the way they think - and so to change the world'. This book captures some of the organisation's best ideas and innovations, in areas from neuroscience and learning skills to creativity, motivation and emotional intelligence