Thoughts about teaching, literature, and teaching literature
It all too easy sometimes to get lost in the small stuff of textual analysis. The micro. The single words and images. This is, it goes without saying, key to any literary discussion, but so is the macro. The big stuff. The conceptual. How might we build into our classroom routines more opportunity for such... Continue Reading →
Several years before becoming a secondary school teacher, I taught at university whilst completing a PhD and did a lot of private tutoring on the side. I didn’t have many resources but I did have one that I would use with all of my university classes and tutees: a single side of A4 with three... Continue Reading →
Ok: first of all an admission. The title of this post, with its impossibly bold claim to distil teaching poetry into a series of neatly packaged steps, is somewhat overzealous. In a manner somewhat, and unfavourably, all too familiar to the last year, I fear it will overpromise and underdeliver. However, what it will do,... Continue Reading →
I’ve been very fortunate this term to run an optional and additional enrichment course based around Bob Eaglestone’s excellent Doing English. The aim of this short course has been to expose Y10 students to some of the most interesting debates within literary studies that they otherwise wouldn’t really encounter until A Level or perhaps even... 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 →
There is sometimes, I feel, an assumption that retrieval practice in the English classroom begins and ends with quotation gap fills or basic factual recall. Those making this assumption are often the same people suggesting retrieval practice doesn't work for English. It does, of course. And it's crucial to remind ourselves that you can't think... Continue Reading →
Yesterday, I posted this on Twitter and was surprised (but very happy) at the positive reaction it received: https://twitter.com/__codexterous/status/1358477772918767619?s=20 This has been one of the biggest, and I think most positive, changes I’ve made to my own way of thinking about authorial intent in recent years. The question stops being what might the author have... 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 →
Yesterday, I taught a lesson about the literary canon to Year 10. One of the ways I tried to explain how the canon functions, an idea inexorably abstract to a group of 14 year olds, is through the example of Radio 1. Now, this isn't done out of any desire to increase engagement or play... Continue Reading →
Previously posted in four parts, the below is a detailed moment by moment analysis of An Inspector Calls written to be both rigorous and accessible to students. It covers the entire play from start to finish. Setting the Scene The play opens with a set of detailed and specific stage directions and Priestley’s use of... Continue Reading →
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