News

November 23, 2023

As an educator, you know the pivotal role diverse and engaging reading materials play in shaping a student’s educational journey. 

We’re thrilled about our collaboration with John Catt, publishers of Professional Development resources and renowned for their partnership with some of the most esteemed educational authors in the UK. Witra Publishing Group is committed to supporting teachers in providing exceptional Professional Development resources. 

In this spirit, we’ve meticulously curated a selection of six captivating titles from John Catt. These titles not only align with diverse teaching needs but also offer valuable insights across various subjects, empowering educators to create dynamic and engaging lessons.

Our selection includes:

• Rosenshine’s Principles in Action by Tom Sherrington
• Rosenshine’s Principles in Action – The Workbook by Claire Grimes
• The Coach’s Guide to Teaching by Doug Lemov
• Running the Room – The Teacher’s Guide to Behaviour by Tom Bennett
• The Path of The Mindful Teacher: How to choose calm over chaos and serenity over stress, one step at a time by Danielle Nuhfer
• A Practical Guide to Pupil Wellbeing: Strategies for classroom teachers by Kirsten Colquhoun

Contact us for more information and orders. We offer free shipping directly to your school.

For more publications from John Catt, click here.

Rosenshine’s Principles in Action by Tom Sherrington

Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction are widely recognised for their clarity and simplicity and their potential to support teachers seeking to engage with cognitive science and the wider world of education research. In this concise new guide, Rosenshine fan Tom Sherrington amplifies and augments the principles and further demonstrates how they can be put into practice in everyday classrooms.The second half of the book contain Rosenshine’s original paper Principles of Instruction, as published in 2010 by the International Academy of Education (IAE) – a paper with a superb worldwide reputation for relating research findings to classroom practice.

Rosenshine’s Principles in Action – The Workbook by Claire Grimes

Following the resounding success of Tom Sherrington’s Rosenshine’s Principles in Action, the seminal principles have swiftly become a practical support for teachers looking to develop their classroom practice. The Workbook seeks to further this engagement by providing a thought-provoking and reflective guide designed to encourage teachers in all settings to become self-aware practitioners. Completed alongside a series of video masterclasses delivered by Sherrington, teachers will be led through a range of questions and activities devised to secure pedagogical understanding and ensure teachers are left with clear actions to support pupil progress. The five-session structure of the workbook explores the fundamentals of classroom practice, finishing with a guided reflection on Rosenshine’s Principles in Action, thus providing the reader with a stimulating companion to Sherrington’s excellent work.

The Coach’s Guide to Teaching by Doug Lemov

The mark of a great coach is a constant desire to learn and grow. A hunger to use whatever can make them better.

The best-selling author of Teach Like a Champion and Reading Reconsidered brings his considerable knowledge about the science of classroom teaching to the sports coaching world to create championship caliber coaches on the court and field.

What great classroom teachers do is relevant to coaches in profound ways. After all, coaches are at their core teachers.

Lemov knows that coaches face many of the same challenges found in the classroom, so the science of learning applies equally to them. Unfortunately, coaches and organizations have a mixed level of understanding of the research and study of the science of learning. Sometimes coaches and organizations build their teaching on myths and platitudes more than science. Sometimes there isn’t any science applied at all.

While there are thousands of books and websites a coach can consult to better understand technical and tactical aspects of the game, there is nothing for a coach to consult that explicitly examines the teaching problems on the field, the court, the rink, and the diamond. Until now.

Intended to offer lessons and guidance that are applicable to coaches of any sporting endeavor including everyone from parent volunteers to professional coaches and private trainers, Lemov brings the powerful science of learning to the arena of sports coaching to create the next generation of championship caliber coaches.

Running the Room – The Teacher’s Guide to Behaviour by Tom Bennett

Good behaviour is the beginning of great learning. All children deserve classrooms that are calm, safe spaces where everyone is treated with dignity. Creating that space is one of the most important things a teacher needs to be able to do. But all too often teachers begin their careers with the bare minimum of training – or worse, none. How students behave, socially and academically, dictates whether or not they will succeed or struggle in school. Every child comes to the classroom with different skills, habits, values and expectations of what to do. There’s no point just telling a child to behave; behaviour must be taught. Behaviour is a curriculum. This simple truth is the beginning of creating a classroom culture where everyone flourishes, pupils and staff.

Running the Room is the teacher’s guide to behaviour. Practical, evidence informed, and based on the expertise of great teachers from around the world, it addresses the things teachers really need to know to build the classrooms children need. Bursting with strategies, tips and solid advice, it brings together the best of what we know and saves teachers, new or old, from reinventing the wheels of the classroom. It’s the book teachers have been waiting for.

The Path of The Mindful Teacher: How to choose calm over chaos and serenity over stress, one step at a time by Danielle Nuhfer

In The Path of the Mindful Teacher, Danielle A. Nuhfer introduces educators to a process that will help them positively manage stress, find work-life balance, lessen symptoms of burnout, and increase classroom job satisfaction. Teachers walking this path will be able to determine their own needs and the needs of their students, so they can successfully and sustainably do one of the most important jobs in the world: teaching the future of our planet.

Drawing on Danielle’s experience as a teacher, mindfulness practitioner, and teacher wellness coach, The Path of the Mindful Teacher will:

• Explain the basics of mindfulness and how it can inform teaching practice.

• Illustrate a simple step-by-step path that will help teachers choose calm over chaos and serenity over stress.

• Provide ways to integrate mindfulness practice into the classroom and beyond.

• Offer mindfulness activities that can be adapted to an individual teacher’s needs.

• Present tools to balance the ever-changing landscape of teaching.

A Practical Guide to Pupil Wellbeing: Strategies for classroom teachers by Kirsten Colquhoun

Every year thousands of research papers, guidance documents and educational aims are published on pupil mental health and wellbeing. Many of them offer insightful ideas and theories, but what is often lacking is a clear route for busy classroom teachers to apply these findings. A focus on wellbeing is here to stay, but what does it mean? How does it apply to the curriculum? And what is a teacher’s role? This book critically explores the importance of being a research-informed teacher, assesses some of the key health and wellbeing areas that class teachers can directly affect, and offers practical advice on how to do this. Designed in part to create a clearer pathway for classroom teachers to ensure that, while already spinning their many existing plates, the health and wellbeing needs of their pupils can be met effectively.

Teaching, like healthcare, has infinite capabilities to contribute to social improvement both for the individual and wider society. Teachers go above and beyond their job description every single day and face a myriad of challenges in doing so. This book will help to arm class teachers with a toolkit of information to help them succeed as teachers of health and wellbeing.