Thoughts about teaching, literature, and teaching literature
If you enjoy this blog post, then you'll love my new book Experiencing English Literature. With dedicated chapters on teaching novels, plays and poetry as well as teaching generative writing, sentence-stems and essay structure, it is filled with actionable strategies ready for the classroom. You can order it right now HERE ! Previously posted in... Continue Reading →
The below outlines some of the questions students might like to ask when thinking about about unseen prose, either for A Level or even at GCSE. It is of course not an exhaustive list but perhaps a useful point of reference! Language Are there any specific words that are interesting or puzzling? Are there any images... Continue Reading →
Last year I created a full Macbeth booklet for teaching the play, which included: knowledge organiserretrieval quizzeskey extracts with lots of room for annotationsbig questionsplot outlinecontextQR codes to massolit lectureskey quotation bankmodel essay and essay structure A lot of this material, especially the retrival quizzes and key extracts, was supplied by previously available resources of... Continue Reading →
Throughout the poem Shelley refers to the speaker’s love by comparing it to natural imagery and the natural order. He uses this imagery in order to try and seduce the woman he is addressing: he is attempting to justify why the woman should be with him by referencing how nature works in the world. Thus,... Continue Reading →
This is part 4 of a four part series of posts looking at An Inspector Calls. It is written with students in mind. This post looks at the interactions between Eric and the Inspector as well as the end of play. The Inspector and Eric After having left earlier in the play Eric now returns.It... Continue Reading →
What is it about? A father, the speaker, watches his son play football at school. As his son walks away from him he becomes worried that their relationship has fundamentally changed, since his son is growing up and becoming more independent. However, the speaker comes to realise that this is an experience all parents have... Continue Reading →
In this post, which is Part 3 of a four part series, we look at the Inspector's interactions with Gerald and Mrs Birling. The series is written with students in mind. The Inspector and Gerald At the end of Act One the Inspector reveals that Eva often went by a different name (Daisy Renton) and... Continue Reading →
The below guide as to how to write references for A Level coursework uses the MLA citation style. This is of course not the only citation style and is not inherently better than others, but the key is to be consistent. Italics Vs Quotation Marks If you are citing any complete work, for example, a... Continue Reading →
This is Part 2 of a 4 part analysis of An Inspector Calls, written with students in mind. In this part we explore the arrival of the Inspector as well as his early interactions with Mr Birling and Sheila. Part 1 explored the initial moments of the play and the introduction of various key characters.... Continue Reading →
The below covers the start of the play and includes comments and thoughts on the initial introduction of some of the key characters, before the Inspector's arrival Setting the Scene The play opens with a set of detailed and specific stage directions and Priestley’s use of stagecraft, here, introduces the audience to some of the... Continue Reading →
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