The Quill Guy

Teaching Powerful Knowledge

Hello and welcome to this website of my teaching. I teach and lead classrooms of wonder, teaching powerful knowledge to all walks of life. To teach others is to teach myself.

The best classroom is one curious in cultures beyond your own. It is only through knowing others that we can truly know ourselves. This powerful call for self-knowledge resounds throughout the ages:

This above all: to thine own self be true – Polonius (via Shakespeare)
Know thyself – Socrates (himself)

It is for this reason The Quill Guy promotes the teaching of powerful knowledge and cultural capital. Those experiencing a procedural curriculum structured around exams will find here a different path. Structuring a curriculum around an exam board is flawed and cowardly. Exam success is essential. Success in external measures (exams) provides a passport to the next stage of academia.

But a deep and wide perspective of life means any path you walk can be better appreciated and enjoyed. Cultural capital enriches your perspective. The kinds of cultural capital enjoyed in the best classrooms is reflected here, as well as links to my books and MA writing.

Below you can find resources and guides for learning and teaching literature and more for 11-19 years old and beyond. You can also read more of my teaching and learning philosophy. In my contact page I am available for consultation and collaboration.

I hope you find this useful; please contact me above for any consultation or conversation. Thank you for reading.

Gregory Anderson 2019

My Teaching and Learning Philosophy

Learning for School

Learning for Life

A Question on Frankenstein: Walton’s Change in Perspective

by thequillguy | Dec 2, 2018 | For School, Frankenstein, Literature, Practical Teaching

A student recently asked me a question in the run-up to our Xmas Mocks. I include the question as it is an example of what students should be like. He/she is an excellent student whom I have known for many years as a debating champion. Question: Hi Sir, Sorry to...

Reading and Writing as Planning

by thequillguy | Oct 13, 2018 | For School, For Students, How to Plan and Mark

Those who can do. Those who can't, teach. What is it that English teachers do if they are not a reader? Ann Rice, children's office, said that teaching (in her very short career) destroyed her ability to write. The all-encompassing nature of teaching, the complexity...

Do English teachers need charisma?

by thequillguy | Sep 25, 2018 | For School, For Students, For Teachers, How to Teach Literature, Literature

English teachers are usually charismatic. The act of reading and considering poetry and drama makes for strong and interesting personalities, usually. This is usually translated into a classroom persona. Yet is this a necessity? Like some Twitterarti worry, is...

Using Accelerated Reader: Report Commissioned for the NATE ICT Committee

by thequillguy | Sep 18, 2018 | Conceptual Teaching, For School, For Students

Here is a report I submitted a few years ago based upon my experiences of implementing Accelerated Reader (AR). While I think that AR is the best programme for tracking reading in reluctant readers, encouraging reading in a secondary school requires a far more...

Metacognition – Guiding students to sense the right time to use strategies

by thequillguy | Sep 1, 2018 | Conceptual Teaching, For School, For Teachers, Lesson Planning, Metacognition, The Psychology of Teaching

My training for staff at the start of this year focuses on making screencasts. You can see a video summary of the training below. It aims to frame screencasting exemplars as a useful stimulus to stimulating metacognition practice. Following my study on metacognition,...

Lecture: An Apology for Gaming Culture: Intellectual Trickery or Mindless Clickery?

by thequillguy | Jun 10, 2018 | Cultural Capital and Education, For Life, For Living, For School

A lecture I gave defending gaming culture, or at least my favourite parts of it. Gaming Culture: Intellectual Trickery or Mindless Clickery? from gregorycanderson

Time Management: Thoughts and Advice September 2017

by thequillguy | Sep 29, 2017 | For Life, For Living, Time Management

So the new school year is now in motion and it is typically busy. New staff have come with different experiences of time management at various stages in their career. I am impressed most, though, with the methods of an older colleague who seemingly just 'remembers' to...

Using OneNote in the Classroom

by thequillguy | Sep 3, 2017 | For Life, For School, For Students, OneNote

Go to the Youtube video for time-stamps, or click below to skip to that section. Why use OneNote and not just Paper? How to insert organise your OneNote, and insert content How to source articles from the internet using Boolean search codes How to print a file...

Why are millennials (the younger generation) demonised?

by thequillguy | Aug 18, 2017 | For Life

Teaching is nothing if not the negotiation of the next generation with the current one. As man who went to school in the 1980s and 90s, I am on the cusp of being a millennial. Yet this is a demographic I strangely resist. Over the years I have seen millenials being...

A Place at the Table – Debate Preparation

by thequillguy | May 21, 2017 | For Life, For School, For Students, How to Teach Debate, Speaking

Debate Prep 1This House Believes that it is Morally Right to Steal Food for the Poor Debate Prep 2 Judging Sheet This House Believes that it is Morally Right to Steal Food for the Poor