How do you feel today?

Working at a school this Friday, I came across a resource that I really liked but I could see that, with a few tweaks, it could be even more useful. So, I’ve made my own version of it.

Each ‘emoticon’ has beneath it a strip of five boxes that could indicate intensity or that could be [...]

Doing Lit. with reluctant learners

One of the joys of my teaching life is to find ways to bring the learner to the learning no matter where they start from. This skill has been tested recently as I have been working with a group of highly reluctant (some might say ‘resistant’ or even ‘out and out hostile’) learners.
In my school [...]

Sometimes you find the perfect thing

Ever heard of SnagIt? Well, this post is one for those ICT-curious teachers who are looking for tools that can create (among others things) interactive resources for their students.
I must admit I am attracted by the possibility of using Flash animations in my lessons but simply do not deem such labour-intensive resources worthwhile for everyday [...]

Teaching teamwork (and ballads)

Part of the challenge of teaching English within the revised National Curriculum is to embrace the personal learning and thinking skills (PLTS). These are described by QCA as “essential to success in life, learning and work” and published in a framework that you may download here.
This framework identifies six groups of skills and asks that [...]

Stuck for a rhyme?

Occasionally, students (and myself) get stuck for a rhyme. Of course, I do have a rather lovely little rhyming dictionary in my classroom but I should have guessed that by now the internet would have another answer. Click the image to give it a go.

Another one to add to your bookmarks.

Progression in writing to describe

In Stella Gibbons’ 1932 comic masterpiece, Cold Comfort Farm, the author obligingly stars the most purple of descriptive passages with one, two or three stars to allow readers to skip or admire her descriptions. The first of her starred passages is a description of the eponymous farm and begins:
“Dawn crept over the Downs like a [...]

Don’t start with ‘techniques’

How is a reader best introduced to a text?
It was my good fortune today to work with a group of teachers on the subject of reading. In particular, we were examining precisely that subject – finding ways into a text for our readers.
The problem is this: students have to own a text (or at least [...]

The music in the words

How often do we utilise our students’ musical abilities when teaching English? Pop music may be central to the average teenager’s life but it’s fairly rare for us to use our students’ musical intelligence to support their understanding of language.
Today’s challenge was to help my Year 11 students appreciate ‘the music’ in Robert Browning’s stunning [...]

More origami books

For me the Christmas holidays are all about catching up with friends who I have neglected so woefully during term time. One such friend is Nicky who teaches in a school for students with special educational needs here in Rotherham. Chatting with her yesterday, she described a rather excellent lesson on myths and legends that [...]

A sequence for November

Sometimes we have no option but to help students engage with difficult or particularly challenging texts. One such text is Simon Armitage’s haunting poem ‘November‘ and it was the topic for my Year 10 class today.
I began by asking students to associate words or ideas with months of the year. February might associate in some [...]