‘Sometimes she finds it hard, sometimes writing is.’ We all know the way we teach writing is wrong, right? We know that the diary entries, with their formulaic ‘Dear Diaries’ and logical paragraphs, and chronological recount, are nothing like the impulsive, emotional thoughtsplurges we may or may indulge in from time to time. We know […]
Read more "Does your confidence as a teacher-writer alter children’s writing?"I naively and accidentally decided to design, organise and run two large events back to back. On 3rd November we had the first ever #TMNewham event and then from the 7th to the 10th November, we had our first ETSA Newham Y5 Poetry Retreat. Truth told, I had crippling anxiety all the way through half […]
Read more "Feeling Good: The Poetry Retreat"Let’s talk about Hogwarts. I recognise I am a decade and a half late with these ideas, but I have been blindsided by a searing thought, followed by others (a searies, perhaps). Among this searies there are saris. Sarious Black? No, sarious pink and orange. Padma and Parvati Patil appear to me – after […]
Read more "Hogwarts Diversity Outreach Suggestion"The National Curriculum for English in Key Stage 2 has, as Statutory requirements, the need for pupils to develop the ability to speak expressively and fluently and to be able to commit poems to memory – to learn them by heart. Whilst I was a big fan of Spike Milligan as a kid, and whilst […]
Read more "On Learning Poems By Heart"In Literacy this week, we have focused on the importance of knowing your audience when writing. Whilst writing instructions, the kids needed to think carefully about their style, content, vocabulary and design organisation, to pitch it correctly for their intended audience. This began with an activity writing instructions for how to shop in the supermarket; […]
Read more "About You, The Reader"Fancy some Ching Chang Walla after us scran? Have you ever been petrol pumped? Deeznuts. Ever asked the van driver to ‘ ‘igher it down’ when the music’s too loud? What is Stalybridge doing sitting in my cupboard again? If you are confused it is because this is all about hyperlocal literacies and the way […]
Read more "Local Literacies"Chatting to Mathew Tobin (@Mat_at_Brookes) and Mary Roche (@marygtroche) I mentioned how much I love conducting our Multimodal Literacy projects, and in this post, I am simply going to explain why. Every year, every literacy class in our school from Y2 upwards takes time away from our regular literacy lessons, which are informed by the […]
Read more "The Joy of Multimodal Literacy"Originally posted on Trivium 21c ltd.:
I was asked by a teacher, at a talk I was giving on oracy, if I have a lesson plan which she could use to teach Rhetoric ‘simply and in one lesson.’ I replied ‘yes!’ And here it is: In order to teach this lesson it is a good idea…
My pupils are not those disaffected 15 year olds who can only be brought into the world of the written word through writing gritty raps about their life in the grime of the tower blocks. My pupils are the well-behaved and relatively docile 9 year olds who can be enthused about pretty much anything so […]
Read more "Teaching Poetry Coolly"Occasionally I feel like the books I am reading with the kids are a bit bleak. Some bleak things need to be learned about, but occasionally, the curriculum conspires to make their lives morbid. Consider a theoretical week in the life of a Year 5 child. They’ll learn how climate change is raising the sea […]
Read more "Writers, Kids Deserve More Than Poo Jokes"
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