The Emotional Learner Understanding Emotions, Learners and Achievement

1. It’s not easy being a Vulcan  2. Masters and Performers  3. Positive and Negative Emotions  4. What we think and what we feel  5. Personality, Motivation and Emotion  6. Anxiety  7. Boredom  8. Interest and Curiosity  9. The Emotional Teen  10. Fear of Failure  11. Teaching with emotions in mind

Biography

Marc Smith is a freelance writer, Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He has taught in secondary schools across the north of England since 2004 and writes for publications including the TES and The Psychologist.

Reviews

Alex Quigley, Director of Huntington Research School, York, Routledge writer and school leader

I think this is a really interesting proposal. At the moment, there is a lot of interest in mental health and the emotions and stresses that attend education. I think the key market is educational professionals; mainly teachers given the audience size of teachers to academics.

Major strengths and distinctive features:

I really like the chapter topics offered by the author. They are engaging, with real hooks for teaching professionals like myself. The chapter titles are simple but effective. The summaries indicate some really interesting exploration into aspect of emotion and learning that have made me interested in reading the book. I think that the distinctive feature is the umbrella topic of ‘emotion’ as it attends learning. There is a zeitgeist very much interested in mental health, stress and the emotions that attend learning, the teenage years and more. If the author gets this right, it has the potential to draw a lot of interest.

I do think, having read the sample chapters that the style of the book would need to be tweaked to appeal the large audience I have mooted for this book. It is quite academic in tone and stylistically it has a lengthy paragraph style that can draw away from the powerful messages from the book in parts. It is a delicate balance of academic insight and narrative and rhetorical interest that is needed I think. My suggestion would be to make the book more orientated around the ‘practical strategies’ the author suggested by tweaking the structure and style. The knowledge of the author is not in doubt and the content is interesting, it is just that it needs tweaking for a broader likely audience; otherwise it should be aimed more squarely at academics with an academic style. [Relayed to author for writing]

I think that the end of each chapter could have concise summaries and actions. I also think that pull quotes could be used to break up the density of some of the large paragraphs. If the book has a primary audience of education practitioners, I would want more interactive elements to the book, with some opportunities to stop and consider the weighty research and insights – perhaps responding to scenarios? Answering concise questions based on the prior knowledge and experience of the reader.

I do recommend you this book. The author writes a very good blog and his articles for TES etc. were very interesting. This leads me to believe he would effectively be able to promote his work.

Carly Neighbour, Primary School Teacher, Oxfordshire

Is there a real need for this book and what are the principal markets? Does it have potential to appeal internationally?

Yes, I do think there is a real need for this book and I believe it would appeal internationally. Having recently visited Finland they place a heavy emphasis on wellbeing from the start of a child’s education.

It will appeal to educators at all levels. I would expect it to be recommended reading for BEd, BA QTS and PGCE courses.

Major strengths and distinctive features: Using the term ‘anxiety’ rather than ‘stress’ seems more appropriate and is very detailed. Dedicating a chapter specifically to teens is a great idea.

Weaknesses and the necessary modifications needed: Is there any reference to Daniel Goleman? Emotional Intelligence? [Comments with the author TBC]

Do you recommend that we should publish this book?
Absolutely! This is a great proposal, I look forward to seeing it in print.

Alex Quigley,

I think this is a really interesting proposal. At the moment, there is a lot of interest in mental health and the emotions and stresses that attend education. I think the key market is educational professionals; mainly teachers given the audience size of teachers to academics.

Major strengths and distinctive features:

I really like the chapter topics offered by the author. They are engaging, with real hooks for teaching professionals like myself. The chapter titles are simple but effective. The summaries indicate some really interesting exploration into aspect of emotion and learning that have made me interested in reading the book. I think that the distinctive feature is the umbrella topic of ‘emotion’ as it attends learning. There is a zeitgeist very much interested in mental health, stress and the emotions that attend learning, the teenage years and more. If the author gets this right, it has the potential to draw a lot of interest.

I do think, having read the sample chapters that the style of the book would need to be tweaked to appeal the large audience I have mooted for this book. It is quite academic in tone and stylistically it has a lengthy paragraph style that can draw away from the powerful messages from the book in parts. It is a delicate balance of academic insight and narrative and rhetorical interest that is needed I think. My suggestion would be to make the book more orientated around the ‘practical strategies’ the author suggested by tweaking the structure and style. The knowledge of the author is not in doubt and the content is interesting, it is just that it needs tweaking for a broader likely audience; otherwise it should be aimed more squarely at academics with an academic style. [Relayed to author for writing]

I think that the end of each chapter could have concise summaries and actions. I also think that pull quotes could be used to break up the density of some of the large paragraphs. If the book has a primary audience of education practitioners, I would want more interactive elements to the book, with some opportunities to stop and consider the weighty research and insights – perhaps responding to scenarios? Answering concise questions based on the prior knowledge and experience of the reader.

I do recommend you this book. The author writes a very good blog and his articles for TES etc. were very interesting. This leads me to believe he would effectively be able to promote his work.