Book excerpt: The A-Z of Great Classrooms is a celebration of that magical double act of teaching and learning, organised around the 26 letters of the English alphabet. Over the past twenty years as a reviewer and inspector of schools and colleges in the UK and across the world, Roy Blatchford CBE has visited over 15,000 lessons in more than 1,000 settings. In this book he seeks to distil what happens in classrooms where learners are engaged and excited by what the skilled and knowledgeable teacher presents, weaving in examples, analysis and personal reflections. Roy Blatchford notes in the introduction: 'Across continents I have enjoyed being in the presence of children, young people and adults being taught by teachers who love their work and whose passion for subject shines through their every gesture and every word. The best lessons - you just don't want them to end! 'And there's nothing quite like the professional privilege of being in such classrooms, laboratories, dance studios, workshops, music practice rooms, sports halls, libraries, learning centres, sensory zones, outdoor settings, lecture theatres - wherever the learning unfolds. 'In Section One readers will form their own views about whether the A-Z alphabetical headings impose an editorial strait-jacket when teaching and learning are such dynamic affairs. An extended Venn diagram or a series of linked Olympic rings might well be a richer way of presenting the complexities, intricacies and flow of classrooms.' The Foreword is by Rebecca Boomer-Clark, CEO of Academies Enterprise Trust.