When it comes to reading, teachers are a little like Goldilocks. When it comes to spotting difficult texts – whether it is the class reader in year 5, or a maths word …
How much should you write in English exams?
“This porridge is too hot!” she exclaimed. So, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl. “This porridge is too cold,” she said So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge. “Ahhh, …
The Problem with Past Exam Papers
Over the weekend I had the joy of watching my little boy, Noah, play one of his football matches (there was a little pain too – just don’t mention the penalty). If …
Eat, Sleep, Revise, Repeat
I wrote this article for Teach Secondary (You can sign up to subscribe HERE) on the ‘science of revision’ over a year ago, but the advice still stands up well: We can …
10 New School Year Resolutions
School starts again on Monday for me and so it is an appropriate time to procrastinate…sorry, I mean plan for the year ahead. Now, I know that the best laid plans of …
Beyond National Curriculum Levels: One Year On
Let me recall a tale of two Parents’ Evenings. My colleague attended the usual fare at his son’s primary school and he learnt that his son was working at a level 1a in …
They Think It’s All Over…
The English Exam is Over! So the GCSE English Language exam has been and gone for another year. A wet and nondescript June morning welcomed the annual parade of stress, tiredness and …
Whose Canon is it Anyway?
Few things in education are as spectacularly emotive and ire-inducing as the choice of books we read for English Literature in schools. This last week we have seen Gove receive a full-frontal …
Dropping Your Tools and Avoiding Education Gimmicks
Do teachers and school leaders need to down tools to survive and succeed? Schools are incredibly complex places. We often use analogies that compare schools, and indeed the classroom, to emergency scenarios. …
A Brave New Dawn for English GCSEs: Some Questions
So the cat is out the bag. Old school terminal exams are here to stay. There is an end to coursework and its bastard love child – controlled assessments. Speaking & listening …
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