GCSE

GCSE 9-1 English: Two Years In

Naomi Hursthouse It is two years into the cycle of teaching and examining the GCSE 9-1 English course, but what have we learned in that time? In education, we are used to a high turnover in specifications. In my 15 years of teaching, this is the third reinvention of GCSE… Read More
Assessment image

Getting the best out of assessment

Susan Thompson What issues should you consider to make sure your investment in assessment delivers for students, teachers and your schools? Assessment is now a routine and essential element of school life. Using classroom activities, homework assignments, periodic testing, or once-a-year summative assessments; teachers constantly monitor and appraise the students… Read More

Top 10 ideas for teaching A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol was sold as a hugely popular ‘Christmas Crawler’ in the Victorian era for a shilling; a meagre amount but far from affordable for all Victorians so it tended to be bought by one person and then read aloud to many. In my mind these readings take place… Read More

Hot topics from the ASE Science conference

The morning after the night before. This year’s ASE Conference was held in Birmingham in January. Always a good cure for New Year’s blues, it was a lively mix of ideas, projects and sharing of experiences.  A key topic of conversation for many people involved with the secondary phase was… Read More

Top 10 ideas for teaching Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Stevenson himself is an interesting character, admitting that what began as nightmares in childhood eventually became full and extensive images and scenes of horror that could last up to a day. Medical professionals in today’s society would probably would call these episodes paranoid delusions or the results of lack of… Read More

Top 10 ideas for teaching Great Expectations

When I first started teaching I was advised by a more experienced teacher to avoid the Classics and never teach any novel over 200 pages as it took too long to get through it with a class. I heeded this advice for the first couple of years then decided I… Read More
Frankenstein

Top 10 ideas for teaching Frankenstein

It is not often in literature that you find yourself unexpectantly on the side of the monster. Mary Shelley’s powerful and thought provoking novel challenges our assumptions of good and evil and encourages the audience to see all creations as equal and deserving of love. Frankenstein’s ‘hideous wretch’ seeks only… Read More

Top 10 ideas for teaching The Sign of Four

Before we start I have to admit something; before writing this blog I’d never read any Sherlock Holmes stories… in fact I’d totally dismissed them assuming they were dry and dull and not understanding the nation’s love for them. I stand wholly corrected. The Sign of Four is a short… Read More

Top 10 ideas for teaching Pride and Prejudice

Use these 5 discussion points and 5 extension tasks to help your students understand the context of this classic novel. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice is a novel that is so embedded in our society that you could describe a man as ‘a Mr Darcy’ and… Read More

Top 10 ideas for teaching Jane Eyre

Use these 5 discussion points and 5 extension tasks to help your students understand the context of this classic novel by Charlotte Brontë. Jane Eyre is a transcendent novel. I’ve read it as an 11-year-old and through my teens then into adulthood, and it gets richer and more relevant with… Read More