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Reading for School
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.
Writing Composition in the British NC: can we learn something from this American focus?
The examinations in the British NC focus heavily on word and sentence level analysis. Analysing the connotations of individual word choices, for example, is a dominant focus on most of the current English language exam, and not to mention being useful (perhaps even...
How to improve your literary analysis KS3-KS5
This selection of types of analysis was originally termed Top Ten out of Ten? Try Terrence T Templeton of Tadcastle Technlogical's Ten Tangible Techniques. It is a range of generic strategies for literary analysis from KS3-KS5 that I have developed over the past five...
Teaching Comparative Contextual Analysis in Literature: Spark Presentation January 2017
This is a short presentation I delivered at a Spark event (TeachMeet) organised by the wonderful Rachael Edgar. Essentially it proposes the teaching of context and comparative audience response at the same time. Inspired from the practice of Peter Flynn.
How is Sheila Birling presented?
Sheila Birling can be seen by the 2017 audience as a millennial: put-upon, subordinate, but ultimately defiant. Initially presented as a demure if childish character, she grows in voice and confidence throughout the play until she challenges the Birlings, and what...
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Perception, Dunning-Krueger and Education
I think this is a really interesting metaphor to make teachers think about the idea of 'education, noticing and knowing'. The less educated notice the bird as black: therefore it is black. They think everyone else must see the bird as black too, otherwise they are...
Guiding a literary commentary with a thematic or conceptual focus
My classroom has a strong presentation element with students seeing and responding to the presentations of others. First I will give a brief summary of what the presentation consists of, and then I will show how a thematic or conceptual focus can be useful. Firstly...
An Entire Literature Curriculum: A Book
If only I had a resource of a whole curriculum I can just pick up! Often I hear that sentiment, especially from people with full lives and varied ambitions. This holiday I curated the resources I have acquired over the years of teaching. Literally 100s of...
‘We do it already’ – Teaching Metaphor
Teaching metaphor is fundamental to understanding your language, your perception and our culture. We do not understand abstractions - such as loyalty, love and endeavour - as clearly or as easily as we might think we do, despite how easily we might express these words...
Let the students struggle: Mindful of the Concepts we Choose
Can we be mindful about where we let the students struggle? It is mindless to let the students struggle themselves with everything. My experience of a distance MA is that you are given a reading list, 2-3 exemplars, and everything is up to you. You struggle with the...
Purpose of Denotation
In a world increasingly suspicious of authority, relativity in meaning is king. We feel what things mean: spikes in emotion take our perception by the hand in our daily journey of making sense of things. Denotation reflects perceptions of what must...
Originality For Students
With the need to seek new interpretations of art and life, and the increasing (and righteous?) suspicion of authority, we prize originality. I certainly did as a teenager, and until quite recently. Now, I buy more into the model that art and literature should aim to...
Formative Assessment: Easy?
Classroom teachers all agree with formative assessment because it seems intuitive: teach the student the exam, and they will do better. Yet at what point does formative feedback occur? Perhaps at the moment the student needs it, during a drafted answer? How does that...
World Education Summit, What Makes a Good Workshop?
I enjoyed various workshops in the world education summit, making some useful connections and being reminded of our mission. I am duly suspicious of folks who are selling an educational product. Moreso, I doubt folks who sell a product that underlines their...
Engaging with Models of Teaching
A frustration in my profession is the inability, or at least unwillingness, of us to be reflective about our methodology. How are we teaching? Why are we teaching? In the place of more expert craftsmanship, we might instead consider elements like: student grades,...