Summer Reading Book Review: “Teaching WalkThrus” by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli

Want to work on professional development while school’s out for summer? Why not pick up a book? In this month’s summer reading review, we’re looking at Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques, an illustrated guidebook covering a variety of classroom and teaching situations.

Overview

Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques is one of several books written and illustrated by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli. Both authors are longtime educators, and each has a strong interest in evidence-based teaching. Sherrington blogs about education at teacherhead, and Caviglioli is known for his expertise on dual coding.

In the introduction, they explain how their combined interests dovetailed into the creation of this book, noting a growing audience of educators looking for clear guidance on using research-backed teaching methods in their lessons. From the very start, the visual identity of Teaching WalkThrus is clear, with bold colors, clean iconography and a strong sense of branding. This clarity of design extends to the book’s organization.

Teaching WalkThrus is divided into three main sections, with those sections further divided into smaller subsections. While this makes for a daunting table of contents, it’s indicative of the sheer amount of information presented in the book. It also allows readers to easily search for and find content they need. References are shared at the end of the book.

The first section, Why?, offers an argument for both discernment of design as well as the value of evidence-based teaching. This section provides information on how graphics enhance — or detract from — learning, and it goes into depth about the graphic design decisions of the book itself. A few pages beyond that, the authors share information on learning through different theoretical lenses. One subsection, for example, discusses Rosenshine’s principles.

The second section, What?, is the largest. It covers the broad sweep of techniques promised in the introduction. There are 50 techniques covered, with each one being explained through five sets of paired texts and infographics. Techniques range from classroom management techniques (such as “Signal, Pause, Insist”) to more reflective learning strategies (such as the computational thinking–based techniques in the Curriculum Planning section). While some techniques are simple— such as getting to know students’ names — others involve intentional course design to be effective.

The last section, How?, comes nearly four hundred pages later. In it, the authors explain how to implement the WalkThrus on a more practical level, and what that may look like in different scenarios. For example, how might they be a reference point for classroom observation? How might they be utilized and shared through professional development sessions?

A Closer Look

Teaching WalkThrus is dense. For all the whitespace and clear delineation of content, there’s a lot to take in, both visually and textually. While I found some of the techniques more valuable than others, each WalkThru inspired further thought into how the basic principles could be integrated into a classroom — or, in the case of remote teaching, into a virtual learning space.

Given the value of dual coding as a means of imparting information on multiple levels, the book’s organization makes a great deal of sense. It’s a visual treat, but more so than that, there’s an intentionality to the way things are presented. Each WalkThru step has minimal text, with whitespace and a paired graphic, which feels more purposeful than a simple numbered list item.

The variety of techniques was a nice surprise. Sharing classroom management techniques alongside more curricular-based ones makes the audience for this book fairly broad. Both new teachers and veteran educators can find information in Teaching WalkThrus, even if every WalkThru isn’t applicable to their specific classroom situations. For example, a trainer who specializes in one-shot lessons can use some of the evidence-based structural design suggestions while passing over ideas that involve establishing long-term relationships or scaffolding course content.

If there is a complaint to be had, it’s that this book — perhaps owing to its reliance on graphics — isn’t an easy eread. If your ereader has a small screen, you may find it frustrating to constantly zoom in and out to read the text. It wasn’t a dealbreaker for me, but depending on your technology access, perhaps the physical book would be better.

Takeaways

There’s a lot of information in this book! While the order of the content makes it easy to read from front to back, going from course setup to integrated learning and retrieval, it strikes me more as a reference text versus something to be read in a single sitting. Likewise, its organization lends itself to readings by different teachers for different reasons. In that sense, it would make a good addition to a shared professional development library.

Some of the techniques felt a bit like common sense. Why wouldn’t you try to learn students’ names, for example, as one WalkThru step suggests? That said, when connected to the idea of building a positive relationship with students (and communicating warmth and kindness), the step becomes part of a larger whole in the idea of fostering a welcoming classroom environment. More than ever, students need to feel safe, and these sorts of “common-sense” steps are designed to ensure that humanity and empathy are present in classes from the start.

Overall, this book is interesting and instructive, and it will be beneficial to a wide number of readers, whether they’re knowledgeable about “essential teaching techniques” or not. Opt for a physical book if you don’t have easy access to a bigger ereader or want to avoid reading on your computer monitor.

Have you read this book? What did you think, and what were your takeaways? Comment below! If you’d like to read more books on teaching and learning, browse this guide.

About the blogger:

Jesika Brooks

Jesika Brooks is an editor and bookworm with a Master of Library and Information Science degree. She works in the field of higher education as an educational technology librarian, assisting with everything from setting up Learning Management Systems to teaching students how to use edtech tools. A lifelong learner herself, she has always been fascinated by the intersection of education and technology. She edits the Tech-Based Teaching blog (and always wants to hear from new voices!).