Schemes of Learning

I seem to be assisting a number of different folk with their schemes of work lately. SoW (now renamed [renewed?] Schemes of Learning – SoL?) sometimes seem a bit like those stories of people painting the Forth Bridge: only just done when they need doing all over again. Thus I have yet to meet the [...]

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 [...]

Great Expectations Assignment

This is a quick posting for Mike and all the others who have requested more details of the Great Expectations GCSE assignment that I alluded to in my posting entitled, “Little bits of learning”. If you haven’t read it, then this is going to make very little sense – actually – come to think of [...]

Teaching Visual Comedy

Teaching English post-SATs feels great. Gone is the immediate pressure of a series of examinations; GCSE does not begin for a while. Here is a small space in the curriculum where the teacher can once again explore language in an organic way and allow students a little choice and, dare I say it, a little [...]

Eyam revision weekend

What have I forgotten?
This weekend I am leading a residential study course for 46 Year 11 students. This is a complex sequence of revision and social activities that runs from Friday afternoon to midday Sunday. The work is planned, the students are ready, the resources are packed and yet there is still that nagging [...]