22 Teaching English Spring 20 Issue 22

Issue 22:
NATE Spring 2020
This Issue:
English: The
Big Picture
“We need to
allow English
to be big,
expansive, broad
and inclusive
in all kinds of
different ways.”
‘Big Picture’
English
Barbara Bleiman
The Magazine of the National Association
NATE for the Teaching of English
© The Full English (education) Ltd
Illustration by Ben Westley Clarke benwestleyclarke.com

Choose a poem – learn it by heart- perform it in school/college
For this free illustrated poem and other resources for teaching poetry: poetrybyheart.org.uk/teachingzone
Editorial
Big Picture English: Hand, Head, Heart and Voice
This issue of Teaching English takes its theme from Barbara Bleiman’s inspiring
Harold Rosen Lecture – ‘Big Picture English: Beyond the Brushstrokes’ – given
at last summer’s NATE Conference. In her superbly argued and illustrated talk,
Barbara pinpointed an overwhelming trend in English teaching in England
Editor
in recent years: a move away from what she characterises as ‘macro’ reading
Gary Snapper
– reading of texts with an emphasis on the spirit, style and meanings of the
whole text, rooted in students’ responses to the text, negotiated through class
Design
discussion, and developed through creative and critical activity of various kinds
Ledgard Jepson Ltd
– towards a focus on ‘micro’ reading – reading small sections of text in formulaic
ways for the purpose of writing examination-style close reading responses in
Printing
the form of paragraphs and essays.
Buxton Press Ltd
Every article in this edition of the magazine in some way points towards
the generous and engaging approach to English which this idea of ‘big picture’
ISSN 2051-7971
English suggests – starting with NATE Chair Peter Thomas’s call for the
subject to restate its vision as a humane discipline. Helen Mars makes a strong
Teaching English is the professional journal
statement of this vision in her account of her department’s decision to re-think
of NATE, the National Association for the
its GCSE course in order to ensure that it appeals to and develops the ‘hand,
Teaching of English, published three times
head, heart and voice’ of every student.
a year in March, June and October. The
views expressed in the magazine are those
From KS2 to ITE, from Shakespeare to Standup
of the authors and do not necessarily reflect
This edition also seeks to track the ‘big picture’ of English from primary
the views of the association.
school to university. In addition to Helen Mars’ KS4 article mentioned above,
Raina Parker and Carol Robertson write about the combined challenge of the
Contributions to the magazine are very
pastoral and the academic in the transition from KS2 to KS3 English; NATE’s
welcome. Notes for contributors may be
Management Committee presents its ‘position paper’ suggesting ways forward
found at www.nate.org.uk. Contact the editor
for KS3 English at a time when it is increasingly seen as extended preparation
by email at [email protected].
for GCSE; Claire Feeney challenges us to develop the skills of independent
study and critical literacy that our KS5 students will need ‘to shape a better
Cover info: Collage of images representing
future’ in our increasingly febrile society; Robert Eaglestone encourages us to
Ripon Grammar School’s new KS4unit on ‘The
join in English: Shared Futures, a celebration of the discipline led by HE English
Literature and Language of Protest’: John Agard,
but seeking to bring teachers from schools and universities together; and Clare
Greta Thunberg, Emma Watson and Martin
Lawrence reflects on what recently qualified teachers make of their ITE.
Luther King (see page 17–19).
This edition also reflects the ‘big picture’ of English in its coverage of the
breadth of the English curriculum – taking in media, drama, literature, language,
creative writing, academic writing, art – and even stand-up comedy! Andrew
Themes for future editions of
Burn’s account of classroom work with KS4 students creating videogames
Teaching English:
based on Macbeth shows how a ‘big picture’ approach to Shakespeare can take
June 2020 – English and diversity
in an integrated view of English as media, drama and literature whilst still
October 2020 – English across the British Isles preparing students for GCSE. On the language front, Francis Gilbert suggests
February 2021 – Poetry humane approaches to SPaG which engage students in identifying meaning,
purpose and audience, whilst Mick Connell reflects on the LINC project thirty
years later. Trevor Millum and Chris Warren continue their journey of ‘39
Steps’ through enjoyable approaches to poetry, Jonathan Morgan recommends
Arvon Creative Writing courses, and, in our classroom research column, Vincent
Byrne explains his search for a solution to the problem of writing frameworks
such as PEE, PETAL, etc. Anna Foster and Andrew McCallum encourage us to
NATE build students’ confidence in writing through response to art on the one hand,
and personal writing on the other – whilst Martin Billingham suggests that
Aizlewood’s Mill what English teachers do is surprisingly closely related to stand-up comedy.
Nursery Street Finally, as usual, the news and what’s on pages
Sheffield cover key topical issues and events, Tom Rank
S3 8GG provides us with his regular review of English in
Tel: 0330 333 5050 the media, and the reviews section features a range
Email: [email protected] of new books for young readers and for English
teachers.
Director: Jonathan Morgan
[email protected] Gary Snapper
Editor
Teaching English
Spring 2020
NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22 | 01

Contents
10 12 17
20 24 28 33
42 45 45 49
53 57 59 61
61 66 83 84
02 | NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22
| News and Views 45-48
Mind the Gap!
04-09 by Raina Parker and Carol Robertson
News and What’s On Perspectives on the Transition from Primary to
Secondary English
10-11
A View from the Chair: Rebuilding 49-52
English 8 Ways to Teach Spelling, Punctuation
by Peter Thomas and Grammar
by Francis Gilbert
| Features: ‘Big Picture’ English 53-56

Putting the Art in English
12-13 by Anna Foster
English – Shared Futures Opportunities for creativity in the English curriculum
by Robert Eaglestone
57-58
14-16 Learning to Teach English
KS3 English in England: A NATE by Clare Lawrence
Position Paper RQT perspectives on the Secondary English PGCE
by NATE Management Committee
59-60
17-19 ‘Ah Ha!’ and ‘Ha Ha!’
Hand, Head, Heart and Voice by Martin Billingham
by Helen Mars Teaching and Stand-Up comedy
Reclaiming KS4 English from the GCSE syllabus
61-63
20-23 39 Steps to Engaging with Poetry
Generation Z: Independent Thinking by Trevor Millum and Chris Warren
by Claire Feeney
Independent study for A Level English Language
students 64-65
The EMC Column: ‘Big Picture’ Writing
by Andrew McCallum
24-27
Chains of Thought
by Mick Connell 66-70
Remembering the LINC project Findings: Developing Writers as
a Developing Teacher
by Vincent Byrne
28-32
Macbeth: From Book to Videogame
by Andrew Burn
| Reviews and Columns
33-41 71-79
Big Picture English: Beyond the Book Box
Brushstrokes
by Barbara Bleiman
80-82
The NATE Harold Rosen Lecture 2019
Texts for Teachers
42-44 83
Daring to be a Writer
by Jonathan Morgan
Media Studies
by Tom Rank
Arvon Creative Writing Retreats for Teachers
84
The Teacher Feature: Anthony Cockerill

NATE News
English: Shared Futures

Teacher rate of £30 announced for day of CPD workshops for English teachers at
national conference
English teachers from around the UK are Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me. There to bring together the two phases to discuss
being encouraged to attend a major cross- will also be a session on The State of Secondary the past, present and future of the subject.
discipline conference in Manchester in July English and the Shape of Things to Come led by More broadly, it is hoped that teachers –
2020 – English: Shared Futures. Organised IFTE Chair Andy Goodwyn and NATE Post- especially post-16 teachers – who attend the
by the English Association and University 16 Committee Chair Rachel Roberts. whole conference will be able to develop their
English, and supported by NATE, NAWE NATE’s CPD workshops will be led subject knowledge across all aspects of English
and the Institute of English Studies, the by NATE Chair Peter Thomas (Visual and by dipping in to the wide range of seminars
conference aims to help English teachers in Verbal Literacy through Media Study), Vice- which represent what is happening in English
two key ways – through a special teachers’ Chair Raina Parker (Creative and Independent – language, literature, and creative writing –
CPD day on the Saturday of the conference Thinking through Poetry), Director Jonathan in universities today. There will be over 200
(Saturday 27th June), and through the Morgan (Scriptwriting to inspire Young Writers) sessions, a range of speakers including David
broader exploration of the discipline which and Teaching English editor Gary Snapper Crystal and Ali Smith, and a number of special
will take place throughout the conference. (Developing Literary Awareness in Sixth Form topics including decolonising the curriculum;
The teachers’ day – for which day tickets Poetry). literature, language, creativity and music; and
are on sale at the special rate of £30 – will The conference as a whole will celebrate ‘applied English’.
include four CPD workshops for KS3-KS5 all manifestations of English as a subject
run by NATE, and key speaker poet Kate and discipline. Throughout the conference, To book, and for further details, see the conference’s
Clanchy talking about her work as a poet some sessions will include participants from website, www.englishsharedfutures.uk, and on
in schools, drawing from her recent book Some both HE and secondary English, seeking pages 12–13 of this edition of Teaching English.
IFTE 2020 – ‘If’: The Potentials of English

Inventing Futures, Ideas in Flight, and Implementing Frameworks in Sydney in July
NATE will be represented at this year’s investigating ‘the potentials of our discipline to
biennial IFTE Conference (the International define how English is key to a sense of self, social
Federation for the Teaching of English), which agency and cultural vitality.’ It will take in ‘big
takes place in Sydney from 7th to 9th July. ideas, theories and research as we Invent Futures’,
Key speakers will include former NATE Chair ‘approaches, strategies and pedagogies as Ideas
and current IFTE Chair Andy Goodwyn, and in Flight’, and ‘Implementing Frameworks for
Marcello Giovanelli, a member of NATE’s curriculum, assessment and practice’.
Post-16 Committee and frequent contributor
to NATE’s work, as well as Australian and The full programme will be published soon.
Canadian academics Jennifer Rowsell, Theo Do let NATE know if you intend to go so that
Van Leeuwen and Wayne Sawyer. you can form part of a UK group. Further
Taking the word ‘If’ from ‘IFTE’ as its details at https://aateifte2020.org.au. Further
starting point, the conference will explore information about IFTE and its work may be
English from an international perspective, found at www.ifte.online.

News and Views
NATE Poetry Conference marks

National Teacher Learning Day
Simon Armitage tops the bill on day of CPD workshops for English teachers nationwide
As part of National Teacher Learning Day,
on Friday July 3rd, NATE is running a one-
day national conference on teaching poetry
in Manchester, with Simon Armitage as
keynote speaker. Tickets for the day are only
£39 (£35 for NATE members). The day is
aimed at English teachers and librarians at
all key stages.
Run by NATE with the support of Poetry
By Heart and Manchester Metropolitan
University, the day will take place in
Manchester Metropolitan University’s
Geoffrey Manton Building with its impressive
atrium. Next door is the wonderful new
Manchester Poetry Library, due to open in
June, which delegates will be able to visit
during the day.
The day will focus on enriching learning
and improving attainment in poetry at
all key stages from primary to sixth form.
Workshops, led by poets and teachers, will
include:
• KS4 poetry approaches
• post-16 poetry approaches, including HE.
• poetry enrichment: celebrating poetry
beyond the classroom
• critical reading of poetry: effective
classroom approaches
• primary, and KS2/3 transition
approaches
• poetry writing for teachers and librarians
• poetry as an academic discipline –
research workshop
A detailed programme will soon be available
at www.nate.org.uk. Booking is open at
http://bit.ly/MCRPoetry20. If you are
interested in sponsoring and exhibition
opportunities, please contact NATE’s
Director, Jonathan Morgan director@nate.
org.uk for further details.
Along with the teachers’ day at English:
Shared Futures (see previous page), this one-
day conference is part of NATE’s national
conference offering for 2020. It is envisaged
that NATE’s AGM and Council meeting
will take place the next day: details to be
confirmed soon. We are currently also
investigating possibilities for a conference
in London in November. Further details to
be announced soon.

NATE News
Teaching English
Issue 22:
NATE Spring 2020
Righting
Themes for forthcoming issues: Writing
June 2020 – English and Diversity NATE’s annual ITE conference – entitled
October 2020 – English in the British Isles Righting Writing: the pedagogy and practice
February 2021 – Poetry This Issue:
of teaching writing – took place at the English
and Media Centre on 21st November. The
English: The
Big Picture
Please contact the editor Gary Snapper at gary@

conference, led by NATE’s ITE Committee, is
gabrielsnapper.co.uk if you would like to contribute.
“We need to
allow English
to be big,
an annual opportunity for all involved in the

expansive, broad
and inclusive
in all kinds of
Topical articles which are not connected to the

different ways.”
training of teachers to discuss issues and hear

‘Big Picture’
English
Barbara Bleiman
The Magazine of the National Association
magazine’s theme are also welcome.

NATE for the Teaching of English
about research. It was attended this year by

around 40 teacher trainers from all over the UK.
The main focus of the day was creative
English in Education writing. Doug Cowie, a teacher of Creative

Writing and Literature at Royal Holloway
University of London, tried out a number of
Themes for forthcoming issues of English in Education writing activities to help students and teachers
include Expertise in English Teaching, Literacy in to get to grips with narrative voice and point
a Post-Industrial City Region, Social Media and of view, opening up discussion about the ways
English, and Grammar. The online journal, along with in which creative writing practice intersects
instructions for authors, is at www.tandfonline.com/ with literary analysis as alternative routes to
learning about writing.
REIE, and print copies will be sent to members.
The second session was led by David Briggs
The editor, John Hodgson, is always happy to discuss ideas for possible of Bristol Grammar School and Lorna Smith
contributions. He can be contacted at [email protected]. of Bristol University, a member of NATE’s ITE
Committee. David is the creator and examiner
of the new AFA qualification in Creative
Writing, which seeks to provide a replacement
NATE/Routledge Book Series for the sadly exterminated Creative Writing
A Level, and which is currently being taken
Two new books have just been published in the NATE/Routledge series. by 8 centres, a mix of state and independent
schools. Lorna, meanwhile, has conducted
The Future of English Teaching Worldwide an evaluation of the course. David and Lorna
Celebrating 50 Years From the Dartmouth Conference spoke about the course and how it works,
Edited by Andrew Goodwyn, Cal Durrant, and encouraged us to spread the word to
Wayne Sawyer, Lisa Scherff, Don Zancanella English teachers and departments who might
Teaching English Language 16–19 be interested. Further details may be found at
A Comprehensive Guide for Teachers of AS https://writersexaminationboard.com/
and A Level English Language, 2nd Edition The day also included an ITE Committee
panel session discussion issues to do with
By Martin Illingworth, Nick Hall
making room for creativity in English, how
Both books are available from Routledge. NATE members are entitled to a 20% discount. to assess creative writing, and so on. Finally,
If you would like a title to be considered for the series, please contact Gary Snapper at a poster exhibition enabled delegates to read
[email protected] about research work being done currently by
ITE lecturers around the country.
NATE NATE Position IllumiNATE

Teachmeets Papers and NATE News
Well-attended NATE Teachmeets In the light of recent concerns Don’t forget to watch your inbox
have been held recently in Fife, about the English curriculum, a new for regular mailings of IllumiNATE
Aberdeen, Glasgow, London, series of NATE Position Papers is in – each one an English teaching
Hampshire, Sussex and Newcastle. progress. The first, on KS3 English strategy to try in your own classroom,
If you would like to set up a local in England, is published on page 14 or a teaching idea from a NATE
Teachmeet, please contact NATE’s in this edition of Teaching English. magazine – and of NATE News.
regional officer Christine Thomas. A paper on Post-16 English will be Further details at www.nate.org.uk.
Further details at www.nate.org.uk/ available soon.
about/regional-reps. Further details at www.nate.org.uk.

News and Views
Influential teacher Robert

Protherough dies
NATE has learnt that Robert Protherough, Peter Thomas, who worked with him in
a Founder Member of NATE and highly Hull, writes: ‘He continues to exist for many of
influential writer on the teaching of English, his readers and students as a beacon of humane
died in 2019. Protherough moved from scholarship and devotion to education. He is …
teaching in schools to being Lecturer in one of those who stands for English as a humane
Education at the University of Hull. He will discipline necessary to resist the influence of the
be universally remembered for his prolific specious, the tawdry, the politically dishonest and
and highly influential writing on the teaching the educationally bigoted.’
of English at a time when ’the new English’ Andy Goodwyn, who also worked with
was being established in schools. him, writes: ‘Robert researched and wrote about
He contributed two titles to the most everything that still matters to practice. He was
significant series of books on English also prescient, in The Making of English Teachers,
teaching in the 1980s, the classic ‘yellow in writing about how we came to be the teachers we
series’ edited by Tony Adams and published are, and, in Students of English, about the stages
by Open University Press: Teaching Literature that students and teachers/academics go through
for Examinations (1986) and The Making of in being what we all remain - students of English.
English Teachers (1991), and three other books: He was a marvellous and imaginative scholar, and
Encouraging Writing (Methuen 1983), Students a visionary of what is at the heart of English.’
of English (Routledge 1989), and The Effective A full tribute will appear in the June
Teaching of English (Longman 1989). edition of Teaching English.
Poetry by Heart heads towards

National Finals
As the National Finals for this year’s Poetry by (secondary) and Monday 23rd March (primary). Meanwhile, the Poetry by Heart website
Heart competition approaches, schools across The Poetry Celebration competition – continues to offer a range of resources
the country have been uploading their designed for schools which want to celebrate which schools can tap into for poetry work:
winners’ videos to Poetry by Heart’s online poetry recitation in different ways from the anthology timelines for KS2, KS3 and KS4;
judging platform. The finals will be held at main competition – is still open, with entries showcases of Shakespeare’s sonnets, of
Southbank, London on Thursday 19th March accepted until Monday March 30th. Romantic poetry and of First World War
poetry; a new Teaching Zone with curated
collections of poetry teaching resources; and
a lively blog to keep teachers posted on what’s
what in poetry; and so on.
Engagement of schools in Poetry by Heart
this year has been strong nationwide, with the
new KS2 and KS3 competitions increasing
participation. Many schools are reporting
multi-round contests happening, with all
pupils in a year group or key stage engaged
in learning a poem by heart and reciting
it, and the best pupils in each class going
through to further heats and a finals event.
All state school types are represented,
including sponsor-led academies, schools in
multi-academy trusts, and special schools.
For further details, see the article on page 15 of
the last edition of Teaching English, and visit
www.poetrybyheart.org.uk.

NATE News
National Theatre Collection On Screen

free online for schools and On Stage
News from Shakespeare’s Globe
www.shakespearesglobe.com
Globe on Stage, on Tour, and on Screen
The winter season at the Sam Wanamaker
Playhouse continues until April 18th with
The Taming of the Shrew, and Women
Beware Women. A production of Macbeth
for schools will take place in March as part
of the annual Playing Shakespeare season
(see separate news item). The summer season
at the Globe Theatre runs from 14th April to
8th October with Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth
A major online video resource – the National Titles are designed to support learning Night, Much Ado About Nothing and Antony
Theatre Collection – is now available free of across the primary and secondary curriculum and Cleopatra. During this time, there will
charge to state schools and FE colleges. In and feature a range of superb productions also be touring productions of A Midsummer
association with Drama Online (Bloomsbury including Shakespeare (Macbeth, Othello, Night’s Dream and As You Like It. Many
Publishing), the collection provides high-quality Twelfth Night and King Lear), literary Globe productions are available on DVD
recordings of 30 world-class productions, adaptations (Frankenstein, Treasure Island, from the Globe online shop, or on demand
drawing from 10 years of NT Live broadcasts, Peter Pan and Jane Eyre), classic drama through the online streaming service
and never-before released productions from (Medea, Antigone, The Cherry Orchard, The Globe Player, also available as a mobile app.
the National Theatre’s Archive. Recordings are Deep Blue Sea, Yerma, and One Man, Two
accompanied by learning resources to explore Guvnors), as well as adaptations of Romeo News from the RSC
the craft behind productions, including and Juliet and The Winter’s Tale for younger www.rsc.org.uk
rehearsal insights and short videos exploring audiences, suitable for primary schools. RSC on Stage, on Tour and on Screen
backstage aspects. You can register at www.nationaltheatre.org. Macbeth will be broadcast to schools on
uk/learning/national-theatre-collection. 5th March, and there will be a live cinema
broadcast of King John on 29th April. As
You Like It and Measure for Measure are on
Macbeth for schools at the Globe

tour across the UK until April, and Taming
of the Shrew until June. This summer’s
season of plays at Stratford includes The
Shakespeare’s Globe’s Playing Shakespeare Winter’s Tale, The Comedy of Errors and
production this year is Macbeth, directed Pericles – broadcast live to cinemas on
by Cressida Brown. This full-scale, fast- 10th June, 15th July and 23rd September
paced production is created especially for respectively. The winter season from
young people, and will open on Wednesday October 2020 to January 2021 will include
26 February, running until Wednesday 25 The Wars of the Roses (Henry VI Parts 1, 2
March. Tickets have sold out. Demand this and 3), which will be broadcast live in 2021.
year was so high that over 18,000 free tickets Many RSC productions are available on
were allocated to state secondary schools in DVD from the RSC online shop.
London and Birmingham in just one day, with
thousands more students expected to watch News from the National Theatre
the production during its run. www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
To coincide with this year’s performances, NT Live/NT On Demand
Shakespeare’s Globe is running workshops for NT Live screenings continue at local
students in schools across the country and cinemas. The NT On Demand streaming
continuing professional development (CPD) service for schools offers free screenings of
for teachers, alongside free online resources NT Live broadcasts of Julius Caesar, Henry
to support GCSE and A Level curricula. IV, The Tempest, Jane Eyre, Antigone,
Teachers who would like to receive information She Stoops to Conquer, Othello, Hamlet,
about ticket release dates for future Playing Frankenstein, Treasure Island, Peter Pan
Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank performances and The Comedy of Errors. Note that this
can sign up to the Shakespeare’s Globe mailing service will be replaced by the National
list, checking the box ‘Learning & Teaching’, at Theatre Collection from July 2020 (see
www.shakepearesglobe.com. separate news item.)

What’s on News and Views
NATE Events UKLA Events English and Media

EA/ UE/NATE/NAWE Conference: OU/UKLA Conference 2020: Centre Courses
English: Shared Futures Reading for Pleasure
A major conference across the discipline Sat Mar 14, Faculty of Education, Cambridge www.englishandmedia.co.uk
Speakers: Kate Clanchy, Lyndsey Stonebridge, Speakers: Teresa Cremin, Frank Cottrell Boyce
Ali Smith www.ukla.org EMC Courses for teachers (all at English
Fri 26- Sun 28 Jun 2020, Manchester and Media Centre, Islington) include:
www.englishsharedfutures.uk UKLA National Conference 2020:
Writing for Pleasure Poems of the Decade for
NATE CPD Day Speakers: David Almond, Writing Rocks Edexcel A Level Literature
at English: Shared Futures Conference Sat 28 Mar, Canterbury Course tutors: Barbara Bleiman and Lucy Webster
Speakers: Peter Thomas, Raina Parker, Jonathan www.ukla.org Tuesday 28th April
Morgan, Gary Snapper
Sat 27 Jun 2020, Manchester UKLA International Conference 2020:
www.englishsharedfutures.uk We Need to Talk About Teaching Creative Writing
Literacy Successfully at KS3&KS4
National Teacher Learning Day 2020: Course tutors: Lucy Hinchliffe & Kate Oliver,
Speakers: Neil Mercer, Muna Abdi, MG Leonard
with Sita Brahmachari
NATE Poetry Conference Fri 13 to Sun 5 Jul, Oxford Thursday 30th April
Speaker: Simon Armitage www.ukla.org
Fri 3 Jul, Manchester
www.nate.org.uk Child Language Development
Other Events Course tutors: Dan Clayton & Dr Catherine Laing
IFTE Conference 2020: Tuesday 12th May
BFI English GCSE Study Day:
‘If…’: The Potentials of English
Speakers: Marcello Giovanelli, Jennifer Rowsell Animal Farm What the New Ofsted
Tue 10 Mar 2020, BFI South Bank
7–9 Jul, Sydney Grammar School, Australia Framework Means for English
www.englishteacher.com.au www.bfi.org.uk
Course tutors: Lucy Hinchliffe & Andrew McCallum
Thursday 14th May
LATE Conference:
Princes Teaching Off the Page: Teaching
Improving Writing for A Level
Institute Events Shakespeare through
Production and Performance
English Literature
Course tutors: Barbara Bleiman & Lucy Webster
CPD Subject Day: Sat 21 Mar 2020, UCl Institute of Education, Tuesday 19th May
The 19th Century Novel at KS5 London
Details to be announced https://londonenglishteachers.com
www.princes-ti.org.uk Investigating English
British Library/Guardian Primary Language: Tackling the NEA
CPD Subject Day: Conference: Course tutors: Dan Clayton & Christian Ilbury
Real Writing: the Art of (Short) Reading for Pleasure Tuesday 2nd June
Storytelling Speakers: Cressida Cowell, Sita Brahmachari
Details to be announced Fri 27 Mar 2020, British Library, London Mixed Attainment: Making
www.princes-ti.org.uk www.bl.uk Your Teaching Adaptive
Course tutors: Amy Druce & Kate Oliver
CPD Subject Day: UCL Teachers’ Courses: Thursday 4th June
Detective Fiction in the 19th English Grammar for Teachers
Century Novel 24 Jan, 20 Mar, 5 Jun, 3 Jul 2020, London From Primary to Secondary:
www.ucl.ac.uk
Details to be announced Helping Pupils Make Progress
www.princes-ti.org.uk
Reading University Teachers’ Courses: at KS3
Course tutors: Katie Myles & Kate Oliver
CPD Subject Day: INSET for A Level English Tuesday 9th June
Critical Perspectives Language
Details to be announced Mon 6, Tue 7, Wed 8, Thu 9 July, Reading
www.princes-ti.org.uk http://www.reading.ac.uk/english-language-
Starting to Teach A Level
and-applied-linguistics/Undergraduate English Language
Course tutor: Dan Clayton
English and Media Centre Conference: Tuesday 16th June
What Matters in English
Teaching Teaching Poetry Successfully
Key speakers: Barbara Bleiman, Michael Rosen, at KS3 & KS4
Kate Clanchy, Robert Eaglestone Course tutors: Kate Oliver, with Peter Khan &
Tue 31 Mar 2020, CLPE, London Christian Robinson
www. englishandmedia.co.uk Thursday 18th June

A View from the Chair
Rebuilding English
Given current difficulties, English needs to rediscover
its identity, says Peter Thomas. Along with others in the
English teaching community, NATE seeks to help the
subject restate its vision and build a renewed consensus
for a humane discipline.
Building English English as a humane discipline came to maturity, giving
The comprehensive school programme in the 1960s and equal weight to the ‘humane’ and the ‘discipline’. The
70s created a national all-ability education service, with humanity was in valuing students’ own cultural capital,
a major impact on teaching, curriculum and assessment. and the discipline in the cultural capital transmitted.
Teachers previously divided into those bestowing
scholarship upon a selective minority in grammar Dismantling English
schools and those preparing the rest for trades and Of course, not all saw these as triumphs. Some saw a
unskilled work in secondary moderns had to cater for retreat from education as they knew it into ‘progressive’
all students. Some found this a worthy challenge: others methods. A political agenda with different values and
found it a nightmare. Schools found ways to manage the priorities began to dismantle thirty years of academic
change: setting and streaming took some pressure off and professional consensus. The national education
teachers who found the whole ability range difficult. service became fragmented by Academisation and
Then, in the 80s, O Level and CSE were replaced by Free Schools. GCSE became two-tier, and then exam-
GCSE, providing the same curriculum and examination only. It had stripped out of it those parts that students
for all. This required more of teachers than subject (and teachers) found most engaging and relevant:
knowledge: motivating, managing and valuing a wide media studies, different cultures texts, Speaking and
range of talents, ambitions and cultures called for a wider Listening and Spoken Language study. In their place
teaching repertoire for a more student-centred approach. came nineteenth century fiction and a greater emphasis
Through the 90s, GCSE evolved with teachers on SPaG, justified by an official mantra of “raising
consulted by Awarding Bodies about text choices and standards”.
assessment tasks. Coursework allowed teachers to As the scope and appeal of English diminished,
devise their own curriculum. I recall a term spent on the retention became a crisis as experienced teachers
films Jaws and High Noon and Ibsen’s Enemy of the People took early retirement. The resulting recruitment drive
“All of this to investigate social morality, then Great Expectations to boosted numbers, but the drop-out rate after four years
has led to investigate personal growth.
Eventually, coursework and terminal examinations
made it no permanent solution. Symptomatic of that
short-termism is Teach First, nominally acknowledging
an English were yoked together to match the varied competencies that bright graduates tempted by rapid promotion can
curriculum required by higher education and the workplace.
Preparing youngsters for the communicative needs
be expected to move on to something else, probably
more lucrative and less demanding. Meanwhile, local
and exam of adult life and work led to Speaking and Listening apprenticeship models of training eroded the national
system as a major part of English. This alignment of English
to life and work in the 21st century continued with
influence of universities in moulding academic and
professional understanding.
offering little media studies, different cultures literature and Spoken All of this has led to an English curriculum and
exam system offering little for the least academic
for the least Language Study – all providing challenge for the ablest
and engagement for the less able. This alignment third, and so unappealing to the more able that there
academic owed much to the rationale of the Bullock report and is an alarming drop in the take-up of English A Levels.
the materials provided by Ron Carter and the LINC Teacher satisfaction is undermined by a regime of
third, and so project – both independent of Government policy and league-table accountability, reduced per capita funding
unappealing influence. and factory-style Academy chain lesson content and
English was consolidating its status as the school space delivery. English, formerly the subject where all were
to the more where all could find stimulus and satisfaction, academically welcome and all could feel valued, risks becoming three
able that there and personally: self-esteem grows when personal opinion
and experience are valued in language and literature
(four?) years of instruction in GCSE exam protocols.
It’s understandable. Teachers are conscientious. The
is an alarming study. It was a curriculum triumph to embed multi-textual GCSE exam has become increasingly formulaic in
drop in the relevance in the English experience. It was an assessment
triumph to replace the term ‘essay’ with ‘response’, and
rubric, mark tariff and questioning lexicon, promoting
formulaic drilling in preparation. It’s ironic that the
take-up to create mark-schemes with a skills hierarchy of years of change in the name of ‘raising standards’
of English ‘identify, explain, sustain, develop, and explore’. It was a
triumph of collaboration between Awarding Bodies,
in a ‘challenging’ curriculum with a more ‘rigorous’
assessment framework have resulted in the same share
A Levels.” education academics and classroom professionals. of ‘good’ pass and top grades as before.

News and Views
New ideas?
So where can we look for hope that English can regain a
It would be even more welcome if Ofsted downplayed
some DfE orthodoxies, such as defining learning as ‘an
“Our subject
confident identity? New ideas? Some of the notions in alteration in long-term memory’, or ‘knowing more words needs
current vogue seem in sympathy with those that have
eroded English. Direct Instruction revives a classroom
makes you smarter’, or accepting phonic decoding as a
synonym for reading. Then Ofsted could counter the
independence,
model reminiscent of 1950s grammar schools. political distortions of headlines like ‘Almost half of creativity
children leave primary school unable to read and write
‘Knowledge-rich’ programmes privilege content over
process, reversing Vygotsky’s notion of starting from properly, performance tables reveal’.
and trust
the child in favour of starting from what the child must in subject
learn. A faux-left appropriation of Bourdieu’s concept of Restating vision and consensus
cultural capital, remedying the child’s cultural void In judging what’s part of the problem and what’s part of specialism.
justifies versions of E.D. Hirsch’s 5000 items that make the solution, it may be individuals not institutions that If these can
a ‘cultured’ American. Similarly, ‘word gap’ solutions matter. And potent individuals combining independence,
assuming that big words make children cleverer are intellect and experience there are: Barbara Bleiman, make English
justified by the thin and problematic US research of Robert Eaglestone, Kate Clanchy, Michael Rosen, James better for all
Hart and Risley. Then there are the Zero Tolerance Durran, Emma Smith, to name a few. They represent
penalties for talking in the corridor. A lot of the new humane values and practices rooted in the Renaissance those you
looks rather old – certainly not very 21st century.
Some of these ideas gain currency through agencies
rather than the 1950s. So do the subject associations,
including NATE. On many issues raised above, there is
teach, NATE
such as ResearchEd, and some are built into Teach First independent vision and consensus in the Common English is a supportive
training, both displaying signs of closeness to Government.
ResearchEd was originally proposed by Sam Freeman,
Forum (https://commonenglishforum.wordpress.com:
the Forum unites the English Association, the English and
community,
an adviser to Michael Gove and an executive Director at Media Centre, NATE, National Association of Advisers with
Teach First. He also proposed as lead Tom Bennett,
later appointed to lead the Government’s Behaviour
in English, the United Kingdom Literacy Association,
and nine other organisations).
publications,
strategy. ResearchEd’s 2016 conference was warmly English teachers, too, should make themselves part events,
praised by Schools Minister Nick Gibb. Links to Gove
are evident in other organisational voices: Parents and
of the solution. Ofsted’s advice to embed ‘intent’ in
what students are to learn should prompt a redefining
resources
Teachers for Excellence (Director, Conservative Party of why we teach English, as well as how – and making and people
donor Jon Moynihan) and the Free Schools Network, the why about personal growth and meeting the multi-
(Rachel Wolf, another Gove adviser, and DfE funded). literacy needs of the 21st century. Our subject needs to help.”
And it’s not difficult to see another Gove adviser, D. independence, creativity and trust in subject specialism.
Cummings, involved in the birth of such bodies. If these can make English better for all those you teach,
Perhaps there is hope in Amanda Spielman’s revision NATE is a supportive community, with publications,
of Ofsted, opposing ‘teaching to the test’, with curriculum events, resources and people to help.
and students’ personal growth more important than data
and exam scores. This is a welcome sign of independence Peter Thomas
from Government policy and favoured pedagogies. is Chair of NATE
NATE was founded over 50 years ago by teachers who wanted to collaborate,
help each other and share best practice. We remain true to those principles.
Our consultants, all of whom are NATE members, are some of the leading
practitioners in English education today.
Whatever your need in terms of support or Inset for English teaching, in any
key stage, NATE can supply a quality-assured consultant to help you.
Contact: [email protected]

English: Shared Futures
‘Like Glastonbury, but for English. With less mud…’
Robert Eaglestone encourages English teachers
to come along to this year’s English: Shared Futures
conference, which aims to bring teachers from
across the discipline together.
Stormzy loves English: the Institute of English Studies (IES), part of the University
I might actually go to uni. Something to do with literature. of London’s School of Advanced Studies, with a national
English… Something to do with books. Something that can remit to support the discipline) – along with the English
have me lost in words. Poetry. Creative writing… In the and Media Centre (EMC), an educational charity
past couple of years, I’ve started reading poetry again. providing CPD and teaching, and the Common English
When I’m writing music I see it as poetry… but that pen- Forum, our government lobbying and advocacy group.
to-pencil poetry, the meanings in it, the sentiment… I just These organisations decided to work together even
think: ‘Wow, this is the s*** that I love!’ (15 December more closely behind the scenes. But they also decided to
2019, The Observer) run a huge, combined national event. Like Glastonbury,
but for English. With less mud.
Given these challenging days, ever-changing policies
and overwhelming demands on our time, it’s easy to The first Shared Futures
“Shared forget that our subject is basically full of wonderful, The first of these was English: Shared Futures in Newcastle
er, ‘stuff’ that we love. This is the point of the English: in 2017, supported by all five of the North-East’s
Futures is Shared Futures conferences: celebrating and exploring universities (Newcastle, Northumbria, Durham, Teesside,
about working the intellectual strength, diversity and creativity of and Sunderland). We had over 160 panels, CPD sessions,
English language, literature, and creative writing in the ‘salons’, and readings, around 600 delegates from all
together, and UK’s nations and across the world. over the UK, plenaries from across the disciplines of
finding better It was in the light of the challenges the subject
faces that the various bodies that represent English got
English language, literature and creative writing, and a
fantastic and full cultural fringe programme, including
ways to share together to begin to do something: NATE, of course, you the ‘Night of Three Laureates’ (of the UK, Scotland and
our love for know; the English Association (EA), set up in 1906, which
represents English at primary, secondary and higher
Jamaica), as well as a hall full of publishers and their
books. People enjoyed it: ‘overall I sense it contributed to a
the subject education levels; University English (UE), for university real lift in morale…; ‘one of the most enjoyable and heartening
and support departments of English; the National Association of Writers
in Education (NAWE) who work to ‘further knowledge,
conferences I’ve attended in a long time. And I attend a lot of
conferences!’; ‘a field defining event of huge significance at
its teaching.” understanding and enjoyment of Creative Writing’, and this political moment’. So we did some things well.

Features: English – The Big Picture
“Shared
Futures aims
Bringing schools and universities together also be running a session on The State of Secondary to develop
But, of course, we did some things less well, too. One of
these was that we didn’t do enough to bring the 16-19
English and the Shape of Things to Come, including
details of NATE’s first national survey, and discussions
your subject
sector and the University sectors together (‘cross-phase’, on students’ choices and perspectives at 16 and the knowledge
as the jargon has it). Centrally, English: Shared Futures is
about a shared vision of the subject: it is about working
future of the subject.
and support
together, and finding better ways to share our love for And finally … approaches
the subject and support its teaching. We don’t have to
agree (we love disagreement! In fact, disagreement in
English: Shared Futures 2020 aims to develop your
subject knowledge, support approaches to classroom
to classroom
our shared field is a form of collaboration and makes for practice, and bring together the vibrant English practice.”
great lessons and seminars!). But we can do much more community across all phases of teaching. We very much
together than we can apart. hope that you will join us for the day, or indeed for
the whole conference, as the future of our wonderful
Shared Futures 2020 and intriguing subject depends more than ever on our
And this is why we are writing here. English: Shared sharing our enthusiasms and passions, and learning
Futures is running a second time – in Manchester from more about what each of us has to offer to it.
June 26th-28th 2020, and this time we’ve worked hard
to make that crossover between 16-19 teachers and The full programme and booking details will be live in
Higher Education happen. early February. Questions? You can get in touch with the
The same organisations are running English: Shared conference team on engsharedfutures@englishassociation.
Futures 2020 in Manchester and Salford, supported by ac.uk, or you can tweet us @engsharedfuture.
Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of
Manchester and Salford University. We’ve well over 200 Robert Eaglestone
sessions covering the whole of English literature, from is Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought
in the Department of English at Royal Holloway,
Beowulf to Wolf Hall, and key speakers include novelist University of London
Ali Smith, critic Lyndsey Stonebridge, and language
specialists Devyani Sharma, Jennifer Smith and David
Adger – as well as David Crystal, Bart Van Es, Sarah
Churchwell, Priyamvada Gopal and Sandeep Parmar.
NATE CPD Workshops for Teachers
In addition to learning, teaching and pedagogy, and on Saturday June 27th:
discussions of pressing issues in the state of the subject, Raina Parker, Vice Chair of NATE: Encouraging creative and independent
special topics include ‘decolonising the discipline’, thinkers through poetry (KS3–KS5). This will look at ways of using poetry
creative practice and literature and music and the to encourage independence in students, allowing teachers to find time in
Public Humanities in the 21st Century, as well as our the packed curriculum space to foster confidence, deliver well-paced lessons,
cultural fringe. and enable students to be successful in analysing unseen poetry.
Saturday 27th June – a ‘crossover’ day. Peter Thomas, Chair of NATE: Developing visual and verbal literacy through
We’ve planned a specially focused ‘crossover’ day on media study (KS3). The focus of this session will be on developing students’
Saturday 27th. The plenary speaker is teacher and creativity and criticality through multi-media study, focusing on the ways in
poet Kate Clanchy, author of the wonderful Some Kids I which TV advertising influences and reflects social trends. The session will
Taught and What They Taught Me. We’ve got over 70 more include materials on ‘Creative Persuasion’ produced in collaboration with
sessions on almost everything on that day to attend - the Ideas Foundation and some leading advertising agencies.
and we’ve designed a whole day of CPD engagement Jonathan Morgan Director of NATE: Using scriptwriting to inspire young
with literature, language and creative writing. And for writers (KS3). This will focus on teaching scriptwriting at KS3, which can
teachers attending on just this day, we’ve arranged a be an inspiring way to get students using their understanding of narrative,
special, low one-day ticket price of £30 – although character and genre to develop creative writing skills and digital literacy,
you are of course welcome to attend the whole (very providing a structure with which learners of all abilities can engage.
reasonably-priced!) three-day conference from Friday
Gary Snapper, Editor of Teaching English, NATE’s magazine: Teaching poetry
to Sunday. (All the details are available on the website:
in the sixth form: developing literary awareness (KS5). This workshop explores
www.englishsharedfutures.uk)
ways in which teachers might break down barriers to the reading of poetry
This crossover day will include CPD workshops for
in the sixth form classroom by looking at poetry through the lens of art,
secondary English teachers run by NATE (see below for
and considering what poetry is actually for.
details), and Rachel Roberts and Andy Goodwyn will

KS3 English in England
A NATE Position Paper
Following the introduction of the new National Curriculum and new GCSEs in
England, two key issues being considered by the English teaching community
at present are developments in curriculum and assessment at KS3, and uptake
of English at A Level and in Higher Education, both causes for concern.
Here we present the first of two NATE position papers on these issues.
This paper, on KS3, was written by NATE’s Management Committee as
part of a consultation with other associations in the Common English Forum.
Principles Context
1. NATE believes that KS3 English (60% of most students’ The demands of the new English GCSEs, first
secondary experience) should be a distinct stage of examined in 2017, and the continued pressure of school
young people’s cognitive, emotional, social and performance measures related to GCSE results, have in
linguistic development. This requires a creative recent years exerted considerable influence on the KS3
teaching and learning strategy which adapts curriculum, with many schools increasingly using KS3
motivation, method, stimulus, pace and attainment to as a preparation ground for GCSE English content and
a wide variety of learners and kinds of learning. This assessment – an issue recently highlighted by Ofsted.
in turn requires teachers to be creative and flexible Given the increased narrowness of the new GCSE, this
in their use of resources and pedagogical approaches narrowing at KS3 is doubly of concern. NATE hears
to engage and support young people of all abilities. many tales of schools populating their KS3 English
2. The KS3 English curriculum should inspire young experience with GCSE content – for instance, beginning
people to read critically, widely and for pleasure, whilst to teach GCSE set texts in Year 7 – and assessment –
developing an understanding of language, literature for instance, drilling them in the GCSE assessment
and media. Students should also be encouraged to objectives from Year 7, and using GCSE-style exams
write for pleasure and purpose and develop oracy produced for KS3 by Awarding Bodies. The removal of
and collaborative skills in a range of contexts. KS3 levels of assessment and the reduction in national
curriculum requirements for KS3 has undoubtedly
3. The KS3 English curriculum should provide a secure aided this process, allowing the colonisation of KS3 by
skills and knowledge foundation for the assessment KS4 to take hold.
objectives of GCSE in KS4 without imposing on the In the face of the new GCSEs, with their emphasis
KS3 experience the protocols of GCSE assessment. It on formal written assessments, and their demotion
should ensure a purposeful and satisfying experience of aspects such as extended writing, creativity, drama
of reading, writing and speaking for those who may and spoken English, language study, media study,
not eventually gain 4+ accreditation in their GCSE, contemporary literature, digital textuality, and so on,
as well as for those taking the subject further. Given it is ironic that there should be a tendency to narrow
that English has a value and utility beyond GCSE, KS3, when in fact it has never been more crucial for
KS3 English should equip students with the skills, KS3 to provide a humane, contemporary experience
knowledge and motivation to read, speak and write of the subject, in order to motivate, engage and enrich
in life, leisure and work beyond school secondary students. Crucially, at a time when teacher
4. The aim of such a KS3 curriculum should be to retention is a problem, a more open KS3 also gives
enrich students academically and culturally, but also teachers the opportunity to develop their own creativity,
humanely: the development of self-understanding, and a greater sense of ownership over what they do.
empathy, collaboration, creativity, independence, Such a position was clearly set out in 2017 by John
imagination and resilience is essential for self- Richmond’s crucial book Curriculum and Assessment in
esteem and citizenship. Literature within the KS3 English 11 to 19: A Better Plan, the result of a collaboration
English curriculum is the key to developing these between CLPE, NAAE, NATE and UKLA who together
attributes. For similar reasons, the KS3 English wanted to make a strong common statement about the
curriculum should develop in students a critical curriculum and assessment in English across the whole
appreciation of the communicative craft and school age-range, in the light of the publication of the
purposes of print and non-print media. new National Curriculum for English. (Much of this

material is also online at https://ukla.org/resources/

details/curriculum-and-assessment-in-english-3-to-
“Recent
19-a-better-plan). Whilst the new curriculum removed articles in
many aspects of the subject NATE would like to see
formally reinstated, its benefit is that it is minimal
Teaching
and allows schools the freedom to include as much English have
additional material as they would like.
Richmond’s work also suggested ways of compensating
highlighted
for some recent developments in KS2 English, weighed the work of
down as it is by the inappropriate demands of KS2
testing and a misguided grammar curriculum. Again, departments
NATE hears many tales of narrowing primary English which are
experiences, with reduced scope for creativity, rich
literary exploration, extended personal writing, and so on. actively
Bob Cox’s recent work on ‘Opening Doors’ to great reading
and writing (e.g., Cox 2019) has been an inspirational
designing
challenge to such a tendency. Again, it is clear that KS3 their
English could offer a valuable opportunity for humane
renewal and inspiration after the stresses of the KS2
programmes
tests and the prescriptiveness of the KS2 curriculum. of work in
The English and Media Centre has also made this
project of humane renewal at KS3 a central part of
order to go
its work in the last two years, with a strong focus on beyond the
re-stating principles for ‘big picture’ English (see
Barbara Bleiman’s Harold Rosen Lecture in this
restraints
edition of Teaching English), and its publication of a fine of GCSE at
series of ‘KS3 Curriculum Plus’ resources (see www.
englishandmedia.co.uk/ blog/the-rationale-behind- both KS3
emc-ks3-curriculum-plus). In-school CPD tends not to be subject-specific, and and KS4, and
More broadly, the narrowing of KS3 and KS4 English
in England poses a threat to the health of the subject at
standardised schemes of work within Multi-Academy
Trusts often create an unhelpful uniformity of approach
to embrace
a time when there are significant concerns about the
continuing decline in uptake of English at A Level and
uninformed by long-developed sources of specialist aspects such
in Higher Education (to be discussed in the next edition
subject knowledge.
Teachers and departments who wish to take part in
as citizenship,
of Teaching English), as well as the fate of the ‘forgotten
third’ at GCSE, highlighted last year by Geoff Barton
this renewal and resistance at KS3 have many models and social justice
resources to draw on. In addition to those key resources
as leader of the ASCL (www.ascl.org.uk/ASCL/media/ mentioned above, we note that there is a wealth of and oracy.”
ASCL/Our view/Campaigns/The-Forgotten-Third_ high quality curriculum and enrichment resources,
full-report.pdf). particularly digital ones, available from organisations
Together, these concerns highlight a growing divide such as the British Library (including ‘Discovering
between the increasingly conservative ethos of school Literature’ and a range of Language resources), Poetry
English in England and the need for the development By Heart, Into Film, the RSC, Shakespeare’s Globe and
of knowledge and skills for the contemporary world the National Theatre, as well as NATE’s own website,
of communication, including digital literacy and publications and membership mailings.
oracy, and ‘soft’ skills such as initiative, collaboration, Two recent articles in Teaching English have highlighted
creativity, adaptability, empathy, and so on. We see an the work of departments which are actively designing
alternative view of the secondary English curriculum at their programmes of work in order to go beyond the
work in Wales (see https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum- restraints of GCSE at both KS3 and KS4, and to embrace
for-wales/languages-literacy-and-communication) aspects such as citizenship, social justice and oracy –
as part of a new Curriculum for Wales which resists Anthony Cockerill’s ‘A Thematic Approach for KS3
recent trends in England with a vision of a joined-up English’ (Oct 2019) and Helen Mars’s ‘Hand, Heart, Head
curriculum which includes a strong commitment to and Voice’ (in this edition) – whilst Peter Thomas’s recent
aspects such as creativity, oracy, social justice and work for NATE in collaboration with the ideas Foundation
digital literacy. and schools in Cumbria (see ‘Live the story: Creativity,
Resistance to the narrowing of KS3 English clearly Criticality and Active Learning’ in Teaching English, Oct
has some strong proponents, and responses to NATE’s 2019) shows what can be achieved when schools and
recent survey of English teachers (see below) show educational institutions engage with local communities,
that many teachers feel strongly that such resistance creative agencies and industry to create powerful resources
is needed – with almost every comment echoing that link literary and linguistic study with the world
the concerns of this paper. And yet there are many outside school. More generally, James Durran’s occasional
obstacles, at a time when schools are struggling with series in Teaching English, for the column ‘Teaching and
recruitment, retention and workload issues, with special Learning’, continues to argue for enlightened approaches
needs provision, and with adequate access to CPD. to pedagogy even within the restraints of current KS2-
Following the dismantling of local authority control, KS4 curriculum and assessment provisions, and many
national, regional and local networks for sharing good other writers in recent editions of the magazine have
practice and subject-specialist guidance have declined. explored similar ideas and classroom strategies.

KS3 English in England – A NATE Position Paper
“Teachers and Proposals

NATE plans to set up a KS3 committee to draw up a three- View from the Chair: selected columns in Teaching English
departments year model with clear principles, and a range of strategies, magazine by NATE Chair Peter Thomas
who wish to sample resources and links to KS2 and KS4/5/beyond,
building upon the examples cited above. NATE is currently
Rebuilding English (Feb 2020)
Knowledge Anyone? (Jun 2019)
take part in exploring ways of funding this project to support the Getting the Balance Right – English as a humane discipline
this renewal research, curriculum planning and resource creation that
would provide guidance for KS3 teachers and learners.
(Oct 2018)
English and Media Centre blog and publications at
and resistance Meanwhile, NATE continues to work in a variety of www.englishandmedia.co.uk.
ways to promote good practice and subject knowledge,
at KS3 have and the sharing of creative resources. Teaching English Selected recent articles in Teaching English:
many models has maintained a strong focus on progressive strategies Big Picture English – beyond the brushstrokes (Barbara
Bleiman, Feb 2020)
for KS3 and KS4, and we continue to share resources
and resources and ideas through IllumiNATE mailings, through Hand, Head, Heart and Voice (Helen Mars, Feb 2020)
to draw on.” Teachmeets across the country, and through national A Thematic Approach for KS3 (Anthony Cockerill,
Oct 2019)
and regional conferences.
Navigating the Flood – what English teachers can learn
If you would like to set up a Teachmeet to address these from The Book of Dust (Beth Cooper, Oct 2019)
concerns (and/or others), please contact NATE’s regional Rethinking KS3 – a novel approach (Barbara Bleiman,
officer. Visit https://www.nate.org.uk/about/regional-reps/ Jun 2019)
for more information. Creative English (Andrew McCallum, Oct 2018)
Reinvigorating the KS3 Curriculum (Andrew McCallum,
Further reading: Feb 2018)
Curriculum and Assessment in English 11 to 19: A Manifesto for English (Peter Thomas,Feb 2018)
A Better Plan (John Richmond et al, Routledge 2017,
and at https://ukla.org).
NATE Survey 2019 Responses to the question: If you could change one element of KS3, what would it be?
• Less pressure to prepare for KS4 • Greater focus on oracy
• Less focus on GCSE; more on creativity and enjoyment • The opportunity to study a wider variety of texts
• STOP teaching GCSE at such an early stage. I am seeing more and more of this. • To promote more creativity in reading and writing
• We have made a change this year: removed all explicit GCSE content from Year 9. • Greater focus on world literature
Now a much more solid, non-GCSE foundation year. • Review of setting across years 7–9
• Do not turn it into KS4/Avoid starting GCSE early/Less GCSE focus • More drama crossover
• Keep a 3 yr KS3 in all schools - don’t introduce GCSEs too early • More challenging texts
• Stop beginning GCSEs in Y9 • Greater focus on creativity and breadth of literature
• Bringing GCSE into Y9 or using marking criteria from Y7 • More creativity, less testing
• More whole texts. Less teaching towards GCSE • Wider range of texts: global, reading of media
• Less reliance on KS4 assessment outcomes • More challenging texts
• Make it free from KS4 prep • More time; more variety; more fun
• Make it less of a KS4 ‘light’ and teach students English skills for life not exams • Make English more enjoyable, less formulaic
e.g. how to spot fake news
• I would prefer it if we assessed KS3 differently.
• Remove any shred of KS4 assessments
• More opportunities to work across curriculum areas.
• Not teach GCSE texts from Year 7, and read more widely 10/23/2019 8:49 AM
• Build in more speaking and creative writing.
• 3 year, not 2 year; not teach any GCSE exam questions; more oracy
• Progression and engagement.
• Less focus on GCSE AOs in SOWs/assessments
• More opportunity for writing for pleasure.
• Limitations of curriculum
• More media study
• Encourage love of English rather than a focus on exam skills
• Less exam focus and more focus on building
• Government to reintroduce some kind of formal assessment boundaries for this. confidence and enjoyment
• Clear national expectations for ability at end of KS • Teaching reading and writing side-by-side
• More detailed curriculum with set texts • Make it more creative and fun
• Less teaching discrete grammar lessons, less focus on dead white male authors • More use of speaking and listening and more ‘fun’ -
• More scope to explore texts from around the globe/other cultures outside the box thinking and doing
• Teaching grammar through literary texts, more reading • More integrated curriculum, value to S and L

Hand, Head, Heart and Voice

Reclaiming KS4 English from the GCSE syllabus
Helen Mars explains how her department set about

revitalising GCSE English through thematic approaches
and writing and speaking for real audiences.
The arrival of the new GCSE specifications caused Those discussions resulted in a manifesto for the
a flurry of activity in English departments around subject in our school, displayed on every door and
the country – getting to grips with new texts, waving shared with pupils, parents and visitors. We drew on
goodbye to the stalwarts of the last decade (Wells’ School 21’s explicit foregrounding of their intentions
‘The Red Room’, or ‘poems from different cultures’, for all learners and learning (www.school21.org.uk/our-
anyone?). In the hustle and bustle of these changes, it story,) considering our curriculum intent not only in
seemed obvious to use the new four-exam format as a terms of content but also in terms of qualities.
simple structure for a two-year linear course, teaching These we organised into four key areas: hand, head,
one text or exam paper at a time. heart and voice:
But, now that we feel more confident with these texts
and exams, the time has come to be a little more playful
and integrated with the GCSE course. Our department’s
response has been to model our Key Stage 4 on our Key
Stage 3: resisting talk of GCSE exams, being thematic
Hand, Head, Heart, and Voice
and creative, and using a variety of different sources Hand: developing competent, creative writers who are versatile, thorough and
and approaches. We hoped this would help to keep precise; encouraging planning and editing.
stress at a minimal level and maximise enthusiasm and Head: developing understanding of literary fiction and non-fiction texts and
engagement for staff and students alike. methods; encouraging thoughtful and reflective learning about our world, the
past, language and memory.
Reclaiming KS4 from GCSE
Reclaiming Key Stage 4 from the GCSE syllabus whilst Heart: providing experience of powerful, challenging and thought-provoking
simultaneously and subtly preparing pupils for those texts; developing empathy, sympathy, and moral integrity in inquisitive learners.
exams has proved to be an interesting challenge. It has Voice: developing powerful speakers and writers who convey ideas with
meant taking time to reflect as a department on our confidence, clarity and eloquence in speech and writing; encouraging a
subject and our own values, thinking about what we want confident and flexible style for a range of audiences and purposes.
our pupils to read, hear, experience, learn and produce.

Hand, Head, Heart and Voice – Reclaiming KS4 English from the GCSE syllabus
Speak the speech Language and literature of protest

Resisting the onslaught of the exam-only syllabus has We also wanted to shape learning around engaging
meant explicitly and defiantly making talk and other and powerful themes. For the first thematic unit of the
modes of writing central in formative assessments and course, we focused on the language and literature of
as part of our teaching. We wanted pupils to continue protest (see panel below).
to experience a wide and balanced range of activities The impact of this unit on pupils was startling for
in Key Stage 4, as at Key Stage 3, including speaking three reasons.
and listening and drama. That has meant reframing ideas First, this theme offered the chance to explore
about assessed work and progress, considering how we different voices and forms across time, to hear more
can use talk and debate in a meaningful way to teach. women, minorities and contemporary texts alongside
“We wanted Using resources such as the English Speaking Union’s
Mace (which provides a format for formal debating -
canonical texts fired their enthusiasm. There was a real
buzz in lessons, and a greater understanding of how
pupils to see https://www.esu.org/competitions/schools-mace) English can be alive and relevant right now.
continue to has been a way to get more pupils involved in extra-
curricular activities and also to formalise classroom
Second, effective group work and an explicit
discussion of group work and research skills also
experience activities. demonstrated to pupils the central importance of
a wide and To that end, the first major piece of assessed work
in Year 10 is a speech, rather than a standard baseline
English to their other subjects and to their future
education and career. Making the lessons varied and
balanced creative writing or analytical essay task. This allows purposeful, with sources presented to pupils as being
range of time to hone speaking skills ahead of the recorded
spoken language course assessment, but also provides a
a way of preparing for their own real project, elicited a
higher level of engagement and gave the content more
activities pleasing end point to our first theme, the language and urgency and interest, especially the exam texts.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the theme
in KS4, as at literature of protest.
included an emphasis on writing for a real audience.
KS3, including As a warm-up activity, we used Agard’s poem ‘Checking
out me history’ as a basis for discussion about what our
speaking and own school’s History department taught, discussing
listening and values and bias. Each pupil selected a person or topic
that was currently omitted, and wrote to the head of
drama. We History arguing for its inclusion. He was kind enough
also wanted to to come back to the pupils and explain each choice, and
what changes he could make to the syllabus based on
shape learning their input. This fired their enthusiasm for the powers
around of their own research and persuasive writing, also
allowing them the chance to do some peer assessment
engaging and improving work on their rhetorical devices.
and powerful Warming to the theme and rising to the challenge,
pupils chose any topic they wished for the main part
themes.” of the scheme, and created very well researched and
The Language and Literature of Protest

Key learning questions: Spoken language
What is protest and how has it been used across times Group work skills including discussion, delegation,
and places? prioritising, negotiation
How can literature and art be used in protest? Research and digital literacy
How and why can we protest? Presentation and design skills
Understanding of democratic processes
Texts to experience and explore:
Significant speeches including Martin Luther King,
Texts to produce:
Greta Thunberg, March for Our Lives.
Group project on a topic of students’ own choice
Leaflets, posters, opinion pieces, manifestos such (examples included battery chickens, awareness of
as Extinction Rebellion and care for teenage Crohn’s sufferers, mental health
Exam texts including poems Blake’s ‘London’, support for veterans). To include:
Agard’s ‘Checking out my history’, Owen’s • a letter to an MP or relevant government agency,
‘Exposure’ with pupils researching the most appropriate
Art including ‘Guernica’ recipients and their addresses;
• a leaflet to be photocopied and handed out in school;
Skills (including exam skills):
Analysing language, structure, form in written and • a poster to be displayed outside the canteen;
oral texts • a video of the presentation to be shown to other
Writing and redrafting persuasive writing classes or audiences.

Photo: Marie Kanger Born/Shutterstock.com
presented campaigns, inspired by the young protestors

they had studied like Emma Watson and Emma
whom the pupils had sent their letters. The excitement
this generated in the class was astonishing: pupils began
“This theme
Gonzalez. Some of the benefits of this task included: to accost me in the corridors, brandishing headed paper, offered the
• Writing leaflets that we photocopied on their behalf, eyes lit up. Student comments included:
chance to
and that they could hand out in school, prompted • ‘I love that someone with power and influence read my
urgent discussions about layout, design and language. letter- it made me feel powerful too’ explore
• Working alongside the school librarians, we gave • ‘It might really make a difference’ different
them lessons on information literacy, copyright,
citing sources and ‘fake news’.
• ‘It definitely motivates me to get involved in other voices and
• Delivering speeches to their peers, recording on
campaigns’
forms across
video so they felt there was a permanent record of And it wasn’t just the tangible evidence that someone time. Hearing
had received their letters that had an impact: the
their performance, gave rise to a more formal and a
focused tone. contents were pored over, and phrases taken to heart. more women,
• Creating a display of their work outside the English minorities and
And finally …
classrooms – in fact, in a prominent space outside
As a department, we wanted to ensure that elements contemporary
the school dining hall – reiterated the message that
this was a campaign rather than a creative writing
that excite us about our subject were not lost in the
new and restricted GCSE syllabus: opportunities to
texts alongside
exercise.
redraft, revisit, develop ideas; to speak and listen well, canonical texts
• The unit was interspersed with key ideas and phrases
from British values and SMSC, as well as biographies
hearing different voices and views; to explore real-
life contemporary issues and resonances; and to write
fired their
of civil rights figures and campaigners for social for pleasure and for real readers. We have found that enthusiasm.”
justice from different places and times, aiming to thematic approaches and writing for real purposes are
inspire other pupils to read more about these ideas key weapons in our arsenal: perhaps these can offer a
and to cross-pollinate English with History, RE, way of moving forward from the current GCSE English
PSCHE and other subjects. impasse.
Perhaps the most exciting impact came from the replies

Helen Mars
that began to arrive in the weeks that followed, from is Associate Senior Leader for Teaching and Learning
government departments, charities and other groups to at Ripon Grammar School

Generation Z:
Independent
Thinking
Independent Study for
A Level English Language Students
Clare Feeney explains how she teaches crucial skills of

critical literacy to enable her A Level English Language
students to carry out independent study tasks effectively.
The stakes have never been higher. Today’s pupils will research and language discourses in the media – and
come of age in a world of bankrupt political systems, that’s just part of the field of study. Once students realise
environmental suicide, and ever-increasing digital that language texts surround them and mediate their
dementia. How are we equipping Generation Z with the everyday experience of the world, there are infinite
“To be critical skills required to shape a better future?
There can be no doubt that we feel the responsibility
possibilities for further study which can delight and fire
up anyone – whether a language geek (like me) or not!
successful of educating our students to surmount these challenges. Tasks include:
Certainly, there has never been a time when curiosity,
for all, criticality and intellectual rigour are more important.
• reading or listening to sources with English
Language-specific content – book chapter, journal
independent In this article, I want to offer some thoughts on how
article or news feature, website or blog, radio or tv
independent study plays a key role in cultivating these
study needs to dispositions.
programme, youtube video or podcast
be structured, • researching a specific topic using a variety of

sources, such as dialects around the UK, gender and
Independent study – what and how?
monitored So, what is independent study? Ask any teacher this representation, language change, child language
and carefully question and it will elicit a wry smile. Why? Because acquisition
it’s never fully ‘independent’, is it? Independent study • collecting and analysing data through a chosen
set up – at is work chosen by the student that is relevant to their method – e.g. audio recording, interview or
least at first. course and undertaken outside the classroom. However,
to be successful for all, independent study needs to be
questionnaire.
It involves a structured, monitored and carefully set up – at least at We find that giving students a choice of independent
range of study first. It involves a range of study skills and, therefore,
careful input from the teacher.
study is an excellent motivator. It sparks curiosity and
allows them to think through what it is they would like
skills and, At my school, we’ve embedded independent study to explore. We created a ‘menu’ of tasks from which
therefore, in our delivery of A Level English Language. This
means that at regular intervals through the course, our
they could choose. This concept works well for us
as we can adapt it as new resources appear, or to suit
careful input students are expected to complete a task of their choice different stages of the A Level course. Students keep a
from the and share their learning with the class. The discipline
of language study lends itself brilliantly to this. Students
copy in their file and tick off once they have completed
a task. To encourage tenacity, we ask them to choose a
teacher.” need to be engaging with contemporary linguistic different one each time.

Pre-teaching essential study skills

1: Criticality and evaluation
It’s also revealing to discuss how the article uses
the copular verb ‘are’ to present its content as fact
“It isn’t a good
I have learnt the hard way over the years. It isn’t a good and recycle stereotypes: ‘scientists say a higher amount idea to send
idea to send students away on an open-ended research
mission – ‘read something interesting and tell us about it next
of Foxp2 protein is the reason women are more chatty’,
and, later, ‘women are the more talkative sex.’ But the
students away
lesson’ – as they will share, at worst, partially understood slipperiness of the argument is apparent in the use of on an open-
snippets from sources of dubious provenance, and the
learning opportunity will be lost. It’s best to assume that
other verbs too. The present perfect tense expresses a
certainty (‘Scientists have found…’) that suddenly shifts
ended research
they need to be trained in specific research skills. And in the next line to a more cautious point: ‘A study just mission, as
this should be integrated from the start of Year 12. published suggests…’. In fact, the article lacks coherence
One vital study skill is knowing how to evaluate as it jumps between folk linguistics and scientific they will share,
journalistic sources. Students are often pulled towards studies on rats, finally revealing that the Foxp2 protein at worst,
language discourses in the media: these texts are research was conducted on only ‘ten boys and girls
accessible and (can be) hyperbolic in function. But aged between three and five.’ Overall, on closer scrutiny, partially
while it’s a relatively easy job to search for a news students can see that the article’s argument is untenable. understood
article about language, it’s more demanding to critically The conclusion is rendered implausible – this protein
evaluate the strength of its argument, especially if it doesn’t make women more talkative. It is a good lesson snippets
twists linguistic research and spits out dubious claims to
serve its own bias. According to Wood (2019), education
on why it pays to read critically and evaluate carefully. from sources
in information literacy is the best way to empower users. 2: Digital literacy of dubious
It ‘is the most scalable approach to combatting fake news,
disinformation and harmful activity on-line.’ I endorse this
Generally, teaching students to be digitally literate is not
seen as our area. We assume that they are competent
provenance.
view whole-heartedly. users of technology who have a transferable skill set. It’s best to
To start with, I take students through a helpful
article by Murphy (2018), ‘How to read the language
However, when it comes to academic study, never make
this assumption!
assume that
news: sceptically’. This explains six key steps that they This was brought to the fore for me as I walked they need to
can follow to assess the validity of news stories about
language. These include fact-checking the research and
into the classroom one day to find a heated debate
over a Twitter thread. Specifically, why were Corbyn’s
be trained in
analysing language choices. We then use these steps to tweets chock full of taboo language and offensive specific
analyse a Daily Mail piece – ‘Sorry to interrupt, dear, but
women really do talk more than men (13,000 words a day
swears? It turned out to be a ‘fake’ account, without
the legitimating ‘blue tick’. There was some ailing
research
more to be precise)’ – by science correspondent Fiona ‘twitteracy’ among these Twitter users which was easy skills.”
Macrae. This is a ‘superb’ example of how journalists to address.
can distort and misrepresent research in order to serve With this in mind, I recommend having a lesson
up stereotyped twaddle about gender. The clickbait or two teaching basic digital skills. I usually start with
headline immediately perpetuates the myth that effective search strategies such as site operators, [site:],
women talk more than men, and its patronising tone which are a handy tool for narrowing down searches to
sets up a sexist joke which plays out in the first line: particular domains. For example, we compare results for:
‘Ladies, the next time the man in your life complains you talk
• [sexist language site:ac.uk] educational sites in
too much, silence him with science.’ Discourses which seek
the UK,
to naturalise and legitimise sexist viewpoints abound in
the media; they need taking to task – by our students. • [sexist language site:edu], educational sites in
We unpick how the research is presented to the the US, and
reader, focusing at first on the science from which the • [sexist language site:gov], government sites in
article draws its argument. A shared linguistic analysis the UK.
of a short passage is revealing. Take this section near
the beginning: It’s always insightful to discuss the differences
It has been claimed that women speak about 20,000 between government publications on the topic and
words a day – 13,000 more than the average man – and more academic ones. Alongside this, it’s helpful to
scientists say a higher amount of the Foxp2 protein is the demonstrate how to select keywords to put into a search
reason women are more chatty. engine. Students who want to search for [gender neutral
language] should also think of synonyms that might
But now scientists have found the key to explaining why yield related results – [inclusive language] or [politically
women are the more talkative sex. correct language].
A study just published suggests that higher levels of Finally, I like to give students a resource sheet
the protein are found in the female brain. developed by the CILIP Information Literacy Group
It is easy to identify the evasive use of the passive which explains how to use the CRAAP test to assess the
voice: ‘It has been claimed that women speak about 20 000 relevance of a web-based source. This is a scaffold that
words a day – 13 000 more than the average man.’ Agentless walks them through key questions to ask about a text –
sentences leave the reader no way of checking out Currency, Relevancy, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose. I
where the claim came from and, indeed, whether it has ask them to do a search using the keywords [gender and
any evidence base at all. There is also an interesting tag questions], and then apply the CRAAP test in order
discussion to be had around the homogenising category to choose three resources from their search results that
labels ‘women’ and ‘the average man’ and why conclusions are useful. This hones their skills of selection: they must
about supposed behaviours lead to problematic over- think carefully about what’s relevant and reliable for
generalisations. their purpose.

Generation Z: Independent Thinking – Independent Study for A Level English Language Students
Evaluating
the information
that you find Once you have found your information it
using the is important to evaluate it so that you can
ensure that you use the information that
CRAAP test. works best for your project or research.
One way of doing this is by performing
the CRAAP test on your sources.
Currency, Relevancy, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose

Asking the questions below about each website, document or piece of information that
you find will help you decide which ones are relevant for your project.
Currency 3. Referencing and citation talk, focusing on content, listening and note-taking
When was it published? Is the information too old? Does
Introducing students to the skill of referencing is it Inhave
skills. essence, it’s a great opportunity to talk about
efficacious at this point. There are numerous on-line how oral language varies across different contexts.
a date on it? When was it last up-dated? How important is it that
university sites that take novice researchers through
you have up-to-date information?
this. Newcastle University provide a clear demonstration 5. Presentation
on their site, http://sixthformstudyskills.ncl.ac.uk/. I The first time that students do an independent study
Relevancy find that teaching referencing and citation forms good task, I ask them to record their learning in a set format
study habits and pays dividends when students start using specific headings. This ensures that they apply
Does it fit yourtheir
project? Will your
NEA (non-exam project be stronger their study skills and produce a good quality piece of
assessment).
if you include this information? research. I also establish an audience and purpose for
“The CRAAP test helps them to assess the their work: their aim is to present findings clearly so
Authority
relevance of a web-based source. It is a scaffold
that their learning can be shared with peers. We use a
VLE so their study can be uploaded for this purpose.
Who has published or written the information? Do you trust them?
whichIs itwalks them
easy to through
find out key
anything questions
about to ask
them? Who was it• written for?
The five headings are:
What is your source?
about a text: Currency, Relevancy, Authority, • How reliable is your source? Why?
Accuracy
Accuracy and Purpose.” • Summarise your key findings. What is significant/
Is the information correct? Check with another source, if interesting?
you are
? ???
not sure to see if they say the same thing. Are the details
4. Active listening correct?
• Would you recommend this source to another
Audio-visual sources are popular with young people.
English Language student? Why/why not?
Purpose There’s a wealth of stimulating TED talks and podcasts
to be discovered. However, according to the National • How does your source link to classroom learning?
Why does the Literacy
information exist? sustained
Trust (2009), Is it trying to sellis you
listening an Have you got any questions about what you have read?
something, persuade you or give you an opinion? Once What has it made you think about?
infrequent experience for students and many adults; we
tend to watch more and listen less nowadays. Of course,
you figure thiswe out, you can then decide how to use the
can rewind these sources but focused listening Students’ responses
information that youinhave
practice found.
class lays the foundation of this skill. 1. What is my source?
I usually play an episode from a podcast such as Students unearth a range of fascinating sources, fuelled
Rosen’s R4 show, ‘Word of Mouth’ or McWhorter’s by their own curiosity. Many of these are new to me
There is lots of‘Lexicon
information available
Valley’, and on the
practise active CRAAP
listening tooproduced
withtest and I enjoy sharing their research. This creates an
by universities
students. I devise different question sets for students interesting dynamic because the student becomes the
and other libraries thatas can
to answer show
they are you The
listening. thequestions
test in focus
action. Youof can
owner find knowledge
new subject it by doing and I become a learner
a simple search on on the internet.
recalling and inferring content, or on the genre alongside them. I don’t ‘mark’ completed studies, but
features of the show – that is, how oral language is used I do check through them and glance at the source
by the presenter and participants. Each student gets material; after all, I am monitoring their literacies –
if you are not sure how to apply any part of the test, ask your librarian
REMEMBER one question set. After listening, students share their digital, reading, listening, and writing. If they need it, I
or teacher
information for help
with others. and also
We might support.
watch Always
a TED evaluate
will providethe information
advice you find.
on how to improve these skills.
For further information please contact Dr R Jones - [email protected] © CILIP ILG. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
22 | NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22 4.0 International license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Attribution-ShareAlike
2. How reliable is my source? Why? For the same reasons as before – audience, purpose,
It is encouraging to see students asking critical questions sharing learning – I would make these available to the
about their chosen source. Once they get in the habit of whole-class. Sometimes, I set a formal follow-up task
thinking about reliability and relevance, they start to where students have to Peer Review another study. That
establish the mindset of a researcher. Comments such is, they select one which piques their interest, read the
as these appear: original source, reflect on the comments made by in the
original study, then add their own critique: there’s a lot
• ‘My source is very reliable. It is quite current (speech
of thinking about thinking going on with this!
took place November 2018)’
• ‘TED talks are specifically by experts making it an What next? – flip the learning
educational site’ Before introducing a new module in class, set up a
• ‘This webpage is relevant because it links to the topic related enquiry question such as ‘How does occupation
of accent and dialect and includes case studies that can affect language?’ Challenge students to employ their
help develop AO2.’ best research skills to seek out relevant sources, then
ask them to introduce the topic by feeding back. This
3. Summarise your key findings. What is is an excellent way of teasing out the main concepts
significant/interesting? while discussing some fascinating source material –
An open question lets the student respond in a the language of the Canadian military was a highlight
personal way to their source. What interests them may last year.
be something that resonates with prior knowledge,
challenges their thinking or creates new understanding – “Nurturing students’ curiosity, criticality and
but whatever they identify, it will be meaningful to them.
I don’t prescribe how the findings need to be presented. intellectual rigour develops dispositions that
Bullets, summaries, direct quotation, tabulation of data
– students need to think through how best to capture
are important whether or not they go on to
their learning and re-present it for their audience. Higher Education. I want Generation Z to
4. Would you recommend this source to another
shape a better future. To do this, they need
English Language student? Why / why not? all the critical tools at their disposal.”
If the source is chosen judiciously then the answer to
this would most likely be ‘yes’. Here, one of my students
thinks about how socio-linguists present their research: And finally…
‘The information is also shown in the form of a study, which Independent study gives students a rich, ambitious
is also useful to show how findings can be presented.’ curriculum experience. Nurturing their curiosity,
criticality and intellectual rigour develops dispositions
5. How does your source link to classroom that are important whether or not they go on to Higher
learning? Have you got any questions about Education – and some will become the linguists of
what you have read? What has it made you the future. Ultimately, I want young people to delight
think about? in the subject and develop independent minds. I want
This final section is arguably the most significant Generation Z to shape a better future. To do this, they
because it sparks both affective and (meta)cognitive need all the critical tools at their disposal.
responses. Here are a couple of comments from my
Year 12 class, the first time that they completed a study: Thank you to my brilliant colleague, Claire McHugh, who
inspired us all to take a fresh look at independent study.
‘This source has left me with many questions… I had
previously thought that the ‘Leave’ campaign had Clare Feeney
potentially made promises that were not realistic. I teaches at the St Thomas More Academy in North Shields
thought that this was just because of competition whereas
now I think that it was perhaps due to the manipulation of References
language by politicians.’ Information Literacy Group. Available from: https://
‘It has made me think about how diverse English is and how infolit.org.uk/information-literacy-group/school-
the language of different ethnicities can be used to express resource-sheets/
individuality and pride in identifying with that group.’ Guist, L., ‘How to Read the News: Sceptically!’ emagazine,
December 2018.
What next? – more creative responses Macrae, F., 2013. ‘Sorry to Interrupt, dear, but women
Once students adopt the dispositions of a researcher, it’s really do talk more than men’ Daily Mail, 20 Feb
a good idea to offer them more creative ways to present 2013. Available from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/
their findings. For instance, they could choose to sciencetech/article-2281891/Women-really-talk-
feedback in an oral genre, collaborating in small groups men-13-000-words-day-precise.html
to create a podcast in which they interview each other. National Literacy Trust, 2009, ‘Oracy within the
Others may wish to deliver a talk to the class or produce curriculum’, one day workshop, March 2019.
a video for an on-line platform. A round of speed-dating Newcastle University Library. Available from: http://
is also an effective way to share learning in a lesson. For sixthformstudyskills.ncl.ac.uk/
those who prefer a written genre, possibilities include: Wood, G., CILIP and CILIP Information Literacy
posters for wall-display, short articles, blogs, illustrated Group response to DCMS Online Harms White
notes, annotated text snippets. Paper, 4 June 2019. Available from: www.cilip.org.uk

Chains of Thought
Remembering the LINC Project
30 years ago, a ground-breaking set of CPD materials
was published, emerging from a national project to
transform teaching about language in schools. Mick
Connell reflects on what we might learn from them.
Educational acronyms are intriguing. They are born, since I had started teaching English in the mid-1970s.
flourish furiously and ubiquitously for a moment, and The ‘Language in Use’ (1971) materials had been
are gone: reduced in double quick order from current, available for some time but their influence had been
on-trend, popular and ‘required’ usage to archaic status. eclipsed by the impact of the Bullock Report in 1975.
Once ‘archived’ their use characterises an outdated Despite the emphasis that the Bullock Report had
professional discourse. Very few acronyms attain or placed on language and language development there
maintain ‘standard’ or established status. Try these was little mainstream concern with teaching about
acronyms from the last two decades for size: APP, AST, language detectable at the time as I remember from a
CAF and NEET. How many do you recognise let alone classroom perspective. As far as Bullock was concerned
use? And what about LINC? we were primarily occupied with the notion of language
across the curriculum.
LINC: Language in the National Curriculum Personally, I was excited and relieved about the
The LINC project (Carter et al, 1990) ran nationally LINC project because in 1987 our English department
between 1989–1992. Funded by the Department for had introduced the new JMB A Level English Language
Education and Science (DfES) and by local authorities, syllabus. Like most of my department colleagues I had
“The LINC it followed closely at the heels of the publication of the
‘English for ages 5 to 16’ (The Cox Report, 1989) and
a literature degree and was, to be honest, working hard
to keep a couple of lessons ahead of my students. The
materials were The Kingman Report (DES, 1988). prospect of a major professional development initiative
It was underpinned by a belief that both teachers and that would address the huge gaps in my own subject
designed with students would benefit from greater and more explicit knowledge of language and linguistics was timely and
the explicit knowledge about language. The materials were designed welcome.
with the explicit intention of extending teachers’ My professional needs apart, the project had been
intention of knowledge about and understanding of language. As the initiated by government to address criticisms that the
extending Introduction argues, ‘A better understanding of language
can sharpen teachers’ appreciation of children’s achievements
Cox (1989) and the Kingman Commission (1988) reports
had made about the state of English teaching and, in
teachers’ with language and help them understand the nature of particular, about the paucity of classroom attention
knowledge difficulties or partial successes’ (Carter, LINC, 1990, p.1). to language and grammar teaching. The additional
subject knowledge and confidence with language that
about and From ‘Language in Use’ to A Level Language the LINC project might generate would support the
understanding LINC was, for me, hugely influential for two reasons.
The question of what and how English teachers should
successful introduction of the new National Curriculum
programmes of study for English and address the
of language.” teach about language had been unresolved and unclear perceived shortfalls in the teaching of grammar.

Applied Linguistics for English teachers

The LINC Project materials were developed over three A. Dr. Price later described the letter as ‘a bit of fun’. He was not Welsh-speaking himself
years by a team of regional co-ordinators and advisory and his two Indian colleagues in the casualty department certainly did not understand
teachers. The Regional Co-ordinators were mainly, but not Welsh. ‘It’s a bit of fun really, our way of asking Dr. Clowes to write to us in English.
exclusively, drawn from university academics with a We do not always have time to get his letters translated, especially as many nurses do
linguistic or educational specialism. Dr Ron Carter of the not speak Welsh’.
University of Nottingham provided National Co-ordination B. Mr Freeman added that Dr Clowes could continue to write his letters in Welsh, and in
under a DfES appointed National Steering Committee. future he would receive a reply in Welsh.
Describing the project on the website of the
C. Dr. Clowes is unrepentant. ‘This is an insult not only to myself and my patient, but to
Committee for Linguistics in Education (CLIE) in 2007
the Welsh language. All my patients are Welsh-speaking, and it is their first language. It
Carter writes: ‘The comprehensive study units that make
is a matter of principle in an area where the vast majority of people are Welsh-speaking.’
up the LINC programme are applied linguistic in character;
He has complained to the health authorities and to his MP.
that is, language is described not in isolation but mainly in
relation to particular contexts of learning in primary and D. A North Wales family doctor was not amused when his letter in Welsh to a local
secondary schools …’ (https://clie.org.uk/linc, 2007). hospital was answered in Hindi.
E. Mr. Robert Freeman, administrator of the Gwynedd area health authority said
A different kind of CPD
yesterday that Welsh and English were equally valid. ‘But a lot of medical staff are
The resources and activities within the LINC materials
English or foreign, although we do try to ensure that there is always a competent
comprised ten professional development units and a
Welsh speaker on hand in the casualty department.’
‘Grammar and Glossary’. There were two units on each
of reading, writing and talk. Each language mode was F. Dr. Carl Clowes, of Llanalhern, Gwynedd, sent a middle-aged woman patient with
divided into separate units on ‘process’ and ‘repertoire’. a knee injury for x-ray, along with a referral note describing the symptoms, to
There was considerably more however. Units on Early Caernarvon and Anglesey hospital in Bangor. The reply, signed by a Dr L.J. Price and
Language, Speech/Writing Differences, Accent/Dialect/ written in Hindi, arrived by post.
Standard English and Multilingualism all provided a
valuable resource bank for English teachers eager to
extend curriculum breadth and subject knowledge. Examples B and C: Language and society
This example from the ‘Reading Repertoire’ unit,
“The reader
On re-visiting the material now the most striking thing
for me is that not only are the materials unashamedly (taken from John Lewis, 1969) is a printed notice from is consistently
scholarly but that they are also characterised by a sense 1812 and would have been displayed in the premises
of local tradespeople who would act as agents for the
addressed as
of intellectual disinterest, humour and fun. There is
evident enthusiasm for and interest in language: what recruiting family. The LINC commentary provides a subject
it is; how it works; how and why it varies across time, some fascinating details about the context, the design
(e.g., count the number of fonts used), the tenor and the
expert, a
place and context and why classroom engagement with
language and linguistics would prove both beneficial for social values reflected in the language of the text. reflective
students’ own language development and enjoyable in
its own right.
classroom
The LINC materials and the project’s approaches practitioner
bear scant comparison to the kind of in-service
materials that characterise some of the more didactic
and an equal.
and top-down models of professional development that This might
have followed it – often smuggled into the curriculum
on the back of directed changes to assessment and
feel unsettling
testing. Essentially the LINC materials, their register and unfamiliar
and their tone, are those of illustrated and applied
academic texts. The reader is consistently addressed as to the
a subject expert, a reflective classroom practitioner and contemporary
an equal. This might feel both unsettling and unfamiliar
to the contemporary reader. There are no ‘sure-fire’ reader.”
strategies, no quick-fixes, no top tips for the classroom.
How odd it all seems.
I have chosen a few examples of the materials to
illustrate their nature and approach.
Example A: Textual organisation

This activity is taken from the ‘Process of Reading’
unit but might have equal relevance when supporting
students’ non-narrative writing. It focuses on textual links
and on text organisation. The following newspaper report The following example, from the same unit, is taken
contains six paragraphs (A–F) that have been jumbled from A Nursery History of England (O’Neill, 1950) , one of a
up. The activity for students is to decide on and to justify series of ‘Books for Young People’ published by Thomas
a convincing and coherent order. Using highlighters Nelson & Sons. From this distance the language of the
or linking lines the students should indicate the main text, its assumptions and its version of historical truth
links that exist between words and phrases across are breath-taking. The LINC commentary provides
the sentences and paragraphs. Teachers are asked to engaging reflections on aspects of the text such as:
consider how the activity helps students focus not only audience, narrative, personalisation, representation,
on what a text says but on how it is said: ideology and ‘absence’.

Chains of Thought – Remembering the LINC Project
The LINC commentary and approach to these texts There is however much that anticipates the work that
“The emphasise the importance of valuing ‘research’ over was to be done a decade later by the National Literacy
materials and ‘response’. A common framework for analysing these Strategy (NLS) in terms of text types, features and
curiosities is proposed. The framework recommends characteristics.
the project’s that teachers and students ask themselves the following The ‘Writing Repertoire’ unit contains many
approaches questions: ideas and strategies that have become familiar to
English classroom since the NLS. The focuses on the
bear scant • Who speaks this text?
characteristics of various text-types and on aspects
comparison • Who is being spoken to? of audience, purpose and form are pretty familiar
and the activities that explore and illustrate cohesion
• Where does this text come from?
to the kind • What kind of text is this?
within chronological and non-chronological texts
of in-service • What does the text want?
retain relevance. One activity that looks at sentence
sequencing in different text-types offers the English
materials that • What does the text mean to me/us? teacher an engaging and fruitful extension on the game
characterise In exploring these questions teachers are urged to
of ‘Consequences’. The links between this ‘writing’
activity and the reading activity quoted in Example
some of the consider the detailed choices that writers make: the A above demonstrate the way in which the materials
reflect a coherent, whole language approach.
top-down presentational, organisational, grammatical and lexical
choices that have helped shape and characterise the
models of texts.
professional Example D: Text types and features
For this activity your students should work in groups
of five or six. Each student is given a sheet of paper
development In some ways the ‘Process of Writing’ unit is perhaps the with a ‘starter’ sentence written at the top of the page.
least ‘recognisable’ section. The assumptions about and
that have the context of the classroom writing process do feel as if
The starter sentences are are divided into categories:
Category A
followed it.” they belong to an earlier and now unfamiliar pedagogy.
• Once upon a time there was a small green frog
The central references to drafting, revising and to
collaborative writing fit uncomfortably with the model called Freda.
of the writing process and its assessment that is evident • First wash and fillet the fish.
in our current GCSE English Language specifications. • John lived in a cottage by the sea with his parents.
Of course every writing act and example is assumed to
be hand-written. The project narrowly pre-dates the • Once there was a rich merchant who had two
widespread use of word processing in the classroom. daughters.

Category B
With the benefit of considerable hindsight it seems
that the LINC materials were the product of a time
“The LINC
• Pet cats belong to the same family of animals as of forgotten collegiality and mutual trust between materials
the great cats.
• The issue of capital punishment now seems to
education administrators, advisers (at national and local
level), academics, and English classroom practitioners
exemplified
be again the centre of much debate. in primary and secondary schools. The government’s ‘grammar in
• One common way of describing any use of refusal to publish the LINC materials represented the
thin edge a wedge between this three-way consensus
action’. Their
language is to say that it is for communication.
that was to be driven remorselessly deeper in the three approach
• Pond life is like a city in miniature. decades that followed. to grammar
Each small group of students should have starter
sentences from both categories. Each member of the And finally … begins with
group should write a sentence that ‘connects’ with the I was lucky to be present a few years ago when
the tirelessly independent and prophetic Dorothy
students’
starter sentence they have been given. Each paper is
then folded so that only the second sentence is visible Heathcote addressed the National Drama conference engagement
and is then passed on to the next student in the group. in Durham not long before her death. Heathcote
declared with her characteristic chutzpah that there
with whole
That student reads the second sentence they have
been passed and writes a third sentence that connects is and will always be only one question that should texts and their
with the previous one. Each paper is folded again so rightfully and consistently engage and preoccupy
the teacher. That question is, ‘How am I going to teach
meanings,
that only the latest sentence is visible and is passed
on. This continues until five or six sentences have this?’. relating these
been completed. The groups should then look at and
discuss their ‘completed’ texts. They will doubtless
If the relevance or authenticity of this question
is taken from the teacher, then we rob teaching of
meanings to
be struck by the fact that one category has worked its professional life force, its very purpose. We will the grammar
much more coherently than the other. But why? have replaced teachers with automata. In whatever
form these automata emerge they will be cheap,
of sentence,
quickly produced, and have absolutely no use for – clause, phrase
Approaches to grammar
But where exactly in all this is the ‘grammar’ knowledge
perhaps unlikely to even recognise – the voice and
the wisdom that underpinned the LINC project and
and word.”
and understanding that the DfE had sought in response its materials.
to the Kingman Commission Report? The answer I guess
is that the LINC materials exemplified ‘grammar in The LINC Materials are available to buy for £35 from the
action’. The LINC approach to grammar begins with University of Nottingham at https://store.nottingham.
students’ engagement with whole texts and their meanings. ac.uk/product-catalogue/schools-and-departments/
It relates these whole text meanings to the grammar of english/linc-project
sentence, clause, phrase and word: ‘The LINC approach
is contrasted with more traditional analyses which work from
Mick Connell
smaller units upwards and tend not to engage with overall is NATE Secretary, and PGDE English Tutor at the
meanings’ (Carter, LINC, 1990, p.315–6). Although there University of Sheffield
is a short section on classroom implications, the ‘Grammar
in Action’ section omits the CPD activities that characterise References
much of the other materials. The emphasis is analytical Bullock. A (1975) ‘A Language for Life: report of the
and is focused principally on grammar for reading. Committee of Inquiry appointed by the Secretary
of State for Education and Science under the
Standard English and the end of LINC chairmanship of Sir Alan Bullock’, DES, London
The materials conclude with an extensive linguistic (HMSO)
glossary that claims the educational applications of Carter. R. (1990) ‘The LINC Project: Materials for
linguistics as its focus: ‘The glossary begins to define Professional Development’, University of Nottingham,
terms from an educational perspective’ (Carter, LINC, https://store.nottingham.ac.uk/product-catalogue/
1990, p.331). Whilst the glossary does indeed address schools-and-departments/english/linc-project
and define ‘phonology’ and ‘Standard English’ from ‘an (Available from above link since July 2015)
educational perspective’, I could find no mention of Carter. R. (2007) Introduction to LINC at https://clie.
‘phonics’ or ‘Standard Spoken English’. org.uk/linc
It seems to me, then, that the government’s decision DES (1989) Report of the English Working Party 5–16 (the
to withhold publication may have had more to do Cox Report) (HMSO).
with sins of omission than of commission. Ron Carter DES (1988) Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the
reflected on the ultimately wasteful and short-sighted Teaching of English Language (The Kingman Report)
demise of the LINC project and its materials: (HMSO)
‘When this in-service programme was reviewed at the Doughty.P. (1971) ‘Language in Use’, London@ Edward
end of 1991, it was decided by the government of the day Arnold for Schools Council Programme in Linguistics
that it was insufficiently formal and de-contextualised in and English Teaching.
character and failed to pay sufficient attention to the rules John Lewis (1969) (first published 1962) ‘Printed
of standard English. As a result and against a background Ephemera’, Faber
of considerable public dispute, the government decided O’Neill, E. (1950) Morrow, G (Illustrator) ‘A Nursery
against publication…’ (https://clie.org.uk/linc, 2007). History of England’, Thomas Nelson.

Macbeth:
From Book
to Videogame
Andrew Burn explores how Missionmaker can be
used to enable students to create videogames based
on Macbeth, arguing that videogames offer a powerful
route to ‘active Shakespeare’.
Missionmaker and Macbeth language, visual design, dramatic action, among others.
The classroom work explored is this article involves In this sense they also have the potential to build
Year 10 students in two UK comprehensive schools bridges between not only English, Media and Drama,
making videogames based on Macbeth, which they but with other sister Arts subjects.
are studying for GCSE. The games are made using Finally, the coding element of game design provides
the Missionmaker game authoring tool, which allows a link with the computing curriculum, prompting some
users to rapidly create complex 3D worlds using pre- interesting questions both for teachers of computing
designed assets, and populate them with characters, and for teachers of English. What might it mean to ‘code’
objects, pickups and media objects such as text popups Shakespeare, for example? In multimodal theories of
“Games as a or audio, including dialogue. The events in the game are
created using a simple coding interface to make rules
game semiotics, coding has been seen as an additional
mode: for us, an orchestrating mode which organises
storytelling determining conditions under which such events will other modes (actional, visual, musical, linguistic, etc.)
be triggered. The software is designed by the MAGiCAL
medium are Projects team at UCL, and has been used for a variety
in the game.
a cognate of literature-related projects, some described in earlier Expanding the narrative in time and space
issues of this magazine.
cultural I’ll begin with a detailed look at an example from one
game, followed by briefer points from a range of other
form with English, media and drama united games across the two schools. The detailed example
There are a number of points to be made in general
literature and terms about the use of games in relation to the English,
shows how the two students have expanded the
narrative, to explore the significance of the prophecies
film, which Media and Drama curriculum cluster. Firstly, that
games as a storytelling medium are a cognate cultural
in the opening scenes of the play:
allow aspects form with literature and film. Secondly, that they allow Student 1: The idea was that they would start on a heath
of literary aspects of literary narrative to be understood in new
ways, productively unsettling conventional approaches
where Macbeth met the witches and the witches would go
off into the different passages here and in each passage
narrative to to narrative in education (though in many ways also there would be – um – an object which told you of the
be understood supporting and extending them). Third, that they are
a multimodal form, requiring practitioners’ models
prophecy and of his fate. And so basically the witches are
all supposed to go down into the different ways and you
in new ways.” of literacy to be extended into the realms of spoken choose a bit where you go – so there’s a crown that says

basically you’ll become king, and then the skull that was
signify- symbolising the King’s skull and the sword was
visual and other modes. This includes examples such
as the poems of William Blake, the Child Ballads,
“These
symbolising the fight and who kills the king, and each the illustrations of countless children’s books (and plays began
passage you went down fulfilled the fate of Macbeth .. oh
yeah, this is the one where he would become king, this is
some adult literature, such as Dickens’ novels). But it
becomes particularly significant in relation to dramatic
their lives
the one where he would kill Duncan, and this would be the literature. For these plays began their lives as working as working
one where – scripts for dramatic entities which could only be fully
realised on stage. The absurdity of reducing them to
scripts for
Student 2: This says ‘follow witch on the left to find
Macbeth, follow witch in the middle to solve a riddle, language-based literary study in the classroom has dramatic
been forcefully observed many times, and is repudiated
follow witch on the right you may get into a fight’….
in the longstanding tradition of active approaches to entities which
So the function of the prophecies in the scene – as brief Shakespeare perhaps best represented by the legacy of could only be
but intensely significant items of dialogue, prefiguring Rex Gibson.
events that unfold throughout the play – are expanded In the case of these games, then, a shift into a visual fully realised
into narrative sequences in space and time. Exploiting modality in which central ideas of the play – kingship,
murder, combat – can be visually represented – is not to
on stage. The
the affordance of digital games to construct narrative
choices, the prophecies are transformed into three be underestimated. realisation of
options for the player. These are realised in the game in Furthermore, the shift is not only into a visual
modality, but into a dramatic one. Drama consists, of
the play as a
four main ways: as mission popups, as corridors leading
to the outcome; as symbolic objects representing course, as a series of multimodal ensembles, framing game restores
that outcome; and as a further trajectory to enact the
outcome. Each element suggests a particular kind of
spoken language, text, dramatic action and gesture,
proxemics and other modes within spatial and temporal
its dramatic
expansion of the play. patterns. Here, in many ways, the realisation of the play wholeness,
as a game restores its dramatic wholeness, expanding
The popups (Figure 1) are instructions to the player
in a simple poetic form with a rhyme in each case: the working script of the play-text into a complex
expanding
‘follow witch on the left to find Macbeth, follow witch in the dramatic scenario. the working
middle to solve a riddle, follow witch on the right you may get
into a fight’. These are not direct imitations of the poetic Adapting the play – or realising it? script of the
form of the prophecies, which is principally the iambic Although the notion of adaptation seems the obvious play-text into
pentameter; but the witches’ incantations are abundant way to consider these kinds of transformative work by
with rhyme, and various kinds of word-patterning students, in some ways this is not really an adaptation a complex
are used by Shakespeare to produce the ‘supernatural but a realisation. Nobody would refer to a staged version
of a Shakespeare play as an adaptation: rather it would
dramatic
soliciting’ of the play, and to echo it in Macbeth’s speech.
be seen as the natural realisation of the linguistic text scenario.”
– in effect, a dramatic expansion. By the same token, it
makes no sense to refer to a film or a game version of the
play as an adaptation. The interpretation of the literary
text through voice, imagery, dramatic action, and the
construction of a fictional world, is accomplishing in
many ways what the stage play seeks to achieve.
However, there are differences, depending on
the different affordances of film and game. The film
unfixes the position of the spectator from her seat in
the stalls and produces a mobile point of view, with all
the possibilities for view, focalisation and identification
this affords. Meanwhile, this game takes the point-of-
Figure 1: The pop-up text in the prophecies game, offering the view a stage further, offering control to the player. The
player narrative options. multiple strands of the narrative made possible here
are powerfully represented by the crossroads structure
Language, image, drama, game they have created: a persistent trope in folk culture, a
The next stage is to enter the corridor where the objects transparent signifier of choice, and a repeated motif
can be found. The player reaches a crossroads with in digital games since the days of text-based MUDs,
three exits, and the objects are found in these pathways. where players might typically encounter a crossroads
As Student 2 says: at midnight, with the subsequent option to go north,
south, east or west.
– so there’s a crown that says basically you’ll become king,
and then the skull that was signify- symbolising the King’s
Dramatising choice
skull and the sword was symbolising the fight and who
The eventual outcomes of the three pathways are not
kills the king …
complete in the draft of the game the students were able
These representations may seem straightforward to complete in the few hours available on this occasion.
enough, but three comments may be made. To begin However the plan is fairly clear: in each case, the
with, the move from a linguistic mode into a visual pathway leads to the murder of Duncan, but differently
one is still noteworthy in the context of an English freighted with affect. As the student explains, the
curriculum which has always been dominated by left-hand path, represented by the crown, represents
narrow conceptions of print literacy, even where the ambition, causing him to kill the king; the middle path,
literary text in question cannot be fully realised without represented by the skull, represents fear, in which he

“For some reluctantly kills the king, goaded by his wife; while the
right-hand path, represented by the sword, represents
understandings might be sought, but rather to promote
complex understandings, adequate to the complexity,
students, bloodlust, a different motive again. nuance and ambiguity of these texts. Such complexity
making game The student’s explanation indicates their intention to
use these player options, instantiated as spatial structures
seems to demand that students do indeed see the
constructedness of literary, dramatic and mediated
adaptations and game objects, to organise different psychological narratives – to see, in Shakespeare’s terms, that ‘All the
states between which Macbeth fluctuates in the play, world’s a stage’; that Macbeth is ‘a poor player that struts
was a way but here structured as different outcomes: and frets his hour upon the stage’. But at the same time
to rehearse Student 1: Like Macbeth’s thought process – cos if he it encourages students to appreciate the emotions
expressed in the text: to suspend disbelief, as Coleridge
events from thinks about the positives of him becoming king from
what the witches tell him then he’ll end up with massive required; to behave as if these fictional constructs are
the play. For ambition, and if he thinks about killing, the death of his real while knowing them to be puppets of the author,
designer, director.
others, a way good king, he might become fearful and therefore like end
up withdrawn and having to stab the king because his To extend this further, why should part of the
to manipulate wife tells him to, or if he goes to the right he might have construct not be the psychological motivations of the
character, especially in a play whose dialogue so
the plot. For a bloodlust and end up killing the king just because why
not? All of those three ways always bring him to the part explicitly refers to these states? Macbeth’s agonised
others, a way which the witches want, which is where the cauldron is. So line, ‘O full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife’, is one of
many expressions of mental torment in the play.
kind of symbolising his thought process.
to explore the In the case of this game design, certain specific
perspective The outcomes are physically separated and presented
as ludic challenges. In each case, the way is blocked
features are evident. Firstly, the characters are actually
constructed – in various ways. The witches have been
of different by a gate, which can only be unlocked by the symbolic selected from a library of characters: they could have
been male or female, monstrous or human, beautiful
characters. object, once the player has picked it up. Once through
the door, the rudiments of the game design indicate or ugly, peasant or noble, old or young, black or white,
For others, an the planned sequence: a pool of spouting blood in different or identical. In this game, the witches have
been made as eerie, ghostlike figures, enhanced by
opportunity to one, the figure of Duncan in another, the third still
empty. Each outcome, of course, brings Macbeth the students’ selection of a “spectral” setting from the
dramatically to the same place, the killing of the king; and after character properties menu (Figure 2).
that, leads him to the cave where the witches have Secondly, they have chosen a first-person perspective
re-imagine gathered to mix the potion. The events are all designed, for the player character, as Macbeth. They could have
the play.” then, as foreshadowings of the possibilities in Macbeth’s chosen a third person perspective and represented the
player as a visible avatar (again with a range of design
mind.
options); but have selected first person. We only ever
Constructing narrative see the player’s hands in combat. These structures
It might be objected that this attribution of psychology of person, or point-of-view, in games provide rich
to a dramatic character makes the naïve error of opportunities for students’ understanding of narrative
perceiving a fictional character for a ‘real’ person. point-of-view, especially if conducted across different
However, our aim here was not to prescribe what media.
Figure 2

Thirdly, as we have seen, emotions are attributed to

the player-character in complex ways, and constructed
through messages and through ludic experiences,
charged with their own dramatic intensity. The
students have effectively answered a longstanding
debate about emotions in videogames, sometimes
popularly imagined to be difficult to achieve, or simply “Several
missing in character-constructs often assumed simply
to be combat machines. In this case, the students have
students
made emotion and motivation a central feature of their considered
design, and their game reminds the player-character of
their emotional state. the plot as
a complex
Working with the text – and beyond
Making game adaptations with Year 10 groups showed a structure,
variety of benefits. In general, across the groups, there Figure 3 using the
were a range of engagements. For some students, it was
a way to rehearse events from the play. For others, it was multiple
a way to manipulate the plot. For others, a way to explore
the perspective of different characters. For others, an
routes
opportunity to dramatically re-imagine the play. characteristic
Using the text
of games to
In many cases, students began their designs with close think about
attention to the play, developing scenarios from the text
(Figures 3 and 4).
how the
In many cases, events in the games were closely story could
based on events in the plot, such as these sequences
of the death of Duncan, with the player in first person have been
mode as Macbeth (Figure 5), and the meeting of different.”
Macbeth with the witches (Figure 6).
Figure 4
Developing multiple narratives

Several students considered the plot as a complex
structure, using the multiple routes characteristic of
games to think about how the story could have been
different, what the consequences might be, and how the
play might be imaginatively reworked without losing
essential elements.
One student considered this in relation to the options
Macbeth himself ponders: [making our game] gives us a
question like ‘is there another way he could become a king
without having to be killed?’ (Girl, Y10).
Another student related multiple narrative routes
to player choice: a different audience experience of the
play: there’s often pathways and different choices that you
make, which then can lead to different endings depending on
what choices you make. (Boy, Y10)
Another related this to point-of-view – the possibility Figure 5
in game design and play to see the events from multiple
perspectives: it can give you different point of views, like
multiple pathways, options. You have more potential here
whereas a play has to stick to the script. This can show what
could have happened. (Boy, Y10).
Yet another explained how, in her game, she allowed
the player the option of letting Lady MacDuff escape
the murderers, and how this need not affect the later
development of the plot:
If you let [Lady Macduff] escape it doesn’t really add up
because she’s not meant to be alive … but she doesn’t really
pop up again so you could let her escape.
R: Does she need to be dead to give Macduff the motivation
to kill Macbeth?
P: Well his son’s already been killed so that’s enough
motivation. Figure 6

“Games made Meanwhile, this student had designed the murder of

Banquo so that one of the murderers displays sympathy
Rather, they are cognate with longstanding traditions of
active approaches to Shakespeare which approach the
by students are for Fleance, letting him escape: plays as dramatic entities to be enacted, rather than as
cognate with Murderer number 1 and murderer number 2 are arguing literary texts tor be analysed. The game designer works
with virtual actors, with virtual stage sets, with dramatic
with each other over which one they should trust and
longstanding whether murderer number 1 should trust murderer language and action, and with narrative devices. In
these respects, she is very similar to the theatre director
traditions number 2. So we were thinking whether or not we should
or film-maker.
make murderer number 2, um, murderer number 2 seems
of active like he’s trying to resolve the situation and seems to What games add is the ability to extend the play
with narrative-point-of-view, and with the dramatic
approaches to calm, try to calm both of them down. He seems the most
sympathetic of both of them. So how about we make sure engagement of the spectator-player. In doing this, they
Shakespeare that murderer number 2 is the traitor of the group and have the potential to reveal that Shakespeare’s plays are
not so far from the much-maligned medium of digital
which he wants, he eventually lets Fleance escape, then comes
back to the other two murderers and tells them that, and games as may be supposed. When Prospero turns to
approach lies to them and tells them that they let him go, while we the audience at the end of The Tempest, offering them
the choice of confining him on the island or filling his
the plays as the player, we find out that he’s lying and we take the
initiative to kill him. sails to wind to return to Naples, we see Shakespeare
as dramatic operating something very like the defining structures
of a game: the second person mode of address to the
Beyond the literal
entities to be In some cases, students moved well beyond literal player-audience; the offer of narrative choice; and the
enacted, rather recreations of the play. In one instance, students decided
to explore what lay behind the witches’ cauldron, and
double meaning of the event – the dramatised lives of
the characters on the one hand, and an entertainment
than as literary where the ingredients came from, creating a series fiction on the other: ‘my project … was to please’.
These examples suggest that many other ludic
texts to be of missions in which the player as one of the witches
had to overcome supernatural guardians to obtain the aspects of the plays could be explored through game
analysed.” ingredients. design: Puck and Oberon’s magic; the play-within-
In another, one girl used a dragon character within a-play of Hamlet; the combat sequences of Othello,
the software to represent the “murdering ministers” Hamlet, Macbeth, the history plays (games are perfectly
invoked by Lady Macbeth to take her milk for gall, adapted to model combat); the fictionalised worlds of
reducing their size to tiny monsters, and programming Renaissance Europe which encase many of the plays.
them to become aggressive when Lady Macbeth More generally, the case extends to the potential in
becomes aggressive. classrooms for game design projects which re-imagine
literary texts of all kinds, uncovering and extending
Text as script the playful poetics of mediaeval romance (Gawain), of
Students also used the affordances of the software to the Elizabethan masque, of Arthurian battle, magic,
manage the text as script, creating media files in which loyalty and treachery, and of Victorian narrative poetry.
they use their own voices to bring the text to life, or In the age of the videogame itself, such explorations
making ‘pop-ups’ which recreated extracts of the text of literature can encompass sci-fi, fantasy and magical
within the game, sometimes representing dialogue, realism in obvious ways. Less obviously, they might
sometimes playing the role of in-game mission even offer ways to explore the sober side of human
instructions (Figure 7). experience as represented in literature: the poetry,
drama and narrative of warfare, for example. One of
‘Active Shakespeare’ through videogames the oldest games of all, chess, is a war game, essentially;
We can say, then, that games made by students based and the digital mechanics of videogames have been
on Shakespeare plays need to be seen in a certain light. entangled over many years with those of military
They are not mere attempts to motivate students by training.
incorporating popular media forms into the curriculum Games and play, as young children know and
(though they may well have this beneficial side-effect). teenagers still remember, can be both fun and serious
They are not really adaptations, any more than films are. business – a paradox which English, Drama and Media
Figure 7
teachers would do well to embrace.
Andrew Burn
is Professor of English, Drama and Media at the Institute
of Education, University College London
Those interested in trying Missionmaker Macbeth or

Missionmaker Beowulf should contact Andrew Burn:
[email protected]
Acknowledgments
I’m grateful to the MAGiCAL, Bruno de Paula and Abel
Drew team for the research and development work
on the software; to James Durran, English Adviser for
North Yorkshire, who organised and led one of the
school workshops; to Alison Croasdale, Year 10 teacher,
who organised and led the other; to Nozomi Sakata who
supported the fieldwork.

The NATE Harold

Rosen Lecture 2019
Big Picture
English:
Beyond the
Brushstrokes
Barbara Bleiman looks at trends in English teaching
in recent years, and suggests that we need to foster
a broader, more expansive view of the subject – ‘big
picture’ English – in keeping with the principles and
practices of the late twentieth century, rooted in the
work of educationalists like Harold Rosen himself.
The 2019 NATE Harold Rosen Lecture was given by Barbara with younger ones like me. I remember – in the late
Bleiman at the annual NATE Conference. A full transcript may 70s and early 80s – LATE workshops with people like
be found at www.englishandmedia.co.uk and a video of the John Dixon, or NATE ‘strands’ on poetry with the
lecture is at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-2LN0IcTGU. amazing Geoff Fox: I never felt patronised or
This version has been slightly shortened, omitting some undervalued, but nevertheless these extraordinary
material that was included in a previous edition of Teaching English educators were there, sharing the knowledge
English (Issue 20, Summer 2019). they had accumulated over time, with a vast range
of reading inside their heads, both in the subject and
Part One: Big Picture English in education more generally, as well as substantial,
Harold Rosen was Professor of Education when I significant, classroom experience, often as Heads of
trained as an English teacher in 1976–7. His insights English. The two things together – practitioners and
and understandings have remained with me ever theorists, theorist/practitioners. And they were often
since. That doesn’t mean to say I haven’t adapted and conducting their own research too: practitioner-
developed, and enthusiastically taken on board lots theorist-researchers.
of new things. But I also haven’t abandoned some You’ll notice I distinguish between research and
core principles and values that came from him, from theory. Theory seems to me to bring an additional
thinkers like him, and ones before him. dimension. It’s not the here today, gone tomorrow
research of ‘what works’ (or rather what might work in
Expertise: theory, practice, research some contexts but not necessarily your own classroom).
I was trained in a period when there were ‘experts’ It’s something more fundamental about political,
like Harold. Expertise was valued. For me, expertise societal, human values and ways of being. It’s theories
is a mix of two things – experience and knowledge. of language and thought, of knowledge, of human
Older teachers or teacher-educators worked closely behaviour, of aesthetics and culture.

The NATE Harold Rosen Lecture 2019 – Big Picture English: Beyond the Brushstrokes
Something has changed. This kind of three-pronged English is nothing less than a different model of
expertise seems not to be valued so much any more, education: knowledge to be made, not given; knowledge
despite the fact that the knowledge of the past that comprising more than can be discursively stated;
I’ve described, combined with the energy, vitality and learning as a diverse range of processes to be embarked
new vision of younger teachers, is a potent mix. It has on with outcomes unpredictable; students’ perceptions,
huge potential. But divorce one from the other and you experiences, imaginings and unsystematically acquired
risk English teaching becoming deracinated – losing knowledge admitted as legitimate curricular content.
its roots. Lovely-looking shoots, but nothing to anchor (Harold Rosen: ‘Neither Bleak House not Liberty
“This is a them firmly into the soil. Hall: English in the Curriculum’, 1981)
We see endless new initiatives and ideas coming
moment for around and feel as if we are on a merry-go-round. Those This is powerful stuff. Important stuff. It was then and
beliefs and of us who’ve been on it too long have begun to feel it is now. It has big aims for students and for the subject,
big ambition, big ideas. Opening up, not narrowing or
queasy. We saw it in previous iterations. We doubted
visions as it then. We’re sceptical now. We recommend care and closing down, drawing students into the process not
well as facts. caution. But no-one is looking back. No-one remembers
what came before.
shutting them out, admitting rather than rejecting,
allowing them to think big and think for themselves,
Ideas and and think beyond the limits of what the education
values are English: ‘a different model of education’
So I want to start my talk with a reference back. In
system is currently imposing on them.
The rest of this talk is going to be all about that.
what our my view it’s an extremely important reference for The need to resist the subject shrinking only to what is
subject is English teachers, and it’s to Harold Rosen himself
and the insights this exceptional theorist-researcher-
assessable, to resist it becoming smaller and narrower
and more limited but instead to allow it to be big,
all about.” practitioner had to offer – and still does: expansive, broad and inclusive in all kinds of different
ways. If it sounds like I’m proselytising or preaching: I
am. This is a moment for beliefs and visions as well as
facts. Ideas and values are what our subject is all about
and I am unapologetic in stating that this is what I
believe to be important. It comes from the experience,
wisdom and knowledge of those, like Harold Rosen,
who came before me.
Text and talk: what we do with a poem

So let’s start with a text and some talk. Two vital
things in anything to do with English teaching. We’ll
use a poem by Helen Tookey (‘Quend-Plage-les-Pins’,
from her collection, City of Departures – shortlisted
for the Forward Prize 2019, so bang up to date.) You
can read the poem here: www.pnreview.co.uk/cgi-bin/
scribe?item_id=8970.
I’m going to read it out loud first of all. I want you to
look at it and ask yourself four simple questions, and
then turn to the person sitting next to you and share
your ideas:
1. What are my first thoughts?
2. Am I puzzled or intrigued by anything about it?
3. What do I like about it?
4. Does it remind me of anything?
This is not the way texts are currently being explored

in many of our classrooms. ‘What’s your response and
why?’ has been supplanted by a focus on other things
– often small things, at word, phrase or sentence level –
small language techniques and devices.
The problem with vocabulary and context

Vocabulary is one of the new obsessions. The mantra
of ‘the more words you know the smarter you are’,
and the idea that students can’t access texts without
knowing every single word in advance (drawing on E.D
Hirsch), has led to lots of pre-teaching of vocabulary.
And lots of pre-teaching of context too, as if you can’t
ever approach a text without knowing everything about
it first. As if it’s risky and dangerous ever to just read
and see what you make of it for yourself. As if texts don’t

ever explain themselves. As if they don’t provide new

knowledge. As if they’re simply excuses for teaching
vocabulary.
With the text I’ve shown you, you might start with
something like this:
• Quend-Plage-les-Pins is a seaside resort in Picardie,
in France.
• Here’s a photograph of it.
• A pine is an evergreen tree.
• Dunes are mounds of sand on beaches.
• Tenacious means clinging firmly, determined,
persistent.
• Pennants are flags.
• Crêpes are pancakes.
• A promenade is a walkway along a beach.
You might pre-teach literary and linguistic terms like

syndetic and asyndetic listing, caesura, alliteration,
assonance and demonstrative pronouns, and ask “English Literature is all about readers, writers
students whether they can find examples in the poem.
In all instances, you can!
and, crucially, the relationship between them.
I’m exaggerating a bit of course, but not much. If you That’s a complex business: nerves and muscle
google ‘vocabulary’ and ‘Jekyll and Hyde’, for instance,
you will find lists for each chapter that are pages and and bone and blood supply all operating
pages long, with comments to students telling them: together to make the body work.”
‘these are the words you need to know before even reading
this chapter,’ or ‘these are the words you need to know before The big picture: focusing on response
your exam’. Given that the unfamiliar words in the first How about, instead, if I had asked you to focus just
paragraph of Jekyll & Hyde alone include ‘eminently’, on the first two lines and spend some time discussing
‘beacon’, ‘austere’, ‘symbol’s ‘mortify’, ‘a taste for those, perhaps in relation to other things? Can the
vintages’, ‘approved tolerance’, ‘extremity’, ‘inclined’, students think of other things which would be beautiful
and ‘reproved’, this is very, very daunting. if they didn’t exist? How’s that possible? Or if I asked
Who would want to read the poem (or Jekyll and you to think about that repeated phrase ‘It wouldn’t
Hyde Chapter 1) if learning unfamiliar words is your need’, and what ‘it’ is and what exactly ‘it’ wouldn’t need
main starting-point – burrowing down into tiny details
before even getting a chance to discover for yourself
and why? Wouldn’t that take you further? Or in thinking “We need
about the question ‘what’s puzzling or intriguing?’ what
what kind of text this is going to be and what your first if I asked you whether this is similar or different from to resist
impressions are?
I might actually give you the information about
other poems you’ve read. Are there aspects that aren’t the subject
very poem-like? Or more poem-like?
where the place is, and perhaps even show you a photo If we narrow the focus to words only, to small shrinking
or two:
If a word stands in the way of your broad
detail, and always and only to the narrower questions
of comprehension in a single poem, rather than’ big
only to what
understanding perhaps I might also offer that to you. picture’ ideas, we risk becoming blind to the aspects is assessable,
But would you really need all the word information I
gave you, up front, in order to talk interestingly about
of texts that are both most important and also cause
students most difficulty. We focus students and
to resist it
this poem? Were the pleasures and difficulties in the their attention on little things and don’t encourage becoming
poem predominantly a question of words anyway? If
you knew all the unfamiliar words would that, in and of
judgement about what’s significant and what isn’t. We
also narrow the conversation, confine it to elements
smaller and
itself, have opened up the poem for you? that students cannot contribute much to, in which narrower and
Could you talk about it without knowing all these we are the sole experts and they must rely on us for
words and this context, if some were missing? Could answers, only to questions that can be answered. We
more limited,
you work out enough for yourselves? And would deny the importance of their response and the fact that but instead to
doing that not then stand you in really good stead sometimes their response might collectively take the
for reading the next poem and the next one and the class further than just our own response – and take our allow it to be
one after that? This is know-how in English literature own response further too. big, expansive,
alongside knowledge of a particular poem in relation English Literature is all about readers, writers
to others, skills at the service of knowledge and vice and, crucially, the relationship between them. That’s broad and
versa. It’s what Professor Robert Eaglestone helpfully
describes as ‘doing English’, or more humorously ‘being
a complex business: nerves and muscle and bone and
blood supply and chemicals and hormones all operating
inclusive
an Englisher’ – in the way that others are geographers, together to make the body work. If we look only at a in all kinds
historians or modern linguists, who discover the
processes which subject disciplinary experts use to ‘do’
small bone in the foot in isolation, not even at a whole
skeleton, or at blood in a test tube, or at a single nerve
of different
their subject. twitching, we never see the whole body in motion. ways”
The big picture: making connections We should be drawing them into the process of being
To turn now to another question I asked about the to be able to refer back and forwards in this kind of way.
poem – ‘What does this remind you of?’ – it seems to Unprompted, they might say, for instance, ‘it’s not at all
me to be a particularly important one. The text might like that other poem we read – ‘The Sea is a Hungry
remind you of personal experiences and send the Dog’ by James Reeves – and their teacher might ask
conversation outwards (and inwards) into life and mind why. And that opens up the conversation about themes
and emotion: that’s after all, what poems are meant to and ideas – one being about this, the other about that –
do – to connect with you personally, to make you think but also about the very different poetic stances, voices,
and feel. It might bring up strongly held feelings about stylistic choices. By the time they reach GCSE and
the environment and nature. unseen poetry (and then perhaps, hopefully, A Level),
How about if I’d asked you to use the first two lines they will have broad experiences and big ideas to draw
as a starting-point for a poem of your own? Or if I’d on when looking at any single text – a rich context into
suggested that you write about a place that you think which to put it.
has been spoilt for you by people. (In my case, it might
be the Alhambra, with all its tourists taking photographs Curriculum as conversation
– or my neighbours’ new back extension, blocking out As those of you have read my blogs will know, I’m very
the light in my kitchen.) taken with the work of an American acolyte of Harold
But equally it might and should send you into other Rosen’s called Arthur Applebee. Rosen supervised
literary experiences and encourage you to make his PhD when he was living and studying in London.
connections with other reading and writers. These kinds Applebee and his colleagues, undertaking research
of conversations, with yourself and with others, are vital in 2002 into the most effective English classrooms
not only to reading literature but to studying it. They are a in the US, drew attention particularly to this idea of
fundamental part of the way all thinking and all knowledge connections – the linking of one idea to another, the
works – the categorisation of what we encounter – why drawing of parallels and relationships, the bigger
a text is this, or this, or this, but not that, or that, or that. picture of literature and the subject. The write-up of
So, encouraging those literary connections and this research says:
comparisons is really important – going out from a Interconnectedness is an important feature of effective
text in big, expansive ways and then back in again. I curriculum and instruction at virtually every level,
recognise the poem as a poem only because of others from the coherence and interconnectedness of classroom
that I’ve read. It’s more like a lyric poem than a discussion on a particular day, to connections across
narrative one. It’s short, intense and it has a point to school experiences and between school and home, to
make. I recognise it in these ways only because I’ve read the interweaving of reading writing and discussion
other poems, ones that are both like it and not like it, throughout a unit, to the exploration of key concepts
“If we narrow lyrics and narratives. I automatically start to categorise and questions over the course of a semester or year […].
the focus to it in my mind to discover what makes it special, where
it sits in the world of poems and poem-ness.
words only, It makes me think of other sea poems, Matthew
to small detail, Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach’ for instance – also questioning
humanity in the wider landscape, both natural and
and always spiritual. It makes me think of Anne Stevenson’s ‘With My
and only to Sons at Boar Hills’ – a very different poem – much more
personal, using a memory of her sons as children to think
the narrower about time passing. It’s a bit more like Larkin’s ‘To the Sea’
questions of perhaps? But his vision is more photographic, and more
about people and their lives, less about nature and what
comprehension people do to it. It makes me think of William Carlos
in a single Williams – the simplicity, but also that taking you out of a
scene or a description into something more profound and
poem, rather yet still elliptical and uncertain. Or new ecological writing
in other genres – Robert Macfarlane for instance. And so
than ‘big on, and so on. If I started to talk to someone else about
picture’ this – any one of you for instance – I’d hear about other
poems, I’d remember others myself, I’d refine my thinking
ideas, we risk not only of the specific poem but also poetry in general.
becoming blind
In the classroom
to the aspects Now obviously students don’t have all these poetic
of texts that reference points. But they have to start somewhere.
And that’s with us. In English classrooms. If you’ve read
are both most only a handful of poems in detail, that gives you limited
important experience. So students should be reading lots of poetry,
in lots of different ways – sometimes close up, of course,
and also cause looking at the brush strokes, but sometimes also just
students most strolling through the gallery, noticing the different
kinds of things on offer, and visiting many different
difficulty.” kinds of galleries.

In contrast, the good but not exceptional classrooms that Part Two: Conversations in the Classroom
CELA have studied have been orderly and systematic, For the second part of my talk I want to focus on what
but they have tended to treat ideas and experiences in actually happens when you construct your teaching in
isolation from one another, as building blocks in the larger this way – where conversations about individual texts
curriculum, rather than nurturing rich layers of possible are at the heart of teaching, but where those significant
links by inviting constant comparison, contrast, and the conversations go beyond the narrow confines of the
re-visiting of related ideas and experiences. (Applebee, single text and reach both back into memory, sideways
Burroughs and Stevens : ‘Engaging Students in the into students own experiences of life and literature, and
Disciplines of English: what are effective schools forwards, too, anticipating, prefiguring and developing
doing?, 2002) the kinds of conversations that we hope that students
will go on to have about future texts and experiences of
Applebee sees the English curriculum as one big, literature, both in academic study and in their reading
continuing ‘conversation’. He sees knowledge as being lives as adults. “There is
about entering into subject disciplinary conversations
and traditions of thought. I find this a very appealing It’s Good to Talk
no need
and intuitively ‘true’ way of thinking about the English
curriculum in schools. I can look back at my own
In our project, It’s Good to Talk, as its name suggests, to exclude
conversation is seen as a means of learning as a well
teaching over thirty years and at the great teaching I as being fundamental to knowledge in the subject. In
students’ own
saw both then and have seen since, and this particular
way of characterising it seems to me to have been a
September last year we worked with a Year 9 cohort in a experience
school in East London who were studying a novel (In the
feature of the very best of what I’ve experienced, seen Sea, there are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda). Half the cohort from the
and still see in classrooms.
Two extracts from Applebee’s book Curriculum as
did their old scheme of work – largely powerpoint-led, conversation.
with several lessons focusing on prior knowledge, little
Conversation contain further important messages for us, opportunity to focus on student response), and a close In fact, the
particularly at this moment, when the curriculum and
knowledge are being debated so passionately, and when
focus on preparation for GCSE language exam questions.
The other half followed a new scheme written by myself
conversation
English departments are searching for a rationale and a and one of the teachers at the school, Lucy Hinchliffe, can’t really
set of principles for new thinking. Applebee says to new
students of English:
who was working one day a week at EMC. (See Teaching
English Issue 20 (article pictured below) for further detail
happen
English is like a long conversation through time. Like any about these two different approaches.) without it.”
conversation, it moves over various linked themes; it has Features: Becoming Our Own Experts
quarrels and agreements; people talk at the same time,

struggle to be heard or shout louder to dominate the debate;
people suggest fresh ideas (‘what about this’?) or respond
to earlier ones (‘can we just go back to…’); there are newer
and older participants; like all proper conversations, part
of it concerns the past of the conversation itself (‘can we
please focus on why we are discussing this?’); and now
you, doing English, have joined this conversation and will
change what’s said next. (Arthur Applebee: Curriculum
Rethinking KS3:
as Conversation: Transforming traditions of teaching
and learning, 1996)
A Novel Approach
In the same book, he also says:
A classroom research project
on studying a novel with four
Schooling should be organised to help students enter
into culturally significant domains for conversation, Year 9 classes
themselves representations of broader cultural traditions
of knowing and doing. By placing the emphasis on entry
into such conversations, I seek to ensure that students will
emerge with knowledge-in-action rather than knowledge-
out-of-context. By stressing culturally significant domains As part of the English and Media Centre’s research project
I seek to ensure that education is organised around living on group work in English, a school in East London worked
traditions that look to the present and future as well as the with the EMC on the teaching of a novel in Year 9.
past. And by stressing domains for conversation, I seek Barbara Bleiman reports on the findings which led
to ensure that there is an emphasis on the structure and the department to change its approach to KS3 English.
interrelatedness of ideas and experiences within a domain. For 6 weeks, from September to the end of October texts, both at KS3 and KS4, not only towards GCSE in
2018, an English department in outer London was
involved in a Year 9 project for EMC’s group work
“This project
general but more specifically towards addressing the
specific requirements of the GCSE Language exam.
What I love about this is the way it encapsulates research, ‘It’s Good To Talk.’ The project was designed led to a
The new scheme involved lots of work on close
everything I’ve said about the interrelationships between by me and Lucy Hinchliffe, who works four days a week
at the school and one day a week at EMC. It started
language analysis and paragraph writing, looking towards
significant re-
each of the sections of the Language exam and as
particular bits of knowledge and textual experiences, with the department’s desire to build more group work thinking in the
preparation for the internal assessment that forms part
and dialogic learning into their curriculum – but soon of the whole school data and student performance
but also connects this with Rosen’s and others’ ideas became something much more all-encompassing. department
tracking. As well as focusing heavily on the GCSE
about students’ ‘perceptions, experiences, imaginings and

It led to a significant re-thinking in the department about what
requirements, the scheme had a strong contextual ‘prior
about what KS3 English should be offering to students knowledge before reading’ element, with students doing
KS3 English
unsystematically acquired knowledge admitted as legitimate and what kinds of experiences will best prepare them their own research on the Hazaras and Pashtuns of
for GCSE without sacrificing a genuine and deep should be
Afghanistan and the political context which is the impetus
curricular content.’ There is no need to exclude students’ development of subject knowledge and capability. for the events of the novel. The teachers provided lots
offering to
of scaffolding in the form of PEETAL (Point, Evidence,
own experience from the conversation. In fact, the The existing scheme of work students and
Explanation, Technique, Analysis, Link) and other
The department had already been teaching In the Sea forms of detailed support for writing. Inference was
conversation can’t really happen without it. There are Crocodiles for four or five years and had an what kinds of
taught explicitly, using images of Afghanistan and of
existing scheme of work that all the teachers followed,
taught largely from PowerPoint presentations. Last year
experiences
migrant journeys. The general classroom pattern was
varied, including reading, presentation, and explanation
the scheme was adapted to explicitly focus on preparing will best
from the front, with some open tasks and opportunities
the students for the demands of the new Language
GCSE. This is something that English departments are
prepare
NATE | Teaching English them
| Issue 22 | 37
for talk. There was no creative/critical writing (such as
‘writing in the style of’) and it involved a significant
increasingly doing – slanting the experience of literary for GCSE.”
amount of modelling of paragraph writing.
“We asked In the original scheme, there was very little of what
I’d call big picture thinking – What’s my response? Which
what kind of text this would be. Their first thoughts
about what was most significant were collected on the
ourselves what was the most powerful moment for me? What does it remind whiteboard, in order to establish an on-going, class
happens when me of? What kind of book is this? How does it compare
with other novels I’ve read? and so on. The new scheme
agenda – a kind of flexible, provisional, changing,
developing, ever more sophisticated set of ideas about
you focus on (which came to be known by the teachers as ‘the EMC what’s important to them about the book. It could be
way’) offered a radically different approach, that would done differently, by reading the first chapter and then
big things – encourage these kinds of ideas and insights, responses pooling ideas about important aspects of subject matter,
big ideas first, and thoughts, conversations that were serious and high themes, style, voice, genre and so on. In our case, we
level and personal and literary in their nature. did it using these little fragments, that were explored in
before small We asked ourselves what happens when you focus groups and then discussed in class.
techniques. on big things – big ideas first, before small techniques: Here’s one example of an agenda that emerged from
the reading and discussion of these fragments:
Right from • What is your response to the text and why? Its
subject, its events, what you find most interesting, • Leaving home
the start, the moving, powerful • Unhappy
students were • Big ideas and concepts in literature – e.g. the novel, • Away from home and imagines going back
genre, fact/fiction
encouraged • Some is in italics, some isn’t. Some of the italics are used
• Significant narrative features – e.g. voice and point of
to think hard view, narrative arc, dialogue, coherence, significant
for words which are clearly from his home
• The use of dialogue between the teller and Fabio
about aspects of prose style
• Moving to another family
important • What makes the text distinctive? What are the
‘characteristic’ features and qualities of the text? Big • Money problems that cause the family to separate
issues – to think patterns.
• A background story?
big, questioning • Understandings about the way texts work that can
• A move for a better life?
be taken forward into the study of the next & future
ideas and novels. • No speech marks for dialogue – why?
drawing in We had half the Year 9 cohort doing it the new ‘EMC’
• A poor life – the teller is not rich
previous way and the other half using the existing scheme of work. • Indentation sees to show importance to some of what he’s
Right from day one, lesson one, the students in the saying. Usually short sentences
experiences EMC groups were encouraged to think about these • Based in Afghanistan
and knowledge.” issues – to think big, not just in terms of the kinds of
• Men are often treating our storyteller badly
ideas but also in questioning, drawing in previous
experiences and knowledge. To think hard about • The retelling of a story that happened to them
important issues.
• Conversation about the story
Exploring response: fragments of text • Formal and informal mix – teenager?
In that first lesson, they were given fragments of the text • Cultural references
to explore (see below) – to whet their appetite without
spoiling the book, and to set them thinking about • Enaiat and Fabio

I also want to show you a tiny fragment from a student’s This gives a sense of the range of thinking going on –
exercise book, just to give you a glimpse of how these uncompartmentalised, grappling with themes, but also
agendas developed over time. very strongly engaged with the subject, the characters,
the events, the ways of telling.
Challenging statements
In another lesson, Lucy gave her students the following
challenging statements cut up in envelopes:
1. Fiction and non-fiction are both entertaining. In lots of
ways, they cross over
2. Non-fiction can never be 100% fact. It’s always going to
have elements of forgotten memories or exaggeration
3. It is not right to tell someone´s sad story to
entertain readers
4. Non-fiction should always lead us to think about
serious issues
As lessons went by, new ideas were added, both
collectively in class, and individually by students. So we 5. Non-fiction cannot be !00% not fiction if it is written
start to hear, by lesson 2, about how they’ve been to entertain
discussing the fact that it seems to be non-fiction written 6. Non-fiction is not written to entertain. It is only
in a fiction-like way, for instance, and what that means. written to tell
7. The truth can never be 100% the truth
“Students’ thinking was
8. It is possible to tell both the truth and an entertaining
uncompartmentalised, story
grappling with themes, but 9. A person cannot tell another person’s story 100%
also very strongly engaged accurately. That would be impossible
with the subject, the characters, 10. Children see things differently than adults. A child’s
perspective can be captured in writing though
the events, the ways of telling.”
(Incidentally, as an aside, it’s worth thinking about
They had to agree/disagree, pick ones they were most “Students’ first
interested in, talk about them and then choose one to
the use of subject terminology here. The language of write about in an exploratory way. She read to them thoughts about
the subject is being included quite simply & naturally.
No lesson time was given separately to explaining the
something she’d written herself about an entirely what was most
different statement, to show how she used writing to
meanings of words like protagonist, imagery, voice, think and explore, to work out her own ideas about it. significant
rites of passage and so on but they were being used. In
lessons, useful terms were used – when they were useful.
Here one student chooses to write about the were collected
statement ‘It’s possible to tell both the truth and an
They came up naturally in classroom conversations. No entertaining story’: on the
modelling was needed to incorporate them in writing
because students had heard them said enough to know whiteboard,
how to do so. Students weren’t rewarded for using, or in order to
not using them. What was valued was good ideas well
expressed in whatever way one can best express them.) establish an
Here, just a couple of lessons into the study of the
book, you see a student adding their own ideas to what’s
on-going,
been discussed to the agenda – a rich mix of stylistic class agenda
observations and ones about the events of the novel and
what their underlying implications are. They write:
– a kind of
Now, if you were going to mark this on GCSE criteria,
• Conversation between the teller and writer are you’d probably complain about all sorts of things. You’d flexible,
in italics to show present tense and when they’re see it through a very different set of lenses to the ones I provisional,
having a conversation. hope we can all see it through. The student is struggling
a bit to express his ideas. But what he’s trying to express changing,
• He wants to move to Iran for a new life.
• People are racist to him.
is really difficult and interesting. It’s at the heart of what developing,
makes this book especially complex and special – the
• He changes during the chapters, becoming braver. telling of someone’s real life story as fiction, but with ever more
the teller stepping out of the fiction from time to time,
to include fragments of dialogue between himself and
sophisticated
the real boy whose story he is telling. set of ideas
One extra question from Lucy, as a kind of ‘think
harder’ question, elicits a range of sophisticated thoughts
about what’s
about how the writer has crafted a ‘novel’ out of fact – important to
the difference between Geda (the writer) and the boy –
which involves the complex issue of voice and viewpoint,
them about
the sequencing of events, and the hook at the start. the book.”
Lucy’s focus is on developing the student’s ideas. There’s like he was being pierced by a really sharp wind. Razor is a
no formalistic attention paid to a structure into which second key word. It’s a noun that makes you feel sorry for
these ideas must fit. It’s exploratory and developmental Enaiat as the wind was so harsh and freezing cold that it
in nature, at this stage, not writing to a GCSE question cut your cheek, similar to a razor. Therefore this leads me
task. And what emerges is good thinking in my view, for to agree with the statement because of the use of a simile.
Year 9:
What do we notice about this? For me, PEETAL
has shrunk literary studies to words and phrases,
disconnected from bigger, more significant meanings.
Endless mining of single words or phrases means
we have no sense at all about what makes this book
special, why it’s been written, what its impact is, what’s
been learned about how narrative texts work. And the
exploration of the words themselves ends up being
repetitive, banal, not very illuminating at all.
Here’s an extract from a much, much longer piece
by Student B, a student in Lucy’s ‘EMC’ group. It was
written for homework, based on the student’s own
annotations of a different extract, responding to the
question: ‘How is this extract characteristic of the rest of the
novel?’
This extract is characteristic of the whole novel in the way
that something positive happens but it is always followed
He’s exploring the text in ways that will stand him in
by something negative […]
very good stead when he goes on to his next novel –
in this case Great Expectations – allowing him to engage The way that parenthesis is used is similar to the rest
in Applebee’s connected curriculum, in a long-term of the novel in some ways, as it keeps up the sense of a
set of ‘conversations’ between one text and the next. conversation. For example, Enaiat says ‘I’ve already said
“If we want (Lucy did, in fact, find that students drew spontaneous,
insightful parallels and contrasts with In the Sea There
– if I’m not mistaken’ and he says ‘and one of the most
appropriate (so I believed).’ This shows his uncertainty
our subject are Crocodiles as soon as they started work on the to his memories. Also it reminds us of the age that he is
to thrive and Dickens – exploring ideas about rites of passage novels,
differing narrative arcs, child’s eye perspectives and so
narrating and that it was long ago when it happened. It
shows us the unreliability of his memories and it reminds
grow, it has on – often without prompting). us that the book is a work of fiction Also it is a constant
reminder that Enaiat is telling Geda about his experience.
to be a subject From informal to formal: from exploration to […]
that brings writing The way Enaiat has both adult and childlike qualities and
What kind of writing emerged from the EMC groups
students on generally, as compared with the non-EMC ones, who
the way he yearns to remain a child, is also characteristic
of the novel …
board, that were doing something very different in classwork (lots
of PEETAL paragraphs and constant reference made to In this you can see the use being made of the
takes them the demands of the GCSE Language paper)? sophisticated thinking that started in the very first
and their own Here are a couple of short examples of writing lesson, and in the one about the nature of fiction and
taken from the student exercise books. The questions, non-fiction. Her reflections on the use of parentheses
contributions as you’ll see were slightly different – in seemingly are rooted in thinking about the nature of the narrative
seriously, and small but significant ways. The non-EMC questions
always mirrored the GCSE Language exam. The EMC
and the way it is told. Even in this tiny extract, one has
a good sense of it being about this particular novel and
allows them questions varied, but writing about extracts quite often what makes it special.
to take a full took the form of ‘in what ways is this extract characteristic
of the rest of the novel’, with students being expected to
What’s interesting about the ‘EMC way’ students’
writing is that, although there is a common spine to
part in the draw into close reading their understanding of the text their writing – the things that have been emerging
conversation. as a whole – small detail at the service of big picture
thinking.
through the collective agenda – how they choose to
write about these things and what they focus on is
It’s what made Here is Student A’s response (non-EMC), answering very, very different. Even writing about a short extract,
the question: ‘A student reading this extract said: ‘In this
the subject extract Enaiat is clearly struggling to survive. It makes me
they choose different quotations to focus on, they say
different things, they say them differently. They select
one we all feel sorry for him’. To what extent do you agree?’ what they genuinely deem to be most interesting and
chose to do I agree completely with the students who says that he feels
sorry for Enaiat. When Enaiatollah is making his way to
important. No two pieces of writing reads the same. By
contrast, the other groups focus on just a handful of
ourselves. Van, he encounters ‘wind that was like a razor’. This quote the same quotations that have been modelled in class.
We shouldn’t means that the wind was so incredulously cold that it felt
like it was cutting at his cheek. This is a simile because
Across the whole book, when you look through their
exercise books you see that they have only focused on a
expect them of how it is comparing the wind to a razor. This makes few quotations. They don’t make judgements, decisions,
to settle for me feel sorry for Enaiat because of how cold he must
be feeing. A razor is sharp and would cut you, and this
choices for themselves, nor do they apply knowledge
to fresh evidence themselves. They have some limited
anything less.” suggests that it was so cold during the journey that it felt knowledge, but little know-how.

Being freed up to talk about what’s genuinely

interesting and significant also means that the EMC
students go into many more areas of language, in
much more varied ways. The non-EMC students are
so focused on proving their knowledge of language in
PEETAL style, that they only ever talk about metaphors
and similes, as if that’s all language is.
And one thing that is also really noticeable is the
authenticity of the EMC students’ response – the
language in which they express it. So they use phrases
like ‘What stands out for me’, ‘What intrigued me the
most’ [as in this example], or ‘I was struck by’ or ‘I
think’ or ‘I hope that’. The students own ‘perceptions,
experiences, thoughts, imaginings’ (as Harold Rosen
describes them) find a valid, important place in their
writing and their writing is all the richer and more
authentically ‘English’ for that.
Conclusion: Beyond the Brushstrokes

There’s been a lot of interest in the novel project. But “The students own ‘perceptions, experiences,
it’s not just about novels. It’s about everything. It’s about
how we work on texts across the whole landscape of
thoughts, imaginings’ (as Harold Rosen
English. So let me conclude by going back to the idea describes them) find a valid, important place in
of how students work and think about poetry, which we
examined earlier, when we looked at the poem about
their writing and their writing is all the richer
the beach in Picardy. and more authentically ‘English’ for that.”
The brushstrokes of close reading are important, of
course they are – but in the wider context of the painting, For me, Naomi-Lee is fully entering our subject discipline
the movement, the whole gallery, and many, many and, aged 11, doing it with gusto. She’s engaging in the
different galleries. And here’s what happens when you big, important conversations of English. She’s doing
allow students to walk around a gallery, enjoying the just what Applebee talks about in terms of engaging
art works before looking at the brushstrokes of a in disciplinary traditions, and just what Harold Rosen
single painting – allowing them to read openly and describes as bringing in ‘affective’ and ‘unpredictable’
enthusiastically and develop points of reference and elements. For me, (as in the work of the students on the
comparison of their own, engaging with important ideas. Year 9 novel), this is indeed, ‘knowledge made not given’
Richard Long, a Head of Department in High and these students’ ‘perceptions, experiences, imaginings
Wycombe who has been a hugely enthusiastic, committed and unsystematically acquired knowledge’ have truly been
member of EMC’s project, worked with me on poetry ‘admitted as legitimate curricular content.’
at KS3. Here’s what happened in the first lesson: If we want our subject to thrive and grow, if we want
1. Teacher chose a poem, read it to the class, they talked students to choose to study it at A Level and at university
about it – what they liked about it, what’s puzzling, – and if we want students to do well at GCSE – this is
surprising, intriguing about it. what it has to be: a subject with genuine intellectual
interest, that brings students on board, that takes them
2. Students were given a small cluster of 5 or 6 poems
and their own contributions seriously and allows them
to choose between (individually), with the same
to take a full part in the conversation. It’s what made
prompts – what do I like, what puzzles me, etc.
the subject one we all chose to do ourselves – and they
3. Students worked in groups, presenting their poems have an entitlement to that. We shouldn’t expect them
to each other, and picked one that the whole group to settle for anything less.
liked. Prepared to read it and present it to the whole
class. Barbara Bleiman
4. Students individually wrote about one poem chosen is an editor of emagazine, and a former Director of
the English and Media Centre. She was presented
from all those encountered in the lesson, in an open, with NATE’s award for an outstanding contribution
exploratory way, on a class blog. to the teaching of English in 2019
The student choices were fascinating, often not at all References

what their teachers expected. 11-year-old boys were Arthur Applebee (1996): Curriculum as Conversation:
choosing Maya Angelou and saying ‘I really, really like Transforming traditions of teaching and learning,
that!’. Students were picking challenging and enigmatic Chicago University Press.
poems – sometimes ones the teachers had been a bit Applebee, Burroughs and Stevens (2002): ‘Engaging
reluctant to include – rather than the simplest. Students in the Disciplines of English: what are
Naomi-Lee picked her favourite poem (‘This poem effective schools doing?’, The English Journal, Vol
is dangerous’) from the lesson to write about in the 91, No 6, NCTE.
blog. (Read the poem at: https://teifidancer-teifidancer. Harold Rosen (1981): ‘Neither Bleak House not Liberty
blogspot.com/2010/09/this-poem-elma-mitchell.html). Hall: English in the Curriculum’ (1981), in John
Her response was addressed to Richard and to the Richmond: Harold Rosen: Writings on life, language and
other students: learning, 1958–2008, UCL London.

Daring to be a Writer
Arvon Creative Writing Retreats for Teachers
Jonathan Morgan, NATE’s Director, explains how an Arvon
Teacher Week helped him reconnect with his inner writer.
I’ve always fancied myself as a bit of a writer. Maybe with. Or maybe that’s just an excuse ... (What was it that
I’ve deluded myself into believing that working within George Bernard Shaw said? “He who can does; he who
education has simply been a preparation for – perhaps cannot, teaches.” What ever happened to him anyway?!)
a distraction from – achieving the aim of becoming a In my view, though, writing for pleasure has been
full-time writer. I’ve done an MA in Scriptwriting, and neglected in the English teaching community, with
“English written some short stories, poems and book reviews other issues having dominated the national agenda
teachers are – though the only things I’ve had published are
educational textbooks and articles such as this one.
for too long. English teachers are naturally critical and
perceptive readers of texts, but I’m not sure we have
naturally Being a published writer is obviously something to the same confidence when writing creatively – and we
perceptive be proud of – even though the majority of my textbooks
are out of print and out of date! That professional and
naturally have some anxiety about exposing our own
writing to scrutiny, rather than reflecting on someone
readers of personal desire to have something published is something else’s. Many schools contain reading groups and book
texts, but I’m NATE appreciates and supports, and it provides many
opportunities for teachers to have their work published
clubs for teachers, but not many have teacher writing
groups – though the National Writing Project, led
not sure we in its publications and through CPD: here I am exploiting by Jeni Smith and Simon Wrigley, has done amazing
have the same my role as Director of NATE to get my work out there.
Let me not kid myself, though: writing creatively –
work setting up local teacher writing groups across
the country (see www.nationalwritingproject.uk), and
confidence being the genius sitting in that dusty attic, or, better still, I would urge you to join one of these if you can.
when writing a theatre café bar (where my lucky BBC scriptwriting
friend spends most of his day drinking coffee, musing The Arvon Foundation
creatively and, of course, writing occasionally) – has always been Another way to get writing is to enrol on a course, such
– or about an aspiration, albeit perhaps a pretty unrealistic one. as one run by The Arvon Foundation – www.arvon.org
– which has a well-established programme of creative
exposing our Teachers as writers writing courses and retreats, tutored by leading authors,
own writing Being an English teacher with a good understanding
of the writing process – planning, narrative, character,
in its three rural centres. Recently I had the opportunity
to attend an Arvon teachers’ week at one of its centres,
to scrutiny, theme, editing, redrafting, etc. – has in many ways The Hurst, in the beautiful Shropshire village of Clun.
rather than inhibited me (and others I’ve spoken to) from writing
creatively: it has made me very self-conscious as a
I saw this as a perfect moment to reconnect with my
love of creative writing (whilst of course selflessly fulfilling
reflecting writer. Every time I vary sentence length or include a my role at NATE of sharing good practice and developing
on someone literary device I am perhaps thinking too much about
the craft, the process and reader impact – rather than
creativity in teachers). I was a little apprehensive – and
daunted by being in a room with ‘real’ writers: the
else’s.” simply writing for myself and seeing what I come up incredibly talented Cliff Yates, Catherine Johnson and

Emma Carroll. Moreover, I’ve always had a rather

sceptical attitude towards the idea of a retreat, with its
connotations of team-building staff training days, post-
it notes, flip-chart paper, highlighters and even – as in
the case of my previous role as a National Strategy
consultant – using potatoes, plasticine and spaghetti to
create a spaceship as a way of demonstrating AFL in
action (though not quite sure what that taught me about
effective feedback and marking).
I did feel some slight awkwardness and anxiety on
arrival – despite how welcoming everyone was, and
despite the inspirational surrounding of The Hurst.
Sitting in a circle with other teachers – including two
headteachers and a science specialist (a great example
of literacy across the curriculum!) – we nervously made
our introductions. However, supported by Arvon’s
understanding ethos, it felt a real privilege to be in the
company of teachers who also struggled with daring
to call themselves ‘a writer’. We were quickly told that
teachers don’t need permission to be writers and that all
writers suffer with ‘imposter syndrome’ – a condition
that can cause insecurity and doubt as a writer.
Some teachers in the group had full novels all ready
to go, whereas others were like me – with a very small
portfolio of work that needed development. One of the
teachers made the perceptive point that ‘when teachers
become writers they have a greater voice in the classroom’:
being able to model good writing is important, but
having experience of the struggles of a writer in finding
ideas and inspirations and coping with that ‘blank page’
syndrome is also essential.
The Arvon experience

Arvon has been successfully running writing retreats for
over fifty years, and the organisation and structure of the
5-year-old with play dough’ and ‘like walking around in other
people’s lives’. It’s clear that we all have stories to tell – it
“Supported
week proved this. There was a perfect mix of workshops, is just the mechanics of how we tell those stories that by Arvon’s
individual tutorials, down-time to actually write (what
a treat!), and, most importantly, for those five days, the
inhibit us – as well as issues of self-belief.
The one-to one workshops with the writers
understanding
opportunity to actually think and feel like a writer. We were hugely beneficial because the feedback was ethos, it felt a
were all treated as writers, rather than teachers, and
the tutors were very clear in communicating that the
direct, personal, honest whilst being supportive and
encouraging. The evening talks from the writers were
real privilege
purpose of the sessions was to develop confidence in also inspirational – not only because we (rather jealously to be in the
the person – not to help with writing a scheme of work perhaps) heard about their successes as writers, but also
back at school. I was also struck by the commitment to because we gained invaluable insights into the social company
be ‘off grid’ and reconnect with a pen and paper – rather and psychological demands of being a writer. Despite of teachers
than using technology. their successes, they too can feel insecure about
The workshops typically stated with ‘free writing’ – their writing. who also
not a new concept of course to teachers, though as a Beyond the formal aspects of the course, we struggled with
writer it was a strange experience, and a rather cathartic also developed friendships through having group
one, to let oneself off the leash, without fear of being responsibility for preparing a meal for the whole team daring to call
judged or ridiculed. We encourage students to plan for
creative writing – but I’m not sure, following this course,
– and the less said about my onion ‘gravy’ the better! themselves
that this is the best way of expressing free thought: it can And finally … ‘a writer’.”
be restrictive too. We were told that ‘thinking is the thief of Thank you to the Arvon team, tutors, and fellow writers
time’ which I thought was a fantastic way of describing (also known as teachers) for an incredible week, which
procrastination. Yes, you sometimes look back at what really motivated me to work to develop the creativity
you have written and squirm – but that wasn’t the point. of English teachers, as well as to reconnect with
We are happy with the concept of ‘warming’ up before my own personal interest in writing. NATE plans to
we engage in exercise – shouldn’t the same process be have a creative writing competition for teachers so
applied to writing creatively? (Indeed, it’s a shame our watch this space…
students don’t have this privilege in their exams).
The range of writing activities that we engaged in On the next page, you can read some comments by
really helped to develop resilience and confidence – participants, and some poems written on the course.
drawing upon personal experience and memories that
I had actually forgotten about until I was prompted. Jonathan Morgan
We were often told that writing should be ‘like being a is Director of NATE

Daring to be a Writer – Arvon Creative Writing Retreats for Teachers
41 Molesworth Street
41 Molesworth Street,
Cookstown,
County Tyrone.
The address I learnt to spell
and write correctly.
The house where I was born,
I told the teacher.
‘Not exactly,’ she corrected.
‘Yes exactly,’ I confirmed.
I was born in the back bedroom
What the participants said while Mum read, ‘Gone with the Wind’.
She had no answer
to that.
Cliff Yates – course tutor (https://cliffyates.wordpress.com/):
It was a brilliant week. The group gelled instantly, they were mutually supportive and A house on a street,
the atmosphere was great. They had no trouble seeing themselves as writers rather attached to a shop.
than teachers. Occasionally the experience of discussing their poems led to real insight I remember the parquet floor,
into implications for their teaching. During a tutorial one of them said: ‘when a teacher a mouse under the china cabinet,
becomes a writer they have a clearer voice in the classroom.’ Brilliant! Hearing that was waiting for Santa.
so great - you can imagine. I remember the settee,
The teachers quickly grasped the implications of their new insights for their teaching sage green and bobbly.
of the reading of poetry as well as their teaching of writing. As a former teacher I always On 16th July 1969
wanted to teach this course – I enjoy working with teachers, and realising how this will the sofa became a bed.
benefit so many children and students. I didn’t know
it could do that
Rhonda Glasgow – teacher on the course (An example of a poem Turned out it was just
Rhonda wrote during the week is below): that one time.
For a Belfast primary school teacher, passionate about literacy and writing, the Arvon
Teachers’ Week was both a luxury and an adventure. The adventure was into the unknown Rhonda Glasgow
world of poetry writing, inspired by the unique talents of poet Cliff Yates. He said to read
it aloud, to use specific names, and that only you can write what you write. I loved it. I’m a writer – don’t slay
Let’s play –
The Arvon Foundation: sweep inhibitions away.
For Arvon, teachers are among our most important partners, as the benefits of their
Kneading the dough,
experiences on our creative writing courses are multiplied many times over in the
moulding some clay –
resulting impact on their students. Arvon Teacher courses offer a chance to develop
at least for today.
as both a teacher and a writer, and by going through this creative journey themselves,
teachers gain insights that help them empathise with the struggles their students face Awaken the midnight
when exploring their own creativity. We’re heartened by the positive feedback from storm within us
these courses, with many teachers telling us the Arvon week revived their enthusiasm that’s not perfect.
for the profession at a time when they had been considering leaving teaching altogether. Stitching and glitching.
Through our teacher courses and our research partnerships such as Teachers as Writers
and The Craft of Writing, we hope to continue to have a lasting impact on how both “I’m a writer”
teachers and the children they work with express themselves through writing. Don’t slay.
Jonathan Morgan
Poems written on the course

Rockport shoes Northenden, Manchester.
Rockport shoes, Grab a granny night.
£100, Dress code ironically smart.

Smart shoes.
Hurley’s golf shop, Caterpillar, Kickers though especially
Manchester, Rockport – my Rockport shoes.
1996.
Had to take Steve home
Strong, black, brown on route to Friday’s
smelt like treacle toffee. to get his work shoes.
Sometimes smelling is the best bit – He hated that.
that mark of quality We are in.
that lasted 10 years – No grannies grabbed
a tenner for every year. Just beer stained Rockport.
So what then? They cleaned up a treat mind.
‘Friday’s night club’.
Jonathan Morgan

Mind
the Gap!
Perspectives on
the Transition
from Primary
to Secondary
English
Raina Parker and Carol Robertson, secondary and

primary teachers respectively, reflect on some of the
issues confronting English in relation to the transition
from Year 6 to Year 7.
1 Observing the Transition

In the first of a series on issues around classroom observation,
Raina Parker argues that going into primary schools to observe
students learning is a vital step in thinking about easing the
transition from primary to secondary school.
At the start of each school year a new group of students Year 7 is probably the most difficult for secondary
arrive – in your classroom, in your school, in your key school teachers. Over the decades I’ve been teaching
stage. Knowing what they did last year, how well they Year 7, I have seen transition develop from ‘keep ‘em
did it, and what they need to work on – as well as a range scared, keep ‘em keen,’ to taster days, visits from secondary
of pastoral information – helps us to make sure that each Heads of Year to the feeder primaries, masterclasses
year builds effectively on the last. Sometimes finding this at the secondary school, and files of data containing
information is easy: you wander along to the staff room, levels and sublevels (until levels disappeared) and
department office, or wherever your colleagues hang varying quantities of detail (if such files make it into
out, and you ask them – ‘Little Johnny? Who had him school, into the trays of Heads of Department, in a
last year then?’ Sometimes it is much more challenging. timely manner).

Mind the Gap! – Perspectives on the Transition from Primary to Secondary English
“English The wasted years?

Over the past decade there have been a number of books,
to talk to teachers of Year 6, and to use the National
Curriculum Appendix as a starting point for those
transition articles and research projects looking into what makes discussions: they really do cover it all, and we need to
needs to effective transition from Primary to Secondary school.
In 2010 Bristol University gave us Supporting learning in
keep up the momentum.
One way to do this is to use the language and
build on work the transition from primary to secondary schools, followed terminology of primary teachers in Year 7 so that students
realise they are working on something familiar, but
completed at a year later by Routledge’s Bridging the Transition from
Primary to Secondary School. Barely a year has gone by applying it in more depth, or with higher expectations.
primary level since without a publication on the subject. Ofsted’s James Durran, of North Yorkshire Advisory Service,
Key Stage 3: The Wasted Years? in 2015 made a point of spoke very wisely at NATE Conference last year about
and ensure stating that most schools focus on pastoral rather than the difference between ‘look for all the adjectives’ on the
that students academic transition, and argued that this was part of one hand, and ‘what is the impact of these adjectives?’ or
the cause for the recognised fall in progress from Year 6 ‘find five ominous verbs’ on the other. The latter is far
go on making to Year 7, and subsequent lower average progress at the more challenging, and builds on students’ foundational
progress. One end of KS3, particularly in Maths and English. knowledge.
I used to say that students start Year 7 knowing ‘what’
But what does this look like for the English teacher,
way to do this in the classroom? I know that, in the schools in which I a linguistic feature is, whilst through KS3 they learn to
is to use the have worked, we don’t feel we are ‘wasting’ three years
of our students’ education (60% of their experience
analyse ‘why’ a writer uses it. I think this is probably
outdated now – but I do know that my Year 7 class is
language and of English). However, I do feel that there is a missing very comfortable saying ‘Miss that’s a fronted adverbial so
terminology element in the hard work of transition, and that focusing
more on academic transition is something that English
there ought to be a comma after it,’ and not at thinking,
‘hmm, what does Matthew Arnold mean here and how is he
of primary teachers could be doing themselves to aid both students communicating it?’. (Of course, I would be happy if some
of my Year 11s could manage either!)
teachers in who are already in KS3, and those who will become
‘ours’ in the near future. It could also be excellent CPD And that, perhaps, is one of the places transition goes
Year 7 so for us, on several levels. ‘wrong’. We concentrate (if we concentrate) on Year 7.
Then KS3 content takes over, and we forget to revisit
that students Consolidating academic transition the terminology and skills with which they finished
realise they Academic transition is additional to pastoral, and is Year 6, so they wither away. (Recently, we gave all our
subject-based. English transition needs to build on A Level Language students the 2019 SAT grammar test.
are working the work completed at primary level and ensure that No one got full marks.)
on something students go on making progress. This has to start
Observing primary classrooms
with secondary teachers knowing what is going on
familiar, but in primary in practical terms. Data is important, but Mainly, though – and this draws on experience over a
applying it in that is summative and summary by nature. We need
to understand what ‘working at greater depth’ (as the
dozen different schools and more than two decades – I
feel that transition goes wrong with the divided nature
more depth, SATs assessment puts it) looks like – but also what it of the key stages, and the isolated nature of secondary
or with higher took to get there. The quickest way to find this out it school classrooms. For instance, when I talk to primary
expectations.”

teachers and head teachers (at least termly), they are What saddens me is that I am often the only one
always willing to have visitors and engage with dialogue who gets to experience the wonders of the primary
about what and why they do things. However trying classroom. It is a magical place, and I have only respect
to actually arrange a visit is like trying to prise open for those who teach in them and create that magic.
an oyster: there is a great gift inside, but opening it – Too many secondary school teachers won’t or can’t
finding mutually convenient times, in between the go. We are all too busy – so, so busy. But then again,
challenges of Christmas concerts, mocks, external this is important: successful transition means we
visits, and so on – can prove impossible. can build successful progress in Year 7 and on into
But we keep trying. And when we succeed, I see GCSE.
the most amazing things. Students who are working
independently, quietly, moving around the space And finally …
maturely, completing work to high, high standards. I If I could change one thing, it would be that all secondary
return to a Year 9 class who can’t actually get their books English teachers would have to spend half a day a year
out of their bags without a reminder. I have to remind visiting a primary classroom – and that they would have
myself that these are teenagers, with a lot more going to spend half a day a year watching their secondary
on in their school day than those 10-year-olds, more colleagues teach too: but that’s another article!
adults to negotiate, more spaces to inhabit, different
expectations to adjust to, and so on. They still compare Raina Parker
negatively to the Year 6 class I just left, though! teaches English in Cumbria and is Vice Chair of NATE
2 Resourcing the Transition

Carol Robertson argues that some of the problems of transition
could be eased if secondary schools used easily available Year 6
curriculum and assessment resources to inform Year 7 work.
Anyone with the slightest knowledge of education knows hormones kick in, when first heartbreak hits, when
that the transition from primary to secondary school is social media issues cross over into the dangerous side of
one fraught with issues, pitfalls and barriers. I’ve worked acceptable. And take over they certainly do, embracing
in primaries for over 23 years, but I also have some those children into the new pack. They also have a
knowledge of secondaries through family members and mammoth job trying to integrate all those different packs
friends who have focused their careers on older children together. I am simply in awe of how secondaries manage
and young people. My own view is that other than this with the massive cohort in Year 7, every year.
having the word ‘school’ in common, there is actually We’re expecting children who are the oldest and
very little crossover between the two educational most responsible in school – who’ve become not only “What saddens
establishments. They are two very different beasts! accustomed to but confident with a particular set of
rules, expectations and adults – to scatter themselves me is that I am
The primary-secondary divide
Issues of transition rear their heads every year.
into a whole new world: one where they are back to
being the newbies, the ones who get lost, who can’t find
often the only
Colleagues from secondary establishments try to make the toilets, and who don’t know which older kids are one who gets
contact with their primary equivalents – and realise
that they don’t exist, because we don’t have huge staff
the ones that will ‘understand’. And they even have to
do it wearing different clothes! I know of one student
to experience
bases with specific people allocated to the role of who completely lost the plot upon discovering that they the wonders
‘transition lead’, or even ‘free periods’ in school time to
meet with them.
would ‘not be blue anymore.’
of the primary
The primary equivalent of a transition lead is actually Transition – from pastoral to academic classroom. If I
marking SATs papers, writing reports, making a realistic The local secondary schools who work with my primary
WWII Lancaster bomber from cardboard and paint school try in every way possible to overcome these
could change
for the end of term assembly, and trying to cope with issues. We’ve seen transition experiences increase from one thing, it
the various emotional and behavioural responses the single afternoons to three-day visits – and staff don’t
children who have been part of our school community just ask for data: they want to talk about each child, and would be that
are facing as they start coming to terms with ‘leaving listen when we tell them that Minnie and Mickey really all secondary
us’ and all that is familiar and safe. For many of those must stay together, but Donald really needs to not be in
children, we have been the ones who changed their wet the same class as them. (Several years ago this wasn’t English
pants after those accidents in Year 1, who mopped up
their sick on the coach to the safari park, who explained
the case.)
However, much as secondaries appear, in my
teachers would
why everyone in their house was crying when they first experience, to be really upping their game and creating have to spend
experienced death: these children are part of our pack….
and they’re about to go off and try to integrate into a
supportive packages for pupils to help nurture their
emotional health and social anxieties, I am not sure
half a day a
whole new one! the same can be said about the curriculum. Ask year visiting
I’m not claiming that primaries have a monopoly on
supporting children and being their emotional and
someone in a secondary what a moderated end-of-
year-6 piece of writing which meets the criteria for
a primary
physical crutch: secondaries take over when the ‘greater depth’ looks like. They frequently wouldn’t know. classroom.”
Mind the Gap! – Perspectives on the Transition from Primary to Secondary English
(Similarly, of course, ask primary colleagues what a become enthusiastic about being a stopwatch monitor.
piece of writing for a decent pass grade at GCSE looks They’ll get bored and give up – and you’ll have to train
like – and they frequently wouldn’t know either.) them all over again as that muscle tone is lost.
I’m not sure what the answer is. It goes back to those Easy Fix 2: Use a common language. Children in Year
different beasts. But I think I can see some possible 1 are taught phonics using the very specific terminology
fixes that are not too difficult and that could help. associated with it. 6-year-olds know what split digraphs
and graphemes are, and, over their time in KS1 and KS2,
Fixing it: continuity and progression we build on this to introduce everything from noun
Easy Fix 1: The National Standards required to reach phrases and subordinating conjunctions to the past
‘secure’ or ‘greater depth’ at the end of Year 6 are out progressive tense, so that they can be comfortable using
there. There are multiple examples of work available, the terminology to name structures of language when
and primary colleagues attend lots of moderation presented with them in an author’s work and when
activities throughout the year to ensure that their writing their own pieces.
view of a ‘secure’ child matches the generally accepted Secondary colleagues should expect this of students
standard. Secondary colleagues need to look at this and who have reached the expected standard for the
build on it, focusing especially on ‘greater depth’. end of Year 6. With the building blocks in place and
secure, the joy of KS3 onwards should be enabling
choice, development and experimentation, whilst still
“The local secondary schools who work with maintaining those expectations.
my primary school try hard to overcome Easy Fix 3: Diversity of previous teaching does not
mean you shouldn’t expect the same standards from the
pastoral transition issues, creating supportive students. There are resources out there for English; there
is a common, accepted standard – and it’s moderated,
packages for pupils to help nurture their so you can and should trust it. If children reached the
emotional health and social anxieties. I am not end of Year 6 having achieved the expected standard
in writing, reading, Maths, and grammar, spelling and
sure the same can be said about the curriculum.” punctuation then, regardless of the primary setting
in which they learned, they should be working on a
Some of those kids are writing really fabulous pieces common foundation.
of multi-genre narrative and non-narrative; they are If pupils arrive at KS3 and there are profound
able to use complex sentence structures; they have inconsistencies, do, of course, talk to primary staff,
developed their own writing style, and they are able primary moderators and headteachers and local
to use an incredible range of language accurately to authority advisors and show them your issues. But go
articulate very specific moods and characterisation. back to the expectations for the end of Year 6 and get to
They have to do all this to reach the standard. Failing know them. The children will know them like the back
to give them opportunities to stretch those writing legs of their hands.
they have built up is like expecting a primed athlete to
And finally …
Communicating effectively and in the best interests of
the pupils is crucial. I have tried to suggest that, with
some commonly available resources and some efficient
liaison, there are some things which can be done
relatively easily.
And imagine the time that could be saved from those
‘What’s going wrong in KS3?’ meetings …!
Carol Robertson
is Deputy Headteacher of a primary school in the North
West of England
References
Evangelou M., et al. (2008) ‘What Makes a Successful
Transition from Primary to Secondary School?’
https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=
3431&context=sspapers
Howe, A., ed., (2011) Bridging the Transition from Primary
to Secondary School. Routledge
Sutherland R. et al. (2010) Supporting learning in the
transition from primary to secondary schools. University
of Bristol School of Education
Nottingham Education Partners (2019) Strategic School
Improvement Project – 1: Reading Transition Toolkit KS2 –
KS3, www.nottinghamschools.org.uk/media/1536189/
transition-toolkit-v6.pdf
Ofsted (2015) www.gov.uk/government/publications/
key-stage-3-the-wasted-years

8
8 Ways to Teach Spelling,

Punctuation and Grammar
How do we help our students to become more
confident with the demands of ‘SPaG’ in formal
writing? Francis Gilbert sets out some approaches
based on investigating and working with language
in real reading and writing contexts.
For many English teachers, teaching Spelling, With this in mind, this article aims to provide some
Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) is daunting. The tried and tested ways to diffuse some of these worries
stakes have always been high: students who are not about SPaG, drawing together the best research and
good spellers, struggle to punctuate correctly, and have practice.
a tendency to use non-standard forms in their writing
are unlikely to achieve highly in exams. But since 1. Etymology: discovering the magical origins
2010, the stakes have been ramped up another notch of words
as Conservative ministers have imposed SPaG tests On one of those occasions when I discovered the power
on primary schools and insisted on greater weighting of enthusiasm and investigation, I saw that too many
on SPaG in GCSE and A Level English exams – all of students in one class were not spelling ‘necessary’
which has raised anxieties considerably. correctly. ‘Hey, this is a weird word, isn’t it?’, I said. “The SPaG
English teachers could be forgiven for feeling very ‘Because you’d think it should be spelt ‘nessersary’. So why is message got
jaded about SPaG. During my career as an English there is a ‘c’ acting as an ‘s’ in it?’ Then, in front of the class,
teacher, and now as a teacher-educator, I’ve always felt I looked the etymology up – and this is what I found: through when
very ambivalent about it. The grammar books that I was
asked to use in some schools where I taught – such as
Necessary, adj I myself was
First Aid in English (Maciver 2004) and others – were late 14c. “needed, required, essential, indispensable,” from enthusiastic
Old French necessaire “necessary, urgent, compelling”
horribly dull and didn’t achieve good results: pupils
would plough through various tasks and tests and then (13c.), and directly from Latin necessarius “unavoidable,
about language
forget all that they had supposedly learnt when they indispensable, necessary,” from necesse “unavoidable, and showed
indispensable,” originally “no backing away,” from
came to do some ‘real’ writing. I found, though, that the
message got through when I myself was enthusiastic ne- “not” + cedere “to withdraw, go away, yield” (from
that I loved
about language and showed that I loved investigating it. PIE root *ked- “to go, yield”). The root sense is of that investigating it.”
8 Ways to Teach Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar
from which there is no evasion, that which is inevitable. 3. Reading aloud: expressing yourself, finding
Necessary house “privy” is from c. 1600. Necessary evil your errors
is from 1540s (the original reference was to “woman”). Getting students to read aloud is really important if you
https://www.etymonline.com/word/necessary want them to improve their SPaG. This became clear to
me when I once asked a student to read what they had
This led to a discussion about how the word comes from written in their book to me. (I was sitting beside them so
the French and Latin. We all laughed about ‘necessary they weren’t embarrassed that everyone was listening.)
house’ when I told them what a ‘privy’ was; we thought Their work, which I had not marked, was full of SPaG
about it meaning ‘no backing away’. Now a sort of magic errors. As they read, they began to realise most of their
pervaded the word – and the students’ ability to spell it own mistakes: spelling, punctuation and grammar. The
improved. From that time onwards, I began to discuss act of reading aloud was absolutely central to them
the etymology of important words with my classes, realising their errors. From that time onwards, I asked
finding that it really helped with pupils’ spelling. my students to read their work to each other in pairs or
groups on a regular basis and found that if I asked them
2. Working words out: modelling learning to stop and correct their work when appropriate, this
Some teachers might bridle at the thought of looking had amazingly good results.
up a word in class with students, because, as an English
teacher, students think you are supposed to know the 4. Real contexts: SPaG through reading and
meaning of every single word in the language, and their writing
spellings. This is, of course, an absolute impossibility. While decontextualised tests can have their place (see
Moreover, research has shown that when a teacher below), the overwhelming evidence is that pupils learn
‘models’ how they discover things in front of the class to spell, punctuate and discuss grammar when they
“When and then encourages their pupils to do the same, they are reading ‘real’ pieces of writing and exploring ‘real’
situations. This is why giving them lots of high-stakes
students read really help their pupils to learn both more quickly and
more happily (Watkins, 2010). spelling and grammar tests where they are only writing
aloud, they What does this mean in practice? It means being one-word answers is a waste of time.
You’re far better off using some of the excellent
begin to spot honest! If you don’t know the meaning of a word in a
passage you are reading, then tell your students that resources published by the likes the University of
most of their you find it difficult and show them how you might work Exeter: these are free, research informed and supported
out the meaning. Recent research (Giovanelli, Mason: by yours truly, NATE (see below for details). These
own mistakes: 2015) has shown that reading is often best taught when resources can be used in the classroom with little or
spelling, a teacher doesn’t know the text and is reading it the first no modifications. They model for teachers how the
time with the students – or at least giving the impression teaching of grammar in particular can be embedded
punctuation that they are. In part, this produces better outcomes within the teaching of such texts as A Monster Calls,
and grammar. from students because the teacher is able to model how
they find out what difficult words and phrases mean
Touching the Void, Lord of the Flies and Great Expectations.
If you don’t feel confident about teaching grammar,
The act of by re-reading them, by asking questions, by looking up they are a great place to start because lesson plans and
reading aloud words in a dictionary. I have observed too many lessons
– and been guilty of delivering them myself – where the
resources are provided. Once you’ve used them, you’ll
grow in confidence and then use their ideas to inform
is central to meanings of difficult words are supplied in a glossary. your teaching of other texts.
them realising The process of looking words up in a dictionary aids
spelling and comprehension because students will
The English and Media Centre’s All Sorts (a series of
teaching ideas, resources & plans) also contains some
their errors.” internalise the word, making it their own. brilliant ready-made lessons on the teaching of spelling

(‘Word Banks’) and grammar (‘Proper English’) as

well. Recently, How to Teach Grammar (OUP 2019) by
6. Finding patterns, making sense
NATE published a wonderful resource in 1996 entitled
“Teaching
Bas Aarts, Ian Cushing, and Richard Hudson has also The Grammar Book: Finding Patterns – Making Sense, SPaG
illustrated best practice. which just about sums the whole thing up. Teaching
SPaG effectively is about encouraging students to
effectively
5. Marking: approaches to assessment see the patterns that exist in spellings, sentence is about
One of the problems with marking every single piece
of work for SPaG errors is that pupils don’t learn to
structures, word order and meanings. When you look
closely, strict ‘rules’ rarely exist, but recognisable
encouraging
look for mistakes themselves, but expect the teacher to patterns often do. For example, some spelling patterns students to see
do this. Furthermore, teachers don’t acquire a proper are much more reliable than others: the famous
record of the errors. One of the best ways to assess SPaG ‘i before e except after c’ rule’ has so many exceptions the patterns
productively, then, is to write students’ errors on one (neighbour, weight, etc.) that some experts claim it’s that exist
‘assessment’ sheet while you are marking a set of books. not worth teaching. Estimates say that there are
Keep these sheets in your record systems, which could 923 exceptions and only 44 words that follow the in spellings,
look like this: rule. The appendix for the National Curriculum is sentence
pretty useful in terms of suggesting ‘rules’ but its
prescriptive approach is not helpful for nurturing structures,
Spelling
issues
Punctuation
issues
Grammar
issues
Other
points
enlightened teaching which really gets students
improving their spelling.
word order
and meanings.”
7. Creative re-drafting
As an English teacher I never enjoyed giving spelling
tests; I learnt quite quickly that scouring pupils’ work
You can then experiment with not marking students’ with red marks highlighting all their inaccuracies
work but simply telling your classes that you found was not productive. I realised that it was much better
these errors, getting students to re-read their work to to systematically get students to re-draft their work,
see where they made them, and asking them to correct considering deeply how I might motivate them to do
their errors. This helps them to acquire the vital skill this well.
of proof-reading and saves you a great deal of time too. A great way to do this is to give pupils real audiences
The key point is to gain a central record of errors/ to write for. This makes a huge difference. So, for
issues and then systematically target addressing them example, some of the most effective SPaG lessons I
in your subsequent lessons. Putting all your comments taught were when I asked my difficult Year 9 students,
on one sheet is a great way of doing this. You show many of whom struggled with SPaG, to write exciting
parents and managers that you are marking the work by stories for the new Year 7 students; drafting was built
photocopying this sheet and asking students to put it in into the process and much else beside.
their books, and then reflect upon how they are addressing The Year 9 students met with the Year 7s, interviewed
the relevant issues. Research (Black et al. 2004) shows them about the stories they liked, then planned and
this is a more effective and much less time-consuming drafted their stories a few times, getting their peers to
way of marking than annotating individual books. assess and correct them; at the same time I circulated

8 Ways to Teach Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar
“Giving pupils around the class doing ‘in-class’ marking where

appropriate. I made a point of saying that I expected
Giovanelli, M., and Mason, J. (2015) “‘Well I Don’t Feel
That’: Schemas, Worlds and Authentic Reading in
real audiences the students themselves to make the stories ‘SPaG’- the Classroom.” English in Education, 49 (1). 41–55.
perfect and that they were role models for the Year While Giovanelli and Mason’s work is academic, it has
to write for 7 students. huge implications for English teachers; using a powerful
makes a huge This sense of having a real audience inspired the evidence base, it argues that English teachers should read
students to correct errors themselves and learn from their alongside their students like a real reader rather than
difference, mistakes. Because this idea worked so well, I used it to supplying them with lots of pre-prepared interpretations.
inspiring inform my teaching when SPaG problems occurred with
other classes. For example, I once received some very
I would take this a step further and argue that they need
to model authentic learning about SPAG (see above).
them to weak essays on Shakespeare’s Macbeth from my Year 10s. Department for Education (2013), National Curriculum
Instead of getting them to re-write the dreary essays and – Appendix 1: Spelling. I find the tone and prescriptions
correct errors correct errors, I asked them to use their knowledge of the in this Appendix (full of statutory learning of words etc.)
themselves play to write Macbeth leaflets for my Year 7 class, which off-putting, but the document is clearly laid out. I think
were aimed at giving eleven-year-olds a sense of the plot, the key lesson is that these spellings need to be taught
and learn characters, themes and imagery. The Year 10s learnt more creatively and imaginatively.
from their about Macbeth and SPaG than they’d ever done when
writing ‘lit-crit’-style exam responses because they
English and Media Centre (2007) English Allsorts,
including ‘Word Banks’ and ‘Proper English’. These
mistakes.” were motivated to tell the Year 7s about what they knew. resources are fantastic! They may be quite old now, but
they’re gems, and never failed to work with my classes.
8. A case for explicit instruction? The unit on Word Banks is particularly good for SPaG.
All this said, research also shows that short bursts of Harris, Karen R, et al. “Teaching Spelling, Writing,
targeted, explicit, ‘decontextualised’ instruction can have and Reading for Writing: Powerful Evidence-Based
its place, particularly with pupils who are struggling. Practices.” Teaching Exceptional Children, vol. 49,
Harris et al. (2017) point out that ‘weak spellers are weak no. 4, 2017, pp. 262–272. A very useful academic article
writers because they spend much of their time thinking about and resource for teachers working with SEND students
how to spell words rather than thinking about the content of who are really struggling.
what they are writing.’ (p. 264). This research team go on Harris, Ann, and Marie Helks. “What, Why and How
to point out two vital strategies that go hand in hand: (a) – the Policy, Purpose and Practice of Grammatical
teaching students how to spell high frequency words Terminology.” English in Education, vol. 52, no. 3,
they don’t know how to spell automatically and (b) 2018, pp. 169–185. Key quote: ‘Teachers may well be
teaching students how to plan, draft, re-draft and without a suitable repertoire of pedagogical approaches at
evaluate their work (as suggested in no. 7 above). a time when accountability, high-stakes assessment and
Their paper is well worth reading if you are teaching curricular expectations are at their highest…’ (p. 181)
students who have significant problems with spelling. Kress, G.R., (2000). Early spelling: between convention
They suggest that students with very poor handwriting and creativity. London: Routledge. A classic by the
need to trace words and then visualise them using the late, great Kress, who did so much to make the teaching
‘look, cover, say, write’ approach; they also suggest playing of English a creative, joyful process. It is aimed younger
spelling games such as Word Bingo in pairs, setting clear children, but so much is appropriate for older students too.
goals for themselves. They argue that actually there are Maciver, Angus (2004) The New First Aid in English.
only really about a hundred words that most learners find Hodder Education. London. Arrgh! Death of the soul,
difficult to spell and that if these words are mastered, but still – or iterations of it – sadly being used in many
students will progress quickly. Above all, however, students English classrooms today I think.
need plenty of practice with reading and writing. University of Exeter Centre for Research in Writing
(accessed 2020) ‘Grammar as Choice: Resources
Resources, Further Reading, References for Teachers’. http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/
Aarts, B., Cushing, I., Hudson, R. (2019) Oxford Teaching education/research/centres/writing/grammar-
Guides: How to Teach Grammar. Oxford University teacher-resources/thegrammarforwritingpedagogy.
Press, Oxford. A short, very useful guide on all the thorny These resources are really useful, and free; far better than
topics. It’s particularly good on grammar terminology. many of the very expensive resources you can buy, so well
Bain, Elspeth, et al. (1996) The Grammar Book: Finding worth taking a look at them.
Patterns – Making Sense. NATE, 1996. Sadly, this Watkins, Chris. (2010). Learning, Performance and
wonderful resource too often is languishing on English Improvement. INSI Research Matters series No. 34.
teachers’ shelves in schools. Look at it! Use it, it’s great; www.ioe-rdnetwork.com/uploads/2/1/6/3/21631832/
easy to use and teaches grammar in context. c_watkins_learning_performance_improvement.pdf.
Black, P. et al. (2004) ‘Working inside the Black Box: Watkins really shows how obsessing about results as
Assessment for Learning in the Classroom’. Phi opposed to nurturing learning in a relaxed, happy way
Delta Kappan Magazine, 86(1), pp.8–21. A nice backfires both in terms of results and pupils’ attitudes.
summary of important research into Assessment for Waugh, David, et al. (2016) Teaching Grammar,
Learning, which is very relevant for SPaG teaching. Punctuation and Spelling in Primary Schools (Sage,
Maciver, A. (2004) First Aid in English. Hodder 2013). This book is aimed at primary school teachers,
Education. London. A dry text book, which possibly but I think secondary English teachers could find it very
creates more problems than it solves in that many of the useful too.
tasks are decontextualized exercises, with pupils gaining
Francis Gilbert
little idea of how SPaG issues exist in context. Books of is Senior Lecturer in Education at Goldsmiths University
this type are widely used in schools. of London

Putting
the Art
in English
Opportunities
for creativity
in the English
Curriculum
Visual art can provide a stimulus for thought, discussion

and writing in English, argues Anna Foster, offering
an enjoyable space for the imagination and personal
response to flourish. Here, she explains how she works
with trainee teachers to develop these possibilities.
Art helps us see connections and brings a more coherent trainees to the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester
meaning to our world – Ernest Boyer, President, where various exhibits are used to help them consider how
Carnegie Foundation they could be linked to the current English curriculum.
Here, we explore the purposes and processes of the visit
Under the new Ofsted framework, the idea of a broad and the ideas which have emerged about ways in which
and balanced curriculum has re-emerged. Many art can be incorporated within English.
suggestions have been offered as to how this can be
interpreted and encouraged through the breadth of Why art in English?
texts taught in English, and there is often a focus on Many choose to enter teaching as a profession because
developing awareness of genre, making thematic links of their passion for the subject and the opportunities
between texts, and providing opportunities for students for creativity it offers. However, with the recruitment
to experience texts through other media, including and retention crisis in full flow, many are leaving the
links to music, film or performance. profession within the first five years, often citing “Art is seen
All of these approaches are part of the toolkit of
most English teachers, but one area which is often
burnout and lack of creative opportunities amongst
their reasons. Our visit to an art gallery is aimed at
as an image
overlooked is the use of art. Images are widely used in allowing trainees to consider how art can be used to on a board,
PowerPoints to support learners in visualising context
or to generate vocabulary to support writing, but this
support the teaching of English, to flex their creative
muscles by exploring the art available as well as creating
a starter
tends to be where it ends. Art is seen as an image on a some of their own, and to reflect on how whole lessons task, or a
board, a starter task, or a supplementary resource: yet it
can be so much more.
can be taught without the requirement for PowerPoint
presentations or copious worksheets. By immersing the
supplementary
In order to encourage the use of art within English – trainees in art for an afternoon, without PowerPoint, we resource: yet
and thus broaden the knowledge and experiences offered
to students – and in order to develop awareness of
encourage them to do the same in their own teaching,
exploring creative approaches to teaching both
it can be so
alternative resources, we take a group of English PGDE literature and language. much more.”
Putting the Art in English – Opportunities for creativity in the English Curriculum
Although we give trainees the opportunity to visit the secondary and post-16 coordinator and explore the current
art gallery on this occasion, it’s not suggested that teachers exhibits to see what is available and identify which
must take students to visit a gallery in order to engage with provide most scope to discuss in relation to the teaching
art. Certainly, where this is possible, it offers a valuable of English, focusing on which exhibits resonate with me
experience – the opportunity to expand cultural capital and which I feel would make a useful starting point for
and move learning beyond the classroom. But the emphasis discussion. Following the visit, I source one non-fiction
here is not on the location or on the value of organising a text as a supporting resource to facilitate discussion and
trip: it is on the exhibits themselves – many of which could exploration of one of the selected exhibits, and then
be sourced in alternative ways, or used conceptually by the schedule a self-guided tour (which incurs no costs) for
“The visit trainee to develop alternative classroom pedagogies. It myself and the English PDGE trainees (38 this year)
is aimed at should also be noted that expertise in art is not a
requirement. Indeed, due to the nature of exhibits in the
who have commenced the course just four weeks earlier.
allowing Whitworth, which regularly change, all the art used Exploring art conceptually
trainees to within the session is new and relatively unfamiliar: there
are no tried and tested exhibits used which have been
This year, we began by visiting the Li Yuan-chia
exhibition. This offered stunning photography,
flex their explored with multiple cohorts over a number of years. beautifully hand-painted by the artist. Taking
creative The session is planned and delivered over the course
of just two visits to the gallery. The first visit involves a
inspiration from this, trainees were encouraged to
consider how the same technique could be used to
muscles.” ‘recce’ – as the tutor, I visit the gallery, speak with the connect images and literature together, moving away
from simple identification of features or providing
visual representation of context to consider how use
of colour could facilitate greater connection with
mood, tone and emotion within a text, or how use of
contrasting colours or colour accents could visually
model a writer’s approach to drawing the reader in.
The process here is simple: students are provided
with a black and white image which in some way
connects to the text they are reading. Rather than using
this simply to visualise context, they are encouraged to
look at the image in a new way. Focusing on description
in the text, they alter the image with the following
questions identified as a starting point for any text:
• What aspects might be highlighted?
• What colours might be added?
• Are there any parts of the image which might
become blurred?
• Are there any parts of the image that might be redacted?
• How might the image be altered for different
characters/narrators?
The same approach is then also considered in relation to

figurative meaning, moving beyond the literal description
within the text to explore perspectives and themes,
using the same questions. Here, trainees are encouraged
to use the approach as a tool to develop inference.

Physical objects
Moving on from this, trainees then visited ‘The Reno
@ The Whitworth’ which offered a fabulous opportunity
to explore a local community project in relation to
themes of identity and place. Trainees were encouraged
to reflect upon the poetic form of a displayed timeline,
consider the impact of collage as a stimulus material,
and explore the use of everyday items and artefacts to
make connections with a text as well as supporting
development of narratives within writing.
The Reno exhibit offered trainees an insight into
a specific place – a cellar club which acted as an
unofficial community hub for mixed-race Mancunians “Trainees
throughout the 1970s and 80s. The excavation of
artefacts from the site and their display in the gallery
reflected on
alongside images of local people who frequented the the different
club, as well as video testimony and the opportunity to
listen to music typical of that played, gave trainees the
forms which
opportunity to reflect upon the different forms which art can take,
art can take and the immersive experience provided
by presenting physical objects alongside other forms
and the
of information; and to connect these to potential immersive
teaching opportunities from familiar texts.
Trainees identified and discussed specific artefacts
experience
from the exhibition, reflecting on why they resonated provided by
with them and sharing their ideas about how this
might be used within a lesson. An example of this
presenting
was the use of rusted and discarded cans, broken and physical
covered in dirt, which was suggested as a possible focus
for the teaching of Tatamkhulu Afrika’s ‘Nothing’s objects
Changed’, providing a tangible object for learners to alongside
explore connotations and denotations through a wider
sensory experience, with the potential to use this a other forms
starting point for exploring themes within the poem of information,
itself as well as presenting opportunities for wider
creative responses. making
connections
Exploring contrasting perspectives
One of the highlights of the session was the with potential
opportunity to explore a large-scale installation – an
assemblage of lost items presented within Ibrahim
teaching
Mahama’s exhibition ‘Parliament of Ghosts’ – offering opportunities
a unique opportunity to use the installation itself as
both teaching space and resource. As trainees sat
for familiar
on the aged and abandoned train seats which have texts.”
Putting the Art in English – Opportunities for creativity in the English Curriculum
“Trainees been so carefully constructed into the awe-inspiring

parliament which is at the heart of this exhibition, they
explored how were encouraged to connect with the perspectives and
art can be used meanings suggested by the furniture, photographs and
fabrics they were surrounded by.
to draw out As a starting point, trainees were again encouraged
to reflect on their own ideas on the exhibition and on
language what each item suggested about Mahama’s perspective
and take this on Ghana and what he hoped to communicate through
the collection. They then considered how this could
forward into be connected to the teaching of non-fiction texts.
writing. They They were provided with a piece of travel writing on
Ghana from the Lonely Planet guide, and thought about
considered how comparison of perspectives is a skill that can be
how to taught in different ways, perhaps offering exposure to a
broader range of resources and approaches than simply
overcome comparing two texts on a similar theme. The approach
pupils’ fears generated a range of ideas, with trainees suggesting
opportunities for using, for instance, images from
of being the exhibition, and even a scaled down ‘installation’
presented approach within the classroom, which could allow
students to engage with comparative skills whilst and poems were explored, as well as opportunities to
with a blank removing the barriers some might experience when develop vocabulary in a collaborative way, passing their
creations amongst each other to add words or adapt
page, moving faced with analysing texts.
the object in some way to create new opportunities and
beyond Art into writing ideas for how the object and associated lexical choices
Finally, trainees worked with freelance creative could be used.
planning consultant Johnny Woodhams to explore how art can
grids and be used to draw out language and take this forward into And finally …
writing. They considered how to overcome pupils’ fears By the end of the afternoon, trainees had generated a
mind-maps.” of being presented with a blank page, creating vessels wide variety of ideas. All had their own perspectives on
from paper and using this as the starting point for the session, and made individual suggestions about ways
developing creative writing. Thus they moved beyond in which they could apply what they had experienced to
the planning grids and mind-maps so frequently the teaching of reading, writing and oracy. They spoke
encountered as a starting point for creative thinking, of their enthusiasm for trying these approaches within
and on to a simple yet innovative approach to build into their placements and were keen to explore further
their repertoire. opportunities to embed the use of art within their
Trainees created their own resources from blank teaching – encouraged by the simplicity suggested by
A4 paper, producing a wide range of stimulus materials each approach. All without a PowerPoint in sight!
from birds and planes to swords. They ripped and
shaped their paper to create an object which could be Anna Foster
both the focal point for a piece of creative writing and is Lecturer in English Education at Manchester
the material upon which it was written. Ideas for stories Institute of Education

Learning
to Teach
English
RQT perspectives
on the Secondary
English PGCE
Clare Lawrence set out to discover what three of her

recent ex-trainees think about the PGCE English course
now that they are fully-fledged teachers.
One of the joys of my position as teacher-educator ‘better’ than others. They described how the grading
is that many of my trainees take teaching positions system for the PGCE creates an artificial sense of
locally, frequently taking up posts offered to them by different skills being categorised, where the emphasis
their placement schools. This means that when I make could more usefully be on successful meeting of the “They argued
observation visits to schools it is not uncommon to Teachers’ Standards as a whole and of the achievement
come across competent, professional, enthusiastic overall of skills enabling the gaining of Qualified the importance
teachers whom I knew as anxious trainees just starting Teacher Status. of autonomy
out in the profession. They acknowledged that some of their perception of
But what do they make of this business of teaching being in competition with each other was fair in the sense in choosing
English, and what do they make of the PGCE English that they found themselves applying for the same jobs, texts in KS3
course, now that they can look back at it? I asked and they articulated that losing a position at interview
three teachers who completed the course two years to a fellow trainee was a difficult situation for both parties.
and why
ago to reflect on these questions and to give me their They discussed how the combination of training and ‘teaching
perspective now that they are ‘doing it for real’. job applications put a particular strain on relationships,
particularly towards the later stages of the course.
stuff you love’
1. Relationships makes for
Feedback from all the teachers focused strongly on
relationships. They articulated that they had felt,
2. Confidence
The teachers were able to describe, from their position
the strongest
during training, an unnecessary and self-inflicted focus now as successful classroom practitioners, the extent to lessons. All
on their individual ‘performance’ in the classroom and which they had lacked confidence in their own teaching wanted to
that only with greater experience do they understand styles during the PGCE year. One described how during
the extent to which teaching is a team effort. the PGCE they had been ‘trying on different jackets’ promote
They now plan collaboratively, support and feel as they adapted their approach to be like those around English above
supported by colleagues, discuss issues and share ideas them. They discussed the need to be able to ask for
and resources, but were reluctant to do so during the advice and to learn from other teachers, but also the and beyond
course. They suggested that this reluctance may have need to develop confidence in their own emerging GCSE through
been because of their belief that they were being style and to have the self-belief, when observing an
compared with each other, and their perception that experienced teacher, to ask themselves ‘how would I
widening the
the university makes judgements that some trainees are do it differently?’ curriculum.”
Learning to Teach English – RQT perspectives on the Secondary English PGCE
“They valued One of the teachers – who is now a mentor –

articulated how important it is to allow trainees to make
Their opinions varied about the exact nature of this
research, although all agreed on the need for support
being part mistakes and to find ways to manage these situations for with the process, given that at this early stage in their
of a network themselves rather than stepping in too quickly to help.
She acknowledged: ‘they may not do it your way; lead by
career they remain professionally vulnerable. One
was keen to take a formal research route, including
of English example, but don’t be hurt when the trainee does it differently professional and academic publication and contribution
teachers … and don’t be afraid to learn from the trainee’.
The concept of mentor fragility – the feeling that
to conferences. Others stressed that research need not
necessarily be academic. They argued that ‘staying in
to have your teaching has to be perfect – was an interesting one touch’ could be by many means, Including Twitter,
discussions to the other teachers who have not acted as mentor yet.
They continued to view the relationship very much from
blogs etc., and that this awareness of the voice of the
wider profession should be part of a teacher’s everyday
about the remembered experience of being the mentee: ‘Your life: ‘We’re all ‘seeing how this works’ all the time.’
education mentor is your first (sometimes your only) point of contact; They were keen to be seen less as craftsmen/women
he or she needs to understand your vulnerability and that the who ‘do’ and more as professionals with real understanding
and English, you are not … someone to be moulded into their image’. to underpin their teaching, and suggested that a more
to have Everyone agreed on the need for patience, the cohesive link could be made between training, teaching
importance of acknowledging trainees’ emotions and and researching: ‘The Education goalposts [are] always
opportunities for trainees to be supported to learn at their own pace. changing; we need to be able to follow and evaluate research
to plan and should feel able to add to the discussions ourselves’.
3. Course content They championed the idea of ‘embedding curiosity’
together With the benefit of reflection, the teachers acknowledge into the profession and suggested the importance of
and share that the ‘boring stuff’ of the course may, in fact, have being given time and support to attend conferences and
been necessary: ‘As time goes on, you realise you need to profess that ‘the PGCE is not the end!’
experiences, to know about how to teach (i.e. pedagogy) and why that
and to form works, as opposed to just surviving in the classroom!’ 5. Subject English
Some elements of the course were particularly valued, All the teachers expressed the importance of enthusiasm
a ‘collective including consideration of how to manage discussions, for their subject, and the challenge to maintain that
protection how to manage group work, and ‘why ‘less safe’ teaching enthusiasm in a system that can feel restrictive.
approaches matter and how to do them. Although they were well able to articulate all of the
against They acknowledged a journey on the course from many issues with this system, they were, interestingly,
acronyms focusing on their teaching (a largely ‘lecture style’ more keen to discuss the ‘good stuff’.
delivery) to a focus on pupils’ learning. They enjoyed the
and the opportunity to experience elements that they now teach
They argued the importance of autonomy in
choosing texts in KS3 and why ‘teaching stuff you love’
gobbledegook’.” (‘tackling things like the Reconstructive Writing Task for makes for the strongest lessons. They emphasised the
ourselves on the course really put us into the position of importance of wider reading (while acknowledging
learners’) and appreciated the need to consider challenges the challenge to this made by shortage of time), and all
such as how to teach pupils who may be cleverer than wanted to promote English above and beyond GCSE
themselves. They each remembered the frustration of through widening the curriculum.
an EAL lecture that was delivered in Polish, and now They valued being part of a network of English
appreciate its purpose (‘it’s good to experience what it is teachers – both through staying in touch with fellow
like to be flummoxed’) and, with experience, are far more trainees and through membership of organisations
sensitive to the need to spend time learning about specific such as NATE – to take time to have discussions about
SEND challenges and how to meet them successfully. education and English, to have opportunities to plan
They discussed the need to support trainees to know together and share experiences, and to form a ‘collective
what they are looking at when observing lessons early protection against acronyms and the gobbledegook!’
in the course. Indeed, they identified that ‘observing
until you’ve tried it is less useful’, so suggested greater And finally …
interleaving of ‘doing’ and ‘watching’. Regarding It was lovely, of course, to catch up with these teachers
feedback given to them after observations they were and to have an opportunity to spend a little more time
keen that everyone remember how vulnerable it can talking to them. They, and the others I pass in corridors
feel: ‘be honest but not brutal’. or who pop their heads out of their classroom doors,
encourage me that English teaching, and the training
4. Teachers as researchers of English teachers, is not in as bad a place as we
The teachers appreciated the concept that their on- might think. It’s not perfect; there is always so much
going research in the classroom matters. Two had we could do better, and so much that teachers would
worked together on a published paper, and all had had like that would make the profession stronger and
the experience of feeding back on on-going ‘trying-it- more sustainable. However, these teachers give me
out’ projects to their colleagues. They acknowledged hope. Their resilience is impressive; despite the many
that the assignment undertaken for the PGCE of a pressures, frustrations, restrictions and demands of the
report on a piece of Action Research was useful and job, they are staying in it – and, perhaps most important
helped to establish what they do in their own minds as of all, they seem to be actually enjoying it. That can’t
research. They particularly valued the concept within be bad!
the course of ‘finding things out’. They continue to be
curious and experimental and have begun to realise Clare Lawrence
that this approach as researchers is part of their on- is a Senior Lecturer and leads the English PGCE
going development as teachers. at Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln

‘Ah Ha!’
and
‘Ha Ha!’
Teaching
and Stand-
Up Comedy
Does teaching have something to learn from stand-up

comedy? You must be joking! Teacher and stand-up
comedian Martin Billingham suggests that understanding
the relationship between the two can help us to develop
a dialogic classroom.
‘...only the teacher and the stand-up comedian rely on Did they get that? Can we move on? Are they on board?
the continuous interaction between themselves and the Should I challenge or ignore that behaviour? Is that glazed
people in front of them.’ (McCarron 2007) look boredom or tiredness? I’m losing them, do I try
Picture this: you are stood up in front of a group of

something new or press on? Are they trying their best to
derail my train of thought?
“Both teaching
people you’re going to have to engage with. You have So, where are you? Is this your tricky Year 8 English and stand-up
prepared material, you’ve spent hours carefully crafting
ideas to be shared. The result of all this preparation
class on a Friday afternoon, or a rowdy Saturday night
at the Glasgow Empire comedy club?
comedy
depends upon the response you get to your ideas, and Comedy may not be at the heart of teaching in the depend upon
as you start to speak you’re ready to weave these
responses into the narrative that you’ve prepared.
same way as it is at the heart of stand-up, but I hope I’ve
demonstrated that there are fundamental similarities
constant and
But you’ve been around the block, you’ve earned your between teaching and stand-up comedy. Teaching adaptive
stripes, and you know to expect the unexpected. You’re
aware that there are many variables and unknown
is public performance, but it’s not about ‘acting’: it’s
about interacting. Both teaching and stand-up comedy
interaction
factors within this socially dynamic environment. You depend upon constant and adaptive interaction with with an
have to constantly gauge the mood of the room, edit on
the fly and adapt your material to suit the group, right
an audience – dialogue as opposed to monologue,
speaking with our ‘public’ not at them – which makes
audience
here and right now. The group is made up of individuals them different from other types of public speaking – dialogue
with different experiences, attitudes and behaviours –
but your goal is for them to act as one and be ‘on the same
and performance. And both comedians and teachers
aim to spark a change in behaviour and in cognition
as opposed to
page.` You’ve got to make decisions at a mile a minute: with their respective groups. monologue.”
‘Ah Ha!’ and ‘Ha Ha!’ – Teaching and Stand-Up Comedy
Comedy and cognition: tickle my funny lobe The good news is that this isn’t some shamanistic
Kevin McCarron, Literature Professor at Roehampton magic, and the stand-up comedian does not represent
University, writes (2009): ‘It is not uncommon to hear some naturally gifted pinnacle of perception. Rather,
academics referring to teaching as a performance. What is it’s a learning experience and, as with teaching,
uncommon is to encounter any further analysis of what kind improvements are only made through an iterative
of performance it is.’ So here comes the science bit… process. The more you do it, the better you get at
The communicative and participatory interaction it. In short, there are a number of transferable and
in teaching might seem obvious: we ask questions transformative skills that can be taken from the comedy
of our students, they answer (we hope), we discuss, club into the classroom that could help with eliciting and
we debate, we share. But what’s more fascinating managing a ‘live’ and immediate feedback loop in the
is the growing body of evidence from the field of classroom. As a teacher, one is completely dependent on
neuroscience connecting the ‘Ah ha! I get it’ to the ‘Ha the dynamic of dialogue with the group in front of you
ha! I get it’ moment within the brain. Robert G. Franklin that provides endless scope for formative assessment of
(2011) placed subjects within an MRI machine to the ability of the group and your own ability to connect,
observe the response to watching stand-up comedy of interact and engage with them.
participants’ brains. He discovered that areas of the Let’s be clear: I do not advocate the production
brain associated with the construction of logic, social of funny teachers, or even (necessarily) the use of
cultural memory and socio-emotional response were jokes in the classroom: humour is simply an effective
engaged throughout – a veritable fireworks display of communicative tool within a wide variety of tools
cognitive activity was on display. In other words, in that a stand-up comedian has to hand. But there is
order to ‘get’ a joke audiences have to make cognitive a veritable arsenal of transferable techniques, skills
leaps – processing the (often incongruous) logic of the and experiences in stand-up comedy that can be used
joke, accessing the interplay between social and cultural to improve teaching practice, and there are serious
references, and deciding whether the joke is acceptable insights to be gained from those who ‘make them laugh’
within our social group. Going to a stand-up comedy gig by those that ‘make them learn’.
is like a mental gym – to ‘make them laugh’ you’ve got
to ‘make them think’ – and comedy audiences are not And finally …
passive, they are participatory. They don’t just interact I’ve had the pleasure and the challenge of having a
vocally (by laughing, booing, heckling or withholding foot in both worlds – I’ve studied both, I’ve done both
laughter); they have to engage their intellect. and, through the insights I’ve gained, I now train
The point is that the mental gymnastics necessary in teachers to improve their abilities through the use
order to ‘get’ a joke may relate to the process required in of stand-up comedy techniques. I was a speaker and
order to ‘get’ an idea. Stand-up comedians and teachers panellist at Brunel University’s Centre for Comedy
aim to set in motion the cogs of cognition, and they do Research conference last year,exploring ‘Comedy and
this through effective communication. the Classroom’, and I’m currently investigating the
relationship between assessment, communication and
education. If you would like to learn more, please visit
“I do not advocate the production of funny my website or email me:
teachers, or even (necessarily) the use of Website: https://www.listen-learn-standup-speak.com
jokes in the classroom: but there is a veritable E-mail: [email protected]
Papers: https://ucl.academia.edu/MartinBillingham;
arsenal of transferable techniques in stand-up Videos: www.youtube.com/channel/
comedy that can be used to improve teaching.” UC2YTblj2Qgcxtv6jgeD67cw
Martin Billingham
The bad news and the good news is currently studying for a PhD at the Institute of
The bad news is that stand-up comedians are afforded Education, University College London
something special: constant, conspicuous and immediate
feedback – you get a laugh, or you don’t. If you do, you References
keep going; if you don’t, it’s time to change things up. In Franklin, R, Adams, B. (2011) ‘The Reward of a Good
contrast, it is extremely difficult for teachers, especially Joke: Neural Correlates of Viewing Dynamic
trainees and early career teachers, to ‘read the room’: Displays of Stand-up Comedy’, Cognitive, Affective,
eliciting and prompting the responses you want are skills & Behavioral Neuroscience, Vol 11, No 4.
that need years of practice. Stand-up comedians don’t McCarron, K. (2007) ‘Outside the Box: Teaching
have summative assessments at the end of the show: American literature and performing stand-up
they depend utterly upon their ability to formatively comedy’, Teaching American Literature: A Journal
assess both the group in front of them and their own of Theory and Practice. Vol 1, No. 2
ability to communicate and engage with them. McCarron, K. (2009) ‘Stand-Up Comedy and Teaching
in a “Global Age”’
Reflecting Education. Vol 5, No. 1
Comedy and the Classroom conference: https://www.
brunel.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/articles/How-
successful-can-teachers-be-with-comedy

… TO ENGAGING
WITH POETRY
Reading and writing poems
in the English classroom
The seventh instalment of this series, in which

Trevor Millum and Chris Warren suggest 39 enjoyable
approaches to poetry in the English classroom, explores
poems with a twist, poems with an unusual perspective,
and poems that exploit compressed expression.

39 Steps … to Engaging with Poetry – Reading and writing poems in the English classroom
Step 19 Step 20
Distillation Life seen from another angle
One of the ways of looking at poetry is to see it as a compressed form of Poems can offer a way of looking at life from an unusual
expression, in which every word that is not absolutely necessary has been perspective. For example, from the point of view of an
squeezed out. Thinking of the poetry of Gerald Manley Hopkins, you animal or an outsider. The ultimate outsider is the alien
can see where this might lead: sometimes a compression so severe that or a robot.
it is hard to comprehend. Nevertheless, the idea of distilling sentences
or thoughts until they become more focused and intense is a useful way
Examples
of talking about poems with students, especially if they don’t ‘get’ poetry.
Craig Raine’s ‘A Martian Sends a Postcard Home’ is one
of the most well-known and can easily be found on-
Example line. It begins:
Here’s an example from a Y9 student: Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings
My cat and some are treasured for their markings --
is as vain as a film star they cause the eyes to melt
her green eyes shine or the body to shriek without pain.
like emeralds
I have never seen one fly, but
she dribbles in contentment
sometimes they perch on the hand.
lazy as a cow
The poem becomes a series of metaphors to unravel
but graceful as a ballerina
or, really, riddles to solve. Students shouldn’t leave it
she’s a tightrope walker at that, though. Get them to discuss how successful
on padded paws they think the comparisons are. Are some better
my furry thought out than others? (‘…cause the eyes to melt’
fat cat might be deemed effective whereas ‘snores’ might be
questioned in the lines ‘a haunted apparatus sleeps, /
You can see how the poem has been distilled from a much longer that snores when you pick it up.’) The next stage would
description: be to invent some descriptions of their own. For
My cat is as vain as a film star or a queen like Cleopatra. She purrs like she has example, ‘Bright metal capsules eat their owners and
an engine deep down in her throat or her chest and her evil green eyes shine in hurry along dry river beds’.
her face like emeralds. She meows pathetically and gets ignored or fed. But later The poem that begins ‘Now I lay me down to sleep, /
behind her half-closed eyelids she dribbles in contentment. She sleeps all day, The king-size bed is soft and deep... / I sleep right in the
lazy as a cow but I suppose she’s as gentle and as graceful as a ballerina when centre groove / My human can hardly move!’ is variously
she wants to be. When she walks along the wall it’s as if she’s a tightrope walker titled ‘A Cat’s Prayer’ and ‘A Dog’s Prayer’. Either way, it
on padded paws. When she’s asleep she’s just like any other furry fat cat. sees the world from the point of view of an animal.
Can students find others written from an animal’s
point of view?
Teaching tips
Set students a homework task to observe an animal, whether it be a
pet, a bird in the garden or even an insect on the window pane. They Writing Suggestions
should write down everything they see or hear: what it looks like, what Students generally find it enjoyable to write from the
it does, how it moves, what it reminds them of… These notes are to be point of view of an animal but may need help in order to
brought back and written up into a short descriptive passage. These give the poem structure. ‘A day in the life of…’ or ‘Five
descriptions can be shared in groups with group members underlining things I dislike about my human’ provide plenty of
or highlighting phrases they like. The descriptions are then returned opportunities for an unusual take on life and for humour,
to their authors to whom it is suggested they remove all the words that of course. Humour would be replaced by serious message
have not been highlighted and see what is left. Further small edits can if the animal in question was an endangered one, for
be made but the aim should be concision. Arrange each phrase on a new instance. Alternatively, they might like to consider
line and the result will almost certainly be a poem. themselves robots. ‘Beep beep / I wake / voice calls / I eat’
This activity should not only produce some interesting writing but – and so on through a school day with bells determining
act as an eye-opener with regard to the nature of poetry. Many poems one’s actions.
appear to have gone through such a process, whether literally or in the
mind of the poet. Think of Edward Thomas’s ‘Tall Nettles’ for example. Teaching Tips
Use this opportunity to discuss the notion of persona.
Writing Suggestions We all tend to assume that, if written in the first person,
In addition to the approach described above, students could take an the voice of the poem is the voice of the poet and this,
existing passage of fiction or non-fiction and select the phrases that of course, is often not the case. The use of a Martian
appeal to them, copying them out and arranging them as they think voice, or a dog’s voice makes it clear that the poet can
most effective. The description of the Red Room from Jane Eyre write from any viewpoint. Some poems are not so
would be one powerful passage to use. Do not exclude non-fiction. obvious, especially when the poet is employing irony.
Travel books and even cookery books can provide some rich material! If appropriate, seek out and discuss one or two of these.

Step 21
A Bit of a Twist
These poems seem to be going in one direction and then at the end, there’s a twist, something unexpected.
Examples:
– from the sublime to the ridiculous:
‘Remember’ – Christina Rossetti ‘My Seven Days of Dieting’

Remember me when I am gone away, On the first day of dieting
Gone far away into the silent land; The only thing I ate
When you can no more hold me by the hand, Was a piece of crispy rye bread Christina Rossetti.
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. …
Remember me when no more, day by day, On the sixth day of dieting
You tell me of our future that you planned: The only things I ate
Only remember me; you understand Were 6 grated carrots
It will be late to counsel then or pray. 5 lettuce leaves
Yet if you should forget me for a while 4 chopped-up walnuts
And afterwards remember, do not grieve: 3 natural yoghurts
For if the darkness and corruption leave 2 tubs of coleslaw
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, and a piece of crispy rye bread
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad. On the seventh day of dieting
The only things I ate
Were 7 choc-chip cookies Craig Raine.
6 white bread sarnies
5 jam doughnuts
4 English muffins
3 Eccles cakes
2 chip butties
and no bloody crispy rye bread.
Rossetti’s poem seems to be heading in an obvious direction and then in the last few lines, she switches,
with powerful effect.
‘My Seven Days of Dieting’ employs a switch for comic effect, which is a more common use of the
technique.
In ‘My Seven Days of Dieting’, the last verse is also a relief from the repetition of the previous ones.
(It’s a poem which is best read aloud as there needs to be variation through the verses.)
(See also Leigh Hunt’s ‘Abou Ben Adhem’ and Louis Macneice’s ‘Prayer Before Birth’.)
Writing Suggestions
To create a poem with a twist at the end, try this simple pattern, which can be applied to almost any topic,
for example, Winter. ‘I hate the way the cold nips at my toes; / I hate the way I can’t see the ball at night …’ and so
on until ‘But I love the cosy evening firelight.’ Or the reverse, of course.
Or the description of a person. ‘X was no good at …, X couldn’t ever …’ and so on until ‘But X saved my cat from
next door’s dog.’ This simple form can be used with serious effect to tackle stereotypes, for instance.
Teaching Tips
Take any of the poems mentioned above and read them aloud until the point where the poem changes.
Alternatively give students a copy with the last lines omitted. In each case ask how they think the poem
might be finished. They could try writing a few lines or simply suggest the kind of ending.
Trevor Millum and Chris Warren

are the authors of Unlocking Poetry (NATE/Routledge 2012) and members of the NATE ICT Committee

English and Media Centre
‘Big Picture’
Writing
Andrew McCallum suggests approaches
to writing that will help to build students’
knowledge, confidence and motivation.
“When The concept of ‘big picture’ English is generally applied

to work around reading (see Barbara Bleiman´s Harold
what they need to know and then they can go off
and reproduce it in their own writing. But there are
teachers build Rosen Lecture in this edition of the magazine). Students serious flaws in this approach if the end-goal is self-
in plenty of grapple with a whole text, with priority given to how
they articulate their thoughts and ideas across the
directed ‘big picture’ writing. If students aren’t working
on material directly themselves, then they’re less likely
time to develop whole piece. They narrow down to smaller details as to develop the cognitive-recursive processes that allow
and when necessary. them to draw on their own thoughts and ideas when
knowledge and But what about ‘big picture’ writing? What might this tasked with writing.
understanding, look like and why might it be of pedagogical value? And
how might big picture approaches apply to different Creating confident students
and avoid kinds of writing: creative, critical, analytical and so on? The inability to write can come from a fear of getting
pushing Big picture writing, I would suggest, starts from the
premise that just about all young people, particularly at
it wrong. The more prescribed the form of writing
required, the more likely this is to happen. This is
students to secondary level, can produce substantial, whole texts, particularly true when students are asked to write
write formally on their own, from scratch. This runs counter to the
classroom experience of students having nothing to
critical essays too soon. The critical essay is a highly
specialised, difficult form. It’s an absolute requirement
or critically say when set a writing task, a problem that all English of English teaching that students learn how to tackle
teachers are likely to face at one time or another – a
too soon, they problem which can be caused by a number of factors.
it. However, if they are required to write critical essays
when they are too young, or in the early stages of
often find that Perhaps students don’t have enough knowledge of the study, then they are unlikely to be able to do so without
topic they have to write about; perhaps they don’t feel considerable intervention from their teacher in the
ideas flow and confident that they understand what is required from form of writing frames and sentence starters. These
the blank page a writing task; or perhaps they are lacking motivation can often be so detailed that there is little of the finished
and simply don’t feel like putting pen to paper. piece that comes from the student at all. In such cases,
is soon filled. It’s worth thinking about why these barriers to students are developing neither their own writing, nor
Without this, independent writing might occur and what strategies
can help to overcome them.
their own thinking.
There is an alternative approach. If students are
they’re less given a degree of freedom about their form of response,
Creating knowledgeable students
likely to Students most effectively gain knowledge of a new topic
then they are often confident enough to write at length
with only minimal direction. Freed from anxiety about
develop the or text by actively engaging with it. The most productive form (how do I write this?), they are able to focus on
and time efficient way of doing this is to get students content (what do I write about this?). For example, they
cognitive- talking with each other. They might also write about the might write up a Q+A with the writer, turn an episode
recursive material they are working on (novel, poem, non-fiction from their reading into a newspaper article, or write in
extracts, etc.) in a form of their own choosing: the form, the voice of a character.
processes that at this point, is less important than the act of writing,
allow them to a process that in and of itself develops knowledge and
understanding. When teachers build in plenty of time to
Creating motivated students
Motivation is closely linked to confidence, but can also
draw on their develop knowledge and understanding in this way, and come from a sense that work is being valued. This can
own thoughts avoid pushing students to write formally or critically
too soon, they often find that ideas flow and the blank
come from structuring writing tasks so that they have
a real audience and purpose, or from encouraging
and ideas page is soon filled. students to write about their own lives and experiences.
In the current educational climate, there are some
when tasked voices likely to question this approach and call instead
What better way to challenge the tyranny of the blank
page than to draw on what is already known? When
with writing.” for more direct teacher instruction: just tell students responding to texts, this might mean always starting

with personal response: initial thoughts, links to prior My current creative writing class has eight boys – hard to
reading or viewing, likes and dislikes, and so on. For manage and settle but full of ideas and charm. They are a
original writing, it might mean lots of opportunities to mixed ability group with a high level of additional needs.
write about their own lived experiences. New learning Most of them have missed out on large parts of their
in this model is far from redundant: freed from having education: all are serving prison sentences of anything
to draw on new material and ideas, students can from a few months to life.
concentrate fully on form, voice and expression.
I could see that the boys were intrigued by the ‘Just
Just Write… Write’ books – drawn to them. The layout, the tasks, the
At EMC we’ve tried to address the three barriers to colourful illustrations are immediately appealing. At first,
writing identified above in our Just Write publication they flicked through the pages muttering things like ‘shit’
for Year 7/8 students (with a follow-up for Year 9/10, and ‘boring’ – the expected response to anything new. I
Write On, due this summer). It’s a beautifully illustrated told them that the books now belonged to them and asked
workbook, containing 44 writing activities. Students get them to write their names on the front. They didn’t. They
their own copy and are free to complete the activities chatted about an adult prison and ‘Love Island’ and who
in any order they like. Each task directs students to had and hadn’t been to the gym. Then gradually, almost
write for a different purpose and audience, with a surreptitiously, they picked up their pens.
variety of forms to choose from. In writing, then,
What is so compelling about these books is the freedom
they develop their understanding of how to draw on,
they give to be creative. By the end of the session, every
adapt and craft their existing language resources for
boy had written something independently – a rap, a story,
particular effect. Learning comes from knowledgeable,
poetic prose. When the guards came to collect them, I
confident, motivated doing, with teacher advice after
shook the boys’ hands and thanked them for the session.
the event offering ways to develop further. In tackling No fights. No tantrums. No abuse. ‘Love Island’ almost
a wide range of tasks students develop their ability to forgotten. And eight books carefully piled up in the middle
write flexibly and confidently in a full range of forms, of the table – each with a name neatly (proudly) written
including critical. on the front.
The response to the books has been amazing,
absolutely proving that big picture writing is valuable
and possible for all, given the right conditions. The Andrew McCallum
testimony below is from a writer working with young is Director of the English and Media Centre
offenders. Her previous experience of working with
them was that it was very, very difficult to get them to
write anything.
News from EMC

New Publications
As well as the follow up to Just Write, Write On, mentioned Held at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education,
in the article above, we’ll soon be publishing Exploring near Waterloo Station, there are still places available
Atonement: EMC Approaches, the latest in our series at the time of writing, though these may go soon.
of download publications for A Level Literature.
Other titles in the series are Exploring Nineteen Eighty- EMC Out and About
Four, Exploring A Doll’s House, Exploring Things Fall While we’re London based, given availability we love
Apart, and Exploring Mrs Dalloway. We’re also to visit English and Media teachers in other parts of
currently putting the finishing touches to Barbara the country. Recently we’ve worked with teachers in
Bleiman’s What Matters in English: Collected Blogs and Bury, Brecon, Cambridge, Coventry and Manchester.
Other Writing. A distillation of the experience Barbara If you’re interested in working with us, then do get in
has gained from working in the subject for over 40 touch via our website.
years, we think this is a landmark publication, not just
for EMC, but for the subject community as a whole. EMC PGCEs for Media and for English
We’ve been running a Media (with English) and an
What Matters in English: EMC Conference English (with Media and Drama) PGCE course for
and CPD several years now in partnership with two London
To mark the publication of Barbara Bleiman’s new universities. Any prospective teacher should jump at
book, we’re holding a conference to explore the the chance to train under the expert tutelage of Claire
key issues current in English at the moment. We’ve Pollard (Media) and Emma Barker (English). Please
presentations and a panel featuring leading experts encourage any prospective teachers to get in touch
in the subject, including Michael Rosen, Kate Clanchy via [email protected] if they’re interested
and several practising teachers, plus breakout in applying for a place.
sessions for discussion and professional development.

Findings
Developing Writers as
a Developing Teacher
Next in our classroom research series, Vincent Byrne
explains how he negotiated the teaching of academic
writing at KS3 and KS4 during his teacher training year,
and argues that we need to be flexible in our use of
formulaic writing frameworks to develop skills effectively.
A key focus of my training year was the development of Getting to grips with GCSE
strategies to build students’ confidence in academic Sam Counsell notes a shift in the way in which students
writing. Whist students’ ability to ‘understand and critically approach texts when preparing for GCSE examination,
evaluate texts’ (DfE, 2014, p.6) is integral to success in GCSE with both teacher and student ‘[beginning] to interrogate
English, as teachers of English we endeavour to empower texts with formal, summative assessments firmly in
all students in becoming articulate communicators of the mind’ (2015, p.41). Despite my belief that the study of
written word beyond examinations – to provide ‘access English should focus on ‘connections between life and art’
to power’ (Myhill and Watson, 2011, p.59) not only in (Marshall, 2003, p.82), the ‘endgame’ of the summative
academic contexts, but also for the communicatory GCSE examination inevitably becomes a priority in
demands of adult life (‘adult needs’ – Cox, 1989, p.60). As planning and teaching in KS4. With writing still being
such, I felt that my journey in building a repertoire of the ‘dominant mode for accessing educational success’
methods to approach the task of academic writing was (Myhill and Watson, 2011, p.59), I felt it was necessary
central to my development as a teacher of English. to establish a framework to help students craft coherent
In considering the theoretical frameworks behind written responses from the very beginning of Year 10.
the process of writing, Myhill and Watson (2011, p.59– My initial approach incorporated the first two
62) note three main disciplinary approaches: cognitive elements of the cognitive psychological process as
psychological, linguistic, and socio-cultural. My presented by Hayes and Flower: ‘planning (goal setting,
experience in the training year led me to recognise that generation of content, organisation of ideas) and translating
all three of these disciplinary approaches are integral (turning thoughts in words and sentences…)’ (Myhill
to the development of young writers. The present and Watson, 2011, p.59). In seeking to build on the
study will focus on the use of cognitive psychological pupils’ capabilities and prior knowledge, I felt that a
and social-cultural approaches in relation to the standardised approach to academic writing would be
development of students’ academic writing. useful because the middle-ability class was comprised

of students from five different form groups and as students as ‘using quotes to support my Explanation’. I was
such the students were coming from differing ‘starting still promoting the use of PEEAR, but now also seeking
points’. From the outset, neither my mentor nor I saw to build specific skills in academic writing.
the framework as something to which students should One particularly successful example of this was
rigidly adhere, but rather as a guide to an ‘in house’ style a lesson that focussed on the embedding of quotes
that would allow them organise their ideas. (Evidence) into analytical passages. Students had
During the first half term, students were guided on become so accustomed to organising quotes and
using the ‘Point, Evidence, Explain, Analyse, Reader analysis into separate sections of a response that one
Response’ (PEEAR) framework through ‘scaffolded’ student remarked ‘can you actually put ‘Evidence’ into
activities that culminated in students writing an the ‘Analysis’ section?’ I took the opportunity to remind
extended essay response. The task of marking and students that the PEEAR framework was a guide rather
reflecting upon these responses served as a ‘critical than something stipulated by the exam board. By
event’; it influenced both my planning for the group encouraging students to consider exam-based criteria,
thereafter and understanding of how my implementation they were now progressing from the ‘planning and
of the framework needed to be adapted based on the translating’ stage of writing to the final ‘reviewing’ stage
present intellectual development of the group. Perhaps of the Hayes and Flower cognitive model of writing (as
the most notable ‘revelation’ was the disparity between presented by Myhill and Watson, 2011, p.59) because
some students’ cogent verbal responses in class and the they were reviewing their writing in the context of its
strength of their written work; something that has been ultimate purpose.
noted by other practitioners (Counsell, 2015, p. 41).
Contrastingly, some of the strongest writers were those
who were less vocal in class.
“Whilst recognising the benefits of developing
As a result of this experience, I began to name particular a cognitive approach via writing frameworks,
students in my planning and PowerPoint presentations
in order to ensure that all students were included in class
I felt that this was still too focused on following
discussions. I used the naming strategy in a positive way specific forms and addressing a set mark
– for instance, such a questions would always contain a
merit point incentive and would be pitched according
scheme rather than encouraging students to
to my prior knowledge of individual ability. This discuss texts in relation to their own personal
technique helped me to promote good behaviour for
learning and made all students aware of my expectations experiences and opinions.”
for everyone to participate fully in class discussions.
Towards personal response
Beyond formulae Whilst recognising the benefits of developing a
Whilst it was clear that the PEEAR framework had cognitive approach via writing frameworks, I felt
helped some students to structure their arguments, it that such an approach was still too focused on
did not fully address specific skills relating to academic following specific forms and addressing a set mark
writing. Reflecting on the success criteria I had used scheme rather than encouraging students to discuss
during my teaching prior to marking the assessments, it texts in relation to their own personal experiences
was clear that some of my expected outcomes in written and opinions (a socio-cultural approach). Whereas
tasks lacked a specific skills-based focus, for instance: the first term had been spent providing students with
‘Students will use the PEEAR method to discuss how Priestley a framework from which to work, as I entered into
uses language to explore a character under pressure’. Up my Second School Experience (based in an inner-
until the internal ‘common assessment’ at the end of the city, mixed gender comprehensive school) I was keen
first half term, the focus in developing students’ ability to observe and incorporate different approaches the
to provide a critical written response was primarily teaching of writing into my pedagogy.
based around their structuring of paragraphs. It was In this new context, the primary writing framework
now time to tackle specific skills necessary for effective for academic writing was Point, Evidence, Technique,
academic writing. Analyse, Link (to the original question) and Evaluate
Louisa Enstone notes that ‘academic prose is obscure (a variation on the Reader Response): PETALE. This
and foreign to students’ (2017, p.33) and as ‘beginning strategy was used universally across the department at
writers’ in the context of GCSE requirements, it was GCSE, and also for middle and higher ability groups in
clear that the PEEAR framework has served to promote Key Stage 3. However, a critical event emerged from my
‘content generation rather than … the needs of the audience’ teaching of AQA English Language Paper 2 to a middle
(Myhill and Waston, 2011, p.60). My next step was to ability Year 10 class.
help students write for the specific requirements of the I had used the PETALE framework to guide
mark scheme. Conversations with my mentor led me to students through Question 3, in which students are
the realisation that students needed to have a precise asked to consider a writer’s use of language. I found
understanding of what they were being assessed on – in that the framework was, in effect, ‘too large’ for
effect writing for the ‘needs of the audience’. students to make numerous points in the recommended
My tutor and I agreed that in the first instance I allocated time for the question. Whereas the PETALE
should select key objectives from the mark scheme framework encouraged students to provide a detailed
and present them in an accessible manner. ‘Use textual extended response, elements such as ‘Linking’ back
references, including quotations, to support and illustrate to question, or ‘Evaluating’ one’s response as a reader
interpretations’ (AQA GCSE English Literature, in every paragraph seemed redundant in the context
Assessment Objective 1) was reworded and presented to of Question 3.

Developing Writers as a Developing Teacher
It was a particularly challenging experience because Stating a thesis

I had consciously selected extracts that explored I discussed these concerns with my mentor, who
controversial and thought provoking topics (such as suggested introducing a shorter framework to guide
teenage knife crime in Birmingham, conspiracy theories students through Question 3: Statement, Quote and
and terrorism) in order to encourage students to debate Inference (SQI). I applied this framework and noticed a
issues and ideas that impacted their experiences as substantial change in the quality of the students’ written
teenagers in an urban environment. In the planning work: immediately the shortened framework enabled
stage students has made a mind map based on peer-led students to make a greater number of perceptive points,
discussion and had produced thoughtful ideas as to why but still maintain a coherent structure to their argument.
the writer (in this case, Sam Harris) had made certain The experience demonstrated the necessity of tailoring
linguistic choices to influence his readers. However, in frameworks to the requirements of specific types of
writing a formal response, I felt the PETALE framework questions. However, this struck me as problematic
was preventing many in the class from fully expressing because of the varied nature of the questions asked in
their personal response to the texts. GCSE English examinations – was it really necessary to
have a different framework for each question?
This led me to consider the ever present ‘endgame’
“In the planning stage students had produced in preparing students for GCSE examination. In
thoughtful ideas as to why the writer had made considering the problems that can emerge from
overreliance on writing frameworks, Louisa Enstone
certain linguistic choices to influence his readers. notes that academic writing is ‘an expert form, requiring
However, in writing a formal response, I felt the expert thought, understanding, processing and then
articulation’ (Enstone, 2017, p.33): she asserts that all too
writing framework was preventing many from fully often we as teachers ‘expect [students] to write [academic
expressing their personal response to the texts.” prose] well without giving much thought to the process of
writing’. The dilemma arises in helping students to
develop the ability to write in an ‘expert form’, whilst
going beyond writing frameworks and ‘generic sentence
stems’. Therefore, I went on to trial Enstone’s strategy
of crafting ‘thesis statements’ which focused on ‘the
creation of well-written, detailed and sophisticated “points”’
(Enstone, 2017, p.36) when the same group had moved
on to the study of poetry.
My introduction of the thesis statement strategy
was heavily scaffolded (see diagram, left) with the
intention of helping students to understand how one
statement could be analysed to elicit greater depths
or ‘layers of meaning’. Interestingly, the students
responded enthusiastically to this new style of writing;
having spent a previous lesson considering the
contextual background to Rupert Brooke’s The Soldier,
the students were generally keen to reveal the depths
of their knowledge and also pose and answer their
own questions to an initial statement. However, some
students in the class relied strongly on the initial scaffold
in order to tackle the more conceptual nature of having
to question their own statements in the independent
thesis statement task.
It is impossible for me to assess the long term effect
of such strategies in helping students to develop an
effective academic style rooted in a student’s own
personal response (in contrast with Enstone’s research,
which took place over a number of years). Because
my introduction to thesis statements was scaffolded,
it might be argued that eventually such an approach
would lead to a formulaic response in which students
felt that they had to ask a set number of questions per
paragraph. However, it is worth noting that Enstone
proposes such techniques as one element within a
wider repertoire of strategies to help students consider
the deeper implications of their own assertions and by
extension encourage independent critical thought.
Quote explosions
As I prepared to return to my lead school at the
beginning of the summer term, I was keen to trial
other strategies I had developed during my second

school experience – most notably, the use of a ‘quote

explosion’ to aid students in analysing a text before
crafting an extended academic response (see diagram,
right). I had adapted this technique from my mentor
whom I observed using it as a tool for analysing poetry.
The strategy worked well in my teaching of Macbeth to
a middle ability Year 9 class. It aided students’ ability to
comprehend the key ideas of a scene by presenting an
accessible and ‘scaffolded’ key quote from the text, and
I was able to tailor the length of the quote and degree of
scaffolding depending on students’ ability.
In the upper half of the task (the ‘explosion’), I
encouraged students to provide an ‘initial language
response’ based on the underlined words, thus
developing their skills of analysing key words: but I
made it clear that there was no correct answer, and that
it was rather about their own personal response to the
language. In the lower half of the task, pupils provided
a more formal response based on the notes they had
made in the explosion. This strategy worked well
because students were able to trial their ideas in bullet
point form first before answering a question formally.
The Year 10 boys at the lead school, however, did
not respond quite as well to repeated use of the ‘quote
explosion’ strategy in the context of analysing poetry
for the AQA Power and Conflict Cluster. Whereas
regular use of the strategy had provided middle ability
students in Year 9 with a formula for ‘breaking down’
archaic language in a larger text, in the context of
poetry the Year 10 boys became increasingly disengaged
with the strategy. I encountered a ‘critical event’ in my
second week back at the lead school, whilst teaching
Browning’s My Last Duchess. The boys gave a collective
groan upon my introduction of the quote explosion task
and I found it difficult to motivate many in the group to
take the task seriously.
The best laid plans…

I initially felt justified for using the technique because
in each lesson we were exploring a new poem: however,
upon further reflection and consultation with my
mentor it became clear that whilst consistent use of the
strategy had given students in a middle ability group in
KS3 confidence to develop a personal response, regular
use of the same strategy had led to a perception of
lack of challenge amongst KS4 students in a grammar
school. Moreover, whilst the technique had value in
analysing an individual text, it did not prepare students
sufficiently for making broader comparative points “I have developed an increasing awareness of
between two poems in the GCSE Conflict Poetry
examination. Arguably, this is the most challenging
the need to adapt strategies to suit the needs and
critical skill to develop in the context of planning and ability of particular groups. Recent experience
composition because students have to develop two
‘high order’ skills: firstly, detailed analysis of individual
has also demonstrated that they can be put in
poems and, secondly, a comparison between the two place at the point of planning or ‘initial response’
poems that considers each writers’ use of literary
techniques, purpose and context. rather than at the point of composition.”
I recognised that from a cognitive psychological
perspective, there was a need to revisit techniques to Technique, Purpose grid. This was used as a shorthand
aid effective organisation of ideas. Familiarity with way of giving students a planning ‘bank’ from which
the expectations for GCSE writing had given the boys they could make comparative points.
confidence in the ‘translating’ stage so I now sought to The next step was to consider how to structure the
reduce the scaffold of the PEEAR and instead place an comparative points. From the outset it was necessary to
emphasis on the ‘planning’ stage of writing. I developed set the parameters as to what comparison was (i.e., the
a model of my own construction to direct the boys’ consideration of similarities and differences). Once this
attention towards analysing a writer’s purpose: a Quote, was established I introduced the Venn diagram as way

Developing Writers as a Developing Teacher
for students to conceptualise the process of comparison The need for flexibility of approach
(see diagram, below). Students would then return to A notable feature of my development of academic
their ‘data’ (the QTP grid) and use their analysis of the writing strategies has been an increasing awareness of
writer’s purpose as the focus for comparison. From the the need to adapt differing strategies to suit the needs
planning framework of the Venn diagram, students and ability of particular groups. Whilst I maintain that
then proceeded to use the plan as a template for their the writing frameworks that I introduced and refined
comparative points. during the first half of my training year are not in of
Returning to the planning stage of the cognitive themselves detrimental to development of pupil’s
model through use of QTP grids and Venn diagrams has ability to write in an academic manner, I concur with
served as a reminder that the development of writing is Enstone (2017, p. 36), that such strategies should
an ongoing process and that all models of writing need not be used as the only option in helping students to
to be reviewed and adapted in the context of students’ grow as academic writers. More recent experience has
prior learning and the context of the task. At the time demonstrated that strategies can be put in place at the
of writing, the students have completed an end-of-year point of planning or ‘initial response’ rather than at the
common assessment based on comparing poetry from point of composition.
the GCSE conflict cluster. From the perspective of a Looking forward to areas for development in the
‘cognitive psychological’ approach to writing, the next NQT year, I am interested in trialling the use of ‘thesis
step in developing students’ ability will be to review statements’ further as a strategy for encouraging
their extended responses based on the needs of the deeper levels of thought. However, at this early stage
mark scheme. in my career I would be reluctant to dismiss writing
frameworks altogether from my teaching. Reflecting
“Writing frameworks are not in themselves upon the practice of my colleagues has led me to
consider options that discreetly address areas of
detrimental to development of pupils’ ability analysis in a less formal way, such as a ‘quote explosion’,
to write in an academic manner, but such which can then be used to inform an extended response
without the constraints of a sometimes arbitrary
strategies are not the only option in helping acronyms. However, my experience of using quote
explosions in the context of a grammar school has
students to grow as academic writers.” demonstrated that such smaller scaffolded responses
need to be used sparingly and in the context of
particularly demanding texts. This experience has also
led me to develop my own strategies for scaffolding
writing (Quote, Technique, Purpose), which has been
developed for the specific needs of a particular group –
an experience which will encourage me to adopt a more
flexible approach when using writing frameworks in my
teaching during the NQT year.
Bibliography
Counsell, S. (2015) Thinking, Talking, Writing:
Collaborative Reasoning in the Classroom. Teaching
English. Issue 9, pp. 41–44.
Clayton, P. (2016) The Post-16 GCSE Challenge. Teaching
English. Issue 11, pp. 14–15.
Cox, B. (1989) English for ages 5–16, DES, London.
Department for Education. (2014) The national
curriculum in England (English). London, Her
Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Enstone, Louisa. (2017) Time to stop ‘PEE’-ing?
Developing academic writing in KS3 English beyond
the ‘PEE’ formula. Teaching English, Issue 13, pp.
33–36.
Goodwyn, A. (1992) English Teachers and the Cox Models.
English in Education. Volume 26, Issue 3, pp. 4 –11.
Goodwyn, A. (2011) The Expert Teacher of English.
Abingdon, Routledge.
Marshall, B. (2003) The write kind of knowledge in
English. English Teaching: Practice and Critique.
Volume 2, Number 3, pp. 83–94
Myhill and Watson (2011) Becoming a Reflective English
Teacher. Maidenhead, Open University Press.
Vincent Byrne
teaches English at Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School

Reviews of Children’s Books Reviews and Columns
Book Box
From the Editor’s Desk:
Children’s Picturebooks
A wonderful – and beautifully illustrated – celebration
of the world of children’s picturebooks, part history,
part analysis, part overview.
(And if that hasn’t whetted your appetite, it’s hard to
Children’s Picturebooks know what would.)
Chapter 2 explores The Picturebook Maker’s Art,
The art of visual storytelling examining the relationship between art and illustration.
Martin Salisbury, Morag Styles (Second edition) Locating the topic within broader questions about the
Laurence King Publishing 2020, £29.99 relationship between ‘art’ and ‘design’, this chapter
offers an overview of debates about whether the
This beautiful, lavishly illustrated large format art picturebook ‘counts’ as art, and asks what the specialist
book about children’s picturebooks – celebrating one art of the picturebook consists of, and how the skills are
of the major intersections between art, literature and acquired, focusing especially on debates about visual
education – is written by the two acknowledged experts literacy and communication in the 20th century. The
in the field: Martin Salisbury, Professor of Illustration at chapter concludes with fascinating case studies of the
Cambridge School of Art in Anglia Ruskin University, work of Jon Klassen, Sydney Smith, Beatrice Alemagna,
and Morag Styles (who is well-known to NATE and two Chinese illustrators Ya-Ling Hueng and Ye-
members), Professor (now Emeritus) in Children’s
seul Cho – and such case studies conclude most of the
Literature at the University of Cambridge.
remaining chapters in the book.
It’s perhaps best described as an illustrated survey of
Chapter 3, The Picturebook and the Child, focuses on the
an art form – partly about history, partly about the crafts
relationship between the child and the book, returning
of illustration, writing and book-making, partly about
to issues of visual literacy and communication but from
publishing, and partly about reading and education. The
the reader’s perspective, whilst Chapter 4, Word and Image,
introduction defines the picturebook form – making
Word as Image, gives an overview of the theory of the
the crucial distinction between an ‘illustrated book’
picturebook – the ways in which words and images
and a ‘picturebook’. In the latter, ‘words and pictures
interrelate in this hybrid form – drawing on key theorists
combine in varying ratios to deliver the overall meaning,
complementing, teasing and often contradicting each other’ in children’s reading such as Margaret Meek, William
– as distinct from the illustrated book, in which ‘the Moebius and Maria Nikolajeva. There’s also a survey of
images enhance and augment the text but are not essential some of the different forms this interrelationship has
to its understanding’. The rest of the book systematically taken, including wordless books and graphic novels.
explores the various facets of this form. Chapter 5, Suitable for Children?, explores treatments
Chapter 1, A Brief History of the Picturebook, of violence, love and sex, death and sadness, and
contextualises picturebooks within the broader form of inhumanity in picturebooks. Chapter 6, Print and
‘pictorial storytelling’ – think Neolithic cave paintings! Process: The Shock of the Old, explores some of the
– but focuses on printed books from the 15th century historical art processes of the picturebook – relief
onwards, from Leonardo and Gutenburg in the printing, etching, lithograohy, monotype, and digital
Renaissance to Jon Klassen, Isabelle Arsenault, Sydney printmaking. Chapter 7 deals with the explosion in
Smith and the contemporary Chinese picturebook Non-Fiction picturebooks. The final chapter gives an
revolution in the 21st century. It takes in, along the way, overview of The Children’s Publishing Industry.
William Blake, Thomas Bewick, Heinrich Hoffman (Der This wonderful book certainly does not shy away
Struwwelpeter), Edward Lear, Randolph Caldecott (‘the from history and theory, but nevertheless succeeds
father of the picturebook’), Walter Crane, Kate Greenaway, completely in being both a beautiful and fascinating read
John Tenniel, Arthur Rackham, Jean de Brunhoff (Babar), for the layperson and a key contribution to the literature
Edward Ardizzone, Puffin Picture Books, Paul Rand, on children’s books – essential for teacher education,
Antonio Frasconi (See and Say), Andre Francois, Charles and a treat for English teachers and children’s literature
Keeping, Raymond Briggs, John Burningham, Richard enthusiasts. Highly recommended.
Scarry, Judith Kerr, Miroslav Sasek, Maurice Sendak,
Tomi Ungerer, Anthony Browne, Julia McRae, David Gary Snapper
McKee, Janet Ahlberg, Shaun Tan – and many others. Editor, Teaching English

Book Box
Cloud Boy I Cosmo

Marcia Williams Charlie Sorosiak
Walker, 2019, £6.99 Nosy Crow 2019, £6.99
Cloud Boy is a heart-warming story of friendship and I suspect many of us have been in a situation or two
loss, an engrossing tale of hope and sadness, a depiction like that experienced by Cosmo and his family in the
of a child’s ability to demonstrate resilience in the face opening of this book. We’ve been late for our children’s
of grief. school play, or missed the beginning of a special event
Written in the form of a diary, the novel tells us the because of work, and had to face the wrath of our
story of Angie Moon and her best friend and almost- partner and the disappointment of the rest of the family
twin, Harry Christmas. When Harry’s persistent as a result. What does a dog do in these situations? How
headaches turn out to be far more serious than the pair can he keep the peace when his family is falling apart?
could ever have imagined, their friendship is put to its How can he stop it happening? Such are the problems
biggest test yet. Harry is an avid cloud collector (which faced by Cosmo, the narrator of this story.
means he keeps a diary noting the type and name of Cosmo is an aging, slightly arthritic golden retriever.
each cloud he sees) and Angie likes to draw them. The He is a year older than his beloved 12-year-old boy Max.
pair are looking forward to enjoying their brand new Cosmo is close to all the members of his family but
tree house retreat when Harry’s health takes a turn for particularly to Max. They have grown up together and
the worse. are inseparable. His family, to whom he is also devoted,
Marcia Williams’ ability to capture the voice of a is struggling and are at breaking point. The adults
child is something that I first encountered in another constantly bicker and the children, Max and Emmaline,
of my favourite reads, Flossie Albright’s War Diary, and are bewildered and scared about what might happen
Cloud Boy offers a similarly believable character in to them if their parents separate. Max, in particular,
Angie Moon. The protagonist leads her reader on an is very anxious about being torn from his best friend
emotional journey as she deals with the ups and downs Cosmo who, in turn, sees it as his duty to keep the
of friendship, experiencing anger, fear, love and joy in family together.
equal measure. The dog’s solution is to reinvent himself, courtesy of
Angie’s diary is interspersed with letters written by Max’s dog-trainer uncle, into the dancer he has always
her Grandmother throughout her time as a prisoner dreamed of being. He aims, despite his rickety joints and
of the Japanese in Changi Prison, Singapore, during painful back, to win the prize of a star role in a film and
World War 2. The letters provide Angie and Harry with thus make his family proud and happy to be together. In
a welcome distraction and introduce young readers to this often amusing but sometimes heart-wrenching tale,
an often untold story of life during the war. Grandma’s things do not work out exactly as Cosmo would like.
letters detail the conditions in Changi Prison and Parents separate and children cry, but, in the process,
highlight how the prisoners fought boredom by creating they discover different forms a love and ways of living
their own Girl Guide group and secretly crafting a quilt where they are happy together, yet apart.
made from scraps. I found myself eager to flick to the The themes of this book, and possibly the
additional information at the back of the book, which circumstances, will be familiar to many 8–12 year olds at
details the true events that inspired this portion of the whom this book is pitched. However, it is by no means
tale. At first, while they are interesting, the letters seem an easy read and the language and vocabulary may
to be a random interruption to the flow of the story but well stretch some younger readers. It is, in many ways,
as the events unfold, Grandma’s letters take on more quite sophisticated and philosophical, which may be a
and more relevance to Angie’s problems and the two bit off-putting for the more immature reader. However,
stories are woven together beautifully. The historical for those who stick with it, I Cosmo is an intelligent,
angle provides a depth to the story that would appeal moving, poignant view of family life – from a loveable
to readers of all ages and makes the book a real page- dog’s point of view.
turner.
Cloud Boy is a lively narrative that I read in one sitting Barbara Conridge
and look forward to recommending to young readers. NATE Primary Committee
The book deals with highly sensitive issues written in
a form that is very accessible to children, and is often
very humorous. I loved details such as the noting of the
current cloud formations in each diary entry that seem
to mirror Angie’s emotions.
‘I may as well tell you straight away that I hate writing!’
is Angie’s opening line. Well, I’m glad that the young
protagonist continued with her efforts, resulting in a
charming book that will stay with you long after you’ve
read it.
Sarah Jarman
Holden Clough Primary School

Reviews and Columns
The Space We’re In The Wild Book

Katya Balen Juan Villoro
Illustrated by Laura Carlin Hope Road 2019, £8.99
Bloomsbury 2019, £10.99
This is a beautifully written book by one of Mexico’s
Frank is a much loved ten-year-old who is obsessed most prolific authors. Just translated into English, it
by codes and numbers. (The chapters of his story are was first published in Mexico in 2008, and is a book
linked together by counting days to and from major which is all about reading – reading to solve problems
events.) He is the brother of Max, an autistic five-year- and just for enjoyment. Villoro creates a fascination
old, whose special needs dominate his life and that of about books and the stories they can tell, all cleverly
his family. Frank loves his brother, and understands interwoven within the plot.
his moods and worries, but is frustrated by the way his Juan is a 13-year-old boy whose parents are
own life is impacted, though he often patiently deals separating. His father has gone off to Paris to build a
with the problems. But he also seethes with some of bridge, while his mum struggles to cope, especially
the injustices of his life, jealous of the constant cleaving when she hears about his father’s girlfriend. She needs
of Max to his mother, and how his desires cannot be time to heal herself, so whilst his sister Carmen goes
fulfilled because Max can’t cope. He is sometimes to live with friends, Juan is packed off to live with his
guiltily disloyal, for example, laughing and using ‘bad eccentric uncle Tito, who lives with his three cats and
words’ about Max with older boys in the park. a home filled to the brim with books, and has some
The book opens with the countdown to Max’s peculiar habits. One is drinking lapsang tea; another is
starting at special school as Frank begins in Year Six. going to the loo numerous times.
On a dramatic first day of the new school term, Frank Despite initial reservations about his Uncle, Juan
has an accident and a hospital visit, and spends the day soon enjoys spending time pouring himself over the
with his mother, enjoying the attention despite the pain vast qualities of books his uncle has to offer. What is
of a broken arm. He also basks in the adulation of his magical is that the books in Uncle Tito’s house have
school mates, until one of them, Noah, ruins it with lives of their own: they constantly move whenever and
cruel references and mimicking of Max, exacerbating wherever they want, and stories change depending who
the guilt still rumbling after the park incident. is reading them.
Life continues with a variety of ups and downs. The one book that has never been read is the ‘Wild
Max makes progress at school. Frank’s friends, and the Book’ that has managed to remain hidden from Uncle
next-door-neighbour, Neil and his dog, provide him Tito. This book will choose who will be able to read
with understanding and support. He has a great day it. Tito is thrilled about Juan’s visit because Juan, it
just before half term on the Year Six trip to the Natural becomes clear, has a special power when it comes to
History Museum. books, and Tito hopes he can find this elusive ‘Wild
And then there is an unbearable tragedy – which Book’.
actually brought tears to my eyes, as despite some Juan soon befriends a young girl at the local
earlier indications in the story, I had not foreseen it. pharmacy, where he has arranged to use their phone
The family struggles to cope. Will there be any light at to keep in contact with his mum. Catalina and Juan
the end of the tunnel? soon start sharing their love of reading with adventures
Katya Balen, who is co-director of Mainspring that take them both by surprise. Eventually, Carmen
Arts, a not-for-profit organization that supports also comes to stay, along with her menagerie of stuffed
neurodivergent and autistic people, and whose Master’s animals, which, in this magical house, come to life at
degree researched the impact of stories on autistic various times.
children, has used her expert knowledge to write a novel As the summer draws to the end, the hunt becomes
that is both heart-warming and heart-rending. It shows more frantic. Will Juan and Catalina be able to find the
deep insight into the dilemmas and triumphs of families book before they all have to return home?
that have to cope with children with special needs and This book has a magical quality about it and reminds
with tragic events. Balen gets into the mind of a 10-year- me of good old classics like The Magician’s Nephew or
old boy and gives a moving and realistic portrayal of The Firework-Maker’s Daughter. It’s certainly full of
his passions, thoughts, feelings and struggles with a interesting antidotes and phrases and above all captures
complicated and difficult life. A moving and inspiring and excites a love of reading - which surely can’t be bad!
read.
Jo Robinson
Lana Boztas NATE Primary Committee

Book Box
A Postcard to Ollis The Clockwork Crow

Ingunn Thon Catherine Fisher
Wacky Bee 2019, £6.99 Firefly Press 2018, £6.99
A Postcard to Ollis is a truly delightful book published Catherine Fisher is a well-established author of books
by the independent publishers Wacky Bee, who pride for children and teenagers. She was awarded the Times
themselves on being ‘inclusive and diverse’, and for Children’s Book of the Year prize for Incarceron and she
whom representation is a watchword. One of their has written many other books including The Crystal
specialities is books in translation: this one is translated Stair, two trilogies (Snow-Walker and Oracle) and the
from Norwegian, written by Ingunn Thon, a script- Chronoptika series. A mistress of creepy fantasy, her two
writer and puppeteer for the Norwegian Broadcasting novels for younger readers, The Clockwork Crow and The
Corporation, and beautifully illustrated by Nora Brech. Velvet Fox, do not disappoint.
Ollis Haalsen is 10 years old. Her full name is Oda On the way to her new home from St Mary’s
Lise Luise Ingrid Sonja, but she’s known by the initials orphanage, where she has lived since the death of her
of those names – each one the name of an inspirational parents, Seren meets a strange and anxious man at the
woman from Norwegian history. She lives, in a village station and, much to her surprise, ends up in possession
near mountains and forests, with her mother, Elisabeth, of a mysterious newspaper parcel. When she arrives
her five-month-old brother Ian, and her recently at Plas-y-Fran, her new home in the wilds of Wales,
arrived step-father Einar, the father of Ian. She’s bright, Seren’s dreams of a perfect future with her new family
and she wants to be an inventor. Meanwhile, though, quickly disappear as she realizes that Plas-y-Fran is a
she is dealing with the fallout from the arrival of Einar cold and secretive place. Captain Jones and Lady Mair,
– who she doesn’t like – and baby Ian. the owners of the house, cannot bear to live there after
Her escape from all this is her best friend, the fearless the disappearance of their son, Tomos, and Seren is left
Gro. And comfort is also found in the family dogs, Micro to the dubious mercies of Mrs Villiers the housekeeper.
and Macro. Somewhere in the background is Ollis’s real Left to her own devices, Seren investigates the
father, Borgepa, who she’s never lived with – but who, contents of the parcel and discovers it contains all the
she tells Gro, she goes to stay with in the holidays. parts needed to make the Clockwork Crow. The crow
Exploring on their bikes in the forest one day, having is a grumpy and quick-tempered bird who claims to be
managed to get past the frightening Goat of Christmas a bewitched prince. During her adventures with this
Past on the nearby farm, they stumble across an mysterious mechanical creature, Seren comes across
abandoned yellow postbox in which they find a postcard a dusty nursery that hasn’t been occupied for some
mysteriously addressed to Ollis: ‘Hi Ollis. It’s me. Happy time. Surely this is Tomos’s room. She must unravel
Birthday. I love you.’ the mystery of his absence. Maybe the secret lies in the
Things move quickly from here, and the mystery collection of snow globes left in the attic. With the help
deepens. Who sent the postcard and why does it have of the Clockwork Crow, Seren manages to rescue Tomos
the same symbol on it as an old photo in Ollis’s desk? from the disturbing Fair family, who live on a parallel
Who exactly is Borgny Klokk and why is her house plane at Plas-y-Fran.
in the forest full of undelivered letters? What exactly This is an atmospheric and satisfyingly mysterious
is Ollis’s relationship with her father, Borgepa? Less Victorian Christmas story that we would recommend
mysteriously, why does Ollis feel a fog in her chest when for readers aged 9-11.
she is around her mother and Einar? What happened to
the old days when it was just Ollis and her mum together Bethia Green
and they got on so well? And what happens when you lie (Year 5, All Saints Primary School)
to your best friend?
This is a tremendously engaging read – a fun, Andrew Green
(Brunel University)
intriguing and well-written adventure story which is
also a very moving narrative about mothers, fathers,
daughters and families. You may shed a tear: I certainly
did.
Gary Snapper
Editor, Teaching English

Reviews and Columns
Monster Lightning Chase Me Home

Michael Grant Amber Lee Dodd
Electric Monkey 2017, £7.99 Scholastic 2019, £6.99
To start to tell the back-story of a book series running to This second novel by Dodd focuses on Amelia Hester
six volumes and over 3000 pages is a bit of a tall order Macleod, named after two lady explorers. She lives with
– but here goes. A large meteorite crashes into southern her father and grandfather on an imaginary Scottish
California, absorbing the town of San Perdido into an island, her parents having separated 711 days (we are
enormous impenetrable dome, along with a twenty told by the protagonist) before the novel begins. Amelia
mile stretch of surrounding countryside. Everyone has previously been home-educated by her mother,
over the age of fourteen gets ejected from the bubble, having been dismissed as ‘unteachable’ because of her
leaving the remaining youngsters to wage a Lord of the dyslexia. Now that her mother has left the family home,
Flies-style war against each other. And, to make matters Amelia has to attend an academy on another island as
worse, they have acquired superhuman powers in the her home education cannot continue.
process. Phew. This is a coming of age novel in which the protagonist
Monster is the first book in the follow-up series, encounters a new school where she knows no-one;
and begins with the dome being blasted open, and the new pupils, including the class bully; a father who is
surviving occupants either being killed or slipping struggling to cope with his own emotions with none
back into the real world. Unfortunately, the problems left over for comforting his daughter; a grandfather
for Earth have not gone away as further fragments of suffering from dementia; and two rather strange
meteorite are timed to arrive from the depths of space, neighbours of whom Amelia is afraid. Into this mix is
triggering massive changes in anyone who chooses to thrown some myth and magic to create a somewhat
swallow any of the rock. It is left to Shade Darby and unsettled and chaotic world. Its placement in the
various other survivors to lead the fight against the Scottish islands lends it atmosphere. The plot would not
resultant evil in a swirling, action-packed battle which have worked in an inner city where the myths are urban
sweeps across western U.S.A. and the only magic how fast something disappears if
The plot hammers along at break-neck speed, and not left secure!
there is rarely a dull moment. The action is high- Although the protagonist is 11 when the novel begins
octane stuff, with lots of blood and gore flying around, and 12 at its end, it is more suited to KS2 readers in
as well as the occasional limb. Some of the set-piece its style than the KS3 readers the age might suggest.
confrontations are brilliantly written, the escape from Children tend to read above their age level anyway but
the secret laboratory and the battle on the Golden Gate also there is perhaps not enough grit in the narrative to
bridge being especially exciting. There is an escalating engage the KS3 reader. Its tone is light and humorous
sense of tension as the various strands of plot lead to the which creates some difficulty for the author when
final battle on the San Francisco waterfront. Excellent she wants to introduce darker themes. It sometimes
stuff. sits uncomfortably between comedy and issues-based
One interesting premise is the way that the writing, inhabiting neither fully. This is a shame, as there
superpowers of the various protagonists are linked to is a lot in the narrative that will appeal to readers - not
their actual personality. Of particular note is Cruz, a only those suffering similar problems with friendships
transgender character who has spent their life trying and family life but also those wanting a good adventure
not to be noticed and who consequently develops the story.
power of invisibility. Others have these links developed Amelia Hester Macleod does manage to face up to
equally well, although perhaps the toddler who is her fears and, in doing so, discovers that they can be
always putting things into his mouth and who turns overcome. “The only thing we have to fear is...fear itself”, as
into a variation on the very hungry caterpillar takes the Franklin D Roosevelt said.
story dangerously close to farcical.
Inevitably in a book of this kind there has to be a Lorna Cowburn
major suspension of disbelief. Some of the science Royal Masonic School
seems highly unlikely (being able to track a small piece
of meteorite from the orbit of Jupiter to a particular
part of a particular field in Nebraska being a case in
point). The characterisation is also at times a little
cursory, perhaps not surprising given the break-neck
speed of the plot. For example, we are told within half
a page of meeting Justin that he is brilliant, talented,
sociopathic, maladjusted, a predator and utterly devoid
of a moral centre. He’s a villain, by the way.
Apart from the reservations above, I thoroughly
enjoyed Monster. It is very much an action-fest, but the
basic premise is so intriguing that that can be forgiven.
It has its young-adult target market very much in mind,
but is nonetheless recommended.
Phil Kendall

Book Box
Children of Blood and Bone Joe Quinn’s Poltergeist

Tomi Adeyemi David Almond
Macmillan 2019, £12.99 Illustrated by Dave McKean
Walker Books 2019, £10.99
This is a YA fantasy novel by a Nigerian-American
writer who uses her African roots to create a world of Am I attracted to weird books? Last time it was Travels
magic and spirituality which – although timeless in its in the Underworld of Orpheus Black. Now it’s Joe Quinn’s
portrayal of oppression – is rooted in the myths and Poltergeist. It wasn’t the title, honest, it was the fact that
legends of her parents’ homeland. it was a graphic novel written by David Almond. But it
The setting of the book is Orisha – a land where lives up to its title, and it is weird.
the Magic that is at the core of the narrative has, over The story is set in an ordinary town in the North East
centuries, resided in the hands of 10 Magi Clans who are as so many of Almond’s books are. Davie is the central
part of a complex and elaborate network wherein each character who is curious to see if Joe Quinn is telling
clan has its own deity and a title that indicates its power the truth about the poltergeist in his house. Of course
(‘Reaper’, ‘Burner’, ‘Connector’, etc). Unfortunately for he is. No sooner has Davie sat down to chip butties than
the Magi, the magic that has always been a part of each slices of bread and chips start flying about.
clan’s birthright is seen, by King Saran, as a threat and Davie comes from a Catholic family, it seems, and
he has ruthlessly set about destroying every sign of it in the other-worldly Mrs Quinn (‘There is a disturbance.
his realm so that, by the start of the book, it has been We’re passing through some kind of vortex.’) wonders if the
almost totally suppressed and outlawed. local priest might help. It so happens that Davie bumps
The novel has echoes of Lord of the Rings as it works into the new young priest from Ireland, Father Kelly,
its way through a variety of exotic scenarios during a chain smoker with unconventional beliefs who then
the quest undertaken by the four central characters gets involved with the poltergeist and the Quinn family.
to overcome the forces of Saran and to re-invest the It’s difficult to describe where the story goes after
Magi Clans with their magical powers. Two of these this so I won’t try. Suffice to say there’s a lot going on in
protagonists are Zelie and Tzain – the offspring of a Davie’s head. ‘I feel the thinness of me, the littleness of
Magi Reaper – and the other two are Amari and Inan – me, and the vastness and the weirdness of me. I become
the son and daughter of the King. The reader views the the darkness all around, I become the night.’ His
narrative through the consecutive, first person accounts feelings are given further depth through his memories
of three of these characters (it’s never made clear of his younger sister who died some years ago.
why Tzain doesn’t have a voice) and so has an insight There are a few moments of humour. ‘I’m starting to
into the conflict’s origins from different perspectives believe in things I shouldn’t,’ says Davie. ‘Protestantism?’
including the reasons for Saran’s antipathy to Magic. says Father Kelly. ‘No, Father.’ ‘Atheism?’ ‘No, Father.’ ‘It’s
So – although there are the usual tensions between never Sunderland?’ ‘No, Father.’ ‘Well that all seems pretty
good and evil - there is a degree of nuance at play that safe. Your seat in Heaven is assured.’
tends to cloud the moral certainties that often come I’m not sure of the intended audience. Issues of life,
with more traditional fantasy tales. This complexity is death, religion and the universe will be of interest to
enhanced through the developing sexual chemistry in many a young reader but the approach is so off-beat that
the relationships between the two sets of ‘rival’ siblings. it’s hard to see quite who it will appeal to. However, its
The various battle scenes are spectacularly brilliant illustrations will appeal to many, mainly male,
portrayed with an obvious eye to a future film version readers so perhaps it’s worth giving it to that particular
(the sudden deaths of a number of characters are mildly student you know: possibly a reluctant reader or the one
reminiscent of A Game of Thrones) and the reader is who’s interested in ghosts – or graphic design.
carried along at a galloping pace although, at times,
the writing would have benefited from a rather more Trevor Millum
rigorous editing process as it sometimes tends to labour
over a descriptive passage or give too much time to
certain episodes. This can result in a lack of clarity or
coherence particularly in such a complicated narrative.
This issue of over-writing is also evident in the gushing
tones of the four-page list of ‘acknowledgements’ at the
end of the book.
There is much to be admired in the ambitious scope
and scale of the novel but, with its 531 pages, it is not
a book to recommend to a reluctant – or even a non-
avid – reader. It is not helped by the frustrating – almost
inevitable – fact that it is the first part of a trilogy and
many will find the lack of resolution at the end of such
a mammoth read deeply unsatisfying. If asked if I will
read the second book in the series – I would have to say
that I’m not sure.
John Hickman

Reviews and Columns
The Gifted, the Talented and Me A Cake for the Gestapo

William Sutcliffe Jacqueline King
Bloomsbury 2019, £7.99 Zuntold 2019, £7.99
The basic premise of this novel is that a family – on Jersey, 1940. Joe Le Carin, Spinner Braye, Ginger Martin
suddenly becoming rich – decide to move to London and Clem Percheron are 12- and 13-year old kids trying
where the parents send their two sons and daughter to to conduct their childhoods against the background of
a fee-paying school for the gifted and talented. Freya, war. There are the usual childhood challenges – like
the 7-year-old daughter and Ethan, the 17-year-old son, how to deal with school bully Percy du Brin, and how
relish this opportunity but the first-person narrator Sam to manage Joe’s dysfunctional parents. But there’s also
who is in Yr10, sees himself as ‘normal’: ungifted and Ginger’s dad and Clem’s brother away fighting with the
untalented. He has no desire to attend such a school and British army, the German planes flying overhead each
the reader has a continual insight into his experiences, night, the noise of explosions and the view of fires on
his thoughts and his angst as he tries to come to terms the French coast, the blackout routine every night, and
with his new life. the growing fear of a German invasion. Not to mention
Leaving aside the morality of a private education – all the little boats going to rescue British soldiers from
let alone one with a G&T tag – this scenario has obvious St Malo – and the news that France has fallen to the
story-telling potential particularly when its intention Germans.
is to be amusing. Indeed, there are echoes of Adrian The kids form a ‘Resistance Club’ and plan how they
Mole in much of the writing and there are attempts will ‘dent enemy morale’ if the Germans invade. A few
to deal with issues of belonging, sexual awakening and days later, there’s a German bombing raid. Then the
the notion of real friendship. Much of the dialogue, soldiers land. Suddenly life changes dramatically for the
involving the adolescents in the text, is sharp and tight-knit community on the island. But Joe, Spinner,
engaging as is Sam’s interior monologue which is often Ginger and Clem haven’t given up on their resistance
poignantly comedic. plan.
However, the characterisation of the adults A Cake for the Gestapo tells the relatively little-
is superficial to the point of caricature. The best known story of the Nazi occupation of the Channel
comedy writing often has its roots in a version of Islands from the perspective of these four children who
reality – particularly when dealing with some of the collectively represent the camaraderie, the bravery –
aforementioned issues – but here it is impossible to find and sometimes the foolhardiness – of the real islanders
genuine credibility in any of the adult characters or in who had to face this threat. Author and former teacher
the very existence of the school that provides the back- Jacqueline King, who grew up on Jersey and learnt
drop for most of the action. Waugh could get away with the history of the Nazi occupation of the island first-
this in Decline and Fall, but, unfortunately, the words put hand from those who had experienced it, draws on the
in the mouths of the mother and the teachers in The real-life accounts of the islanders, and, as she says in
Gifted, The Talented and Me fall far short of either reality the acknowledgements, on her reading of pretty much
or satire and will simply grate with many readers. A everything written about the occupation of Jersey.
couple of examples will help to explain this criticism: At the end, there’s an ‘afterword’ in which King
the form tutor who says: ‘your parents must have told explains her motives for writing the book: she found
you about our pedagogical ethos. We have a child-centred, that many on the mainland knew nothing of the
non-hierarchical framework here’; and the drama teacher fact that a part of Britain had been occupied by the
who leaves a pupil with the comment ‘I’ll look forward Germans, and that the children she’d told about it were
to seeing you bring to life some of your internal conflicts in fascinated by what it would have been like to live under
my next lesson. There is a respectful and appropriate way occupation. The afterword also explains something
to physicalise even the darkest thoughts. Harnessing inner of how she moulded source material into fictional
trauma is key to releasing your full potential’. These are just narrative, and, last but not least, acknowledges that she
two of many and, for me, they undermine the humour had to negotiate certain sensitivities: ‘things happened
and reduce some characters to the one-dimensional. which people wanted to forget, and still do’.
In general I found the novel underwhelming and, at King paints an atmospheric, absorbing and
times, annoying – but this could simply be the musings occasionally extremely dramatic picture of a traumatic
of an out-of-touch, retired teacher. I would be very but under-represented moment in British history. In
interested to hear the views of typical Year 10 students many ways it’s old-fashioned ‘kids in wartime’ adventure
who may find the whole thing hilarious. storytelling, rich in detail and characterisation – but
with some very dark and dangerous moments. It’s
John Hickman certain to appeal to keen KS2 and KS3 readers.
Gary Snapper
Editor, Teaching English

Book Box
Colour Me In A Strange Kind of Brave

By Lydia Ruffles Sarah Moore Fitzgerald
Hodder & Stoughton 2018, £7.99 Orion 2019, £7.99
Colour Me In is Lydia Ruffle’s second novel following Talk about grabbing the reader’s attention in the
the success of The Taste of Blue Light and it reintroduces opening paragraph: how about this first line? ‘Yesterday,
the reader to a character who is briefly mentioned in I killed a boy on Clanfedden Bridge and then I drove away.’
her debut novel. We follow Arlo Thomas, a 19-year-old To quote my Year 9s: ‘made me want to read on.’ I was
actor, who flees to the other side of the world following instantly drawn in and could not put the book down,
a tragedy. He takes with him only a sketchbook full reading it in one sitting.
of maps and embarks on a journey where he explores The villain of the story, Jake McCormack, represents
derelict buildings in a beautifully described Japan, one of the main themes in book. He has bullied and
although the county is never formally named as such. tormented the people of Clanfedden, and the story
From the first sentence, ‘Memories of the little forest at the shows what happens when someone finally finds the
bottom of the swimming pool flood Arlo the second the plane strength and courage to stand up to him. I really enjoyed
flings its great bulk into the sky’, you know that you are in the mystery surrounding his character. He is a truly
safe hands and that you can let the rich description and unlikeable character – although not always believable.
imagery wash over you. It is through this deep and slow Allie and Luca are the true heroes of the book,
unravelling and exploration that the novel opens up and demonstrating resilience, strength and the courage to
gives you a real insight into Arlo and his inner turmoil. stand up to Jake the way they do. Other themes such
This is a novel which depicts grief, mental illness, as friendship, love and loss are also explored through
toxic masculinity and friendship in beautiful and heart- these young protagonists without it ever getting too
breaking detail. The narrative is presented in the third deep for the reader. I really empathised with both of
person and so the reader is always held an arm’s length these characters.
away from our protagonist. However, this only ever I particularly enjoyed the multiple narratives in this
serves to make us feel more of a connection with him and book. This provided an element of mystery as I figured
affords us the chance to witness the importance of the out the connections between characters and events
relationships that he has with others. At the start of the from the various narrative threads. It really feels like
novel in London, the friendship between Arlo and Luke you’re getting the whole story. I also love a good twist
feels genuinely real and it is rare to see a heterosexual to a book and this one certainly has an unexpected one
relationship between two young men presented in such that kept me guessing until the end.
a tender and loving way. Upon departing to get lost in I thoroughly enjoyed reading A Strange Kind of Brave
Japan, Arlo meets with Mizuki, a fellow traveller, and – an emotional, gripping book that I’ll definitely be
we are afforded a window into Arlo’s thoughts through recommending to my students.
their conversations. It is in this middle section of the
novel where Ruffles slowly and meticulously depicts the Michelle Shufflebottom
complexity and depth of grief and mental illness. Her Ulverston Victoria High School
description of a panic attack is vivid and disorientating:
‘When it hits, it’s as if a seatbelt comes undone and he
sails through shattered glass into a brick wall… Arlo can’t
breathe’. Equally, her depiction of the paralysing and
all-encompassing nature of depression is beautiful and
dark: ‘shadows and black weeds twisted through Arlo’s brain
and body, pinning him to his bed.’ This is a novel which
sweeps you up in the richness of its prose and dream
like depictions of labyrinthian cities but ultimately
exposes inner trauma.
Fundamentally, it is a novel about being young and
lost. The conceit of running away to find yourself is
not new but there is something original and refreshing
about the way that it is done here. The presentation of
Arlo as a young, broken man feels timely and explores
the notion of masculinity whether it be tender or toxic.
However, this is not a bleak or mawkish read; it is life
affirming and hopeful in outlook and an important
addition to contemporary young adult fiction.
Tom Cranfield
Francis Coombe Academy

Reviews and Columns
Dear Evan Hansen – The Novel White Rabbit Red Wolf

Val Emmich Thomas Pollock
Penguin 2018, £7.99 Walker 2018, £7.99
Dear Evan Hansen expands upon the six-time Tony White Rabbit Red Wolf is a fast-paced fall into the
Award-winning musical of the same name. It is told bewildering warren of Peter Blankman’s life. Even the
from the perspectives of Evan Hansen, a teenage boy surface layer of his existence is extraordinary – with a
with crippling anxiety who is struggling to be ‘part of highly respected Doctor for a mother, a twin sister with
something’ and Connor Murphy, after his untimely a wildly protective temper, and of course he himself, a
death. Maths prodigy who measures probability of disaster at
This coming-of-age story deals with heavy topics every turn. However, things get even more twisted when
including suicide, grief, anxiety, depression, and acute his mother is attacked and his twin goes missing. Peter
loneliness in a believable if slightly uncomfortable unfortunately ends up in the hands of an organisation
way. Perhaps this is due to the majority of the book one would rather stay well away from.
being written from an extremely awkward teenager’s The novel itself moves quickly, bouncing from one
perspective. The story takes us into the highly plot twist to another with the reader left ricocheting
medicated mind of Evan who is struggling with himself, along the walls of Pollock’s imagination (along with his
therapy and fitting in to the typical maelstrom of high protagonist). The ‘recoils’ that Peter experience cleverly
school. He is desperate to be noticed; until he is – and allow for flashbacks of increasingly unusual events
then one lie becomes a complex rewriting of history which lead to the night of Peter’s mother’s attack. The
to help a family deal with their grief but also gives cast of characters are curious, each with quirks of their
Connor everything he has always wanted. That is until own. Pollock does not allow any less than interesting
everything inevitably implodes. figures to feature in his story, even minor ones. The real
The characterisation of Evan is well executed and conundrum is who from this cast can Peter really trust?
his anxiety is portrayed honestly with the nuances that This is exacerbated by the protagonist’s anxiety, which
make it distinct from depression clearly represented. It is palpable throughout the novel. Pollock exhibits an
is noteworthy to see this side of mental illness portrayed intimate understanding of the struggles young people
as it is not written about as often or as well. The use face with mental health and illustrates the tumult with
of text interaction between Evan and Jared his ’family tact and skill.
friend’ is also highly believable and injects a little well Our protagonist Peter is unique and atypical of
needed humour into what is otherwise quite a heavy your traditional hero; nervous and shy whilst shiningly
storyline. academic, he navigates a world that he is in constant
On the other hand the other characters were sadly fear of. Pollock is successful in capturing an authentic
undeveloped. There were remnants of personalities teenage boy’s voice, cleverly veering away from typical
there and traits to enjoy within each character, but young adult character tropes. The treatment of the
they were nowhere near as well rounded as Evan and twins’ relationship invites the reader into the warmth
unfortunately became more like stock characters and closeness the two share, whilst also holding Belle at
we have all seen before. This meant that as a reader arm’s length to maintain the mystery and conflict Peter
I started to disengage, especially as the character of faces about her.
Connor, whose suicide the whole storyline hangs on, Whilst the story begins with a relatively domestic
is a rather confusing contradiction delivered in stages. school life, the book’s genre is ambitious in its
The few times he takes the reigns as narrator whilst exploration of different avenues of story-telling. Pollock
navigating the afterlife is intriguing and his dark dips his pen into supernatural science, crime drama,
humour and brutal honesty when describing his current coming-of-age narrative and even a touch of romance.
situation and feelings about the storyline unfolding is This is a whirlwind for the reader and can at times be
an effective foil to Evan’s overly apologetic struggle to described as disorientating; more than a couple times
put his feelings into words. Without the advantage of the thread of the plot becomes almost too tangled, yet
seeing the characters come to life on stage you can’t it always seems to unknot before frustration sets in. A
help but feel there is more to them but we are not given rip roar of a ride that promises to continue catapulting
the insight. even when you think Peter has survived the many
The irony is neither Evan nor Connor can talk crescendos of his adventure. Into the ‘white’ rabbit hole
about what they really need to when they really need the reader is compelled to go!
to; leading them both to take desperate measures with
dire consequences. The feeling of intense isolation Avril Dowdeswell
many young people suffer is very real and poignantly Cardinal Newman School, Luton
presented, but the storyline is painfully obvious from
the beginning and really fizzles at the end. You find
yourself wanting more of a significant resolution but
it is definitely worth a read if only to offer insight into
teenage male anxiety, depression and the exhausting
daily battle of someone struggling with mental illness.
Katherine Burr
Cardinal Newman Schoo

Reviews of Books and Resources for Teachers
Texts for Teachers

From the Editor’s Desk:
The Art of Drama: Guides for GCSE
Literature (and beyond)
Following the excellent ‘Art of Poetry’ series, here are the first two
volumes in a new ‘Art of Drama’ series aimed at students working
at Grade 6 and above at GCSE.
you in those conditions’, and that they are not intended
The Art of Drama as exemplars intended to ‘close down your thinking and
encourage regurgitation.’ Rather, they are designed to
Vol 1: An Inspector Calls ‘make you think again, perhaps even think differently’.
Neil Bowen, Neil Jones, Michael Meally, Each book begins with a section which locates the
Kathrine Mortimore text within the broader form of drama – emphasising
in particular the difference between the craft of the
Peripeteia Press 2019, £12.99
novelist and the craft of the playwright, and exploring
the concept and various elements of stagecraft in some
The Art of Drama detail – ranging across sets, costumes, props, lighting,
sound, movement, dialogue, and stage directions, and
Vol 2: Macbeth making explicit the links between this perspective
Neil Bowen, Neil Jones, Michael Meally, and theatre studies. The theatricality of the plays is
Kathrine Mortimore emphasised throughout the book, too.
The next section explores the plays’ genres,
Peripeteia Press 2019, £12.99 sketching in the background of detective narrative,
well-made play, political drama and social realism for
Anyone who is familiar with Neil Bowen’s ‘Art of An Inspector Calls, and tragedy for Macbeth. At this point,
Poetry’ series, designed for GCSE and A Level English the Macbeth volume also contains short sections on key
Literature, will know what to expect from this new series themes and aspects of language. The central section of
on drama: intelligent, enjoyable, accessible, well-written each book consists of ‘critical commentaries on key scenes’
and wide-ranging commentary on set texts, written and ‘critical commentaries on characters’. The key scenes
to engage students in critical thinking and to broaden sections do not attempt comprehensive coverage
their view of the text in question. Aimed particularly but rather exemplar discussions of selected scenes.
at challenging more able GCSE students, these books, Finally, there is a short list of ‘teaching and revision ideas’,
like the poetry ones, will also be useful for teachers – noteworthy because of its emphasis on active, creative
partly because of the teaching ideas at the back, partly activities which seek to engage students in articulating
as a source of accessible critical writing which might their responses by re-making, re-ordering, or re-
be used as stimulus or models with students, and partly thinking the text in one way or another. The Inspector
as a reminder of some critical approaches to the texts volume also includes an activity on evaluating exemplar
which could form the basis of a scheme of work and/or exam answers, whilst the Macbeth volume has a short
individual lessons within a broader scheme. section, too, on critical reception.
The chief distinguishing feature of the books is These books are characterised by an enjoyable and
that, rather than provide yet another set of anodyne accessible content, and enthusiastic and yet always
study notes, they provide accessible, context-informed, critical personal voice, and an engaging sense of debate
response-based critical essays which are designed to and discussion throughout. They are a very valuable
‘provoke, stimulate and inform your own thinking’, as well addition to the resources available for teaching and
as to suggest a model of subtle, well-informed analytical studying these most venerable of GCSE texts.
writing. Bowen and his co-authors stress that ‘our essays
were not written in timed examination conditions and are Gary Snapper
not examples of what an exam board would expect from Editor, Teaching English

Reviews and Columns
and the nature of human language compared to other

Don’t Believe a Word: animal communication. As Shariatmadari says at the
end, ‘language is a subject that will never exhaust your
The Surprising Truth capacity for wonder’, and his book is an excellent way of
About Language stoking that wonder and developing a clearer grasp of
David Shariatmadari how it all works.
Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2019, £8.99
Dan Clayton
Popular linguistics books are undergoing a bit of a English and Media Centre
renaissance at the moment and Don’t Believe a Word is
a welcome addition to the genre. David Shariatmadari
writes on language for The Guardian, has a background Teaching Nineteenth
in Linguistics and demonstrates a good eye for what Century Literature:
makes a language topic interesting for the lay reader.
Don’t Believe a Word is quite ambitious, as the author sets An Essential Guide for
out to ‘change the way you think about a fundamental daily Secondary Teachers
activity’ and one approach in doing so is to bust language Rachel Fenn and Anna McGlynn
myths, be they hoary old tropes such as English being
David Fulton 2018, £19.99
a language in decline or the ‘etymological fallacy’ that
word meanings should always be true to their origins
This very welcome book is nothing if not topical. The
(so ‘decimate’ should only ever mean ‘destroy 1 in 10’, new National Curriculum has forced departments to
‘transpire’ to ‘breathe out’ and err… ‘treacle’ to mean place a greater emphasis on 19th century literature
a ‘wild beast’). As the last example proves – in fact, as in order to prepare them for the compulsory analysis
all of them show – meanings change over time and just of 19th century fiction and non-fiction in the GCSE
because a word has its roots in one place doesn’t mean exam. However much we might disagree with this as
that word can’t be planted in a new place and develop a a curricular model, it’s clear that the 19th century now
new life of its own. needs to be a more significant formal presence in KS3
By tracing the semantic changes behind ‘toilet’ (at and KS4 English than it may have been in the past
different times, a piece of cloth used to wrap items (though let’s not forget that it has always been there
of clothing, a cloth spread over a dressing table, the in various forms, and always recognised by English
dressing table itself, the act of using the dressing teachers as a potentially rewarding topic.) The question
table, the room the dressing table was in and then the is – as, for instance, with Shakespeare – how can we
porcelain object we all sit on (unless you’re the Queen most effectively introduce students to 19th century
and then it’s a golden lavatory) Shariatmadari shows literature in a way that is enjoyable, rewarding and
the routes words often take as they enter English and fit accessible, whilst also bearing in mind the difficult work
to the uses we put them to. Drawing on Iris Murdoch’s that will be required at GCSE? In this book, Rachel Fenn
idea of language as a net, cast over the reality we can and Anna McGlynn give lots of good answers.
all sense, he argues that words themselves do not have It has been widely recognised that one way of
ownership over meaning but act as symbols which we helping students to deal with unseen 19th-century
as humans put to use in the ways that work for us. So, texts at GCSE is to familiarise them with 19th century
going back to the etymological fallacy, just because a context, and so the book starts by helpfully outlining
word was once used to ‘mean’ one thing doesn’t mean it key aspects of Victorian context – politics, religion,
still has to ‘mean’ the same thing now. class and gender, etc – which might aid the teacher in
As you might imagine, arguments like this are planning some coverage of these issues. There are then
bound to rile those of a more prescriptive mindset, very useful chapters on fiction and poetry at KS4 and
and Shariatmadari challenges the worldview of the KS5, on teaching KS3, and on tackling long novels and
language-is-going-to-the-dogs-brigade in Chapter One, non-fiction. The book ends with a range of well-chosen
stating clearly that ‘We need not fear a breakdown in extracts for unseen practice.
communication. Our language will always be as flexible and Readers of Teaching English who saw Anna McGlynn’s
sophisticated as it has been up to now. Those who warn about recent article on teaching neo-Victorian children’s
the deterioration of English haven’t learned about the history literature (material which forms the major part of the
of the language, and don’t understand the nature of their chapter on KS3 in this book) will be aware that Fenn
complaints…’. While he’s not exactly the first to argue and McGlynn’s approach is imaginative, enjoyable and
this point – and it has become the default position of wide-ranging, with a welcome emphasis on humane
most A Level English Language students in recent years reading practices and response-focused activity, whilst
– he does make the argument very well and with plenty always keeping an eye on the eventual demands of the
of clear examples. GCSE exam.
But Don’t Believe a Word is definitely more than just a This timely book is a must for every English department.
myth-buster about wrongheaded prescriptivism: there It will be especially welcome as an introductory guide
are also excellent chapters on how we define (and often for newly qualified teachers, but most definitely contains
argue about) dialects and languages, how we create and something for everyone.
interpret meanings at a level beyond semantics and
syntax (pragmatics, essentially), recent challenges to Gary Snapper
Chomskyan theories of child language development Editor, Teaching English

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE
TEACHING OF ENGLISH SERIES
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Co-published by Routledge and the National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE),
this series reflects NATE’s dedication to promoting standards of excellence in the teaching of English,
from early years through to university level.
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THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH A History of Policy, Pedagogy and Practice TEACHING READING
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Media Studies: English in the News Reviews and Columns
Who’s the determiner?

Tom Rank surveys media coverage of English – in which Michael Gove
doesn’t know the difference between a preposition and a determiner,
her Majesty is accused of not knowing the Queen’s English, and
‘ignorance and laziness’ defeat the Apostrophe Protection Society.
During the last days of the 2019 UK IF THE QUEEN CAN’T GET IT Why grammar tests are
election campaign, when the Prime
Minister declined to take part in the RIGHT, WHAT HOPE IS THERE not improving literacy
Channel 4 Leaders’ Debate on the climate, FOR THE REST OF US? Not that new-fangled thinking has infected the
the Conservative Party sent Michael DfE. The TES reported in January that the
Gove instead. Challenged by a reporter, Worse was to come. Jan Prebble wrote to
Standards and Testing Agency did not have
he responded: ‘I am a leader.’ Reporter: The Times complaining that in the Queen’s
‘sufficient resource’ to look into ‘ridiculously hard’
‘You’re not the leader, come on.’ Gove: ‘Let’s Christmas message, Instead of the correct use
SATs reading paper in 2016 which left 10-year-
not quibble over prepositions because of ‘from’, she remarked: ‘The challenges many
olds in tears. A teacher said: If ever a test was set
the proposition is the important thing.’ people face today may be different to those
up to prepare children to fail, this was it. Yet as an
The nifty wordplay went down badly faced by my generation.’ If the Queen can’t get
article in the same publication by UCL linguist
with teachers, as this was the man who it right, what hope is there for the rest of us?
Ian Cushing noted: Grammar tests are not
mandated compulsory grammar tests for 11 Times leader writer Oliver Kamm
improving literacy. England may have shot up the
year olds. Michael Rosen tweeted: Yes he has responded on Twitter: Dearie me. The Queen
PISA rankings for reading, but the Key Stage 2
got it ‘wrong’. He doesn’t know the difference does actually know how to speak English. I
grammar tests are having a hugely negative impact
between a ‘preposition’ and a ‘determiner’. He assume our reader has gone through life
on writing, teaching approaches in primary and
probably doesn’t need to know. And neither without thinking to check whether this
on how we perceive spoken English. Undeterred,
do millions of primary school children. Year linguistic peeve is true. Others have their
Ofsted to fail ITT providers over non-phonics
6, you can study English at Oxford, write peeves too, of course: Philip Pullman was
reading, the TES announced in February.
leading articles for The Times and become one of the more prominent critics calling for
Primary training providers to be deemed
Secretary of State for Education without calls for a boycott of Brexit 50p coin over
inadequate if they also teach any other reading
knowing a determiner, but he’s determined ‘missing’ Oxford comma in the slogan ‘Peace,
method. Cushing’s own research led to the TES
that you can’t. prosperity and friendship with all nations’ as
headline: Teachers’ slang bans ‘likely to cause
the Guardian reported. Times Literary
long-term damage’. One school, he found, banned
Supplement editor Stig Abell wrote that,
the use of ‘Yorkshire verbs’ and gave Year 7 students
Michael Gove’s grammar: while it was ‘not perhaps the only objection’ to
the role of ‘grammar police’. Quick, send in Leeds
former education minister the Brexit-celebrating coin, ‘the lack of a
comma after ‘prosperity’ is killing me’.
University’s Survey of English Dialects to save
is gonna rue the day he them Yorkshire verbs! Under the headline
Ferntickles or murfles? The Guardian reported
used Nonstandard English How the internet is that the groundbreaking 1950s language survey
is to be revived, so somebody cares.
Our former leader’s language came under
the microscope again when he told Andrew
changing language as
Neil on TV: That ain’t gonna happen… There we know it (ikr lol) LAZINESS HAS WON’: APOSTROPHE
ain’t gonna be no second referendum. Emma
Moore, Professor of Sociolinguistics at
In her new book Because Internet: SOCIETY ADMITS ITS DEFEAT
Understanding How Language Is Changing,
Sheffield, commented in The Conversation: sociolinguist Gretchen McCulloch argues: The pedants’ pedant, as the Guardian put it, the
Sometimes Nonstandard English can be Internet writing is a distinct genre with its Apostrophe Protection Society has closed in disgust.
the right way to speak – it communicates own goals, and to accomplish those goals The barbarians have won. Chairman John
a message quickly, efficiently and directly, successfully requires subtly tuned awareness Richards said poignantly, At 96, I am cutting
and it does so better than a Standard English of the full spectrum of the language. Guardian back on my commitments. Linguistic barbarian
‘equivalent’ might. Contrasting this with the journalist Richard Godwin commented: In Rob Drummond shed only crocodile tears in
heavy emphasis on Standard English in the past it was only novelists, playwrights and The Conversation: Where does this leave the rest
the National Curriculum and GCSE, she screenwriters who had to worry about how to of us? If there is no APS, who is actually in charge
concluded: Gove’s use of nonstandard negative elicit emotional responses with their writing. of apostrophes? How will we know how to use
constructions in speech not only exposes the For the generation who have come of age on them? Then he came clean: Far from indicating
flexibility of grammatical variation and its rich the internet – the ‘full internet people’ in her a win for ignorance and laziness, this is a victory
social meaning potentials, it also exposes the terminology – this is a fundamental skill. It’s for common sense and freedom.
flaws in his National Curriculum policy. In two something you have to learn if you want to have
small statements about Brexit, Gove has been any kind of social life. Tom Rank
hoisted by his own petard. is an examiner, consultant and member
of NATE’s ICT committee

The Teacher Feature Reviews and Columns
Anthony Cockerill
In this column, NATE invites one of its active members to reflect
on some of the things that have inspired them in life, literature and
English teaching. This term: Anthony Cockerill, Head of English at
Boroughbridge High School.
The Books?
• My favourite comfort read is Donna Tartt’s The Secret
History. This undoubtedly makes me sound odd,
given that it’s a book about murder and conspiracy,
but I love the evocation of that particular world.
• I usually have a large stack of non-fiction by my bed.
Currently, the stack includes Grayson Perry’s The
Descent of Man, Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia and Robert
MacFarlane’s The Wild Places. I can easily have several
non-fiction books on the go at the same time and
switch from one to the other, depending on my mood.
• I’ve always enjoyed travel writing. I’ve recently read
John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, which offers
an insight into the great man in his twilight years.
I’m also reading Paul Theroux’s Deep South, which is
characteristically well-observed.
• I enjoy twentieth-century American poetry, especially
Robert Lowell, William Stafford and Hart Crane. Yorkshire Dales
The Culture? The Spare Time?

• I enjoy listening to folk music, jazz, ambient electronica • I play guitar and sing a little in York-based traditional
and indie, as well as guitar-based music from the folk trio Steam Pigeon. We play music that traces the
1990s. I can’t get enough of Lord Huron right now. early transatlantic influences that led to the blues,
• Give me a Wes Anderson film any day. The Royal country, jazz and rock and roll.
Tenenbaums is my favourite. • I love hiking in the North York Moors and the
• Time for television is limited so I have to be Yorkshire Dales. I enjoy camping trips to the Lake
selective with what I watch, although I keep a list of District with my family.
recommendations from people which I’ll hopefully • York has always been a great city for pubs and
have time to get through at some point in the future. continues to be a beacon for craft beer. I avail myself of
I loved Stranger Things and as of yet, it shows no signs the opportunity to sample these beers whenever I can.
of jumping the shark, which is promising.
The Teaching?
• I’ve spent most of my career at Boroughbridge High
School in North Yorkshire, where opportunities for
professional growth have been abundant. Having
begun as a teacher of English, I began leading Media
Studies and then served as Acting Second in English.
I spent several years as Head of KS4 English before
becoming Head of Department in 2014.
• I enjoy blogging and writing about teaching English,
writing and the written word. I’d love to do much
more of this in the next phase of my career. It was a
privilege to be asked to lead a session based around
my work with film and creative writing at the 2019
NATE conference. This was such a brilliant event
to attend: amazingly generous people, inspirational
keynote speakers and extremely useful workshops.
• Through the years, I’ve been blessed with some amazing
colleagues and great students at Boroughbridge.
Like in all schools, I’m sure, there’s been some ups
The Royal Tenenbaums and downs, but it really is a special place to work.

Why become a
NATE MEMBER?
“Through NATE I’ve met so many people who have inspired me, provided me with
an incredible support network and helped me with classroom resources”
ACCESS TO EXCLUSIVE RESOURCES
» NATE’s regular e-newsletter NATE NEWS - always brimming with useful links to essential news items, research and
events.
» IllumiNATE, NATE’s regular email publication, providing innovative and creative teaching ideas designed to broaden
your teaching repertoire and improve student engagement.
» Access to the NATE Members’ Area, which contains a comprehensive digital catalogue of all current and previous
magazines and journals, including Teaching English, English Drama Media, NATE Classroom, Primary Matters
and NATE’s prestigious research journal, English in Education.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

» The opportunity to have your work promoted, shared and published within the wider English community through
our digital resources, magazines, research journal and conferences.
» Being represented and having a voice on national issues which will directly affect your practice –
a specialist, experienced voice which wouldn’t be heard without member support.
» The opportunity to network with the country’s leading practitioners in the teaching of English, and to be recognised
as a committed professional – a worthwhile addition to any teacher’s CV.
» Listing on the Membership Portal, allowing you to network with other NATE Members
» Voting rights for NATE committee posts and the chance to stand for these positions.
ACCESS TO DISCOUNTS
» A range of discounts on our publications and courses, including up to £100 off our Annual Conference.
BECOME A MEMBER NOW

For further details visit www.nate.org.uk/become-a-member or call 0330 333 5050
Membership can be paid by monthly or yearly direct debit
NATE Members can claim tax relief on their membership payment
Inspirational
writing from EMC’s
Barbara Bleiman
Addressed to teachers, What Matters

in English Teaching gives an informed,
principled, sometimes unashamedly
polemical, account of English teaching
today, reflecting on and arguing
for a particular vision of the subject
– its pedagogies, practices and
curriculum content.
Drawing and expanding on Barbara
Bleiman’s thought-provoking and
highly influential blogs, this collection
addresses the most important
issues and concerns facing English
teachers, including:
• Versions of English
• Big Picture English
• Group work and dialogic learning
• Teaching the class novel
• What do we mean by
knowledge in English?
• Vocabulary
• Creativity and criticality – reading as a AVAILABLE APRIL!
writer, writing as a reader
• What’s important in teaching poetry
• The responsive English teacher.
See website for full details and sample pages:

www.englishandmedia.co.uk/publications

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Issue 22:

NATE Spring 2020

Illustration by Ben Westley Clarke benwestleyclarke.com

NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22 | 01

| Features: ‘Big Picture’ English 53-56

NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22 | 03

English: Shared Futures

IFTE 2020 – ‘If’: The Potentials of English

04 | NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22

NATE Poetry Conference marks

NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22 | 05

Please contact the editor Gary Snapper at gary@

an annual opportunity for all involved in the

Topical articles which are not connected to the

training of teachers to discuss issues and hear

magazine’s theme are also welcome.

about research. It was attended this year by

English in Education writing. Doug Cowie, a teacher of Creative

NATE NATE Position IllumiNATE

06 | NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22

Influential teacher Robert

Poetry by Heart heads towards

NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22 | 07

National Theatre Collection On Screen

Macbeth for schools at the Globe

08 | NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22

NATE Events UKLA Events English and Media

NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22 | 09

10 | NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22

NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22 | 11

12 | NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22

NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22 | 13

14 | NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22

material is also online at https://ukla.org/resources/

NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22 | 15

“Teachers and Proposals

16 | NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22

Hand, Head, Heart and Voice

Helen Mars explains how her department set about

NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22 | 17

Speak the speech Language and literature of protest

The Language and Literature of Protest

18 | NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22

Photo: Marie Kanger Born/Shutterstock.com

presented campaigns, inspired by the young protestors

Perhaps the most exciting impact came from the replies

NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22 | 19

Clare Feeney explains how she teaches crucial skills of

be structured, • researching a specific topic using a variety of

20 | NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22

Pre-teaching essential study skills

NATE | Teaching English | Issue 22 | 21

Currency, Relevancy, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose

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Applied Linguistics for English teachers

Example A: Textual organisation

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