lesson plan

Considering Dracula and the supernatural: teaching tips

Gothic literary texts can take so many different forms, but they share a preoccupation with the crossing of boundaries: between life and death, the past and the present, ancient and modern, good and evil or more generally, between what is real and unreal. Gothic writers take their readers, then, across… Read More

5 ways a thesaurus improves pupil vocab

Using Collins Primary Thesaurus as an example, here are some clever ways in which the arrangement of a thesaurus can improve pupils’ vocabulary and writing skills 1. At each entry the meaning of the word is explained in a sentence so that pupils can see straight away which sense is… Read More

Hertingfordbury Primary review Snap Science

We recently visited Hertingfordbury Cowper Primary school and had a fantastic day talking to the teachers and the children about Snap Science. Alison Richards (Head Teacher) and Helen Sizer (Deputy Head) told us how Snap Science has improved the teaching of the science curriculum… Read More

Lesson ideas to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday

In April, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 90th birthday and whilst many who reach that age like to reminisce about their lives, the whole country did just that on the queen’s special day with plenty of documentaries showing the life of our monarch in detail. The celebrations are sure to… Read More

Getting the Most from Group Work

On a recent TeachMeet training course at Manchester College, I was lucky enough to watch some great speakers looking at things such as Going Google, using Kloodle (more on this in a later blog) and raising attainment strategies. One of the other topics covered was a recap ways of how… Read More

Bloody Mary: Did she deserve her reputation?

This teaching activity is about reputations, what they are, how we can acquire one and how we can change or lose one. The 18th February marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of Mary I, the lesser known daughter of Henry VIII and sister of Elizabeth I. History today remembers her by… Read More

From Your Valentine: Teaching the meanings of love

Very soon it will be Valentine’s Day when we get the chance to tell a special person that we love them. The story of Valentine’s Day comes from the Roman Christian martyr, St Valentine and using the story is a great way to introduce this series of activities to your… Read More

English – Recounts

Before books, all knowledge and storytelling was passed on verbally with those that heard the story or learned how to hunt, retelling or recounting it to others, days, weeks, months or even years later. Recounting accurately relies on two main skills – listening and remembering and a supplementary one in… Read More

Giving the answers: a way to teach different interpretations in poetry.

When teaching poetry, I often come up against a multitude of defensive barriers that teenagers have erected to prevent them from having to engage with the poems in front of them. And the reason for these fortresses of resistance? They are scared of getting it wrong. This is the challenge… Read More

I Was There: The Fall of the Berlin Wall

25 years ago this November, one of the most despised symbols of communism and the divide between east and west; the Berlin Wall, came down. It was a momentous occasion and finally signalled the end of the Soviet era in Eastern Europe. Millions of people witnessed the occasion, either on… Read More