Teacher Toolkit: Helping You Survive Your First Five Years

Teacher Toolkit Guides

By: Ross Morrison McGill, Polly Nor - illustrator

Narrated by: David Morley Hale

Bloomsbury presents Teacher Toolkit by Ross Morrison McGill read by David Morley Hale

'This is a book by a teacher still in the classroom after 20 years. Want to know how to survive? Read this book; it's fizzing with ideas.' Ty Goddard, Co-founder of the Education Foundation

A compendium of teaching strategies, ideas and advice, which aims to motivate, comfort, amuse and above all reduce your workload, by bestselling author Ross Morrison McGill, aka @TeacherToolkit.

Teacher Toolkit is a must-listen for newly qualified and early career teachers and will support you through your first five years in the primary or secondary classroom. It is packed with advice, tips and ideas for all aspects of teaching practice, from lesson planning to marking and assessment, behaviour management and differentiation.

Ross believes that becoming a teacher is one of the best decisions you will ever make, but after more than two decades in the classroom, he knows that it is not an easy journey! He shares countless anecdotes from his own experience, from disastrous observations to marking in the broom cupboard, and offers a wealth of strategies to help you become a true Vitruvian teacher: one who is resilient, intelligent, innovative, collaborative and aspirational.

Complete with a bespoke Five Minute Plan in every chapter, photocopiable templates, QR codes and beautiful illustrations by renowned artist Polly Nor, Teacher Toolkit is everything you need to ensure you are the best teacher you can be, whatever the new policy or framework.

Ross is the bestselling author of Mark. Plan. Teach., Just Great Teaching and 100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers: Outstanding Lessons.

Vitruvian teaching will help you survive your first five years:

Year 1: Be resilient (surviving your NQT year)
Year 2: Be intelligent (refining your teaching)
Year 3: Be innovative (taking risks)
Year 4: Be collaborative (working with others)
Year 5: Be aspirational (moving towards middle leadership)

Start working towards Vitruvian today.

©2025 Ross Morrison McGill, Polly Nor (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc