Accuracy and Literacy

Accuracy and Literacy
Accurate writing suggests an accurate mind. Moreso than that, the absence of accurate writing can suggest a lack of credibility. I once saw quite an important educational presentation that contained eight discernible errors of punctuation, multiple exclamation marks and a misspelling of a famous name. Sadly the message of the speaker was spiked with twinges of cringe and the aftertaste of lazy incredibility.
Getting students, who aren’t paid for presentations and work, to devise workable methods to be accurate is imperative, especially for literature teachers who themselves were probably never taught such skills consciously. Here I show you some of the books and methods I use to focus on accuracy and literacy (and consider some of the reasons for why such accuracy is sometimes overlooked…).

Example of Analysing Form in Atonement: 4 minute screencast

To Whom Do the Words Belong? Examining the opening of Chapter 9 of Treasure Island through principles of free indirect discourse.
Prerogative or perjorative? Examining the opening of Chapter 9 of Treasure Island through principles of free indirect discourse.

Accuracy and Literacy
Accuracy and Literacy

Reading Speed and Techniques
Reading Speed and Techniques

Applying concepts of Denotation and Connotation to the Matrix Twins Video
I recently watched the Matrix again, and wondered to which extent the video of the Albino twins reflected the tension (and nature) of how connotation/denotation act in the world outside books, and how interpretation affects reality. If the denotation/connotation,...

Examples of detective styles
For my Year 8s, they are creating a detective for a murder mystery at the end of the year. One of my colleagues has made some excellent progress with this, and suggested the following videos for exemplar detective styles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZiv8vkxMac –...

Testing your word bank – Year 7
Go to here: http://dynamo.dictionary.com/placement/level Test your vocabulary at least three times. Record your average result. Replacement is this: http://testyourvocab.com/ I only matched 34,000 words according to this. There were a dozen words I've never seen...

Graphic Organisers
On Friday I attended an Early Leaders meeting, which was rather apt as I was one of the first ones to arrive. It was in the beautiful town of Pickering where I used to work. I appreciated the chance to reflect on a few of things that I am doing now, and the chance to...

Visual Thesaurus
Sometimes encouraging pupils to produce literature coursework is difficult because the spirit isn't willing. While they see the adult-needs purpose of getting an English qualification, I have sometimes heard voiced the objection that they find discussing the...

Demonstrating reading skills in the last week of summer
It's been a busy few week to say the least, especially with planning for the new curriculum. Doing this requires the reading of lots and lots of text. Too much, perhaps. Still, the skill of speed reading was rather useful. It is at this moment that you consider using...