New year’s resolutions as a teacher

In a few days 2017 will be done and we'll move forward, bright eyed and optimistic (hopefully) into 2018. I'm sure you have ideas of things you'd like to do better next year; things you'd like to start or stop in order to make 2018 better, brighter and more successful. However, new year's resolutions are very …

How to relax as a teacher

It's Christmas eve 2017 as I write this and we've made it to the holiday! What a long term. But, walking back to my car through the school car park on Friday I noticed colleagues loading box upon box of work into their cars - as if they're not taking time off, just working from …

Use this descriptive structure to focus your students’ creative writing

Teaching students to follow a structure when being creative is something I try to avoid - the last thing I want to do is put a limit on their creativity. However, there is a trend when students are marked on descriptive writing (like in section B of paper 1 of the AQA Language exam) for …

Getting students to paragraph (and learn about crocodiles!)

Students not using paragraphs can be one of the most frustrating things.  There's nothing worse than opening an exam paper to see the student has written five pages without a single break.  I've been using this worksheet to get students to paragraph for years.

Improving students’ inference skills with pictures

The third post in a series about how to improve the inference skills of your students, and why that's so important.

Improving students’ inference skills through numeracy

I often use non-text based inference activities to develop students’ familiarity with the skill, before moving on to looking at texts. I’ve found that this engages students who find numbers more comfortable, it opens them to discussion and allows them to think, and then develop their thinking in different ways.

Learning quotes for Macbeth and Jekyll & Hyde? Download these free flashcards

Getting students to learn quotes for Macbeth and Jekyll & Hyde is hard, but they'll need them for their English Literature Exam. I've made these flashcards and will be using them in lessons with both years 10 and 11 - as well as giving year 11 a set to print themselves to revise for mocks. …

Why are students’ inference skills important?

Inference is a difficult skill to learn, but it is an essential one for all students sitting written exams. With that in mind, I'm going to post for the next couple of weeks with some ideas you can use to develop students' inference skills, not just in English, but across the curriculum. 

Get your students to write themselves creative

Using writing to develop creativity – flipping the thinking. Getting students to write can be difficult, especially if it requires creativity.

Use my PAWS structure to get more from your students’ reading

Having students sit and read is easy, and it’s great for so many reasons. It develops their reading skills, which in turn improves vocabulary, general knowledge, understanding of texts, concentration, emotional intelligence (the list goes on). But, how can you be sure they’re actually doing it? Not looking out of the window or day dreaming? …