Planning and sequencing a Key Stage 3 curriculum that is diverse, exciting, and interconnected. In seeking a balance between context and objectives, Applebee’s (1996) influential publication Curriculum in Conversation emphasises that curriculum […]
Guided Writing: Descriptive or Narrative
Teaching creative writing is a real challenge because so often it relies on richness of imagination or richness of experience. Many students lack both of these because they do not read or […]
‘An Inspector Calls’: Structure, Form and the Three Unities
‘An Inspector Calls’: Structure, Form and the Three Unities Priestley has engineered and built the play like an architect carefully constructs a beautiful house (or perhaps, not so beautiful in the case […]
Comparing ‘Tissue’ to ‘Ozymandias’
Ozium means “‘breath” or “air”, and mandate means “to rule”. Ozymandias means to breathe is to rule. Firstly, here is an example response provided by AQA and what makes it successful: Explore […]
Comprehension and Explanation: Learning Activities
Arguably, the most basic skill that we ask students to comprehend, refine and master. This is also a skill that as secondary teachers, we may assume has been taught and learned well […]
An Inspector Calls and the Seven Deadly Sins
The seven deadly sins are also known as cardinal sins, or capital vices. These delightful characteristics are of Christian origin and concern the grouping of certain behaviours that have immorality as their […]
Top Ten Exam Prep Activities
Revision is pretty boring…here are a few ideas to liven it up. #1 Quotation Quest! Objective: to practise using quotations, not just memorising them! Students are given a list of quotations on […]
S.T.E.M in English: a quick think
STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. From an English teaching perspective, it may initially seem tricky to encourage and integrate these subjects and ideas into our lessons. It’s […]
Top Ten Starters for Reading and Writing
A strong engaging starter involves three things: preparation, interest and purpose. A good starter will set the tone for your lesson and allow for a positive transition towards more challenging work. […]
Key Word Banks – Poetry/An Inspector Calls
My students have loved having these to refer to. They’ve glued them in the back of their books. We’ve run competitions in lessons to who can use the most words (accurately!). an-inspector-calls-word-bank […]
