Thoughts about teaching, literature, and teaching literature
I've written a few posts under the general banner of strategies to help enhance student writing and analysis, whether related to generating initial thinking, scaffolding or modelling. So, here, in one place, is a collection of some of these ideas with a sense of how they might fit alongside each other. But, where do we... Continue Reading →
You would struggle to find a greater advocate for using What How Why, or, for the acronym fiend within all of us, WHW. I use it all the time. I use it as a way to scaffold how we approach or think about a text. I use it as part of retrieval Do Nows. I... Continue Reading →
Mobile phones should be banned from the classroom as they are nothing but a distraction’. Write an article in which you persuade people of your point of view. Dialling 999: An Emergency in Education Imagine, if you will, a class of thirty students. Imagine you’re the teacher. It’s Monday, Period One and you’re trying to... Continue Reading →
I’ve been playing Super Mario Bros 3D on the Nintendo Switch recently with my four year old. This is a game where you can have multiple players so he and I can be playing together as two separate characters on the same screen. Whilst he plays it really well, there are some levels that are... Continue Reading →
I recently shared via Twitter the below image, which I always share with my students when beginning to think about creative writing and specifically Language Paper 1 Question 5: After introducing this image, I explain that more than anything their success on this question will be defined by the extent to which they are able... Continue Reading →
The system of Cornell note taking is a strategy I have used for a long time, since university at least but possibly before (A Level is such a distant memory I can’t quite recall!). I use them now when listening to interesting podcasts, reading especially important articles, completing online courses like with Massolit, or as... Continue Reading →
The below is a guide written for students and is intended to outline the core information necessary to do well on Language Paper 1 (the one dealing with fiction) as well as various helpful and effective strategies and tips. Question 1 This question assesses your ability to read a passage and then identify explicit information.You... Continue Reading →
A few days ago I posted an overview of how I use Microsoft OneNote, both when remote teaching but also when back in the classroom. However, I wanted to expand on possible ways to use it to deliver effective feedback. If you are unfamiliar with OneNote or Class Notebook (which are the same thing) you... Continue Reading →
As teachers across the country move to online learning, I wanted to pop down some thoughts as to how I personally use OneNote when teaching English. This is something I have been doing for a while now and this system works very well for me, whether remote learning or not. In essence, I use OneNote... Continue Reading →
Updated: 10/10/2021 So, cards on the table: I don't like the English Language GCSE. I don't think it does a very good job of assessing, well, English Language. I think it does a good job of assessing student knowledge about other things (say, surf boards) but not the domain it seeks to assess. This causes... Continue Reading →
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