Thoughts about teaching, literature, and teaching literature
Live modelling is such a powerful strategy to help disclose the deep disciplinary thinking that can so easily remain invisible to students. However, as with anything, it is also possible for it to go wrong or at least for it be used sub-optimally. One way this can happen is if we don’t focus enough on... Continue Reading →
A couple of days ago I came across this incredibly interesting observation by Peter Stockwell, which immediately got me thinking about lots of things related to essay writing: If there is a canon of literary texts that move in and out of preference over time there is also a canon of acceptable critical discussion that... Continue Reading →
A perennial issue for English teachers is how best to prepare students for English Language. This is for good reason. Without a specific body of knowledge to teach, such as a literary text, it can all too easily descend into vague discussions orbiting around examination papers. In my own teaching, in order to address this,... Continue Reading →
Recently, I have been reading a lot about Text World Theory (and specifically the work of Ian Cushing and Marcello Giovanelli) as I think this has massive potential for how we frame a lot of English teaching and literary pedagogy. However, I’m still working my way through its implications and experimenting with how to use... Continue Reading →
GCSE English Language poses an interesting challenge for the English teaching community. On the one hand, it has the potential to provoke frustration and confusion in equal measure, with questions not saying what they really mean and it assessing knowledge about surf boards, as opposed to, say, English Language. Yet, within this, there is also... Continue Reading →
We often see description as a separate kind of writing to non-fiction, a distinction enshrined in most GCSE specifications. Yet, one of the biggest upgrades I think we can make to student non-fiction writing is to encourage them to include elements of description. In my own teaching this translates to using a structure shape I... Continue Reading →
Live modelling is something I do a lot. I think it is up there with one of the most effective and powerful strategies I use in my classroom. The capacity to expose students not only to an exemplar of excellence, but, crucially, the thought process and rationale that helped us to arrive there is of... Continue Reading →
Unlike some of the questions on the Language GCSE papers, these two are actually pretty straightforward and familiar. There’s no hidden and inexplicable criteria (ahem, ‘summary’), but rather good old fashioned language analysis. Here’s how I teach my students to approach both questions, based around What, How, Why as a series of prompts to help... Continue Reading →
I wanted to share with you a really simple but incredibly effective strategy that I’ve been using for a while now. It has improved the quality of my class discussion, increased student participation, and generally resulted in a better exchange of ideas. Here it is… As you read a text with your class, whatever it... Continue Reading →
With the exception of A Level, the vast majority of my lessons begin in much the same way: 1. Students come into the classroom2. They find waiting for them a task that will take about 5 minutes to complete3. They complete the task4. We talk about it This is such an embedded routine in my... Continue Reading →
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