Little bits of learning

I am feeling guilty for not having ‘blogged’ much in the past few weeks: I wouldn’t like you to think I’d forgotten about you. The truth is mundane (isn’t it always) – I have not been innovating quite as much as I usually do.

The trouble is, this part of the school year is far from glamorous. Students are getting on nicely and learning well and responding to their work seems to take up much of my time. Still, I do have a few interesting things to share.

This year I am teaching a less-able Year 10 class (14-15 years old). A couple of years back English at Northcliffe moved to a ’system’ of grouping students by ability. Many English departments have done the same and I can’t say that I think it’s a good move. Nevertheless, the decision was made and I was duly apportioned a class that some would describe as a (I can hardly bring myself to write it, let alone say it) ‘bottom set’.

They aren’t of course. ‘Bottom’ I mean, well, not to me anyway. The group is full of the most ’sparky’ and bright individuals who just happen to have some difficulties with English (or be naughty and therefore ‘written off’ by the merciless drive for targets, targets, targets). Of all my classes this year, I love teaching them most of all. This is not because they present me with any sort of intellectual challenge nor because they test my classroom management skills unduly. It is rather that they, unlike many groups of students with whom I work, are honest and curious and brave. They ask intriguing questions where others would not dare. They give me honest feedback (often in robust language!) and they never flinch from trying their hardest.

At the moment it is my task to guide them through the study of Dicken’s Great Expectations. This is in order for them to complete a piece of coursework for GCSE. It may not be the most appropriate topic for their ability or even the most relevant to their rather complicated lives but it is specified by the examination board so there it is.

The approach I have taken is worth sharing I think. We began with the ’story’ and some good old fashioned storytelling skills. Next we used images and video clips from film adaptations so that students were au fait with every aspect of the plot and the many characters. It is a mistake made by many English teachers to simplify such things for less able students. In my experience students of all abilities love the complexity of dense literature like Dickens and Shakespeare. They ask lots of questions but accept the convolutions of plot and motivation without question.

Next we approached the text itself. As the ‘best’ reader in the class, I projected the text of chapter one on the whiteboard and read it to the students. Unsurprisingly, they loved it, especially the voices of the innocent Pip and the growling Magwitch. These are children who are seldom read to at home and it came as no surprise when several of them began to slip off their shoes or curl in their seats or even move that thumb to their mouths!

I then invited them into the text. They took turns reading or re-reading bits and trying out their own narrative or character voices. We made notes using a variety of methods and gradually they built a pack of materials that would help to support them when the time came to begin the coursework task.

Behind all this I planned an assignment in sections, knowing full well that by dividing up a longer writing task into small pieces it would be more palatable.

Today I gave the class their coursework plan, complete with the requirement that their response should be in the order of 1000 words. Their reaction was a joy. Not only did they wholly accept the assignment with cries of ‘but we did that bit for homework’ or ‘we’ve done that bit in class, Sir’, but they also did not feel daunted by the scope or demand of the piece. What is more, they feel confident and expert in their knowledge.

Job done I’d say.