[Book Review] Teach Like Finland – 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms by Timothy D. Walker

Happiness is the Influential Key for Better Learning

Title : Teach Like Finland – 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms

Author : Timothy D. Walker

Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company

Publication Date : April 2017

Edition : First Edition

Pages : 240 Pages

ISBN : 978-1-324-00125-6

“Focus on children’s well-being, health and happiness in school has become one of the key goals of schooling across the country.”

Finland is a tiny Nordic Nation that known as a country with excellent education. Even In 2001, Finnish pupils shocked the world with their excellent result on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). People become curious about how is education in Finland. Timothy D. Walker—author of this book had shared his experiences when he worked as a teacher in Finland. Based on experiences that he did before, Walker finally found the secrets behind the successes of Finland education. He mentioned that education in Finland values happiness more than achievement. Happiness becomes the most influential thing in Finland education. Finland is prioritizing joyful learning in their curriculum. This kind of learning promotes the physical, emotional and mental health of students and also teachers.

Teachers should have good strategy to create joyful learning in classroom. There are several strategies that Walker had mention on this book. Those strategies are schedule brain breaks, learn on the move, recharge after school, simplify the space, breathe fresh air, get into the wild, keep the peace, recruit a welfare team, know each child, play with your students, celebrate their learning, pursue a class dream, banish the bullying, buddy up, start with freedom, leave margin, offer choices, plan with your students, make it real, demand responsibility, teach the essentials, leverage the tech, bring in the music, coach more, prove the learning, discuss the grades, seek flow, have a thicker skin, collaborate over coffee, welcome the experts, vacate on vacation and don’t forget joy.

The most important thing that I learn from this book is joyful learning become the important thing in education. Finland has proven that education should make students happy rather than stress. Finnish school will give frequent fifteen minutes breaks throughout each day for students and teachers. They can relief their stress in break times and help they to become more focus in the next learning time. They believe students and teachers are human being, not human doing.

I also found surprising fact from this book. You might ever hear people said there is no homework in Finland school. Well, that’s not true. Finnish teacher still give their students homework. The difference is the teachers in Finland don’t want to overboard their students with extra homework. They will usually give small homework task which can be complete easily, so students can spend more time to recharge their energy.

This book is really attractive to read. We can learn many good things from Finland education. The author has successfully mentioned the useful strategies that we can practice in the classroom. This book can be a guide to make better and interesting learning method. This book is really useful for everyone, especially for people who work in educational field.

Rate : 4.5/5

“This book’s most important strategy is probably the simplest: Don’t forget joy.”

Book detail source :

1. Goodreads

2. http://books.wwnorton.com/books/Teach-Like-Finland/