Macbeth Context Revision – Free lesson and handout download

Considering the impact of context on a novel, play or poem is something students find difficult. This is a lesson I planned for year 11 after an exam paper in which many didn't link to the context effectively.

Making your teaching application or CV stand out

It's the time of year at schools across England (and elsewhere) that teachers are thinking about their next move. Maybe you've been teaching a while and fancy something new, or maybe you're training this year and this is your first teaching application. Either way: how do you give yourself the best chance possible by making …

Bring the magic of short stories to your classroom

I love storytelling, I suppose that's not surprising as a teacher and a writer. As such, I try to bring stories into my classroom at every opportunity. 

AQA English Language Scheme of work – free download

Do you teach AQA English Language? Want to try something a bit different? Have a look at my paper 1, section A, scheme of work. I designed these lessons for either a year 9, 10, or a lower set year 11 class who find the texts that AQA use challenging. It could be used as …

There’s plenty more where that came from – creating an abundance mindset in the classroom.

Everyone in education should have an abundance mindset. Teaching is endless, it never stops, no one is fully educated - knowledge is possibly the most abundant commodity. Does everyone in education have an abundance mindset? Well that's not for me to say - and to talk about it would go against the point of having …

Do you read thrillers? I’m looking for beta readers for my first novel

As I've discussed before on the blog I'm currently writing my first novel and it's nearly finished! Read my post here about how I've done that alongside being a full time teacher. I'd like it to be read by a few people who read thrillers frequently and have the time to give me a few …

Do you celebrate every victory?

I'm currently writing a novel. It's a challenge - I've been writing in the margins of life for the last few months - getting up early or staying up late. As I said in my post about pursuing your dreams outside of teaching, this isn't because I don't want to be a teacher. If anything …

Creative writing scheme of work (AQA English Language Paper 1 Section B)

This is a creative writing scheme of work I've developed for year 10 or 11. It's designed to prepare them for the AQA English Language Paper 1 Section B, although you could remove these parts and just use it to prepare students for a creative writing task.

Creativity – fake it ’till you make it?

Teaching students to be creative is difficult. If they don't think they’re very good at it they feel shut off by it, as though it’s a skill you either have or you don’t. To make it harder still, there’s a number of things which hinder these students in accessing their creativity.

How personal failure has helped me understand my students

Failure is something we deal with every day, especially in teaching. If our students fail, we've failed.  In the current educational climate that never been truer. But, it can be easy to forget how it feels on the other end of the learning front-line. Putting everything into each assignment, only to be told you've (sometimes) got …