Here are a few quick and easy techniques I have been using with my class to help them learn quotations for the literature exam. Half a quotation Give the students the first half of a key quotation on a
Six reasons to use Twinkl’s “The Great Grammar Quiz” for KS4 revision
Revision time is upon us again so I’m on the lookout for useful materials to help my students keep on track with their spelling, punctuation and grammar. Twinkl’s “The Great Grammar Quiz” ticks a lot of boxes for me. Here
Teaching Blackout Poetry
I’m an avid Pinterest fan and I frequently see fabulous examples of blackout poetry on my feed. They are pretty inspirational and as April is National Poetry Month I thought I’d give it a go with my classes. Here are
#JustLetMeTeach
I’m well and truly snowed in today and I’ve been taking the time to drink copious amounts of hot chocolate and to reflect. There can be no argument against the fact that teaching is a ridiculously difficult job. The to-do
Covering the basics with Twinkl Resources
In an ideal world I would like to spend a majority of my time creating beautiful resources for my students. I’m going to guess that most English teachers out there would prefer to spend their time doing this than, say,
Hinge Questioning in the GCSE English Classroom
What is a hinge question? A hinge question is one which checks for understanding at a “hinge point” of the lesson. A hinge question establishes that the students understand the previous content before moving on to the next idea
Writing Prompt Wednesday
Here are three more writing prompts for writing prompt Wednesday. This week I gave my students the choice of the three for a 200 word low stake writing task. There were some wonderfully creative responses. I really can see an
Rhetorical analysis using Oprah Winfrey’s Golden Globes Speech
I’m a big fan of using real world, “in the moment” resources in the classroom so I couldn’t ignore Oprah’s recent Golden Globes speech to help students to develop their rhetorical analysis. Here are a few ideas you could try
Writing Prompt Wednesday
Happy New Year! I hope if you are back in school it isn’t too traumatic and if you are still off are enjoying your remaining PJ days! I’m going to use my first post of the year to kick-start “Writing
50 Novel Ideas
Here are 50 ideas which could be used to support the teaching of any novel: 1. Sketch a setting map. 2. Write a piece of dialogue between two characters. 3. Write down three questions to ask the author. 4.