Maintaining Engagement and Challenge in Online Reading My school are lucky to be full members of FOBISIA, who regularly host job alike workshops, JAWs, hosted by member schools. This year JAWs have moved online, but they still have that great element of participation and the chance to network with others in similar roles. This week's…
Failing Better in Remote Teaching:
As UK teachers return online, in an environment of even more uncertainty, I've been reflecting on my own journey with remote teaching. The last nine months have definitely been a learning curve I wouldn't have wished for, but they have forced me to rethink some of my habits in valuable ways. Though I'm sure I've…
The English Teacher’s Privilege
“Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The last couple of weeks have hopefully made many of us more aware of our privilege.…
Bringing the Classroom Home
"Defenceless under the night Our world in stupor lies; Yet, dotted everywhere, Ironic points of light Flash out wherever the Just Exchange their messages: May I, composed like them Of Eros and of dust, Beleaguered by the same Negation and despair, Show an affirming flame."W.H.Auden I've been reminded of this final verse of Auden's masterful…
Mock Exam Marginal Gains
"Analogies, it is true, decide nothing, but they can make one feel more at home."Sigmund Freud My primary school headteacher repeated his favourite assembly every year. It told the story of Percy Verance, a Job-like figure who, of course, endured all sorts of setbacks and problems on the journey to achieve his dreams. By the…
Curriculum of Compassion #3: Reclaiming Learning Walks
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”― Helen Keller This follows on from these posts about our new KS3 English Curriculum: #1:Text Mapping #2: Connection Building The phrase 'learning-walk' may sound innocuous, but if you've been a teacher at any time in the last decade, it's likely to fill you with…
Creating a Word-Rich Classroom
"They have been at a great feast of languages, and stol'n the scraps."Shakespeare- Love's Labour's Lost I spent last year as a teacher-vagrant, lugging boxes of resources from room to room, teaching in spaces unsuited to my subject and struggling to set up routines with classes who I taught in four different places. I imagine…
Teenagers and ‘Macbeth’: Partners of Greatness?
"For brave Macbeth, well he deserves that name" This week I had a familiar experience: that satisfying moment during a unit on Shakespeare when every student suddenly decides it's not so bad after all. The Scottish play isn't my favourite by a long stretch, but it is my favourite to teach. I've taught it to…
Independent Close Reading: Why I love ‘anchor text’ homework
One of the greatest challenges of teaching literature is the constant struggle to cover whole texts in enough depth and complexity to prepare students to write about details confidently, without running out of time or killing the enjoyment of the narrative itself. I've lost count of the number of students who've cheekily drawn my attention…
The CIE English Experiments #2: The Past Paper Problem
"What do you mean there are no past papers Miss? How am I even supposed to revise then?" As mentioned in a previous post on decoding question types here, my resolution for this year is to share as much as I can with other teachers, especially those also teaching CIE's new English specifications. I'm certain…
Fail Better Teach 