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Building anticipation… How to get kids to look forward to your lessons without dumbing down

2014-06-03T18:56:55+01:00January 11th, 2013|English, Featured|

One of the banes of every teachers' life is that endless, whining chorus of, "Can we do something fun today?" The correct answer to this pitiful plea is of course that learning is always fun and that today's lesson, along with every other lesson, will contain the gift of knowledge. What could be more fun than that? But this isn't what they mean or what they want, is it? Sometimes, especially at the end of term, they're less subtle and straight for the jugular by asking if they can watch a film. (And they're not clamouring for Herzog or Kieślowski, are [...]

Is teaching cheating?

2012-11-26T22:52:59+00:00November 26th, 2012|assessment, English|

The Teachmobile Today I was sent this: It purports to be a briefing sheet used by an AQA advisor to justify the movement of controlled assessment grade boundaries in this summer's GCSE English exam (otherwise referred to as the GCSE fiasco.) I can't vouch for its provenance beyond saying that it was emailed to me from a Head of English at another school who I have no reason to believe would have sent her time inventing fake documents. But you never know. Now, the arguments about grade boundaries have been rehashed endlessly over the past few months [...]

The mathematics of writing

2013-09-18T12:59:04+01:00October 30th, 2012|English, literacy, writing|

A mathematician, like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns… The mathematician’s patterns, like the painter’s or the poet’s must be beautiful; the ideas like the colours or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test. GH Hardy How are most children taught writing? Badly. Eight weeks ago I took over an AS English Language class in which none of the students had a clear understanding of the difference between a noun and a verb. How is that they have got so far through formal education with absolutely no explicit understanding of [...]

Project Based Learning: I did it my way

2012-09-23T21:17:38+01:00September 23rd, 2012|English, learning|

I've finally managed to cobble together my first post since starting back in September. What with starting a new job, teaching A level for the first time in over a decade and languishing in post-publication blues after the release of my (hopefully) first book, I've not had much headspace for writing and I've missed it. Hopefully, this post marks a welcome return to the blogosphere. There's so much going on that it's been hard to pick what to write about but I've settled on detailing how I've gone about solving the age old problem of what to do about everyone's favourite [...]

The GCSE English "fiasco" – Why shouldn't all have prizes?

2012-09-02T13:30:28+01:00September 2nd, 2012|English, literacy|

Lots of folk have had lots to say about what went on behind the scenes at the various exam boards this summer and throughout it all I've largely kept my peace. Having absorbed the various arguments and counter arguments I feel I've arrived at some sort of opinion. In a nutshell, the issue seems to be that the prevailing (political?) opinion is that since the GCSE was first examined in 1988 (incidentally the year I took my exams) standards have steadily declined whilst grades have inexorably risen. For the past 24 years this orthodoxy has been if not unchallenged, at least [...]

Making feedback stick

2013-08-27T21:44:58+01:00July 16th, 2012|English, literacy, training|

There's really no argument about the fact that feedback is pretty important. It sits right at the top of the list of strategies which make the biggest impact on students' progress. If we're not giving students feedback on their learning then, frankly, what in God's good name are we doing? There is nothing else which should have a higher priority in your teaching. OK, with that off my chest, it's important to acknowledge that there a couple of problems to be aware of. All, sadly, is not rosy in the feedback garden. Firstly, most of the feedback students get comes from [...]

Some thoughts on silent reading

2012-07-01T16:21:23+01:00July 1st, 2012|English, literacy, reading|

Is silence is golden? "And Johnny, what makes you think that is suitable for silent reading?"  "Because Sir, you really would not want me to read it out loud" Jim Smith, The Lazy Teacher's Handbook Apparently silent reading hasn't been around as long as you might think. The 4th Century church leader Saint Ambrose's reading habits were unusual enough for Saint Augustine to note in Book 6, chapter 3 of his Confessions that: When [Ambrose] read, his eyes scanned the page and his heart sought out the meaning, but his voice was silent and his tongue was still. Anyone [...]

Slow Writing: how slowing down can improve your writing

2014-06-28T14:50:08+01:00May 12th, 2012|English, learning, literacy|

NB - my latest thinking on Slow Writing can be found here. Exam season is nearly upon us and English departments across the land will be gearing up to the Herculean labour of training students to churn out essays which, they hope, will earn them the much coveted A*-C grade in English Language. The AQA paper gives candidates just a meagre hour to write a short descriptive, explanatory piece and then a longer piece which asks them to persuade and argue. This isn't much time and most students default position is to race into it, cram in as much verbiage as [...]

Stress. How much is too much?

2012-04-13T10:35:46+01:00April 13th, 2012|English, leadership|

One possible solution? Like most teachers, I'll be back at school on Monday and already I've got the heeby jeebies. Apart from all the usual planning and preparation, controlled assessment folders for the new GCSE specification need final moderation. Every English department is in the same position; this is our first run through with new marking criteria and so much is riding on us getting these marks right. There can be no mistakes. I know I'm not the only one to be feeling the pressure at the moment. The new watchword in education is 'accountability'. If students don't make [...]

Say what? Reflecting on spoken language

2012-04-03T21:31:13+01:00April 3rd, 2012|English|

The plus side to turning 40 http://xkcd.com/166/ Over the past few weeks I've been getting my Year 11s to analyse their idiolect for a Spoken Language controlled assessment as part of the specification for GCSE English Language . The task was to "Reflect on the way you speak including criticism made of it by adults". The Daily Mail (always an excellent source of vitriol and biased reportage) says in a typically pious piece headlined Innits and aints drive me insane! that "plummy" actress Emma Thompson is heartily sick of teenagers' sloppy use of English. In it she urges young people: [...]

Myths: what Ofsted want

2012-03-17T16:14:40+00:00March 17th, 2012|English, myths|

With galling hypocrisy and seemingly no sense of irony, Ofsted have released their latest subject report for English snappily titled, Moving English Forward. The report is a step by step guide on how to suck eggs. Apparently, teachers should concentrate on engendering a passion for learning instead of worrying about all the waggle of passing exams! Who knew? Apart from its obvious interest to English specialists, there's stuff in here that all teachers will benefit from knowing. Moving English forward View more documents from Ofsted Possibly the most immediately pertinent information for all teachers is contained in the section Some common myths [...]

How should we teach reading?

2015-10-23T20:58:41+01:00February 29th, 2012|English, Featured, literacy, reading|

A few months ago I posted a piece in which Roy Blatchford (founder of The National Education Trust) outlined his manifesto for ensuring that every child gets at least a C grade in English. But, reading is complex. So how exactly should we teach children to read? This vexing question is utmost in many teachers' minds and is tangled up in three separate issues: Decoding - the process of turning symbols into sounds - generally taught using synthetic phonics Understanding - actually comprehending what's been read after it's been decoded Enjoyment - it's World Book Day tomorrow and getting kids to enjoy [...]

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