Exploring the rich world of the Maya, Aztec and Inca in KS3 History
Laura Aitken-Burt explores the fascinating societies of the Maya, Aztec and Inca and how you can integrate teaching this exciting topic into your KS3 teaching. Read More
Articles
The Sociological Imagination: Promise or Problem?
Dr Sarah Cant explores why there has never been a more important time to study sociology and how you can integrate contemporary studies into your A level teaching. Read More
Practical approaches to teaching KS3 Shakespeare
By Hannah Appleton Reframing or reimagining how we tackle Shakespeare in schools begins with our perception of it being boring, irrelevant or too difficult, especially if we teach in schools with high numbers of SEND, EAL or FSM. It is, however, precisely those complexities and layers Shakespearean texts provide, which… Read More
Developing practical skills in your curriculum
By Amanda Clegg and Karen Collins Did your students struggle to answer practical based questions in the recent GCSE and A level examinations? How many of us have been in a practical lesson where a student has asked ‘Is this right?’ or ‘What do I do next?’ despite having a… Read More
Celebrating Travelling communities in “Parade of the Pipers”
Richard O’Neill is a sixth generation master storyteller and author from the Romany tradition. He is the co-author of ‘Parade of the Pipers’ from the new collection of contemporary fairy tales from Collins Big Cat. Growing up, I developed a fondness for the story of the pied piper. Read More
The Long Shadow of Suffocating Injustice
As the third anniversary of the murder of George Floyd arrives this week, thoughts will turn to how to use his story in assemblies and lessons about racial justice and the role of the police. Fundamentally, we need to encourage students to explore questions about the wider context of his… Read More
Black British History – Hidden faces, important stories
Black people have played key roles in shaping British history for centuries, but all too often their stories and contributions have been forgotten or overlooked. To mark Local History Month, we are highlighting some of the incredible people included in our Black British History KS3 Teacher Resource Pack… Read More
Getting comfortable with unseen poetry
Of all the different forms of writing that we study in English, poetry often seems to be the one with which students feel the least comfortable. The fact that it simply doesn’t look like prose creates an instant barrier. It’s unsurprising then that young people find the requirement to explore… Read More
Academic writing for GCSE
Academic writing just means that our students need to write in a formal manner that reflects their level of educational and is distinct from how they would converse orally or via text. A good approach is to gradually introduce students to a range of ways in which they can ensure their writing is more academic. I find it helpful to divide these into three aims: being concise, being precise, and being sophisticated. Read More
Avoiding empty analysis in GCSE English
It’s important that we encourage students to explore structure and form when they are analysing a literary text. However, this can sometimes lead to empty analysis. I’ve regularly read comments on exam papers like, ‘The writer uses a comma to convey how the two people are separate’ or ‘By writing in rhyming couplets, the poet demonstrates the speaker’s love for her partner’. Responses like these are often based on good ideas but, unfortunately, the analysis is tenuous: a comma doesn’t actually mean anything; a rhyming couplet doesn’t instantly represent love. Read More